These BBQ soy curls are baked or air fried to achieve a crispy texture on the outside. They’re chewy on the inside and so flavorful. The soy curls perfect for serving on a bun, in tacos or bowls, or as part of a barbecue spread. Plus, they’re easy to make—you can use homemade or store-bought barbecue sauce!

Here I am again, with another simple vegan protein.

I know I’ve shared a number of these lately, along with other staple foods and basics.

But oh, how I love a soy curl.

Soy curls have become one of my go-to vegan proteins, right up there with tofu, tempeh, seitan, and beans. I now have a quintet of favorite proteins in place of a quartet.

Soy curls are nutritious, versatile, and wholesome. They’re less expensive than many store-bought vegan chick’n options. And, since you can season and flavor them yourself, they’ll give you endless opportunities to get creative.

This recipe is not creative, really. On the contrary, it’s a simple, vegan spin on a classic summer cookout staple, BBQ chicken.

But classics stand the test of time for a reason, right? I make these soy curls often, and if I like and use them as much as I do, there’s a chance that one of you will, too.

What are soy curls?

First things first: what the heck are soy curls?

That’s actually an easy question to answer: soy curls are actually soy beans. They’re non-GMO soy beans that are soaked, stirred, cooked, and dehydrated at low temperatures.

The product that results is light and dry.

When you soak soy curls in boiling water or broth, they plump up considerably. At this point, they can be drained of liquid and pressed a little to remove the extra moisture.

Prepared this way, soy curls have a texture that’s sort of similar to chicken in its chewiness. The color is similar to that of white chicken meat, too.

Rehydrated soy curls can be seasoned further or added to chili, soup, tacos, burritos, salads, and more. They become a vegan “chick’n” that’s made from a single ingredient, inexpensive, and nutrient dense.

I really only started cooking with soy curls regularly after I wrote Power Plates, so sadly, there aren’t any soy curl recipes in that book. But I’m happy to say that The Vegan Week features a few soy curl recipes. Creating them has only solidified my love of this versatile protein.

Soy curls nutrition

Soy curls boast the same nutrition benefits as other soy foods do—namely, plentiful plant protein. A serving of soy curls has 11 grams of protein, which is a solid contribution to any plant-based meal.

Protein needs are highly individual—they vary according to age, activity level, health demands, and other factors. But I encourage most of my nutrition clients to aim for at least 15-20 grams per meal. 11 grams will take you a good part of the way.

Soy curls provide about 10% of the recommended daily allowance of iron for premenopausal women and 25% of the recommended daily allowance of iron for men of all ages and postmenopausal women.

On top of this, soy curls are rich in fiber—6 grams, or about 20% of the RDA per serving. This is good news for digestive regularity, and high-fiber foods usually help people to feel satisfied after meals.

Where to buy soy curls

I buy soy curls directly from their maker, Butler Foods. Butler Foods is an independent, family-owned business in Oregon, and the company is responsible for the goodness that is the soy curl.

Shipping from the Butler site does cost some money, but soy curls are themselves very economical (about 50 cents per serving of protein). I order 6 bags at a time and store them in my pantry. I like to support the company.

You can also purchase soy curls on Amazon, and you can find them at some health food stores and grocers that specialize in vegan products.

How to make crispy BBQ soy curls

BBQ soy curls aren’t a new food for me. I’ve always enjoyed the taste of soy curls when they’re coated in BBQ sauce.

What makes this recipe a little new for me is the texture of these soy curls. Whereas in the past I would simply rehydrate soy curls in hot broth or water, squeeze them out, then coat them in BBQ sauce before eating, I now take the extra step of baking or air frying them.

Baking the soy curls results in crispy, browning edges. The centers of the soy curls remain chewy, but I think the soy curls are even more chick’n-like, thanks to the time they spend drying out in the oven.

Now that I’ve gotten used to preparing marinated soy curls this way, it’ll be hard for me not to go the extra step of baking or air-frying. It really does make a difference!

From start to finish, making the BBQ soy curls is so simple. You’ll rehydrate them, squeeze them to remove moisture, then coat them in BBQ sauce.

After this, you’ll bake or air fry them. The soy curls will need about 25 minutes in the oven or 10-12 minutes in an air fryer. (Air frying time may vary depending on the air fryer—this is the one I use at home.)

That’s it! From that point, you can choose to enjoy them as part of any meal that calls for a BBQ-themed vegan protein. On a burger bun with a tangy slaw is one good idea.

Two things to note about the recipe: first, you’ll be using a half bag of soy curls (120g, rather than a whole, 8-oz/225g bag). That’s about 4 servings. If you like, you can use the whole bag and double the recipe.

Also, when I prepare soy curls simply, I usually rehydrate them in broth for flavor and seasoning. In this recipe, the BBQ sauce provides both of those things, so I use hot water to rehydrate the soy curls.

Do I need to use homemade BBQ sauce?

No, you don’t. I include in this recipe a simple, minimalist homemade BBQ sauce. But you’ll have the option to use 3/4 cup of your favorite store-bought BBQ sauce instead.

If you like, or if you prefer to an option that’s sweetened with whole foods, you can try using my date BBQ sauce in this recipe.

Storing crispy BBQ soy curls

The soy curls can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to five days or frozen for up to six weeks.

Unfortunately, they’ll lose some of those pleasantly crispy edges during storage. But you can re-crisp the BBQ soy curls by spreading them on a baking sheet in a single layer and reheating in a 350F oven for 10-15 minutes.

You can also pop them into the air fryer and air fry them for 3-5 minutes at 400F.

More vegan soy curl recipes

I don’t always turn cooked soy curls into a “recipe,” per se.

A lot of the time I just rehydrate them in hot, chick’n style vegan broth, then use them the same way I might have used cut chicken breast pieces before I became vegan: in salads, sandwiches, or wraps.

But if you’re eager to experiment with soy curl recipes, here’s a few of my favorites from this blog:

• Creamy vegan chick’n rice skillet supper
• Soy curl cacciatore
• BBQ soy curl and cabbage apple slaw sandwiches
• Vegan chick’n enchilada breakfast casserole
• Hearty vegan chik’n bean chili (a reader fave and personal fave!)

Print

Crispy BBQ Soy Curls

These BBQ soy curls are baked or air fried to achieve a crispy texture on the outside. They're chewy on the inside and so flavorful. The soy curls perfect for serving on a bun, in tacos or bowls, or as part of a barbecue spread. Plus, they're easy to make—you can use homemade or store-bought barbecue sauce!

Course protein, side, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword BBQ, meat alternatives, protein, soy curls, summer, vegan

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 3 cups Butler Foods soy curls (120g; this is half of an 8-ounce / 225g package
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or tamari
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons ketchup (100g)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 400F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Place the soy curls in a large mixing bowl. Place the water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Pour the hot water over the soy curls and cover the bowl. Allow the soy curls to hydrate for 10 minutes, then drain in a colander. Once drained, use the bottom of a bowl to press down on the soy curls, helping to wring out the excess moisture.
• Return the soy curls to the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients or 3/4 cup date-sweetened barbecue sauce or store-bought barbecue sauce of choice. Use your hands to coat the soy curls well in the sauce. 
• Transfer the soy curls to the baking sheet and arrange them in a single layer. Roast the soy curls for 25 minutes, or until they're browning and becoming crispy. Gently flip the pieces on the sheet once halfway through baking.
• Alternatively, you can air fry the soy curls at 400 for 10-12 minutes, shaking or stirring them once halfway through cooking.

I’m already envisioning a summer full of these BBQ soy curls. They’ll end up on buns or toast, in bowls with rice or cornbread, maybe in quesadillas or tacos. Perhaps I’ll even throw together some kind of casserole that features them.

No matter what, they’ll be easy, satisfying, and nutritious.

Hope you’ll find a couple of uses for them, too. Enjoy!

xo

The post Crispy BBQ Soy Curls appeared first on The Full Helping.

The annual birthday post.

Last year I wrote my 10th annual birthday post. I’d started this blog tradition with the big 3-0. And here we are at the big 4-0, birthday post #11.

To be honest, I haven’t known what to say this year. Part of me wants to be able to say that this particular number is arbitrary and not worth having special feelings about. I could tell you that today is just another day.

But I won’t. It doesn’t feel like just another day. For better or worse, I attach a lot of meaning to special occasions. This birthday does feel bigger than others, and I’ve been struggling with it.

In the aftermath of a bad breakup, which I did not recover from quickly, someone once cautioned me about entering my forties with a bunch of regrets.

I’d like to report that I’m leaving regret in my thirties. But this, too, would make me feel mature at the expense of being truthful. When I write about regret, which I probably do too often, it’s because I’m working through mine.

If you were reading back then, do you remember birthday post 37? It seems pretty wise when I revisit it now. Full of good advice.

Lately I feel like the last person who ought to give anyone advice, which is something I touched on during NEDA week this year. I have no clue what I’m doing. I practice a lot of yoga and hope for the best.

There’s probably more intelligence in that approach than I recognize, but still, it feels a bit unmoored.

Unmoored is not my happy place, but it’s not the worst place to be, either. It’s not depression. It’s not despair. Today is heavier than I’d like for it to be and not as heavy as it might be. Not as heavy as other days have been. It’s bittersweet.

I’m grateful for this. It takes a lot for me to accept that things aren’t all one way or all another way. For me to say “it is what it is” today and mean it, which I do, is something.

I was more impacted than I expected to be when Steven Sondheim died late this fall. And as I listened to my favorite of his works again and again, I couldn’t help but keep landing on this passage from the song “Move On”:

Stop worrying where you’re going
Move on
If you can know where you’re going
You’ve gone
Just keep moving on

I chose, and my world was shaken
So what?
The choice may have been mistaken
The choosing was not

Last year helped me to understand that life itself is the point. And this year has helped me to understand that choosing is also the point.

Choosing, by which I mean making moves, taking risks, doing, experiencing, getting out of my head and into the world—that’s the point of my time here. I won’t always like how things turn out, and sometimes they’ll turn out better than I could have imagined.

That’s life. And life, all of it, is what I want.

Speaking of doing and getting things done, I’m thinking about another passage today. It’s from Kenneth Koch’s “On Aesthetics”:

AESTHETICS OF THE MAIN PART OF LIFE

The late early and the entire middle
Are the main part of life.  Be as kind
As you can in this part, and get done
What it seems to you has to be done.
If you find time for it, have a good time.

I read this last summer and cried. I didn’t think I was getting done what I thought had to be done, and I didn’t think I was having enough of a good time, existentially speaking.

I’m receiving the passage more gently today. Gently enough that I can simply say, I’ll try.

Thanks for sticking with me through another year of this main part of my life. I’m so grateful.

xo

The post 40. appeared first on The Full Helping.

This vegan sheet pan gnocchi is an easy, hands-off dinner that is bursting with color and flavor. Roasting the vegetables and gnocchi separately ensures that the gnocchi stays nice and crispy.

I joke a lot about how often I default to pasta for dinner. But what about gnocchi?

Gnocchi is so good, so fast, and it’s filling and comforting in the same way that pasta is to me. But I just don’t think to buy or cook it as often. This vegan sheet pan gnocchi dinner may change that.

I made this meal a couple weeks ago. I was starting to think about summer cooking.

As the weather gets hot in NYC, I try to avoid high maintenance recipes as much as possible. If I do turn on my oven to roast something, I want the process to be efficient and to result in something practical.

Four nights of stress-free dinner (or leftovers for lunch) is as practical as it gets for me. The sheet pan gnocchi is a light, tasty summer meal. It becomes even more satisfying with a big green salad or your favorite summer vegetable side dish.

The crispiest roasted gnocchi

I’m a big fan of traditional gnocchi, boiled till tender. But one of the nice things about gnocchi is that it can be roasted or baked as well as simmered.

Roasted gnocchi develops a wonderfully crispy texture, which is a nice contrast to how it turns out when cooked traditionally.

In this vegan sheet pan gnocchi recipe, the gnocchi is roasted along with juicy cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and red onion.

The trick to making the dish is to roast the gnocchi and the vegetables separately. It isn’t my trick at all: it’s a tip that I got from reading the comments on this recipe of Sarah Jampel’s, which inspired my own meal.

A few readers commented that roasting gnocchi with the vegetables took away from the gnocchi’s outer crispiness. They said that they’d tried to roast the gnocchi and vegetables on separate parts of the baking sheet, and this worked well.

I tried doing the same thing, except that I have a tiny NYC oven and need to use 2 quarter-sized sheets, rather than a single sheet. Using one sheet for gnocchi and another for veggies was a perfect way to preserve the gnocchi’s texture.

How to make vegan sheet pan gnocchi

The process of making this meal is so wonderfully low-key. Here are the steps.

Prepare your baking sheets

I like to roast on parchment or foil for easier cleanup. For me, this recipe necessitates two quarter-sized baking sheets, since I have a small oven. One is for the gnocchi, one for the veggies.

If you have an oven that holds half-sized baking sheets, you can use a single sheet. Pile the veggies on one side, the gnocchi on the other.

Drizzle each side with the olive oil, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roast for 15 minutes

This will cook the veggies most of the way through, and it’ll start to crisp up the gnocchi.

Add garlic and spinach

15 minutes into cooking the vegan sheet pan gnocchi, you can stir all of the components.

At this point, you’ll add minced garlic and baby spinach in handfuls to the vegetable side or vegetable sheet. Return everything to the oven and roast for 5 minutes more.

Stir and wilt

After those five minutes, the spinach that was piled onto the vegetables should be partially wilted. You’ll stir that sheet (or side) again to wilt it entirely.

Roast for 5 more minutes

This is the last step in cooking the sheet pan gnocchi. It will crisp the gnocchi entirely and ensure that the vegetables are soft, sweet, and tender.

Combine

Finally, you can either stir all of the ingredients—vegetables and gnocchi—together on your half sheet, or transfer the gnocchi on one quarter sheet to the other sheet.

Drizzle the ingredients with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, along with a little extra olive oil, if needed. Mix everything well. Taste and add additional salt, pepper, and vinegar, as desired.

Add or garnish

You can top the sheet pan gnocchi however you’d like to! Or, you can serve it with any additions or accompaniments that appeal to you.

For me, the obvious topping choice here would be one of my homemade vegan cheeses. These include:

• Tofu feta (this is what you see in the photo above)
• 10-minute vegan ricotta cheese
• Melty vegan cashew mozzarella
• Cashew cheese
• Cashew parmesan cheese

Of course, cheese isn’t the only thing that you could serve the sheet pan gnocchi with. You could also pair it with:

• Baked balsamic tofu
• Lemon pepper tempeh cubes
• Chickpea Greek salad
• White bean kale Caesar
• Tahini mint kale salad
• Super simple, very green soup

Simple steamed or roasted veggies of choice are always a nice accompaniment, too.

Is gnocchi vegan?

This is a great question.

The answer is sometimes. Most store-bought gnocchi, which is what I use, is made from potato and some sort of flour. These gnocchi varieties are often vegan, though you should check ingredient labels to make sure that they are.

Many recipes for homemade gnocchi call for incorporating egg into the dough. This isn’t to say that vegan gnocchi recipes don’t exist; you might simply have to search for them a little before finding one.

Is gnocchi gluten-free?

Again, it depends. If gnocchi is made with traditional wheat flour, then it isn’t gluten-free. However, some brands of gnocchi are made with either potato flour or some other type of gluten-free flour. These are gluten-free.

This gnocchi is both vegan and gluten-free. It’s also tasty and not too high in sodium, which many commercial gnocchis are. I’m a fan!

Meal prep and storage

This recipe comes to mind most immediately as a simple, weeknight dinner.

However, it can be part of a meal prep routine, too. The gnocchi can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Can vegan sheet pan gnocchi be frozen?

Leftover portions of this meal can be frozen for up to four weeks. However, the gnocchi will lose some of its crispy quality after defrosting.

I don’t recommend the vegan sheet pan gnocchi as a freezer meal, but it’s definitely an option if you’re worried about a portion going to waste.

Print

Vegan Sheet Pan Gnocchi

This vegan sheet pan gnocchi is an easy, hands-off dinner that is bursting with color and flavor. Roasting the vegetables and gnocchi separately ensures that the gnocchi stays nice and crispy.

Course main, Main Course

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword gluten-free, gnocchi, red onion, sheet pan, spinach, summer, tomatoes, vegan, zucchini

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 4 cups gnocchi (about 1lb/455g)
• 1 large or 2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into half-moons
• 1/2 medium or 1 small red onion, halved and sliced into half-moons
• 10 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved if large (280g)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 oz baby spinach (85g; about 3 heaping cups) 
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped, fresh basil leaves (optional)

Optional accompaniment suggestions

• 1 cup tofu feta (crumbled or cubed)
• 1 cup 10-minute vegan ricotta cheese (crumbled)
• 1/2 cup cashew parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 425F and line two quarter-sized, rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Place the gnocchi on one sheet and the tomatoes, zucchini, and onion on the other sheet. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the gnocchi and the other over the vegetables. Use your hands to coat all of the ingredients well. Season the vegetables with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few turns of black pepper. In place of two quarter-sized sheets, you can use a single, half-sized rimmed baking sheet and keep the gnocchi and the vegetable on separate sides of the sheet.
• Transfer the gnocchi and vegetables to the oven. Roast for 15 minutes. Stir both the gnocchi and the vegetables on their respective sheets. Add the garlic to the vegetable sheet and stir. Then, pile the spinach over that sheet.
• Transfer both sheets back to the oven. Roast for another 5 minutes. Stir the vegetable sheet. The spinach should be somewhat wilted already, and it will wilt more as you stir.
• Return the vegetable sheet to the oven and roast for 5 more minutes.
• Remove the sheets from the oven. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and stir. Then, add the crispy gnocchi to the vegetable sheet along with the basil, if using. Fold all of the ingredients together. Add additional salt, black pepper, or vinegar as desired.
• Divide the recipe onto four plates. If you like, top each portion with 1/4 cup of tofu feta or dot the portion with cashew ricotta. Alternatively, sprinkle each portion with 1-2 tablespoons cashew Parmesan. Enjoy!

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and summer is officially here. With summer comes the desire for fresh, colorful, easy suppers.

Sheet pan gnocchi fits the bill, for sure. I hope you’ll give it a try and enjoy it just as much as I have.

Speaking of summer, I’m publishing this post from the beautiful mountains of Highlands, NC, where I’ve spent a few days with Chloe and her little ones. It’s been a good escape. I’ll check in again on Sunday, at which point I’ll be back home.

xo

The post Vegan Sheet Pan Gnocchi appeared first on The Full Helping.

White beans are packed with nutrients, including folate, fiber, calcium, iron, and protein. They’ve also got a wonderful, buttery texture and are extremely versatile! These 15 nutritious vegan white bean recipes will help you to feature this simple superfood in your plant-based meals.

As a registered dietitian, I’m always giving my clients gentle nudges toward variety. Eating a variety of foods, we know, is the best way to maximize our intake of both micro and macronutrients.

For example, we’re encouraged to “eat the rainbow” because the different colors of vegetables signal different phytochemicals, or plant compounds that give vegetables their distinctive colors. And each phytochemical has been associated with different preventive health benefits.

I’m pretty good about vegetable variety, though of course I have my go-tos (I probably eat broccoli every day).

But variety also matters when it comes to macronutrient sources, including the foods we rely on for protein and complex carb intake.

Different plant proteins provide different amino acids. While we don’t need to eat “complete” proteins within meals, but it is essential to source all of the amino acids that we need through eating adequate protein and a variety of foods.

It’s always a good idea, then, to mix things up when it comes to what we eat. I can be pretty repetitive, especially when I’m busy or stressed.

Lately, I’ve noticed that I’m defaulting a lot to chickpeas and lentils for my legume intake. There’s nothing wrong with that in the sense that both are wonderfully nutritious plant proteins.

But there’s a wide world of beans out there, and too often I find myself eating only two of them.

Fortunately, there’s another type of bean—several beans, really—that I also love. White beans have always been a favorite legume, and I have a lot of recipes that feature them.

For whatever reason, I tend to associate white beans with spring and summer recipes and produce. For example, I love to pair them with both tomatoes and artichokes. So it feels like a good time to be sharing fifteen of my favorite vegan white bean recipes.

What are white beans?

“White beans” describes a family of beans that share the same color, rather than a single type of bean.

In the US, the most commonly available types of white beans are:

• Cannellini beans (sometimes called white kidney beans)
• Navy beans (sometimes called Boston beans, because they’re the bean typically used to make Boston baked beans)
• Great northern beans (sometimes called large white beans)
• Lima beans (also called butter beans)

These are not by any means the only white beans. The Rancho Gordo company sells some heirloom varieties, such as alubia blanca and ayocote blanco.

Because of my background, I know that the Greek dish Gigantes plaki is often made with large lima beans, though it’s my understanding that it can also be made with a variety of runner beans as well.

When one of my vegan white bean recipes calls for “white beans,” I’m thinking of cannellini beans, great northern beans, or navy beans, which can be used interchangeably. But the heirloom varieties mentioned above will work, too.

How to cook white beans

The process of cooking white beans is similar to that of making other beans.

You begin with two options: cooking your beans from scratch, or using canned.

I won’t lie: I almost never cook beans from scratch. Over time, I’ve found that it’s an extra step that isn’t worth it to me from a taste or cost perspective. I like canned beans, they’re super convenient, and while cooking dry beans from scratch is cheaper, canned beans aren’t expensive.

If you do prefer to cook beans from scratch, then you have more options. You can use a pressure cooker or an Instant Pot (I don’t have either) or you can soak the beans overnight and boil them the following day.

My experience has been that overnight-soaked white beans need about 75-105 minutes of boiling in order to be cooked through. Navy beans take less time to cook than cannellini or great northern beans.

Cooking beans from scratch

In the unusual times that I do cook beans from scratch, I soak them in overnight first in a pot of water. The following day, I drain and rinse the beans before cooking.

If you prefer to do a quick soak method or to not soak beans at all, that’s always an option. Not soaking the beans will just lengthen their cooking time.

I like an overnight soak for the shortened cooking time, and it creates no extra effort for me.

After soaking, draining, and rinsing, I return the beans to the pot and cover them with fresh water—enough to submerge them by 3-4 inches. I bring the water to a boil, then I turn the heat to medium low, or enough to keep the water at a simmer.

I cook the beans, uncovered, until they’re tender but still hold their shape well. When it’s time to test the beans for doneness, I recommend tasting a few, so that you can be sure that all of the beans are cooked uniformly. Cooking time for dry beans can vary considerably with their age.

Storage & freezing

You can store cooked beans in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. And you can freeze cooked beans for at least 8 weeks.

If you scratch cook a whole pound of beans, it’s easy to freeze a portion of the batch and defrost them whenever you need quick, nutritious protein for soups, salads or bowls.

Dry beans can be stored in airtight containers in a cool, dry part of your home for up to a year or two.

Are white beans good for you?

I’m pretty resistant to ever claiming that a particular food is “good” or “bad” for anyone—context is everything, of course. But white beans are certainly good for anyone who already enjoys and feels good eating beans!

White beans are very nutrient-dense. They’re good or excellent sources of all of the following:

• Protein
• Dietary fiber
• Folate
• Iron
• Potassium
• Phosphorus
• Magnesium
• Zinc

White beans also supply calcium, thiamine and Vitamin B6.

It’s wonderful when a single food offers so much varied nutrition. Better still when that nutrition is packaged with all sorts of culinary potential.

What to make with white beans

There are a few vegan recipes that I associate specifically with white beans, and you’ll find some of them below.

For example, I pretty much always make this brothy pot of beans, these burgers, and the smashed bean salad recipe that I’m sharing today with white beans.

However, white beans are versatile and can be used in so many ways. They can be added to any bowl or salad for protein. I love adding beans to pasta dishes: this beans & greens pasta is one of my favorites, and white beans are excellent in it.

Pile some white beans, or white beans and tomato sauce, onto your favorite toast or a burger bun. You can stuff them into a wrap, along with some vegetables and a good dressing, like my vegan Caesar.

White beans are excellent on top of savory oatmeal. They make a good addition to simple, whole grain dishes and to vegan risotto.

In short, there’s no shortage of ways to use these buttery-textured, nutrient-dense legumes.

If you need some more specific recipe inspiration, I’ve got you! Here are fifteen of my favorite ideas.

15 Nutritious Vegan White Bean Recipes

Best Brothy White Beans

These are the best brothy white beans! Turn a pound of dry white beans into a tender, savory, all-purpose vegan protein. This is a one-pot recipe that's versatile, simple to make, and freezer-friendly.

Get the recipe

Artichoke, White Bean & Quinoa Burgers

These vegan artichoke white bean burgers are packed with Mediterranean flavor and healthful ingredients! They're also gluten free and super versatile.

Get the recipe

Vegetable White Bean Pasta

This vegetable white bean pasta is an easy, one-dish meal that includes nutritious white beans and lots of fresh, summery produce.

Get the recipe

Vegan Kale White Bean Caesar Salad

This vegan kale white bean Caesar salad is a non-traditional take on the classic. It's made with kale, protein-packed white beans, and a cashew based dressing. It's exceptionally nutrient-dense and so satisfying.

Get the recipe

Cheesy Vegan Quinoa Bake

This cheesy vegan quinoa broccoli bake is the epitome of comfort food, but it's made with wholesome, plant-based ingredients, including quinoa, beans, and broccoli. It's kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and easy to make ahead.

Get the recipe

Creamy Vegan Kale White Bean Soup

This Italian-inspired, creamy vegan kale white bean soup is so nutritious. Silken tofu provides protein, and it's loaded with leafy greens.

Get the recipe

Pesto White Bean Bowls

These pesto white bean bowls are made with whole grains, white beans, and vegetables. The grain bowls are topped with vegan pesto. They're brimming with nutrients, colorful, and bursting with the flavors of summer!

Get the recipe

Artichoke White Bean Wraps

These white bean artichoke wraps are a tasty, healthful lunch idea. They're made with a garlicky white bean artichoke spread and nutrient-dense kale. I like to heat them up in a pan, similar to quesadillas, and serve them with a green herb dipping sauce!

Get the recipe

White Bean Avocado Panzanella

This non-traditional panzanella salad is made with a tart, creamy avocado dressing, tender white beans, zesty radishes, and pieces of your favorite bread. It's refreshing and light, yet filling, thanks to lots of healthful fats and fiber.

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Quinoa Bean Salad with Tahini and Pumpkin Seeds

This quinoa bean salad with tahini and pumpkin seeds is packed with nutrition, protein, fiber, and flavor! It's a fast and healthful lunch option that can be made ahead of time. It also happens to be a no oil vegan recipe.

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Warm Leek White Bean Salad

This warm leek white bean salad is perfect for winter. Leeks are sautéed and tossed with nutritious white beans in a Dijon vinaigrette, then served warm or at room temperature. Serve the recipe with lettuce leaves, over a bed of greens, or with your favorite crackers or toast.

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Vegan Spaghetti & White Bean Balls

This dish of spaghetti & white bean balls is a vegan interpretation of a classic pasta dinner! The white bean balls are great with marinara and spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine. However, they're a versatile vegan protein that can be served in many additional ways!

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White Bean Dip with Fresh Herbs

One of my older recipes for Food52, this dip remains a favorite of mine for the spring months!

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Polenta Tomato Tart with White Bean Spread

This polenta tomato tart with garlicky white bean spread and roasted cherry tomatoes looks fancy, but it's simple to prepare—and delicious! A perfect summer appetizer.

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Garlic Tahini Smashed White Bean Salad

If you like chickpea "tuna," then you need to try smashed white bean salad! It's a flavorful, protein-packed spread for toast, sandwiches, wraps, or dipping. This version is made with an irresistable roasted garlic tahini sauce.

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Garlic tahini smashed white bean salad

That last recipe—garlic tahini smashed white bean salad—has made a comeback in my kitchen in the last few weeks.

It’s an older recipe, but I remember loving it when I first made it, and it has stood the test of time.

Yes, chickpeas are great in a smashed bean salad. But white beans, especially cannellini and great northern beans, give them a run for their money.

The substantial size and creamy texture of these beans is great for mashing. The resulting bean salad has some mashed beans, some whole ones, and they’re all brought together by a savory, roasted garlic tahini dressing.

The smashed white bean salad is ideal for meal prep. Serve it in a wrap, on toast or in a sandwich, as part of a bowl, with vegetable crudités, or however you like. It can be part of lunch or a great snack.

If you’re as eager for lunch variety as I am these days, this is a good option to bookmark and enjoy all summer long. Here’s the recipe.

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15 Nutritious Vegan White Bean Recipes: Smashed White Bean Salad

If you like chickpea "tuna," then you need to try smashed white bean salad! It's a protein-packed spread for toast, sandwiches, wraps, or dipping. Plus, 15 of my favorite, nutritious vegan white bean recipes.

Course dip, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword beans, lunch, salad, tahini, white beans

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 1 head garlic, top sliced off crosswise
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup tahini (70g)
• 1/3 cup water (80ml)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 cups cooked white beans (480g cooked beans, or two 15oz / 425g cans, drained and rinsed)
• 1 large stalk celery, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1/4 cup lightly packed, chopped fresh herbs of choice (such as parsley, dill, or basil; 10g)
• Optional toppings or mix-ins of choice (such as microgreens, artichoke hearts, toasted pine nuts, or cashew parmesan cheese)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub the teaspoon of olive oil over the exposed garlic cloves. Wrap the whole head of garlic in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the head of garlic is very soft and the cloves are lightly golden.
• Place the tahini, water, lemon, mustard, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor. Squeeze all of the cloves of garlic from the roasted head into the blender. Blend the ingredients on high till creamy and smooth.
• Place the beans, celery, shallot, and herbs in a mixing bowl. Add about three quarters of the dressing (you may want to hold off on using all of it until you mix up the salad and see whether you'd like to use more). Use a potato masher or fork to mash the dressing up with the beans and to smash about half of the white beans (you want about half of them to stay intact, or adjust the texture to your liking).
• Taste the salad, add more dressing as needed, and season to taste with freshly ground black pepper, additional salt, and/or additional freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Spread the salad on toast and add any optional toppings you like, or serve it as desired. The smashed white bean salad will keep for up to four days in an airtight container in the fridge.

I’m always inspired by how the simplest and most foundational plant-based ingredients, beans and grains, can create countless meals.

If you love cooking with these foundational vegan ingredients and want more inspiration, you can check out my roundups of lentil recipes, sweet potato recipes, chickpea recipes, and quinoa recipes.

In the meantime, I hope that this post will spark or revive your love of white beans!

xo

The post 15 Nutritious Vegan White Bean Recipes appeared first on The Full Helping.

These light, tender vegan strawberry muffins are the perfect muffin for spring. They’re full of juicy, fresh strawberries, and they’re so easy to prepare.

Oh, these muffins.

I made them for the first time about three weeks ago, in a fit of excitement about the beginning of strawberry season. I kept the recipe simple: basically, a vanilla muffin with chopped strawberries folded in and a bit of sparkling sugar on top.

I was expecting to be happy with the recipe—I love both muffins and strawberries, after all—but I wasn’t prepared for how special these would be within their simplicity.

It’s the strawberries. Those juicy pockets of fruit become so sweet upon baking. With their presence, the strawberry muffins don’t need any bells or whistles.

This muffin recipe is all about fresh, seasonal fruit, and it’s better for it.

How to make vegan strawberry muffins

When I wrote about vegan buttermilk earlier this week, I mentioned that a lot of vegan baking recipes don’t actually require egg replacer.

I’ve found this to be especially true when it comes to quick breads: muffins, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and so on. It can also be true when it comes to vegan cake recipes.

This is possible with the right flour (or flours) and leavening agents. Eggs usually provide structure and leavening to baked goods, along with some richness, from fat.

It’s easy to create that same richness with plant-based fats, such as oil, vegan butter, nut or seed butter, or vegan yogurt.

Mimicking the effect of egg on leavening and structure/binding is trickier, yet very possible. Leavening agents, combined with something acidic (like vegan buttermilk), create rise.

Using a flour with gluten preserves structure. So can the right combination of gluten-free flours and starches.

All three of these ingredients—leavening agents, vegan buttermilk, and all-purpose flour—come together to make the vegan strawberry muffins work.

The muffins are light, but they still have structure. The muffin crumb is sturdy enough to support the fresh, diced strawberry pieces, without their collecting at the muffin bottoms.

Vegan strawberry muffin ingredients

Simplicity is the name of the game for this particular muffin recipe. Here’s what you’ll need.

Flour

I use unbleached, all-purpose flour for the vegan strawberry muffins, not to mention nearly all of my other baking endeavors. It gives me light, moist, fluffy treats with very consistent results.

If you’ve got your heart set on using a whole grain flour in the recipe, that’s OK. Just be prepared for the muffins to be slightly denser or more dry than they would be otherwise. I recommend white whole wheat flour for the best results.

If you bake gluten-free, I recommend an all-purpose flour and starch blend. This one is my favorite by far.

Leavening agents

I use my go-to combination of baking powder and soda in a 2:1 ratio for the strawberry muffins.

Vegan buttermilk

And in order to make those muffins rise, I use my vegan buttermilk.

This straightforward mixture of unsweetened, non-dairy milk and freshly squeezed lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) contributes some acid to the muffin batter.

In doing that, it sets off a neutralization reaction with the leavening agents, which are bases. That reaction produces tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide, which help the strawberry muffins to rise.

You can read more about how that magic happens in this post!

Melted vegan butter

I use melted butter as the fat source in the muffins. I like the way buttery flavor works in this recipe.

However, you can use a neutral-flavored vegetable oil to make the strawberry muffins, too. Refined avocado oil is my go-to for baking.

Cane sugar

The strawberry muffins are sweetened with cane sugar. If you like, you can use coconut sugar as a substitute.

Vanilla extract

These muffins benefit from just a hint of vanilla flavor. I use vanilla extract, but if you have vanilla powder or syrup instead, that’s fine.

Strawberries

The muffin recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of chopped, fresh strawberries. Typically I tell readers that frozen fruit is a fine substitute for fresh in baking recipes.

For these strawberry muffins, though, I think that it’s important to use fresh fruit. The texture and flavor of chopped, fresh strawberries is key in the recipe.

Sparkling sugar

Sparkling sugar is a shimmering sugar that can be used to very simply decorate muffins, scones, and cookies. It gives them just a tiny bit of irresistable, sugary crust on top.

Each time I mention sparkling sugar, I’m asked where it can be purchased. I really like the sparkling sugar from King Arthur Baking, which you can order from the KAB online shop.

However, you can also find a bunch of sparkling sugar options on Amazon. If you have a local cake decorating store or specialty baking store, you ought to be able to find it there, too. Sometimes sparkling sugar is even easy to locate in the baking section of a big grocery store.

If you don’t have sparkling sugar but you do happen to have demerara sugar in your pantry, you can use the latter instead.

Can I substitute blueberries for strawberries?

If you don’t have fresh strawberries, an alternative option is to use fresh blueberries in their place. Go for the same amount of fruit: 1 1/2 cups.

Meal prep & storage

Homemade muffins are without a doubt one of my favorite sweet breakfast foods for making ahead. I nearly always make a dozen and freeze half.

Homemade muffins make a wonderful, on-the-go light breakfast or sweet snack.

As far as breakfast goes, you could of course pair the strawberry muffins with all sorts of other foods. I like to have them with a cashew or almond yogurt and some additional, fresh strawberries.

You could serve them with some nuts or nut butter, a pat of vegan butter, a smoothie, or a nice, frothy oat milk latte. Or whatever else you might be in the mood for.

Store the muffins in a sealable container or resealable bag at room temperature for up to 2 days or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Room temperature storage will keep the muffins moist—fridge storage tends to dry out baked goods—but keeping them in the fridge will extend their freshness.

Can I freeze vegan strawberry muffins?

Definitely. The strawberry muffins can be wrapped or transferred to an airtight container and frozen, individually or in batches, for up to 6 weeks.

More treats for strawberry season

If reading this post makes you excited to bake, then you might enjoy these additional ways to savor fresh, juicy spring and summer strawberries:

• Easy vegan strawberry shortcake
• Strawberry pumpkin waffles
• Strawberry rhubarb crumble bars
• The best vegan strawberry scones
• Strawberry ginger chia pudding
• Vegan strawberry French toast casserole
• Chocolate strawberry quinoa breakfast bowls

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Vegan Strawberry Muffins

These light, tender vegan strawberry muffins are the perfect muffin for spring. They're full of juicy pockets of fresh strawberry, and they're so easy to prepare.

Course baked good, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American

Diet Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword baking, breakfast, muffins, strawberry

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (240g)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup vegan buttermilk (1 cup non-dairy milk + 1 T lemon juice, allowed to sit and mingle for 5 minutes or longer; 240mL)
• 6 tablespoons vegan butter, melted (85g)
• 3/4 cup cane sugar (145g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups diced, fresh strawberries (205g)
• 1/4 cup sparkling sugar (optional, for topping; substitute demerara sugar)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350F and oil or line a muffin baking pan with liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
• In another, medium mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet mixture. Use a spatula to fold the ingredients together, until you have a batter and no visible streaks of flours remain in the bowl. It's OK if the batter has small lumps—don't over-mix!
• Set aside 1/4 cup of the diced strawberries. Fold the rest of the strawberries into the batter gently, until they're just distributed.
• Use a muffin scoop or 1/2 cup measure to fill the muffin pan (each muffin container should be about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full). Dot the tops of the muffins with the remaining strawberry pieces. Sprinkle each top with 1 teaspoon sparkling sugar, if using.
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are puffy, set, and turning golden at their edges. As soon as the muffins are cool enough to handle, remove them from the pan and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool for 10-15 more minutes before enjoying.

I’ve made the strawberry muffins four times (!) since I first made them left than one month ago.

I’ve now shared them with yoga friends, gifted them to a friend on Mother’s Day, and enjoyed a batch all to myself. I’m happy to say that I still have some in my freezer.

I hope you’ll like them as much as I do. Here’s to spring.

xo

The post Vegan Strawberry Muffins appeared first on The Full Helping.

Vegan buttermilk is the trick to making perfect vegan muffins, cakes, pancakes, cornbread, biscuits, and other quick breads. Learn how to make it with this simple recipe!

I love any and all of the baked goods that qualify as quick breads.

These include muffins, scones, cornbread, waffles and pancakes, banana bread and zucchini bread, many cakes, brownies, cookies, and more.

All of these tasty breads use chemical leavening. They rise because of the chemical reactions that happen when a leavening agent—usually baking powder, baking soda, or a combination of both—is added to batter.

Acids play a key role in allowing leavening agents to do their job in baked goods. This is why buttermilk is such a useful ingredient in baked goods that include baking powder or baking soda.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten an email or a DM asking me whether I have a recipe or an idea for vegan buttermilk. Fortunately, I do, and it couldn’t be easier.

What is buttermilk?

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted buttermilk.

I was maybe eight or nine, and I was at my grandmother’s home. I saw what I thought was a quart of milk in the fridge.

I opened it, helped myself to a glass, took a big gulp, and promptly found myself spitting it out into the sink.

Of course it seemed to me that the milk was spoiled. It was thick, a little lumpy, and quite sour.

In fact, this was a quart of buttermilk. I was bewildered that anyone would voluntarily buy such a product at the store.

My grandmother explained that buttermilk was a good ingredient for pancakes and for baking. Some people, she told me, enjoyed drinking it plain.

The latter bit blew my mind. Even then, I was fascinated by baking, and I remember being curious about this mysterious liquid and its role in making homemade treats. Little did I know how much I’d come to rely on a vegan version one day.

Buttermilk is the by-product of making butter. When you whip or churn cream enough, you end up with butter, which consists of the fat and proteins from the cream.

You also end up with a liquid. It contains water, milk proteins, sugar in the form of lactose, and a little fat. This liquid can become buttermilk.

In the past, when people regularly churned butter at home, they would apparently leave the leftover liquid out at room temperature overnight. It would ferment, thicken, and turn into buttermilk.

Nowadays, commercial buttermilk is made by pasteurizing skim or low-fat milk, then adding cultures that initiate a controlled fermentation process. The fermentation process turns lactose into lactic acid, and characteristically sour buttermilk results.

Incidentally, the conversion of lactose to lactic acid means that buttermilk is lower in lactose than regular milk. It’s more tolerable for folks with lactose intolerance than regular milk.

How to make vegan buttermilk

Fortunately, the process of making vegan buttermilk at home is much less complex than either the old-fashioned or the commercial means of making regular buttermilk!

In fact, it’s as straightforward as adding an acid—my preference is freshly squeezed lemon juice—to non-dairy milk.

That’s it, really and truly. This “recipe” is not so much a recipe as a method and a ratio: one tablespoon acid for every cup of vegan milk.

After you add the acid to the non-dairy milk, you’ll allow the mixture to sit for at least five minutes. In this time, it curdles and thickens slightly.

At this point, the milk is ready for adding to baked goods. You can also store it for up to three days in an airtight container in the fridge.

What type of non-dairy milk is best for vegan buttermilk?

Over the years I’ve made homemade vegan buttermilk with most types of plant milk. In spite of the fact that regular buttermilk is relatively low in fat, I find that the best vegan milk options are those that have a slightly richer texture.

I usually use plain/unsweetened soy milk to make my homemade vegan buttermilk. The rest of the time, I reach for oat milk.

With that said, I’ve had success with both almond and cashew milk, too. I recommend choosing an almond milk that’s a bit thicker (think: Califia Farms) rather than thinner in texture (for example, Almond Breeze).

The plant milks that I don’t recommend for making vegan buttermilk are flax (too thin) and hemp (too distinctively hemp-y in flavor).

What type of acid can I use in vegan buttermilk?

Over time, I’ve come to prefer using freshly squeezed lemon juice in my vegan buttermilk.

However, vinegar will also work well for the recipe. I regularly use either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar to make vegan buttermilk at home.

One of the nice things about this preparation is that you can use what you have in your fridge or pantry, whipping up vegan buttermilk for baking at a moment’s notice.

Storing vegan buttermilk

Because it takes only minutes to prepare vegan buttermilk, I usually only make as much as I need at one time.

If you bake very often, though, you might choose to make a few cups of vegan buttermilk at a time. You can use some immediately and store the rest.

Vegan buttermilk will keep for up to three days in an airtight container in the fridge. I usually store it in a glass mason jar.

Why does buttermilk make quick breads rise?

As you whip up a cup of vegan buttermilk, you may wonder why, exactly, it helps vegan baked goods, pancakes, and waffles to rise.

The answer is that baking soda, which is a common chemical leavening agent in baking, is a base.

When baking soda is combined with an acid, including this vegan buttermilk, the acid neutralizes the base. That neutralization reaction creates carbon dioxide.

Tiny bubbles of the CO2 gas help baked goods to rise, puff up, and become the fluffy delights that we love to eat.

It’s worth noting that baking soda is one of two common chemical leavening agents in baking. The other is baking powder.

Baking powder, unlike baking soda, already has a weak, powdered acid added to it. This is commonly a combination of monocalcium phosphate and either sodium acid pyrophosphate or sodium aluminum sulfate.

Because baking powder has some acid in it already, it can create lightness and rise in baked goods without the need for adding an acid (like lemon juice or vinegar) to batter.

In all of my baking experiments, I’ve found that I have the best results when I use a combination of baking soda and baking powder. I usually use a 1:2 ratio of soda to powder.

And I nearly always bake with my vegan buttermilk in order to activate the baking soda in the recipe and enhance the rise that my two leavening agents create.

By the way, I often find myself telling people that it’s not necessary to replace eggs in many vegan baked goods.

It’s true that using a flax egg or aquafaba can be advantageous in certain recipes. But I’ve had great luck in preparing quick breads without any egg replacer.

I think that part of my success in bypassing egg replacer is the ability to create lightness—often aided with the use of egg in conventional baking—with the right combination of leavening agents and acid.

Vegan buttermilk contributes greatly to that result!

How to use vegan buttermilk

Unlike regular buttermilk, I wouldn’t recommend drinking vegan buttermilk on its own.

I do, however, recommend it for any and all of your quick bread needs. Here’s a sampling of recipes that will get a beautiful lift from it:

• Vegan Irish soda bread
• Pumpkin bread
• Classic banana bread
• Vanilla cake
• Vegan blueberry buckle
• The best vegan gingerbread cake
• Lemon cornmeal blueberry pancakes
• Pumpkin oat scones
• Banana walnut muffins
• Corn & jam muffins

My baking archives will supply you with plenty more ideas—and of course, I hope that you’ll find many creative, personal uses for this handy household staple.

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Homemade Vegan Buttermilk

Vegan buttermilk is the trick to making perfect vegan muffins, cakes, and quick breads. Learn how to make it with this simple recipe!

Course baked goods

Cuisine American

Diet Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword baking, dairy free, plant milk

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1 cup

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (substitute apple cider vinegar)
• 1 cup plain, unsweetened soy, oat, almond, or cashew milk

Instructions

• Add the lemon juice to your plant milk. Allow the milk to sit for at least 5 minutes, or until it has a slightly curdled appearance. Store or use immediately in your favorite baking recipes.

It’s no secret that baking is one of my big joys. More and more, I make jokes about quitting all of the various things that I do so that I can open a vegan bakery.

I doubt that’s in the cards, at least not anytime soon. But I can continue to create a steady rotation of sweet, fragrant, light and fluffy quick breads and treats here in my home.

I hope that this easy vegan buttermilk will help you to do the same.

xo

The post Homemade Vegan Buttermilk appeared first on The Full Helping.

This vegan dish of chickpeas à la King is cozy, comforting, and quite nostalgic for anyone who’s a fan of the traditional chicken recipe! It’s super quick and easy to make, and you can serve it over rice, toast, or whatever you like.

I ate quite a few Stouffer’s frozen dinners growing up, and I loved them.

I loved them specifically because they presented me with the classic, all-American comfort food dishes that my mom and grandmother didn’t tend to cook at home.

My mom’s family is Greek, so I was raised on the flavors of oregano, dill, garlic, tomato, and lemon. Lots and lots of lemon.

My Yaya’s table offered up traditional Greek fare: broiled keftedes, fragrant sheet pans of patates lemonates, tsoureki and kourabiedes at the holidays, and my personal favorite: slow cooked fasolakia, with its flavorful sauce of tomatoes and olive oil.

In spite of this, the women who raised me loved American comfort food. In fact, my mom’s two culinary specialties were meatloaf and tuna noodle casserole. Her favorites to purchase and heat up in the oven were chicken pot pie and crab cakes. Her grilled cheese was legendary.

My Yaya would choose Haagen-Daaz vanilla ice cream over baklava nine times out of ten. And she had two clear favorite Stouffer dinners, which became my two favorites as well: Turkey Tetrazzini and Chicken à la King.

How I loved those dishes, with their creamy textures and cozy, starchy accompaniments: mashed potatoes or rice. There’s a photo of me as a four-year-old, digging into a plastic tray of Turkey Tetrazzini with a fork and a gleeful expression on my face.

I’m still working on a vegan Tetrazzini of my own. But I think I’ve finally figured out an à la King recipe that fits my present-day life. It’s vegan, of course. And I chose my all-time favorite bean, chickpeas, as the protein.

What is chicken à la King?

Chicken à la King is a creamy dish of diced chicken, red or pimiento peppers, and mushrooms. It can be seasoned with sherry, though my version doesn’t include it, and I didn’t miss it.

Chicken à la King is typically served over cooked rice, toast, noodles, or a biscuit.

According to Wikipedia, there are a few apocryphal stories about the origins of this dish. One is that it was created at Delmonico’s restaurant in the 1880s. Another version claims that it originated at the same time, but across the pond, at Claridge’s Hotel in London.

There’s another tale linking the dish’s origins to a hotel in Brighton Beach, and yet another suggesting that it was created by a hotel cook (William “Bill” King) at the Bellevue in Philadelphia.

No matter the case, mentions of the dish appeared in the New York Times as early as 1893, and recipes for it were published in 1900 and 1905.

I was introduced to Chicken à la King via TV dinner. I thought it was tasty and comforting, but I became vegan before I had enough cooking know-how to try making it myself.

These chickpeas à la King are my first attempt at creating the dish at home. I was so happy with how easy they were to prepare. I love the versatility of the recipe, the fact that it can be served with/on top a few different starches.

Best of all, chickpeas à la king are as tasty, simple, and comforting as I remember.

Chickpeas for chicken

Clearly, the main departure I made in my à la King recipe was to use chickpeas in place of the traditional chicken.

Chickpeas are a go-to plant-protein for me. I love their creamy, satisfying texture, their plump, round shape, and the fact that they are super versatile.

I scramble chickpeas, blend them into hummus, simmer or puree them in soup, fold them into pasta, add them to grain salads, use them as the base of vegan meatloaf, and turn them into burgers. I’m constantly thinking of new, creative ways to use this nutritious legume in recipes.

The trick for chickpeas à la King was to season the beans in such a way that they’d stand in ably for chicken. That’s where Orrington Farm’s vegan chicken flavored base came in.

This broth base has become a VIP ingredient in my pantry.

As the name implies, this powder can be added to hot water in order to create a chicken-flavored broth that’s completely vegan. I now use it to season soy curls, make pots of soup, add umami and salty flavor to casseroles, and more.

Do you run out of cartons of store-bought vegetable and chicken broth all the time? Me too.

That’s why I love the chicken flavored base, along with Orrington Farm’s vegetable base, ham flavored base, and beef flavored base. Whether I’ve grocery shopped recently or not, I can always have a hot cup or two of broth ready to cook with at a moment’s notice.

The broth base jar contains enough powder to make a whole 28 cups of vegan chicken-style broth. It’s so convenient to have on hand.

And, if you don’t need to create broth, you can use the powder as a seasoning instead. I’ve added it to skillet meals, rice dishes, and stuffed peppers, among other dishes, for extra flavor.

A few other features of this versatile product: the broth base is gluten-free and made in small batches. For those who avoid MSG, it’s seasoned with sea salt instead. And it’s farmed in the US, in St. Louis, Missouri.

How to make vegan chickpeas à la King

In addition to being hearty, filling, and versatile, the chickpeas à la King are very easy to prepare!

You’ll start by sautéing onion, pepper, mushrooms, and garlic in vegan butter (or oil) for 8-10 minutes, or long enough for the mushrooms to release their juices and become tender.

Next, you’ll add some non-dairy milk and water to the skillet with the vegetables. This liquid will become the chickpeas’ creamy sauce.

In a small bowl, you’ll whisk together the Orrington Farms broth base, some additional water, flour, and nutritional yeast. This savory mixture is a slurry: a starchy liquid, usually made with flour or cornstarch, that goes on to thicken a dish.

You’ll add the slurry to the vegetables and simmer until their sauce is creamy. Then, you’ll fold in your cooked chickpeas.

From here, the only remaining steps are to warm the chickpeas through, taste them, and adjust your seasonings.

With that, chickpeas à la king are ready to eat.

When it comes to serving, you’ve got options! I like to pile the chickpeas over cooked rice or toast. But they’re also great over pasta or noodles, cooked quinoa, mashed potatoes, or biscuits.

Instead of serving the chickpeas à la king over a starch, you could choose to serve them over steamed or sautéed leafy greens or zucchini noodles instead.

Do I need to cook my chickpeas from scratch?

In a word, no. It’s my personal preference to use canned beans in my cooking 95% of the time.

I think it’s cool if you prefer to soak beans and scratch cook, but a pantry full of canned beans makes quick meals with plant-protein an easy reality.

Whether you cook from scratch or use canned beans, you’ll need 3 cups of cooked chickpeas for the recipe. That’s about two cans.

Chickpeas à la King ingredients

With simplicity and ease in mind, I kept the ingredients of the chickpeas à la King pretty simple.

You’ll need vegetables: onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, and garlic. There’s plenty of opportunity to vary the vegetables in this dish if you like. I want to try it with green peas. It would also be nice with green beans, chopped zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower florets, or diced carrot.

For seasoning, the Orrington Farms broth base packs a punch. I keep the seasonings simple otherwise: salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast for additional savoriness.

You can add herbs or spices that you love to the recipe. Parsley, tarragon, and paprika could all be good additions.

The creamy sauce in this recipe depends on flour for thickening and non-dairy milk. I used unsweetened, plain soy milk. However, you can use another plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk of choice, including oat milk, cashew milk, or almond milk.

I don’t recommend rice milk, as its texture is too thin for the recipe. I’d personally opt against coconut milk because it tends to make things taste coconutty, which isn’t the goal here. However, a lot of folks love cooking with coconut milk, and its creaminess certainly suits the recipe. If that’s your preference, then go for it.

Finally, I like to use vegan butter to sauté the vegetables at the start of preparing the chickpeas à la king. This is a comfort food recipe, and I think that the buttery flavor is authentic. However, both olive and avocado oil are a fine replacement if you prefer them.

Meal prep & storage

Once cooked, the chickpeas à la king will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.

The recipe is a good meal prep option because you can enjoy it through the week in a few different ways. Try varying the grain, starch, or vegetables that you serve it with.

You could even get creative and add the chickpeas to tofu scramble or add them to your favorite vegan lunch bowl.

Can I freeze chickpeas à la king?

Most definitely. The chickpeas à la king can be frozen for up to six weeks. Thaw overnight in the fridge and enjoy them when you’re ready.

More classic comfort food fare

If this recipe speaks to you, then you may share my love of cozy, comfort food classics.

Here are a few others that I love to make.

• Creamy vegan skillet lasagna
• Vegan grilled cheese & tomato soup
• Cheesy vegan quinoa broccoli bake
• Cozy vegan cauliflower gratin
• Vegan spinach lasagna rolls
• Eggplant baked rigatoni
• Red lentil chickpea loaf with mushroom gravy
• Carrot mac n’ cheese
• Mushroom vegetable shepherd’s pie
• Loaded garlic kale baked potatoes

It’s such a joy to savor vegan versions of these nostalgic favorites!

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Vegan Chickpeas à la King

This vegan dish of chickpeas à la King is cozy, comforting, and nostalgic for anyone who's a fan of the traditional chicken recipe. It's super quick and easy to make, and you can serve it over rice, toast, or whatever you like!

Course main, Main Course

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword chickpeas, comfort food, mushroom, quick and easy

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegan butter (substitute olive or avocado oil)
• 1 small white or yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 8 ounces sliced button or baby bella mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened, plain soy, oat, cashew, or almond milk
• 1 cup water (divided into 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (35 g)
• 4 teaspoons Orrington Farms Vegan Chicken Flavored Base
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (480g, or 2 15-ounce/425g cans, drained and rinsed)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Cooked rice, pasta, toast, or vegan biscuits, for serving
• Chopped green onion tops, chives, or fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Instructions

• Melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, pepper, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, or until the mushrooms have released their juices and are completely tender and reduced in size. 
• Turn the heat to medium high. Add the non-dairy milk and 3/4 cup water to the skillet and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup water, flour, chicken flavored base, and nutritional yeast until you have a smooth slurry. Add this mixture to the simmering vegetables and stir to combine. Turn the heat to low and continue to simmer until the sauce has thickened considerably, 2-3 minutes. Add the chickpeas to the skillet and warm through, about 2 more minutes. 
• Taste and add salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired. Serve the warm chickpeas and vegetables over cooked brown rice, pasta, toast, or vegan biscuits. Top with chopped green onion tops, chives, or parsley, if desired. Enjoy.

Another nice feature of the chickpeas à la king recipe? Like all comfort food, it’s especially nice when it’s cold out. But it’s not really a seasonal dish. I’ve been enjoying it so much as the weather warms up. And of course there’s lots of possibility to add in seasonal flourishes with the vegetables and herbs that you choose.

I hope that this recipe will come in handy on some evening when you need to quickly whip up a nutritious, filling vegan supper. And I hope you’ll explore the Orrington Farms vegan broth bases. They make meals like this all the easier and more convenient.

Till soon,

xo

This post is sponsored by Orrington Farms. All opinions are my own. Thanks for your support!

The post Vegan Chickpeas à la King appeared first on The Full Helping.

This is my favorite recipe for tempeh “bacon,” a smoky, salty staple in my sandwiches, wraps, salads, breakfast plates, and more. This tempeh is versatile, easy to prepare, and a great source of vegan protein.

Staple foods and plant-based basics continue!

If you missed this weekend’s weekend reading post, I came down with the flu on Saturday. I’m bouncing back, thanks in part to the Tamiflu that I qualified for when I went in to urgent care. But the first few days were rough, and I wasn’t feeling like myself in the days leading up to getting sick, either.

I was mighty grateful, therefore, to have some of my favorite vegan tempeh bacon in my fridge.

My batch of tempeh bacon made homemade vegan BLTs easy when I didn’t have the energy to make any other lunch. And it was a concentrated source of vegan protein that I could crumble onto homemade soup as I was recovering.

Tempeh bacon is something that I casually reference all the time on this blog. Just made tofu scramble? Add some tempeh bacon. Whipping up some potato or Brussels sprout hash? Tempeh bacon to the rescue. Want to add savoriness and a bolt of flavor to an otherwise simple salad? Tempeh bacon it is.

But I’ve never really shared my go-to recipe or process for making tempeh bacon here. Since I’m turning to this recipe more than ever, I figured it was about time to share.

What is tempeh bacon?

Good question. Tempeh bacon is sort of like “nooch” or cashew cheese insofar as it’s a food that longtime vegan eaters sometimes refer to without thinking.

People who are new to plant-based eating, on the other hand, may be baffled when they hear about it.

Tempeh “bacon” is a tempeh preparation that evokes bacon in its salty, smoky flavor profile. It can be used in recipes similarly to regular bacon: crumbled, chopped, or in strips.

What is tempeh?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, tempeh is a vegan protein made from soybeans.

Unlike tofu, which is also made from soybeans, tempeh is dense and has some texture. You’ll be able to tell that it’s made from a cake of whole beans. On the other hand, tofu is made from beans that have been crushed, boiled, turned into a soy “milk,” and then coagulated.

Tempeh has an earthy flavor. It can be on the bitter side, which is an effect that’s lessened if you steam it it before marinating and cooking it.

These days, I almost always steam my tempeh before cooking it. However, I don’t find steaming to be a necessary step in making tempeh bacon. The tempeh is sliced so thin and marinated with so much flavor here that you won’t catch any bitter flavor in the finished strips.

Tempeh health benefits

Tempeh is one of the most nutritionally rich plant-based ingredients to work with. First and foremost, it’s a great source of plant protein.

A 3-oz serving of tempeh has about 17 grams of protein. As a registered dietitian, I advise many of my nutrition clients to aim for about 20 grams of protein per meal (a recommendation that can go up or down with a person’s unique needs). 17 grams is a significant contribution to the protein content of any plate!

Tempeh is also a good source of dietary fiber, which may be beneficial for heart and digestive health. And it’s got a small amount of zinc, which is associated with strong immune function.

Tempeh is low in sodium and saturated fat, and it’s free of cholesterol. This makes it a great protein source for those who are managing cardiac concerns or high blood lipids.

How to make tempeh bacon

Fortunately, the process of making tempeh bacon is simple.

You’ll begin by mixing a 5-ingredient marinade together. Next, you’ll slice your block of tempeh into strips.

Tempeh can come in different shapes, depending on where you purchase it. In the US, it’s usually sold in 7.5- or 8-oz rectangular blocks.

I like to slice my tempeh width-wise along these blocks, into short strips. If you prefer, you can also slice it lengthwise.

Either way, I recommend strips that are about 1/4-inch thick.

Once your tempeh is sliced, you’ll need to submerge it in the marinade.

I usually marinate my tempeh in a glass storage container with a tight-fitting lid. I end up storing the tempeh in the fridge while it marinates, anyway, and the tight lid of this container makes it easy for me to shake the tempeh gently to disperse the marinade.

However, it’s also fine to marinate the tempeh in a shallow, rectangular or square baking dish, then cover it with cloth, aluminum foil or plastic wrap while it marinates.

The covered tempeh can marinate for as little as 2 hours or up to 48 hours in the fridge. I almost always let it marinate overnight, as the tempeh soaks up the most flavor this way. If two hours is the time that you have, though, 2 hours will be fine.

Next, you’ll bake the tempeh bacon in a 400°F oven for about 20-25 minutes, flipping the strips once halfway through the baking time.

When the tempeh bacon emerges from the oven, it ought to be browning, crisp along the edges, and ready for all of your bacon-worthy vegan recipes.

How to serve tempeh bacon

What might some of those recipes be?

I feel as though I use my tempeh bacon in and on just about everything. It frequently appears in my sandwiches and wraps at lunchtime. It’s great crumbled over soup or a vegan salad.

Tempeh bacon is the idea accompaniment to tofu scramble, of course, and it works well with so many other breakfast dishes. I like to put it onto avocado or hummus toast in particular.

Here’s are some other recipes that your tempeh bacon might like to live in or on:

Salads

• Farro breakfast salad
• Crispy broccoli Caesar
• Radicchio Brussels sprout salad
• Protein-packed bean & quinoa salad

Soups

• Split pea soup
• Creamy vegan potato leek soup
• Cream of broccoli quinoa soup
• Cauliflower corn or potato corn chowder
• Mushroom bulgur bean chili

Breakfasts

• Butternut squash hash with tofu
• Chickpea scramble
• Tofu scramble
• Black bean & scrambled tofu enchiladas

Pastas

• Avocado macaroni salad
• Creamy zucchini corn pasta
• Carrot mac n’ cheese
• Caramelized cabbage & onion pasta

Sandwiches & wraps

• Lentil tahini wraps
• Green goddess club sandwich
• Vegan grilled cheese
• Vegan chickpea Caesar wraps

Of course, this is just what comes to my mind. There are so many other possibilities for the tempeh bacon.

Remember also that, rather than using it in a proper recipe, you can simply add the tempeh bacon to any food or meal that could use a little boost of plant protein.

As you can see below, I really like to crumble it over steamed, roasted, or freshly sautéed green vegetables. This could be broccoli or broccolini, garlicky chard or spinach, steamed asparagus spears, sautéed zucchini, or massaged kale salad.

How to store tempeh bacon

Tempeh bacon can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days, or you can freeze it for up to six weeks. It keeps very well!

To reheat, you can warm the tempeh bacon strips up over low heat in a nonstick frying pan. You can alsoheat them in your air fryer or oven at 350 for about 5 minutes.

Celebrating tempeh

Over time, tempeh has become my favorite plant protein of all. I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy it, and I’ll continue to share my experiments here.

In the meantime, some of my other favorite, simple tempeh preparations:

• Lemon pepper baked tempeh cubes
• Tempeh meatballs
• Chili lime tempeh tacos
• Sheet pan tempeh & broccoli
• Tempeh vegetable pasta bowls
• Balsamic mustard baked tempeh
• 15-minute tempeh lunch salad
• Grits with tempeh sausage and Brussels sprouts
• Mashed potato holiday bowls

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My Favorite Vegan Tempeh Bacon

This is my favorite recipe for tempeh "bacon," a smoky, salty staple in my sandwiches, wraps, salads, breakfast plates, and more. This tempeh is versatile, easy to prepare, and a great source of vegan protein.

Course side, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword protein, tempeh

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Marinating time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos, soy sauce, or tamari (90mL)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (60mL)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 4 teaspoons maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 8 ounces tempeh, sliced crosswise into thin (1/4-inch) strips (225g)

Instructions

• Arrange the tempeh strips in a rectangular dish or storage container. It's fine if they need to overlap a bit.
• In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the tamari, vinegar, oil, maple syrup, and paprika. Pour this marinade over the tempeh strips. Tilt the container around in order to coat all of the strips in the marinade. Cover the container and transfer it to the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours.
• Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the tempeh strips from their marinade and arrange them on the baking sheet. 
• Bake the tempeh strips for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until browning and crisp along the edges. Use in recipes or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 days. 

I finished the last of my batch of tempeh bacon a few days ago, but I already have plans to start marinating another this weekend (hopefully as I whip up some tofu or chickpea scramble). It’s one of those foods that I make nearly every week, with no plans to stop anytime soon.

Maybe it’ll become a staple protein for you, too—something that you can turn to when you need quick, flavorful nutrition. I hope so!

xo

The post My Favorite Vegan Tempeh Bacon appeared first on The Full Helping.

This vegan pasta primavera is lemony and creamy, yet light. It’s a perfect celebration of fresh, green spring produce, and it can be adapted for other seasons of the year, too.

It has been blustery and brisk this week. It’s also that time of year when the heat stops coming up in the morning in my apartment in spite of the fact that it’s 40 degrees in the morning.

Springtime in New York City can be a chilly season. All the more reason for bright, springtime recipes in my kitchen—meals that promise warmer days ahead.

This lovely, springtime vegan pasta primavera is one of those. I made it a couple weeks ago, after a month or two of having little energy to cook more than staples.

It was my first time this year having fresh asparagus and sugar snap peas, and it was delightful.

I’ve made the pasta again since then, and I’m sure that it will become an April favorite for me. It’s so easy to make, and its simplicity is totally appropriate. Because it has only few ingredients, the fresh, crispy produce and hint of lemon zest shine.

This vegan pasta primavera features a light cream sauce. That sauce is achieved by using either vegan sour cream (homemade or store-bought), or my all-purpose cashew cream.

The effect is a pasta that’s just a little creamy and luxurious, but not as heavy as carbonara or alfredo—a perfect in-between for an in-between season.

What is pasta primavera?

Pasta primavera is an American pasta dish that originated in the 1970s. It’s attributed to chefs at Le Cirque restaurant in NYC. It’s made with vegetables and pasta, along with butter, cream, or both.

Pasta primavera recipes vary significantly. I’ve seen the dish made with green vegetables and spring produce, much like the recipe that I’m sharing today.

I’ve also seen pasta primavera recipes that call for broccoli, peppers, fresh tomatoes, carrots, red onion, zucchini, and more. This is an adaptable dish, one that can be made with vegetables that are available and in season.

How to make vegan pasta primavera

My recipe was inspired by two others: Melissa Clark’s pasta primavera with asparagus and peas, which is made with Greek yogurt, and J. Kenji López-Alt’s version with crème fraîche.

There isn’t much to veganizing this dish—really, the only task is to re-create the creamy component of pasta primavera without dairy.

The first option is to use the vegan sour cream that I posted last week. That sour cream is similar to crème fraîche, and it works beautifully in this light, fresh, springtime pasta dish.

The other option would be to use my all-purpose cashew cream, which (longtime readers know) I use in just about everything, from pasta dishes to scones and pie.

These two components are made in the same way: by blending soaked cashews and water in a high-speed blender or a food processor.

The recipes each give instructions for blending, soaking cashews, which cashews to choose, and more.

If you make the creamy component in advance, actually whipping up the pasta primavera is incredibly simple.

You’ll start by steaming your spring vegetables until they’re crisp-tender. Then, you’ll boil your pasta, reserving some cooking water to help bring the dish together at the end.

Next, you’ll sauté some shallots and garlic. At this point, you’ll add your cooked pasta, followed by the cashew cream, some cooking water, lemon zest and juice, and salt and pepper. As you stir everything together, a light cream sauce will envelop the pasta.

You’ll finish the recipe by folding your vegetables in. Garnish with cashew parmesan and/or fresh herbs, and you’re ready to eat.

Cashew cream substitutions

What if you don’t have either a food processor or a high-speed blender? Or you do have a cashew allergy?

That’s OK. I’ve experimented with a number of cashew cream substitutions, and I’ve landed on three that work well.

For each cup of cashew cream (or cashew sour cream) that’s called for in a recipe, substitute:

• 1/2 cup / 120g vegan cream cheese (nut-based or tofu-based) blended with 1/2 cup / 120ml water
• 1 cup / 220g silken tofu, blended till smooth
• 1 cup / 240ml unsweetened plain coconut yogurt

These options will work for this vegan pasta primavera, if cashews aren’t for you.

Spring pasta primavera ingredients

One of the things that I love about this dish is the relatively simple ingredient list. Here are the highlights.

Vegetables

My intention here was to take advantage of fresh, spring produce, and I chose my favorites: asparagus, sugar snap peas, and green peas.

You can celebrate the season with me, if the same vegetables are available near you. However, you can also modify the pasta dish to include the vegetables that you have at home. Here are some that you might like to try:

• Thinly sliced bell pepper strips
• Broccoli florets
• Cauliflower florets
• Chopped spinach, kale, broccoli rabe, or Swiss chard
• Thinly sliced zucchini or summer squash half moons
• Pearl onions
• Cherry tomatoes
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Julienned carrots

Pasta

90% of the time, I use regular old pasta to make my pasta suppers.

The remaining 10% of the time I use whole wheat pasta, or I reach for bean/lentil pasta. Legume-based pasta isn’t my favorite from a taste/texture perspective, but I do like its plant protein content.

You can use your pasta of choice in the vegan pasta primavera. Regular, whole grain, legume, gluten-free: it’s up to you.

4-ingredient vegan sour cream

As I mentioned, you can use vegan sour cream, regular cashew cream, or one of my suggested substitutes.

Lemon zest

“The lemon zest is everything,” said a friend who tasted this recipe, and it’s true. Because the ingredient list is so simple, this pop of flavor goes a long way. This definitely isn’t an ingredient to skip!

Finishing touches

Keeping in the theme of simplicity, your final garnishes on the pasta primavera can make a big difference. They provide a final, vibrant pop of flavor.

My favorite finishing touches? Fresh, chopped herbs (I like parsley), an extra bit of lemon zest, or cashew parmesan cheese.

You can use my favorite, homemade cashew parmesan cheese, or you can use a store-bought vegan parm.

Meal prep & storage

I think that the pasta primavera is a dish best whipped up right before eating. However, the pasta keeps nicely for up to three days. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

If you’d like to get a head start on the recipe, the best meal prep option is to make your cashew sour cream or all-purpose cream a day or two in advance.

In addition, it’s easy to freeze cashew cream. I freeze mine all the time; in fact, I often make double batches specifically to have extra in the freezer. Cashew cream can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.

Can I freeze the pasta primavera?

In spite of how nice it is to enjoy this dish right after it’s folded together, you won’t want to let any left over portions go to waste!

You can freeze the pasta primavera for up to four weeks, defrosting it in the fridge overnight before serving.

Celebrating spring

I love putting celebrating the bright green colors and fresh flavors of spring in my dishes. Here are a few other seasonal favorites:

• Green goddess spring socca
• Lemon orzo pasta salad
• Lentil beet salad
• Vegan, gluten-free mac n’ cheese with peas
• Green pea hummus tartine
• Balsamic tofu quinoa strawberry salad
• French lentil Niçoise salad
• Savory spring oats with tofu, spinach, and peas
• Tofu udon noodle salad with spring vegetables
• Barley asparagus mushroom risotto

Print

Vegan Spring Pasta Primavera

This vegan spring pasta primavera is lemony and creamy, yet light. It's a perfect celebration of fresh, green spring produce, and it can be adapted for other seasons of the year, too.

Course main, Main Course

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword asparagus, cashew cream, pasta, peas, spring

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 8 ounces asparagus, bottom ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (225g)
• 8 ounces stringless sugar snap peas, halved crosswise (225g)
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen and thawed green peas (100g)
• 8 ounces pasta of choice (225g)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 shallots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons cooking water (90mL; reserve 3/4 cup/180mL in case you need more)
• 4-6 tablespoons cashew sour cream or all-purpose cashew cream (60-90mL)
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (more as desired, for garnish)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus extra for pasta water
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Chopped fresh herbs, lemon zest, and/or cashew parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions

• Fill a large pot with a few inches of water and fit it with a steamer basket. Bring the water to a boil, then lower it to a simmer. Place the asparagus in the basket and steam for 3-4 minutes, or until bright green and tender. Remove the asparagus from the basket and transfer it to a colander or bowl for holding. Add the sugar snap peas to the steamer basket. Steam the snap peas for 2 minutes, or until bright green and crisp tender. Remove the peas and add them to the colander with the asparagus. Finally, add the peas to the steamer basket. Steam for 1-2 minutes, or until the peas are bright green and tender, then transfer them to the colander or bowl with the other vegetables. Set the vegetables aside. 
• Fill the pot with enough additional water to boil pasta. Salt the water and bring it to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions, or until cooked through but still slightly al dente (or to your liking). Drain the pasta, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking water. 
• In the meantime, heat the olive oil on medium low heat in a large, deep skillet. Add the shallots. Cook for 1 1/2-2 minutes, stirring constantly, or until the shallots are clear and tender. Add the garlic. Cook for another minute, stirring constantly, or until the garlic is very fragrant. Add the the pasta to the skillet, along with 6 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. Add 4 tablespoons of cashew sour cream or all-purpose cashew cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt to the skillet and stir to coat the pasta well. 
• Add the steamed vegetables. Fold everything together gently, heating the ingredients as you go. Add an additional couple tablespoons of the cooking water or cashew cream to loosen the pasta as needed; you’re aiming for a creamy, yet light, sauce. Add freshly ground pepper and additional salt or lemon juice as needed. 
• Serve the pasta right away, garnished with fresh chopped herbs or cashew parmesan, or store for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. The pasta can also be frozen for up to 4 weeks.

Notes

Inspired by Melissa Clark’s pasta primavera with asparagus and peas, which is made with Greek yogurt, and J. Kenji López-Alt’s pasta with spring vegetables.

I find it tough to cook these days unless I make things ahead of time, over the weekend. But one of the nice things about the pasta primavera is that it truly is a weeknight-friendly dish.

I’m hoping that you’ll have the time to enjoy it soon, on a springtime evening, maybe as you savor the lingering sunlight of lengthening days.

Till soon,

xo

The post Spring Vegan Pasta Primavera appeared first on The Full Helping.

This 4-ingredient vegan sour cream recipe will become your go-to for baked potatoes, chili, nachos, pasta salad, and more. It’s a homemade, plant-based staple that’s as easy to make as it is useful!

The parade of homemade vegan staple foods continues!

If I were an organized person, I’d have made this post part of a carefully curated series. But this blog reflects my life, for better or worse, and I’m featuring staples lately because they’re sometimes the only thing I have time and bandwidth to make.

That’s A-OK, though. Because, as I often remind my busy nutrition clients who have limited time to cook, a single homemade staple can become the foundation of a surprising number of meals.

What are staples, exactly? I guess this is individually defined. For me, staples are usually homemade vegan condiments and proteins. For example:

• Dressings for salads and bowls
• Crumbly cashew cheese for toast, salads, and pasta
• Cubes of tofu or tempeh for bowls, tacos, pasta, and stir fries
• A jar of sauce to elevate simple grain skillets
• Homemade hummus for sandwiches and snacking

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

And today, sour cream!

Specifically, 4-ingredient, cashew-based sour cream, for all of your creamy, tangy topping needs.

Cashews to the rescue (again)

Years ago, one of my editors at Food52 once asked me whether I always have a bowl full of cashews soaking in my apartment. My answer?

Yes. Pretty much yes.

Some people snack on cashews. I do that once in a while, but more often than not, I’m busy softening them in water so that I can blend them up into all the things.

All the things is only partly a manner of speech. Here’s what cashews get turned into in my kitchen:

• All-purpose cashew cream
• Vegan ricotta cheese
• Classic vegan cheesecake
• Vegan parmesan cheese
• Whipped cream
• Queso sauce
• Chocolate pudding
• Cashew cheese
• Pasta sauce
• Stretchy vegan yellow cheese sauce
• Creamy cashew cilantro sauce
• Melty vegan “mozzarella”
• Chocolate truffles
• The best vegan pumpkin pie

That’s not everything, but it does give you a sense of how versatile these humble nuts can be!

Cashews have a buttery texture that makes it easy to soak them, soften them, and turn them into rich, creamy dairy substitutes. Their flavor is neutral, so it can take on the flavor of the seasonings that you choose to add to cashew-based creations.

In the case of this vegan sour cream recipe, the trick is simply to add enough acid to the cashew cream to create a distinctive tangy flavor.

The trick to a perfect vegan sour cream

When I make my all-purpose cashew cream, I do often add a little lemon. This recipe takes the citrus up a notch for a hint of sour flavor.

For a long time, I made versions of vegan sour cream—some with tofu, some with cashews, one with coconut cream—that got their sourness from lemon juice alone.

This worked well enough. Over time, however, I became interested in trying different sources of acid. I tried white vinegar, red wine vinegar, and lime juice.

Ultimately, I found that lemon juice + lime juice together created the best flavor. They create a vegan sour cream that’s just sour enough.

The lime juice offsets the lemon juice a little, preventing the sour cream from tasting overtly lemony. Yet it still contributes a tangy quality.

If I didn’t use two types of acid, this would be a 3-ingredient recipe (not counting water). Thanks to the lemon + lime combo, it’s a 4-ingredient recipe: soaked and drained cashews, lemon juice, lime juice, and salt.

How to make vegan sour cream from cashews

This vegan sour cream is incredibly easy to make. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Soak

All recipes that call for blended cashews will benefit from a couple hours of cashew soaking time. This softens the cashews for smooth, even blending.

I recommend soaking cashews for at least two hours before blending them. More time is fine: up to overnight, if you like. When I soak cashews for two hours or less, I leave them out at room temperature. When I soak them overnight, I cover them and transfer them to the fridge.

If you’re in a rush, there’s a shortcut option: bring a pot of water to a boil, then pour the piping hot water over your cashews. Cashews soaked in very hot water will be ready to blend in 30 minutes.

Drain

Once your cashews have soaked long enough, you can drain them and rinse them, using a sieve or colander.

At this point, you’re ready to make the vegan sour cream.

Blend

Making the sour cream is as easy as adding the soaked cashews, lime juice, lemon juice, and salt to a high-speed blender or food processor, along with 2/3 cups water. I’ve included instructions for optimal blending within the recipe steps.

That’s pretty much the whole process: soak, drain, blend!

What type of cashews should I use?

For this vegan sour cream recipe and many others using blended cashews, I use cashew nuts that are labeled as raw.

Technically, this isn’t quite true. Cashews are hulled and roasted once before they’re commercially sold. This process makes them suitable for eating.

When cashews are sold as “raw,” it typically means that they aren’t salted or roasted for a second time, to the point of tasting nutty or browning. Sometimes the par-roasted cashews are sold as “unroasted” rather than raw.

In any case, you’re aiming to use cashews that are pale in color and not labeled as being roasted, toasted, or salted. Any of those latter varieties will end up affecting the flavor of the sour cream.

Do I need a high-speed blender?

It’s easiest to make the vegan sour cream in either a high-speed blender or a food processor that has 7 cups capacity or more.

High-speed blenders are definitely investments, but they do make nut-based dressings and sauces an easy reality. In addition, they have tons of other capacities, from perfect pureed soups to grinding up nuts and whole grains into nut butters and flours, respectively.

I have the Breville SuperQ, and I love it. There are many other options, including VitaMix and BlendTec models.

If you have a food processor, I give instructions for using it in place of a blender in the recipe. My Cuisinart food processor is the single most used appliance in my home, and it’s very good at blending up cashews!

If you have a regular blender, it’s still possible to make the vegan sour cream, especially if you soak your cashews for long enough. Just know that the sour cream may be more textured than it would be with a higher speed blender. It’ll still add the creaminess you want to your recipes!

Storage

The sour cream should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep this way for up to four days.

Since I live alone and sometimes don’t finish a batch at once, I like to portion the sour cream into small mason jars. I store one in the fridge and freeze one for later. That way, I can defrost a small amount whenever I have a baked potato or a quesadilla that’s asking for sour cream.

Can I freeze vegan sour cream?

Speaking of, yes you can! The sour cream can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.

If you freeze it in glassware (like the 4 ounce mason jars I mentioned above), then be sure to leave some headspace at the top of the jar. Liquids and food with high water content will expand in the freezer, so leaving headspace prevents shattering and cracks.

How to use vegan sour cream

The simple answer here is that you can use the cashew sour cream wherever you’d normally use sour cream. But here’s a roundup of recipes from my blog that I’ve used the sour cream in or on:

• Slow cooker black bean butternut chili
• Mushroom bulgur chili
• Red pepper sweet potato quesadillas
• Loaded garlic kale potatoes
• Creamy vegan potato leek soup
• Sweet potato skin nachos
• Slow cooker two lentil chili
• Chili lime tempeh tacos
• Black bean quinoa chili
• Hearty vegan chick’n bean chili
• Sweet potato black bean enchiladas
• Potato corn chowder
• Easy black bean sweet potato tacos
• Cream of broccoli quinoa soup

There are so many more possibilities. But in the meantime, here’s the simple recipe.

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4-Ingredient Vegan Sour Cream

This 4-ingredient vegan sour cream recipe will become your go-to for baked potatoes, chili, nachos, pasta salad, and more. It's a homemade, plant-based staple that's as easy to make as it is useful!

Course sauce

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword cashews, dairy free

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Soaking time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings 7 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Equipment

• High-speed blender
• food processor

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews (210 g; soaked for at least 2 hours and drained)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt

Instructions

• If using a high-speed blender: place all ingredients in your blender along with 2/3 cups water. Blend for 2-3 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the blender down, or until you have a thick, completely smooth cream. 
• If using a food processor: place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process for about 30 seconds, in order to break the cashews down. Stop and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor. Begin processing again, and while the processor is running, add 2/3 cup water to the machine in a thin stream. Process the cashew sour cream for a full 5 minutes, or until it's thick and very smooth. Stop as needed to scrape the sides of the processor down along the way.
• Taste the sour cream and add additional salt, lemon or lime juice to your liking. Serve or store.

Just looking at this image—cozy carbs and creamy textures—makes me smile.

I don’t think my greatest hits of basics and staple foods will stop anytime soon, as I continue to rely on them during this strange, busy time.

But the big news is that, last week, I made a new spring pasta recipe that I really love, and I’m eager to pass it along to you. For now,

xo

The post 4-Ingredient Vegan Sour Cream appeared first on The Full Helping.

This vegan ricotta cheese is ready in only 10 minutes! Made with cashews and tofu, it’s a nutritious, homemade staple that can be used in a variety of dishes. Plus, it’s creamy and so satisfying.

This has been the season of staples.

As you’ve probably gathered from my recent blog posts, I’m not doing a lot of cooking. When I do cook—once weekly, as part of my Sunday meal prep—I’ve been sticking to recipes that I know and love. There will soon be more time to experiment with new food, and I’m excited for that.

But for now, I’m relying on what’s tried-and-true. For example, rice, beans, tofu & greens, skillet lasagna, creamy mushroom pasta, mac and cheese, and my warm winter squash bowl (it’s no longer winter, but it’s still chilly!).

I’m also relying heavily on staples. I don’t think I’ve ever been more grateful for homemade vegan dressings, non-dairy cheeses, sauces, and simple proteins.

Having just one or two homemade staples in the fridge can transform a week of eating. A great sauce is the difference between a plain and a vibrant vegan skillet or bowl. A basic, homemade vegan protein can be served up in so many ways—over toast, in a bowl, on a salad, or with a bowl of soup.

I have a particular fondness for homemade vegan dairy alternatives. When I first became vegan, dairy was the thing that I missed most. As a result, I’ve put the most effort into homemade equivalents.

This ricotta is a favorite. It’s not new, exactly: it has evolved from past experiments and iterations. But it’s now my go-to vegan ricotta cheese, and it’s about time I shared the recipe on its own.

Cashews + tofu (the magic formula)

This vegan ricotta recipe grows out of others that I’ve tried. In particular, I’ve made past versions that were entirely cashew-based, similar to my go-to cashew cheese.

I’ve also made vegan ricotta using tofu. If you’ve tried the stuffed shells in Power Plates, then you’re familiar with the light, fluffy tofu ricotta and spinach mixture that fills them. I also use tofu ricotta in my summery eggplant rollatini.

Both cashew and tofu versions of vegan ricotta have their limitations, though.

While cashews make for a wonderful, spreadable cheese—similar to goat cheese—the texture of cashew-based ricotta is almost too dense to be authentic. Ricotta has a lightness to it, a whipped consistency, and cashews can become ever-so-slightly gluey when you blend them up.

On the other hand, tofu ricotta has lightness, but it doesn’t have the richness that you find in regular ricotta. On its own, tofu is pretty low in fat, so it’s tough to achieve creamy consistency and mouthfeel with it.

Cashews + tofu, though? Perfection.

Blending up cashews with tofu results in the vegan ricotta of my dreams. It’s rich, yet light; fluffy, but not crumbly.

This dynamic duo is now the base of the vegan ricotta that I’m sharing today, and which I use in so many recipes. It goes into my beloved vegan spinach lasagna rolls and my eggplant baked rigatoni, to name only two.

But I also spoon it on top of pasta + store-bought marinara when I’m feeling a little lazy. I add it to homemade vegan pizza. I fold it into salads; it’s especially nice with this lentil beet salad.

And, as you can see in some of the photos in this post, I Iove to spread the ricotta on a piece of toast, then drizzle it with agave syrup and finish it with a few flakes of Maldon sea salt.

While vegan ricotta is my focus today, it’s worth saying that the potential of cashews + tofu doesn’t stop here. I also use cashews along with silken tofu, rather than extra firm, to make my favorite vegan whipped cream!

How to make 10 minute vegan ricotta cheese

The process of making this vegan ricotta is so simple—hence the speedy preparation time.

You’ll start by pre-soaked cashews in a food processor fitted with the S blade, along with the seasonings for this recipe (lemon juice, salt + pepper, nutritional yeast, garlic powder).

You don’t need to blend the cashews thoroughly here. Just process them for a minute, or until they’ve been broken down and no large pieces remain.

Then, you’ll crumble your extra firm tofu into processor. I like to press my tofu while I’m soaking the cashews, so that it doesn’t add too much moisture to the ricotta. Pressed texture = fluffier vegan ricotta cheese.

At this point, you can continue to process the ricotta for a couple minutes. Stop a few times and scrape down the bowl of your food processor as you go.

At the end of this process, you’ll have a smooth, spreadable, light vegan ricotta. Taste the cheese, season it with extra salt or lemon as needed, and store it or start to enjoy it in recipes.

Do I have to soak my cashews?

In a word, yes. But there’s the option of a shortcut, if you need one.

Soaking cashews softens them slightly, so that they become easier to blend and process. It makes a big difference in preparing the recipe.

The good news is that you don’t have to soak your cashews for very long. If it’s easiest for you to pop them in the fridge and soak overnight, that’s fine. But 2 hours at room temperature does the trick.

If you’re in a rush, you can also bring a pot of water to boil, then pour the piping hot water over your cashews. Cashews that have been soaked in hot water like this will be ready for blending in just 30 minutes—a good, time-saving option when you’re in a rush.

What type of cashews should I use?

For this recipe, as well as my go-to cashew cheese, I use what’s labeled as “raw” or “unsalted and unroasted cashews.”

Technically, these cashews have actually been roasted once, after they’re shelled, in order to make them edible. But cashews that have been prepared this way are sold as “raw” in the sense that they’re not seasoned, and they don’t taste as if they’ve been toasted.

Tofu pressing 101

The extra-firm tofu that I use in the vegan ricotta should be pressed, if you have the opportunity to do that while your cashews soak.

Pressing tofu is easy. You can certainly use a commercial tofu press, if you like. I have one, simply because I cook with tofu very often.

But it’s easy enough to press tofu with plates or cutting boards. This post has some easy instructions.

Speaking of tofu, I generally use extra-firm tofu for my vegan ricotta cheese. However, regular firm tofu will also work in the recipe, if that’s what you have on hand.

Can you recommend a cashew substitute?

I rely on cashews for so many of my non-dairy staples. They’re neutral in flavor, which makes them versatile. They’re a source of healthful fats, and unlike traditional dairy or coconut, they’re low in saturated fat.

Best of all, cashews create wonderfully creamy and luxurious textures in plant-based cooking.

At the same time, I know that some of my readers have cashew allergies, which makes me feel badly about my cashew reliance!

If you’re allergic to cashews, but you can tolerate other nuts, then I recommend using pine nuts or macadamia nuts for this recipe and others.

If you’re allergic to all tree nuts, then my regular (cashew-free!) tofu ricotta will serve you well.

How long can I store vegan ricotta cheese?

The vegan ricotta should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to four days this way.

Can I freeze vegan ricotta?

Absolutely! Note that the texture of the ricotta might separate a little and become slightly less creamy after defrosting. This is normal, and it’s OK—the ricotta will still lend itself to great pasta dishes and more.

The vegan ricotta can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.

How to serve vegan ricotta cheese

Basically, you can serve this dairy-free ricotta in any of the ways you’d use traditional ricotta: as a spread, in pasta, etc.

Looking for more ideas? Here are some of the recipes that I like to use my vegan ricotta in or on.

• Eggplant baked rigatoni
• Spinach lasagna rolls
• Beans & greens pasta
• Lemon orzo pasta salad
• One-pot Italian quinoa and lentils
• Creamy vegan skillet lasagna
• Cozy vegan cauliflower gratin
• Lentil beet salad
• Braised lentils on toast
• Vegan pasta alla vecchia bettola
• Simple, vegan burst cherry tomato pasta

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10 Minute Vegan Ricotta Cheese

This vegan ricotta cheese is ready in only 10 minutes! Made with cashews and tofu, it's a nutritious, homemade staple that can be used in a variety of dishes. Plus, it's creamy and so satisfying.

Course condiment, dip, spread

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword cashews, food processor, staples, tofu

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Equipment

• food processor

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained (105 g)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 14-16 ounces extra firm tofu, pressed for at least 1 hour to remove moisture (1 standard-sized block tofu)

Instructions

• Place the cashews into a food processor fitted with the S blade. Add two tablespoons water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. Pulse a few times, then process for about a minute, to break the cashews down. Crumble the tofu into the processor. 
• Continue processing all ingredients for another 2 minutes, stopping a few times to scrape the sides of the processor down. When the ricotta is completely creamy and smooth, stop the processor. Taste and adjust the salt/pepper/lemon to your liking.
• Serve as desired or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

I’ve been thanking this community lately for sticking around and being supportive while my weekend reading posts are abridged (or even skipped).

In the same way, I’m grateful to all of you for tuning in even when my cooking is limited to staples and basics. I know how busy everyone is, and I know that many of us feel weary. So my hope is that these simple recipes feel as useful to you as they do to me.

If you’re looking for more basics, there’s cashew cheese, tofu cream cheese, date-sweetened BBQ sauce, yellow cheese sauce, cashew mozzarella, cashew parmesan, and much more to explore around here.

And I’m sure I’ll have a few more staples to share before this busy season ends! For now, friends, enjoy this easy vegan cheese.

xo

The post 10 Minute Vegan Ricotta Cheese appeared first on The Full Helping.

This is my favorite recipe for braised red cabbage! It’s tart, salty, and a little sweet, thanks to the addition of sliced apples.

I don’t post a lot of vegetable side dishes on this blog.

This isn’t really a conscious choice. It’s a product of my habits. More often than not, the vegetable sides that I serve with my dinners are very, very simple.

Think steamed broccoli or kale, a little salad with whatever dressing I have in the fridge, or some seasonal vegetable that’s simply roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper. All nutritious, all good, but not things that I think to share.

There are a few, slightly more thoughtful vegetable sides that I love. One is the miso butter Brussels sprouts that I shared in the fall. Another is some sort of massaged kale salad, often either my tahini mint kale salad or tofu feta kale salad.

When I want something that’s heartier than just a vegetable—a vegetable mixed with a whole grain—I really love this broccoli tabbouleh.

And then there’s braised cabbage.

Braised cabbage—it’s not the sexiest of recipe titles, is it? Yet it happens to be one of my trustiest, most beloved side dishes.

This humble veggie side is not only tasty, nutrient dense, and filling. It’s also versatile, easy to make, and it yields a big pot of cruciferous goodness, which means plenty of leftovers for the week.

Where I live, the ingredients for the recipe are available year-round. Because the dish incorporates apples, I tend to think of it as being a quintessential autumn and winter side. But, as I’m learning right now, it’s also great for the chilly days of late spring and beyond.

What is braising, exactly?

What does it mean to braise a vegetable?

Braising is what’s known as a combination cooking method—just a way of saying that it involves two different preparation techniques. It involves searing or sautéing something (usually meat or vegetables) at a high temperature, then adding liquid and simmering them over low heat.

The point is to create flavor from the high heat cooking, then to ensure a super tender texture through the slow simmering.

Technically, the cabbage itself in this recipe is only simmered. But the onions are browned first, which deepens the flavor of the whole dish.

Once the onions have browned a bit, you’ll add cabbage, apples, vinegar, salt, and broth to your pot. These ingredients are simmered for about 45 minutes, or until they’re very tender and flavorful.

Braised red cabbage ingredients

This recipe features a nice, short ingredient list. Here’s what you’ll need.

Red cabbage

You’ll need a single head of red cabbage to make the recipe. It should be small or medium-sized.

Heads of cabbage can range from being barely bigger than a closed fist to truly being the size of a human head. Use something in-between. After coring and thinly slicing or shredding, you should have about 1 3/4 lb of prepared cabbage.

Apples

This braised red cabbage recipe is based off of the cabbage component of the quinoa bowls with braised red cabbage, tofu, and Brussels sprouts in my cookbook, Power Plates.

I had tried braised cabbage before I made that recipe, but when I tested it for the book, I threw in apples for extra sweetness, nutrition, texture, and flavor. I loved the addition; it gave the cabbage more complexity and brightened all of the sweet/savory notes in the recipe.

I’ve added apples to my braised red cabbage ever since. Any variety of apple should work here, but I usually reach for honeycrisp, Fuji, or gala apples, which are the ones I tend to have in my fridge year-round.

Onions + brown sugar

The dry heat portion of cooking the braised red cabbage is to sauté onions and brown sugar for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are sweet, tender, and browning.

Do you have to add the brown sugar? No, you can choose to omit it. I recommend, it, though. The sugar will help the onions to brown and enhance their flavor. It will also help to give the braised red cabbage all of its intended sweet and savory notes.

As for the onion, I’ve made this recipe with white, yellow, and red onions. They’ve all worked very well, so you can go ahead and use what you have.

Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar adds acidity and tartness to the braised cabbage. If you don’t have ACV at home, you can try white wine vinegar as a substitute.

Salt

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is what I cook with at home, and I use between 1 1/2 and 2 teaspoons in this recipe.

You should adjust the salt in the recipe according to a few factors. First, how salty is your vegetable broth? Low sodium broth will call for more salt, regular broth may require less.

Second, how salty is your salt? Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt has less salinity than fine sea salt. If you use fine sea salt in the recipe, I recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon and salting to taste at the end of cooking.

Vegetable broth

You can use your favorite vegetable broth, homemade or store-bought, to prepare the braised cabbage. A vegan no-chicken broth will also work well, as will vegan chicken-style bouillon.

As you braise the cabbage, you may need to add an extra splash of broth. Check the cabbage a few times as it simmers to make sure there’s some cooking liquid in the pot. There should be enough to continue cooking the vegetables, about an inch or two.

Do I need to use red cabbage?

Not at all. Green cabbage will also work well in this recipe.

All varieties of cabbage are rich in nutrition. Cabbage is a great source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Vitamin B6.

However, I’m especially fond of red cabbage (also known as purple cabbage, which I guess is a more accurate description).

That vibrant color means that the cabbage is a great source of anthocyanins, chemical compounds that may be beneficial for heart health and even have an anti-cancer effect.

Plus, red cabbage is just so pretty to look at!

How to serve braised red cabbage

I find that the braised cabbage works fits nicely into a ton of different meals. It’s a great component to add to your favorite vegan lunch bowl, for starters.

Braised cabbage is also a good side dish to serve with a favorite plant protein. I’d recommend this recipe to go alongside my lemon pepper baked tempeh, balsamic mustard baked tempeh, balsamic baked tofu, your favorite preparation of seitan, or brothy white beans.

If you feel like staying within the braising theme, you could try the cabbage with my braised lentils on toast or my great big pot of braised beans and kale.

Another idea: have a scoop of the braised cabbage with your favorite lunch toast or sandwich for some extra nutrition. I love to have it with my miso tahini vegetable sandwich, fifteen minute tempeh lunch salad, tofu egg salad, and lentil tahini wraps.

Finally, you can make your favorite salad even more flavorful and colorful by tossing in a cup or two of the braised red cabbage.

I love raw, shredded red cabbage in my salads, but the cooked cabbage is more inherently flavorful as a salad mix-in. It’s an especially nice addition to grain salads, like this farro salad with balsamic roasted cauliflower or my lemony bulgur chickpea salad.

Meal prep & storage

Braised red cabbage is an easy, convenient dish to meal prep on weekends. It makes about six servings, and it can be stored for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge.

The cabbage also freezes very well. You can freeze extra portions for up to six weeks, defrosting them whenever you need a nutritious, colorful, vibrant veggie to enliven your meals.

More favorite vegetable side dishes

When I do branch out beyond steamed broccoli for my dinner sides, here are some of the favorites that I reach for:

• Tofu feta kale salad
• Perfect winter chopped salad
• Miso butter Brussels sprouts
• Super simple, very green soup
• Broccoli tabbouleh
• Roasted broccoli with smashed root vegetables
• Quinoa kale stuffed sweet potato skins
• Tahini mint kale salad
• Sweet potato roasted red pepper soup

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Braised Red Cabbage

This is my favorite recipe for braised red cabbage! It's tart, salty, and a little sweet, thanks to the addition of sliced apples.

Course side, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword apples, cabbage, onion

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large or two medium/small red onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons salt*
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 medium red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (about 1 3/4 lb / 800 g after preparation)
• 2 large honeycrisp, Fuji, or gala apples, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (360 ml)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the onion is very tender and clear. 
• Stir in the salt, vinegar, cabbage, apple, and broth. Bring the broth to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, until the cabbage is very tender. Stir everything a few times during cooking.
• Season the cabbage with pepper, then taste and adjust the salt or vinegar if desired. Serve.

Notes

*The amount of salt you need will depend on how salty your broth is and also on what type of salt you use. I use 1 1/2-2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, which is as salty as 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. You may wish to begin with 1 teaspoon, taste the braised cabbage, and add salt to your liking.

I’ve made quite a few pots of this cabbage over the last few weeks, and I’m happy to still have some in my freezer. I’ll be prepping the usual pots of grains and jars of sauce/dressing this weekend, and it’ll be just the thing to serve them with.

Hope you’ll enjoy this simple, nourishing staple, too. Happy hump day!

xo

The post My Favorite Braised Red Cabbage appeared first on The Full Helping.

This warm winter squash bowl is grounding, nourishing, and wholesome. It combines sweet, roasted winter squash with gently steamed kale and a slightly spicy harissa tahini dressing.

Here we are, perched on the cusp of spring. But as is always the case where I live at this time of year, we’re flirting with a few spring-like days while also having a foot firmly planted in winter.

I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I don’t hate winter one bit. Right now I’m actually savoring the last month of chilly days and the warm, grounding food they encourage.

This warm winter squash bowl is a perfect example of the cozy, nourishing stuff I’ve been enjoying lately. On its own, it can be a simple, yet filling lunch. You can also make it more of a power plate by adding chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, or another vegan protein that you love.

I really like the variety of tastes in this bowl. The squash is sweet and earthy, the kale is a little bitter. The pumpkin seeds are nutty, and the tahini dressing has a bit of heat, thanks to the addition of harissa.

All in all, the ingredients add up to something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I love to eat nearly all of the things in this bowl, but I especially love them together.

How to make a warm winter squash bowl

There are a few components to prepare for this recipe, but none of the steps in making it are overly laborious.

You’ll begin by roasting sweet, bright orange winter squash cubes. I do this simply, with avocado oil, salt, and pepper.

Be sure to space the squash cubes in a single, even layer on your baking sheet. If they’re too close, they won’t crisp up nicely along their edges in the oven—and that’s part of the beauty of roasted vegetables.

Toward the end of the squash’s roasting time, you’ll put some pepitas (or another seed) on another, rimmed baking sheet. You’ll pop them into the oven to toast for about 5 minutes, or until they smell nutty and have darkened in color a little.

You can coat the seeds in oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper, if you like. I really like the bitter, nutty flavor of toasted pepitas, and I find that I can taste it more when I leave the seeds unadorned. It’s totally up to you.

In the meantime, while the squash cooks, you’ll steam some kale, which is the other starring ingredient in the squash bowl. You can use curly or Lacinato kale. If there’s another dark, leafy green that you prefer, you can feel free to substitute it in the recipe.

The other step you’ll take while the squash roasts is to whisk together a harissa tahini dressing. I’ve been adding harissa to a few dressings lately, and I love its subtle heat.

Keep in mind that harissa brands do vary in their level of spiciness, so you should adjust the amount depending on what you have and your preference.

After all this is taken care of, you’ll assemble the squash bowls by layering ingredients together. Grab a fork, dig in, and enjoy.

What type of winter squash should I use?

These squash bowls were originally inspired by a menu item at The Hi Hi Room, in Brooklyn. It featured a few different types of roasted winter squash, and I’d invite you to also use a variety here, if you like.

I’ve made the recipe with combinations of butternut squash, acorn squash, kabocha squash, and delicata squash. I’m sure that other winter squash varieties, including red kuri, honeynut, and sweet dumpling, would work, too.

You can choose to use a single type of squash, or you can use a combination of two or more, as I usually do.

Serving suggestions

There’s something lovely about the simplicity of the squash bowl, all on its own. But as most longtime readers know—and my nutrition clients know all too well!—I’m big on emphasizing plant protein in meals.

So, you have my full encouragement if you’d like to bump up the protein in this recipe by adding your favorite plant-based source. Here are some options:

• Chickpeas (or a cooked bean of choice)
• Lentils
• Baked balsamic tofu
• Balsamic mustard baked tempeh
• Lemon pepper tempeh
• Tofu feta
• Tempeh meatballs
• Chickpea oat balls
• Sweet potato black bean burgers
• Artichoke white bean burgers

Other additions that might be fun here:

• Cashew parmesan
• Cashew cheese
• A cooked whole grain
• Raw veggies of choice, for a little crunch

Meal prep & storage

Pretty much every component of the winter squash bowl can be made ahead of time:

• The winter squash can be roasted a few days prior to bowl assembly.
• You can toast the pepitas and store them in the fridge for up to a week.
• Kale can be steamed 1-2 days before you make the bowls.
• The harissa tahini dressing will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.

I like to store components of the winter squash bowls in separate, airtight containers in the fridge, layering and assembling right before I eat. However, you can also store a prepared and dressed bowl in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

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Warm Winter Squash Bowl

This warm winter squash bowl is grounding, nourishing, and wholesome. It combines sweet, roasted winter squash with gently steamed kale and a slightly spicy harissa tahini dressing.

Course main, Main Course

Diet Diabetic, Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword butternut squash, kale, pepitas, tahini

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

For the bowls

• 2 1/2 lb winter squash of choice (I like to use a mix of acorn, butternut, and delicata), cut into 3/4-1 inch cubes (about heaping 8 cups)
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1/4 cup pepitas, pine nuts, or shelled sunflower seeds
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch curly or Lacinato kale, stemmed and chopped

For the harissa tahini dressing

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tablespoon harissa (adjust the amount to suit your preferred level of heat)
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
• 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2-4 tablespoons water, to thin

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. Spread the squash in an even, single layer on the sheet. Drizzle the avocado oil over the squash and mix it with your hands to coat. Sprinkle the squash generously with salt and pepper. Transfer the squash to the oven. Roast the squash for 30 minutes, stirring the pieces on the sheet halfway through roasting, or until the squash pieces are turning golden at the ends and tender. 
• Line another baking sheet with parchment. In the last 5 minutes of the squash's roasting time, place your seeds of choice on to the second baking sheet and transfer the seeds to the oven to toast. They should toast in 5-7 minutes; the aim is for them to be just golden, as they'll continue to cook for a few minutes after you remove them from heat. 
• While the squash cooks, fit a pot of boiling water with a steamer attachment. Steam the kale for 3 minutes, or until it's just tender. Remove the kale from heat. 
• Whisk the harissa tahini ingredients together, starting with 2 tablespoons of water. Continue adding just enough water as needed to create a thick, yet pourable dressing.
• To serve right away, transfer the roasted squash to a mixing bowl. Add the steamed kale. Pour about 1/4-1/3 cup of the dressing over the ingredients and fold everything together gently. Divide the squash and kale mixture into bowls. Top with the toasted seeds and an extra drizzle of the dressing right before serving. Alternatively, you can store the separate components in airtight containers in the fridge, and assemble them into bowls when ready.

Speaking of winter and spring, cold and warmth, I actually happen to have escaped for a few days to Florida this week. I’m with my best friend and her family, and while I delayed the decision to come here—I was too swamped with work, too down, too tired, I told myself—I’m so happy that I got away.

More on that this weekend, though. For now, I hope you’ll enjoy this tasty, nutrient-rich, flavorful little bowl as much as I do.

xo

The post Warm Winter Squash Bowl appeared first on The Full Helping.

This vegan yellow cheese sauce has a melty texture and is so versatile. Use it over nachos, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, or casseroles. It also makes a perfect vegan grilled cheese sandwich!

Hey friends. Still feeling the limited capacities and inward pull as I work away on my manuscript and ride the wave of everything else.

Many of you have asked me about weekend reading posts, and don’t worry, they’re not going anywhere. I’ll be getting back into the swing of them when I can. Right now, I can only do what I can do.

In spite of all this, I’m at least being consistent with my weekly meal prep. Having lunches and dinners taken care of for the week gives me so much peace of mind. And I’ve recently discovered that this vegan yellow cheese sauce is a meal prep hero.

The sauce isn’t brand new. It’s almost exactly the same mixture that I use to make my favorite, homemade vegan grilled cheese sandwiches. Over the weekend I was craving a baked potato with cheese sauce, and I asked myself whether it would work that way—as a condiment, rather than a sandwich filling.

It really does. On top of that, it’s easy to make, and it’s more wholesome than some of the commercial vegan cheeses out there. You can use it in all sorts of ways, and I’m now so hooked on it that I thought it deserved a post of its own.

What is yellow cheese sauce?

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to call this. Cheddar sauce? It’s not quite as sharp as cheddar, but it’s not too far off. Think mild cheddar meets American cheese—it’s someplace in that flavor zone.

The cheese sauce is thicker and less pourable than a lot of my other sauces, and it’s supposed to be. It’s a little melty and gooey, which is what makes it cheese-like.

How to make vegan yellow cheese sauce

This is one of a very few creamy sauces in my cooking arsenal that isn’t made with blended cashews! (Good news for people with cashew or tree nut allergies.)

Instead, I use a non-dairy milk base. The milk should be unsweetened. My go-to is oat or soy, but I’ve also used unsweetened almond and cashew milks in the recipe, and they work well, too. The sauce gets some additional creaminess from tahini.

The source of melty, stretchy consistency in the cheese sauce is a mixture of flour (1/4 cup) and cornstarch (1 tablespoon).

You’ll begin by blending the sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender till smooth.

Next, you’ll warm the mixture in a saucepan over medium low heat. It’s important to stir constantly with a spoon or a whisk as you go, so that the sauce doesn’t develop lumps as it thickens up.

Be aware that the sauce will thicken up quickly! It’ll be very liquidy, very liquidy, and then suddenly quite a bit thicker. When it’s ready, the texture will be smooth, shiny, and melty.

Variations and substitutions

Depending on your health needs or food allergies/sensitivities, there are a few ingredients you might wish to substitute in the recipe.

Tahini

If you have a sesame allergy, then you can use cashew butter in place of the tahini—it works really well. If you’re allergic to both nuts and seeds, then you can try using 1/4 cup of a tofu-based vegan cream cheese (like Tofutti).

All-purpose flour

You can easily make the cheese sauce gluten-free by using a gluten-free, all-purpose flour blend. I love the Measure for Measure flour from King Arthur.

Cornstarch

The cornstarch can be replaced with either arrowroot or double the amount of tapioca starch. Either will work well.

Meal prep and storage

Clearly, this sauce is one that I like to make ahead of time. But what about storage and reheating?

The cheese sauce will keep for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be frozen for up to six weeks, too. The recipe makes about about one and a half cups total.

The cheese sauce will solidify a lot when you store it. However, it’s not hard to bring it back to a melty, sauce-like consistency. To do so, just heat the sauce in a saucepan over low heat, adding a splash of non-dairy milk to help loosen it up.

Stir constantly as you heat the sauce, until it’s once again its original consistency.

What can I do with yellow cheese sauce?

My favorite thing about this sauce is its versatility. There’s no more worthy thing to meal prep each week than a component that can be used in many different ways. For me, this includes:

• Hummus or dips that can be turned into snacks with crudités or chips, sandwich spreads, or filling for a dairy-free quesadilla
• Sauces to pair with grain bowls or grain & bean skillets, salads, and more
• Braised lentils or brothy beans to pair with grains, toast, veggies, and more
• Pasta salads or grain salads that can serve as quick lunches or dinner sides
• Baked tofu and tempeh for adding protein to anything and everything: breakfast tacos, lunch wraps, bowls, salads, dinner plates, or even as soup toppers

The yellow cheese sauce falls easily into this category. Here are just a few ways you might use it as the week goes by:

• On a baked potato (of course!)
• Over steamed broccoli
• In a grilled cheese
• Over nachos
• In a vegan quesadilla
• Over a casserole
• As a sauce for quick, stovetop mac n’ cheese
• In this skillet pasta dish
• With your favorite tofu scramble
• In a vegan burrito
• As a topping for vegan enchiladas

That’s all just a starting point. There’s so much more possibility here. I’m going to start keeping a jar full of the cheese sauce in my fridge or freezer for any and all occasions.

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Vegan Yellow Cheese Sauce

This vegan yellow cheese sauce has a melty texture and is so versatile. Use it over nachos, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, or casseroles. It also makes a perfect vegan grilled cheese sandwich!

Course sauce

Cuisine American

Diet Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword nutritional yeast, sauce, tahini

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 1.5 cups

Author Gena Hamshaw

Equipment

• blender

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened oat, soy, almond, or cashew milk (360 ml)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons tahini (30 g; substitute cashew butter)
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (35 g)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder (10 g; substitute 2 tablespoons tapioca starch)
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Blend all ingredients in a blender till smooth. Transfer this mixture to a medium sized saucepan.
• Heat the cheese sauce over medium low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or spoon as you go. Continue heating for 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens rapidly. Stir vigorously as you go, so that the cheese sauce doesn't form clumps. When the sauce appears thick, smooth, and a little shiny, it's ready.
• Use the cheese sauce immediately or store for future use.

Notes

The cheese is adapted from the “Melty White Cheeze” in Jo Stepaniak’s The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. 

I didn’t set any new years resolutions in January, but I have been trying to make more every day staples from scratch. I don’t stop myself from buying vegan meats or frozen meals or any other convenient product when I want it.

But I really like homemade dressings, sauces, and dips. And I was making vegan cheese at home long before store-bought was a very good option.

This yellow cheese sauce will now join my go-to cashew cheese recipe, tofu feta, and melty vegan cashew mozzarella as a DIY, dairy-free cheese that I can rely on week to week. And I’m really happy about it.

Hope you’ll find the recipe to be useful, too. And I’ll be back before too long, with some thoughts for NEDA week and some new food.

xo

The post Vegan Yellow Cheese Sauce appeared first on The Full Helping.

Rich in protein, folate, fiber, zinc, and iron, quinoa is one of the most nutritious staple foods available to plant-based eaters. These 25 nutritious vegan quinoa recipes demonstrate how versatile and delicious quinoa can be. You’ll find options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

When I had been vegan for only a few weeks, I started to notice a lot of recipes that called for quinoa.

The grain was completely new to me. I had never heard of it before, never seen it or eaten it. While whole grains are absolutely a staple of my diet now—the foundation of my diet, really—I didn’t grow up eating many of them. We ate pasta and rice on occasion, and that was it.

I had no clue how to pronounce quinoa. But I decided to pick it up at my health food store and give it a try.

The first thing I liked about this little grain (which is actually a pseudograin, or an edible seed), was that it cooked in less than fifteen minutes. I had been struggling to figure out how to cook rice properly and felt as though I was always waiting for brown rice to be ready. A short cook time was very appealing.

I also loved the nutty flavor and aroma of quinoa. I liked its pillowy texture. It was filling and light at the same time, equally good for cold salads and for warm main dishes.

It was basically love at first bite. And in the many years since, quinoa has remained one of the pantry ingredients that I use most often. I’d go as far as to say that rarely a week goes by when I don’t eat it once or twice.

January always feels like a good time to reconnect with foundational ingredients—the simple, nourishing plant foods that keep me going. Some examples are chickpeas, lentils, sweet potatoes, tofu, tempeh, and all sorts of whole grains.

Quinoa rises to the top of this list. So, what better time for a quinoa appreciation post and quinoa recipe roundup?

Quinoa nutrition

Of the many reasons to love quinoa, excellent nutrition is at the top of the list. Quinoa is an especially nutrient-dense complex carb, and here are a few of the nutrients you’ll find in it.

Protein

With six grams of protein per serving—which is about a cup, cooked—quinoa is higher in protein than other gluten-free whole grains. It’s comparable in protein to bulgur wheat, farro, and other forms of wheat.

When you combine quinoa with other good sources of plant protein, like beans, tofu, tempeh, or seitan, you’re well on the way to a protein-rich meal. This quinoa protein bowl is a good example of that, and it’s one of my favorite, older blog recipes.

Quinoa happens to be a complete protein, which means that it contains all of the essential amino acids (those are the ones we have to obtain from food, because our bodies don’t produce them endogenously).

This isn’t something I focus on too much, as we don’t have to obtain the essential amino acids within a single food source or meal. What matters is that we eat enough variety overall to source all of the essential amino acids on a regular basis.

Still, I like that quinoa has a diverse and fulsome amino acid profile—it’s just another cool feature of this nutritious grain.

Fiber

A serving of quinoa has nearly 20% of the daily recommended dietary allowance of dietary fiber. This is good news for digestive function and health. Higher fiber diets are also associated with healthy blood lipids and cardiac health.

Zinc

A cup of cooked quinoa provides about 18% of the RDA of zinc for men and 25% of the RDA of zinc for women. This is an impressive amount, and quinoa is one of the dietary sources of zinc that I recommend most often to my clients.

Iron

A cup of cooked quinoa contains about 2.8 milligrams of iron, which is about 16% of the RDA for premenopausal women. It’s 35% (!) of the RDA of iron for men of all ages and postmenopausal women.

For more on how to combine quinoa with other iron-rich foods and ensure adequacy of iron on a vegan diet, you can check out this post.

Folate

Folate is a B vitamin that plays a crucial role in DNA synthesis. Not surprisingly, it becomes particularly important during times of rapid growth, including pregnancy.

Insufficient folate status is associated with neural tube defects in pregnancy. A supplement of folic acid—which is the synthetic form of folate—is recommended for pregnant women and women who are trying to become pregnant.

Throughout the rest of the life cycle, it’s important to get folate through food sources. Quinoa is a powerful one. A serving of cooked quinoa has about 20% of the RDA of folate. (Other folate sources include dark leafy greens, fortified cereals, dry beans, peanuts, oranges, avocado, and strawberries.)

Magnesium

When we think about magnesium in food, our minds often turn to bananas and coconut water. Yet there are lots of other plant-based sources of this mineral, which plays an important role in bone health, muscle and nerve function, and regulation of blood pressure.

These sources include beans, greens, oatmeal, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and—you guessed it—quinoa. A cup of quinoa provides nearly 30% of the RDA of magnesium for adults.

Phytonutrients

In addition to all of these important micronutrients, quinoa is a good source of quercetin.

Quercetin is a phytonutrient, or a chemical compound, that has been associated with anti-inflammatory effects. It may also play a role in cancer prevention and in cardiac health.

How to make quinoa

I’m asked all the time how I prepare my quinoa, and I understand why. Quinoa can be a little tricky to get just right.

If you add too much water, you’ll have mush, instead of well-defined (if small), round grains.

If you add too little water in cooking, you may end up with grains that dry and fail to have the fluffy texture that quinoa is known for.

It’s easy to undercook quinoa and end up with something mushy, or to overcook and burn it.

There are three important things that I keep in mind when I cook quinoa.

Rinse

First, I rinse quinoa before cooking, unless the package of grains is marked as pre-rinsed. Some quinoa contains a surface coating of saponins, which are compounds that can create a bitter taste without rinsing.

I’ve read that most quinoa sold nowadays has little saponins on the surface, which means that rinsing is often unnecessary. But I do it anyway; it’s not a big deal, and I like to reduce that bitter taste when I can.

1 : 1.75 ratio

The second thing I do is make sure that I use a 1:1.75 ratio of dry grain to water when I cook quinoa.

I find that a 1:2 ratio is ever so slightly too much water, resulting in mushy quinoa. 1 3/4 cups water for every cup of dry grain is perfect.

13 minutes (usually)

I always used to give quinoa 15 minutes of cooking time. Now I find that 13 minutes is the sweet spot. I’d offer up the disclaimer that some quinoa seems for whatever reason to need an extra minute or two, but 13—with some fluffing and steaming after—is usually perfect.

How-to

So here’s what the whole process looks like.

Step 1

Rinse your quinoa through a fine sieve under cold, running water for about 1 minute.

Step 2

Place the quinoa in a pot along with 1 3/4 cups water. Bring the quinoa to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 13 minutes.

Step 3

Check on the quinoa. If it looks fluffy and there’s no more water bubbling at the bottom, remove it from heat and let it sit for five minutes. Then, fluff it with a fork. Re-cover the quinoa and let it sit for another five minutes.

At this point it should be perfectly fluffy, warm, and ready to eat.

Meal prep and storage

Quinoa is an easy, useful grain to meal prep. It can be stored for five days in an airtight container in the fridge. Mix it into salads, warm it up as the base of a vegan lunch bowl, use it in a pilaf, or make it the base of a cozy gratin.

Can I freeze quinoa?

Yes, absolutely! Speaking of meal prep, cooked quinoa can be frozen for up to eight weeks.

Is quinoa gluten-free?

Quinoa is a gluten-free grain, which means that it doesn’t contain gluten naturally. However, if you have celiac disease, it’s wise to purchase quinoa that’s certified gluten-free in order to help reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Serving ideas

You can truly enjoy quinoa in the same way that you would most other grains: in bowls or salads, as a simple dinner side dish, or in a warm skillet of greens, beans, and grains.

It’s also possible to get creative with your quinoa usage. I’ve used it as a topping for warm soup, in a breakfast parfait, and as a porridge.

In fact, quinoa is one of the grains I most enjoy in the morning. It’s a nice alternative to oatmeal as usual, and quinoa lends itself to both savory and sweet preparations.

25 nutritious vegan quinoa recipes

So without further ado, here are 25 of the tastiest, most versatile, and most nutritious vegan quinoa recipes that I keep on rotation in my home.

I eat quinoa for breakfast, dinner, or lunch, so I’ve organized the recipes accordingly.

Quinoa breakfast recipes

Quinoa Breakfast Pudding

This warm, creamy quinoa breakfast pudding is a nutritious alternative to traditional oatmeal or hot cereal. Made with vanilla, coconut milk, and berries, it's as fragrant and tasty as it is nourishing.

Get the recipe

Cocoa Strawberry Quinoa Breakfast Bowls

These cocoa strawberry quinoa breakfast bowls are a delicious way to make a healthy breakfast feel like dessert!

Get the recipe

Lemon Scented Quinoa and Millet Breakfast with Blueberries (gluten free)

This lemon scented quinoa and millet breakfast with blueberries is a simple, nutrient-dense, and grounding way to start your day.

Get the recipe

Avocado, Berry, and Quinoa Berry Breakfast Parfait

This avocado, berry, and quinoa breakfast parfait is so fresh and nutritious. It features a luscious vanilla avocado cream, which is layered with berries and layers of wholesome quinoa.

Get the recipe

Maple Vanilla Quinoa Porridge

This maple vanilla quinoa porridge is creamy and wholesome. Top it with any seasonal fresh fruit and sliced almonds for a nutritious, warming morning meal.

Get the recipe

Tofu Quinoa Veggie Scramble

This tofu quinoa veggie scramble combines the best of both worlds: protein-rich tofu and cooked whole grains. It's a hearty, healthy, one-dish vegan breakfast recipe that's easy to make.

Get the recipe

Quinoa Lunch Recipes

Quinoa, Carrot, and Spinach Salad with Spicy Carrot Chili Vinaigrette

This quinoa carrot spinach salad is refreshing, yet hearty! It's made with nutritious quinoa and chickpeas, as well as tender roasted carrots. The carrot chili vinaigrette is a sweet, spicy dressing that you can double and use on all of your salads and bowls.

Get the recipe

Black Bean Quinoa Salad with Cumin Dressing

This black bean quinoa salad is so simple to make, but it packs a big flavor punch! It's also loaded with plant-based nutrition from whole grains and protein-rich legumes. The salad is easy to make ahead and pack or store for easy vegan lunches.

Get the recipe

Carrot Raisin Kale Salad

This carrot raisin kale salad is sweet, creamy, and super delicious! It's got plenty of good, plant-based nutrition from quinoa, chickpeas, and kale. Plus, a drinkable, addictive creamy walnut curry dressing!

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Quinoa Chickpea Caesar Salad

This vegan quinoa chickpea caesar salad is a healthy spin on a classic recipe! It's made with a protein-rich combination of crispy chickpeas and tender quinoa. Plus, it's smothered in an irresistable, dairy free cashew Caesar dressing.

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Tempeh quinoa salad

This tempeh quinoa salad is satisfying, nutritious, and colorful! A zesty salad of quinoa, beans, and crispy vegetables is topped with high protein slices of seared tempeh. The salad features a simple cumin vinaigrette.

Get the recipe

Cream of Broccoli and Quinoa Soup

This plant-based cream of broccoli and quinoa soup is a great way to get tons of nutrition (and eat your broccoli) in comfort food form.

Get the recipe

Low-Key Curried Quinoa Lunch Salad

This low-key curried quinoa lunch salad lives up to its name! It's so easy to make, and it's also a tasty, nutritious vegan lunch option. Whip it together midday or add it to your weekly meal prep routine.

Get the recipe

Quinoa Bean Salad with Tahini and Pumpkin Seeds

This quinoa bean salad with tahini and pumpkin seeds is packed with nutrition, protein, fiber, and flavor! It's a fast and healthful lunch option that can be made ahead of time. It also happens to be a no oil vegan recipe.

Get the recipe

Quinoa Citrus Salad with Tofu

This quinoa citrus salad with tofu is packed with flavor and texture—as well as tons of plant-based nutrition. It's also festive and very pretty to look at!

Get the recipe

Protein-Packed Bean & Quinoa Salad

A summery salad that features protein-packed edamame, kidney beans, and black beans, as well as seasonal vegetables. This is a perfect way to showcase the texture (and nutritional benefits) of pulses.

Get the recipe

Quinoa dinner recipes

Cheesy Vegan Quinoa Bake

This cheesy vegan quinoa broccoli bake is the epitome of comfort food, but it's made with wholesome, plant-based ingredients, including quinoa, beans, and broccoli. It's kid-friendly, freezer-friendly, and easy to make ahead.

Get the recipe

Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins

These vegan quinoa and kale stuffed sweet potato skins are super nutritious and hearty. Plus, they're a smart way to utilize sweet potato skins, which are full of gut-friendly fiber!

Get the recipe

Red Lentil Quinoa Cakes

These red lentil quinoa cakes with harissa are nutritious, versatile, and easy to prepare from pantry ingredients.

Get the recipe

Artichoke, White Bean & Quinoa Burgers

These vegan artichoke white bean burgers are packed with Mediterranean flavor and healthful ingredients! They're also gluten free and super versatile.

Get the recipe

Black Bean Quinoa Chili

This vegan black bean quinoa chili is chock full of vegetables, whole grains, and beans. It's gluten free, easy to make, and it feeds a crowd.

Get the recipe

Quinoa with Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes & Chickpeas

Quinoa with roasted tomatoes and chickpeas is the perfect, easy summer vegan side dish. It's easy to make, but it's so flavorful, thanks to juicy and sweet burst cherry tomatoes. Chickpeas add some plant protein to this versatile recipe.

Get the recipe

Quinoa Protein Bowl

Quinoa, kale, butternut squash, and edamame are brought together with a creamy sauce in this protein-packed vegan recipe. The meal has about 20 grams of protein and tons of nutrition. Easy to make ahead and perfect for busy nights!

Get the recipe

Slow Cooker Black Bean Butternut Chili

This make-ahead slow cooker black bean butternut chili is perfect nutritious vegan comfort food. Made with protein rich beans and quinoa as well as filling butternut squash. It's a perfect recipe for your weekly meal prep, and it freezes well!

Get the recipe

One-Pot Quinoa and Lentils

Mediterranean inspired quinoa and lentils is a one-pot vegan meal that's as tasty as it is nutritious! It's made with protein-rich whole grains, legumes, and greens. It's seasoned with herbs that are common in Mediterranean cooking and enriched with dairy-free cashew cream.

Get the recipe

Mediterranean one-pot quinoa and lentils

A few more words about those quinoa and lentils.

This is a recipe that I first prepared a few years ago. I was short on time and needed something efficient and one-pot. It occurred to me that quinoa and lentils could be cooked together, without any need for separate cooking times.

I seasoned the dish with the Mediterranean-inspired flavors that I love and rely on often: garlic, lemon, thyme, and the umami-rich, acidic punch of sun-dried tomatoes. The quinoa and lentils also contain sautéed mushrooms and spinach, which means that it’s rich in phytonutrients as well as protein, fiber, and iron.

At the end of cooking this dish, you’ll stir in about a half cup of my tried-and-true, all-purpose cashew cream. The cashew cream gives it a luxurious richness that I really love.

If you’d like for the dish not to be creamy, you can hold the cashew cream and simply top it with some of my cashew parmesan cheese instead. Or perhaps some crumbled vegan feta or homemade cashew cheese.

Once prepared, the leftovers of this nourishing pot of food will keep for up to five days in the fridge. They’re freezer-friendly, too, which makes the quinoa and lentils a good dish to include in any weekly meal prep or batch cooking that you do.

This is brown food at its finest, AKA not pretty to look at but very delicious to eat. It’s excellent in wintertime, and since I’ve been revisiting it lately myself, it feels like a perfect moment to re-share it with you.

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One-Pot Quinoa and Lentils

Mediterranean inspired quinoa and lentils is a one-pot vegan meal that's as tasty as it is nutritious! It's made with protein-rich whole grains, legumes, and greens. Plus, 25 nutritious vegan quinoa recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Course main, Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword lentils, quinoa, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 white or yellow onion, chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 ounces sliced mushrooms (I like to use button, shiitake, or chopped portobello)
• dry brown or green lentils
• 3/4 cup dry quinoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup chopped, sun-dried tomatoes (about 50 grams; oil or dry-packed but with no need for re-hydration in hot water)
• 5 ounces baby spinach (about 4 heaping cups)
• Splash balsamic vinegar or lemon juice (to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup cashew cream  (optional)

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion is clear and soft, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and mushrooms, if using. Cook until the mushrooms have released their juices and reduced in size (5-8 minutes).
• Add the lentils, quinoa, salt, thyme, and broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. If all of the liquid has been absorbed when you uncover the pot, add a splash of extra broth or water.
• Add the tomatoes and baby spinach to the pot. Stir everything until the spinach has wilted completely into the quinoa and lentil mixture. Add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, along with black pepper to taste and extra salt as needed. Finally, stir in the cashew cream, if using, and enjoy.

Notes

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

The lentils and quinoa can be enjoyed with a leafy green salad, sautéed broccoli or broccoli rabe, roasted cauliflower, grilled or baked tofu or tempeh, or any other side that you’re craving.

Just putting this post together has reminded me of how truly and dearly I love this whole grain. Hope you’ll enjoy the quinoa recipes, too—and that you’ll find a few to savor at home.

And hey, happy Tuesday, everyone. I’ve gotten a few kind emails asking if I’m OK, since weekend reading posts have been stalled. I’m OK. I’ve had a lot on my mind and on my plate, and I just haven’t been able to write much on weekends—not even to write that I’m not able to write!

I appreciate the check-ins so much, and I’m excited to sit down and communicate more soon. For now, my heart is thankful for you.

xo

The post 25 Nutritious Vegan Quinoa Recipes appeared first on The Full Helping.

This is a plant-based version of traditional thumbprint cookies! The cookies are buttery and tender, and they have a sweet pocket of jam in the center. They’re also totally dairy-free.

I made these vegan thumbprint cookies a couple weeks before Christmas. I had every intention of posting the recipe on Christmas eve, in tandem with making the cookies again myself and bringing them to my mom’s apartment.

We know how that went.

But one of the silver linings of Quarantine Christmas 2021 is that it encouraged me to embrace the spirit of a holiday, rather than its day on the calendar. My mom and I are now planning on a belated gift exchange and quiet celebration together. Holidays are, after all, a celebration of people and feeling.

So, while the twelve days of Christmas are still rolling merrily along, it’s time to share these thumbprint cookies. Who needs Christmas as an excuse to make something this tasty and festive, anyway?

What are thumbprint cookies?

Thumbprint cookies are so called because they have an indentation in the center that’s made by the gentle press of a thumb prior to baking. The base of the cookie is usually similar to sugar cookies, but with a different shape.

Thumbprint cookies can be rolled in finely ground nuts, or not. Their signature thumbprint can be filled with any flavor of jam. I’ve seen variations that are filled with chocolate or caramel. They can be finished with a zigzag of royal icing, or not.

I’ve always liked a minimalist thumbprint cookie, so that’s what I’m sharing today. It’s a vegan sugar cookie base with a jam center. Simple and perfect.

I love jam, and I always have a few different flavors at home. You’ll see that my cookies feature different types of jam, and therefore different colors.

But you can prepare the recipe with a single type of jam—any that you love—as well. My favorite for these cookies is raspberry.

How to make vegan thumbprint cookies

The process of making vegan thumbprint cookies doesn’t vary much from making a conventional version. The big difference is that you’ll need to use vegan butter, and the cookies don’t contain any egg.

Make your cookie dough

As far as process goes, the first step here is to prepare a sugar cookie base. I use a very simple, no frills mixture of creamed vegan butter and sugar, flour, salt, and two extracts: almond and vanilla.

I found that egg replacer wasn’t necessary at all, which made this one of the easiest vegan cookies I’ve tried. For guidance on proportions of ingredients and chilling time, I looked to Sally’s recipe, which is excellent and thorough.

You can use either a stand mixer or or a handheld mixer to prepare the cookie dough. My stand mixer is my BFF during the holiday baking season.

Chill the dough

This cookie dough, like many others, benefits from some chilling time.

Chilling the dough will ensure that your thumbprint cookies hold their shape and don’t spread too much while baking. I recommend a minimum of four hours of chilling time, or overnight if you prefer.

Shape the dough

The next step in making the thumbprint cookies is to shape them. And I find that this is actually the trickiest part of the recipe.

You’ll start by rolling your dough into balls. You should use about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie (or 15 grams, if you have a kitchen scale and are aiming for consistency).

Next, you’ll place the dough balls on a baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper, aiming to space them one and a half inches apart.

At this point, it’s time to make your thumbprint!

The key here is to press gently, yet firmly. You want to create a distinct indentation in the balls of dough, without pressing so hard that you immediately crack their edges.

If the edges do crack a little, that’s OK. You can gently press the cracks back together once the cookies have all been shaped.

Chill again

Yes, another chilling time. I tried the cookies with and without this additional hour in the fridge. The cookies that I did chill held their shape in baking much better than the ones I didn’t.

Fill

Next, you can fill the thumbprint cookies with a jam of your choice. Choose your favorite flavor, or a combination of several. Some of my favorite options:

• Strawberry
• Boysenberry
• Apricot
• Blackberry
• Blueberry
• Marmalade
• Ginger
• Mango
• Strawberry rhubarb

Pictured below are boysenberry and ginger jam. You’ll only need about a teaspoon of jam per cookie.

Bake

The thumbprint cookies should bake for 13-15 minutes, or just enough time for them to become very lightly golden at the edges. You’re not aiming to brown them. 14 minutes was the perfect amount of time when I baked mine.

Ingredients

You’ll need only a short list of ingredients in order to make the thumbprint cookies. They are:

Vegan butter

You can use your favorite variety of vegan butter for the recipe. Any brand should work, but I do recommend a variety that comes in stick form for ease of measuring.

The butter will need to be at room temperature before you mix it.

Cane sugar

Cane sugar is the sweetener in the cookies. I sometimes use cane sugar interchangeably with another type of sugar, such as coconut sugar. For this recipe, however, I don’t recommend a substitute.

Vanilla and almond extracts

I keep both vanilla and almond extracts in my pantry at home. I use the vanilla in practically all of my dessert baking.

The almond extract is a favorite in cookie recipes, like this one. It also makes appearances in my vegan sugar cookies and biscotti.

If you don’t have almond extract on hand, it’s fine to use all vanilla extract in the cookies instead. If you have another extract or flavor that you love (such as hazelnut, coconut, or orange), you can use that in place of almond.

Unbleached, all-purpose flour

I use unbleached, all-purpose flour to make the thumbprint cookies. For this recipe, I don’t recommend substituting a whole grain or nut flour in its place.

However, if you need to make the recipe gluten-free, it’s fine to use a gluten-free, all-purpose flour blend in place of regular all-purpose flour.

Jam or jelly

Take your pick here! You can use whatever colors and flavors of jam or jelly appeal to you.

Storage

I recommend storing the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. After that, transfer the container to the fridge and store them for an additional two days.

If you’d like to store them for longer, the baked cookies can be frozen for up to eight weeks.

Make ahead options

The dough for these vegan thumbprint cookies can be mixed, wrapped, and then frozen for up to six weeks.

You can also shape the cookies, make the thumbprints in them, and then freeze them on a baking sheet for about thirty minutes. After this, you can transfer all of the shaped cookies into a Stasher bag or an airtight container and freeze them for up to six weeks.

The shaped cookies can be filled and baked directly from frozen; you may need to give them an extra couple minutes of baking time if you store them this way.

More favorite cookies

Holiday cookie season is technically over, and I know that a lot of people have probably moved on to less festive food for January.

But if my experience over Christmas this year taught me anything, it’s to really notice and savor the things we sometimes take for granted.

And I think another takeaway will be the desire to weave more celebration and joy into every day life.

There’s no reason to spend the holiday season baking delightful things and then spend all of January batch cooking beans and grains, neglecting any treats. I’m a firm believer that sweet foods evoke and remind us of the sweetness of life.

So, here’s to perpetual cookie season. And here are some others that I love:

• America’s Test Kitchen vegan chocolate chip cookies
• Cranberry almond biscotti
• Vegan molasses ginger cookies
• Black & white cookies
• Oatmeal raisin cookies
• Vanilla almond sugar cookies
• Chocolate pumpkin whoopie pies
• Vegan & gluten-free citrus shortbread
• Carrot raisin breakfast cookies

Print

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

This is a plant-based version of traditional thumbprint cookies! The cookies are buttery and tender, and they have a sweet pocket of jam in the center. They're also totally dairy-free.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Diet Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword cookies, jam

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes

Chilling time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 44 minutes

Servings 3 dozen

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegan butter, at room temperature (2 sticks, or 224 g)
• 2/3 cup cane sugar (130 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (substitute additional vanilla extract)
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (280 g)
• 3/4 cup jam or jelly of choice (215 g)

Instructions

• Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl. Use the stand mixer or a handheld mixer to beat for about 2 minutes on low speed, until the butter is fluffy. Add the sugar and the two extracts. Continue beating for 1-2 minutes on medium low speed, until the butter and sugar mixture appears creamed. Add the flour to the mixer and beat on low speed until the flour is fully incorporated and you have a soft, fluffy dough. Gather this dough into the center of the bowl and cover the bowl with saran wrap or a cloth cover. Refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours, or overnight. 
• Preheat your oven to 350F. Remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for about twenty minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon measure to scoop the dough out of the bowl by tablespoons (about 15 g of dough per tablespoon). It'll require some scraping at first, as the dough will be stiff. Roll these tablespoons of dough into balls. 
• Place the balls on the baking sheet with at least 1 1/2" of space between them. When you place each ball on the sheet, press your thumb into it to make a little indentation. The dough balls will crack a little as you press, but if they crack a lot, re-roll them and try again. You can gently smooth over little cracks with your finger to try to keep the cookie as intact as can be. Transfer the cookie sheet to the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to overnight (if you refrigerate them overnight, wrap the cookie sheet gently with saran wrap).
• Use a teaspoon to place a scant teaspoon of jam into each cookie indentation. Transfer the cookie sheet (or sheets, if you need two) to the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the cookies are just barely browning on the sides. (14 minutes worked perfectly for my batches). Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to gingerly transfer them to wire cooling racks to cool entirely. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe inspired by Sally’s raspberry almond thumbprint cookies.

I’m now officially out of my quarantine period and feeling very much better, aside from the lingering smell and taste diminishment and a little bit of fatigue. And I’m feeling hopeful about 2022, in spite of everything.

May it be a year that’s full of sweetness, in all of the forms that sweetness can take. Cookies included.

xo

The post Vegan Thumbprint Cookies appeared first on The Full Helping.

This creamy vegan mushroom pasta is the best, easy winter meal! Cashew cream makes this luxurious, dairy-free mushroom sauce possible. Pair with your favorite pasta for a comforting dinner that’s ready in 30 minutes.

At the start of last week, which now feels like an entire lifetime ago, I made this creamy vegan mushroom pasta. It was one of the fastest, tastiest meals I’ve made at home in a while.

Mushrooms are one of the ingredients most often used to create “meaty” textures in vegan dishes. Even so, I sometimes forget about them in my own cooking. While I fold leafy greens, tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower into pasta often, I seem to overlook mushrooms. Until now.

I can’t think of a better winter comfort food dish than this one. Mushrooms give the pasta an unmistakable heartiness and lots of umami. The creamy mushroom sauce is rich but not heavy, and of course there’s the pasta, which is my personal comfort food favorite.

I was sort of begrudging about cooking through most of this past fall. Typically when the new year starts I get reinvigorated about cooking again, though under the circumstances we’ll see what early January looks like around here.

What I do know is that this mushroom pasta is a keeper. If I’m not able to cook a lot of new food this month, I’ll surely be revisiting this recipe—maybe more than once.

How to make creamy mushroom sauce

To make the creamy mushroom sauce that gives this pasta dish life, you’ll begin by sautéing mushrooms.

You can really use any type of mushroom here. I like plain old white/button mushrooms, honestly—and they’re packed with good nutrition.

You can also use shiitake, cremini, portobello, oyster, or enoki mushrooms. If there is another type of mushroom that you love to cook with, don’t hesitate to add it.

You’ll have the option of sautéing your mushrooms in either butter or olive oil. Either is fine, though I personally think that butter deepens and improves the flavor of the mushroom pasta. If you use vegan butter, you can use any brand/variety that you like.

Sauté the mushrooms and garlic for about 7-8 minutes: this is enough time for the mushrooms to reduce in size and release their juices. Then, you’ll add a splash of white wine to the dish (optional, if that’s not for you) and allow it to cook off for a few minutes.

Finally, you’ll stir vegetable broth into the sauce, along with this recipe’s source of creaminess: cashew cream.

DIY vegan cream

I tend to sound like a broken record when I sing the praises of cashew cream, but I just can’t help it. Cashew cream creates the luxurious, creamy texture in so many of my favorite recipes.

Here’s just a short list of pastas, soups, and desserts that are creamier and more comforting because this dairy-free cooking hack exists:

• Dark chocolate scones
• Creamy mushroom spinach orzo
• Creamy beet kale fusilli
• Pasta alla Vecchia Bettola
• Classic vegan pumpkin pie
• Magical vegan sticky toffee pudding
• Cozy vegan cauliflower gratin
• Creamy vegan skillet lasagna
• Creamy cauliflower turmeric kale soup
• One pot Italian quinoa and lentils

I use my all-purpose cashew cream in all of these recipes. If you have a tree nut allergy, you can try blending 1/2 cup vegan tofu-based cream cheese (i.e. Tofutti) with 2/3 cups water to replace it.

If you have a cashew allergy, but you’re not allergic to other tree nuts, then pine nuts work really well as a substitute for cashews.

Assembling vegan mushroom pasta

Once the creamy mushroom sauce is hot and in your pan and ready to go, it’s time to bring the mushroom pasta together.

I recommend bringing water to boil for cooking the pasta before you do anything else for the recipe. The sauce doesn’t take long to prepare, while boiling pasta water does!

By the time the sauce is ready, your pasta should be cooked al dente or on its way there. Next, you’ll fold the cooked pasta into the mushroom mixture, add some of my cashew parmesan cheese (or a store-bought vegan parmesan that you love), and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Simmer the pasta for a few minutes over low heat. I usually add 1/4-1/2 cup pasta water to help keep the sauce loose, yet not runny.

Finally, you can serve your pasta with any desired garnishes. My go-to is lazy—just extra cashew parm—but fresh herbs are nice, too.

What type of pasta do you use?

The choice of pasta in this dish is yours. For the most part, I use regular, dry semolina pasta in all of my vegan pasta dishes.

Occasionally—especially when a pasta supper is a bit lacking in plant protein—I use a legume-based pasta instead. My favorite legume pasta is the red lentil rotini from Tolerant Foods. I don’t prefer these pastas from a texture or taste perspective, but I do like the protein content a lot!

I also like to use some whole grain pastas in my cooking. My favorite are the whole grain reginetti from Sfoglini, and I think their nutty flavor would work really well in this recipe.

As far as pasta shape goes, I love to make the mushroom pasta with fettuccine, as pictured. But a medium pasta shape will also work well: fusilli, rigatoni, casarecce, and cavatappi are all good options.

If you need to use a gluten-free pasta, then you should of course pick your favorite option and proceed with it in the recipe.

Make-ahead options

The creamy vegan mushroom sauce can be prepared up to 3 days before making the mushroom pasta. It can also be frozen for up to 6 weeks. This makes an already fast meal even faster and more convenient.

Storing creamy vegan mushroom pasta

The one downside of this otherwise delightful pasta is that the leftovers can get a little gluey as they are stored.

When you warm the pasta up, I recommend reheating it in a shallow pan or pot. Add a splash of broth or non-dairy milk to help loosen it up as it heats—this makes a big difference for texture. In a rush, it’s fine for you to heat the leftover pasta in the microwave. Be sure to cover the pasta when you do this, so that it doesn’t dry out.

Store the mushroom pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days. The leftovers can also be frozen for up to 6 weeks.

Print

Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta

This creamy vegan mushroom pasta is the best, easy winter meal! Cashew cream makes this luxurious, dairy-free mushroom sauce possible. Pair with your favorite pasta for a comforting dinner that's ready in 30 minutes.

Course main, Main Course

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword mushroom

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 8 ounces pasta of choice (any variety of medium or long pasta is fine)
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter or olive oil
• 1 pound cleaned mushrooms, sliced or chopped into bite-sized pieces (I recommend white, cremini, shiitake, portobello, or oyster mushrooms)
• 2 large or 3 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional, see note)
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2/3 cup cashew cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (substitute 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup cashew parmesan cheese  (or another vegan parmesan cheese of choice; reserve some extra for serving)

Instructions

• Bring a large, salted pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta till al dente, according to package instructions or for a minute less.
• As the water heats and pasta cooks, heat the butter or oil in a large, deep, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms have released all of their juices and reduced considerably in size, about 7-8 minutes. 
• Add the white wine to the skillet. Continue cooking the mushrooms and garlic, stirring often, until the wine has almost completely cooked down. 
• Add the broth to the skillet and continue to cook the mushrooms, stirring often, for 2 more minutes. Stir the cashew cream and salt into the mushrooms. Reduce the heat to low. 
• As soon as the pasta is ready, drain it, reserving a cup of cooking water. Add the drained pasta to the skillet with the creamy mushroom sauce. Stir everything together and continue to cook over low heat. Add the thyme, freshly ground black pepper to taste, and the cashew parmesan cheese (or vegan parmesan of choice). The pasta should be creamy and have some looseness; if it starts to thicken, stir in a half cup (or so) of pasta cooking water to loosen it up. Serve the pasta right away, with extra cashew parmesan or fresh herbs if desired. 

Notes

*To omit the white wine, simply skip step 3 of the instructions.

I used to have a really hard time pulling off simple pasta dishes. As strange as it may sound, I had a mush easier time with baked pasta and pasta casseroles than with pasta that was made-to-order, so to speak. There’s a knack to getting pasta right, and I definitely didn’t have it.

Not sure if I qualify as having that knack now, but I’m becoming much more intuitive. This mushroom pasta and my beans and greens pasta are now two of my favorite, low-key meals. Practice makes progress

From a gray, late winter afternoon in NYC—and day 6 of my quarantine—I’m wishing you a cozy evening.

xo

The post Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta appeared first on The Full Helping.

These vegan apple cinnamon waffles are the most wonderful winter breakfast! Fluffy waffles are filled with tender, diced apples and cinnamon spice. The waffles can be made ahead and frozen for future cozy, comforting morning meals.

I am very much a breakfast person.

I’m always hungry for breakfast. Ravenous for it, sometimes. While I know that a lot of people struggle to find the appetite for breakfast in the morning, I’m the opposite. If anything, I’m hungrier early in the day than I am later.

In spite of all this, breakfast is the meal that I’m most likely to put on autopilot when I’m busy. Much as I love unique, savory breakfasts and tasty baked goods, I’m happy to eat simple oatmeal or tofu scramble on repeat. So it’s easy for breakfast variety to fall away if I don’t give it some attention.

I’ve been in one of those oatmeal/toast ruts lately. I was delighted to get out of it this week in the most delicious way: with these tender, fluffy vegan apple waffles. Sweet, tart Snapdragon apples make all of the difference in this recipe!

How to make vegan apple cinnamon waffles

Making the apple cinnamon waffles is a lot like making any vegan waffle—with a little twist. You’ll add finely chopped, peeled apple to the waffle batter.

When you bite into the cooked waffles, you’ll find tiny pockets of diced apple within them. The apple adds texture, sweetness, and flavor.

Vegan waffles don’t rely on egg for binding or rise. They’re leavened only with baking powder. To replace the customary egg in the recipe, I use flax egg, which is water mixed with ground flax.

Otherwise, the apple cinnamon waffles follow standard waffle procedures! Here are the steps.

Heat up your waffle iron

Waffles work best when your waffle iron is nice and hot. I always do this first when I make waffles, unless I’m resting the batter in the fridge overnight. If that’s the case, I warm up the waffle iron for 10-15 minutes before proceeding with making the waffles.

Mix your flax egg and vegan buttermilk

Flax egg will help to replace egg in the apple cinnamon waffles, while non-dairy milk mixed with lemon juice stands in as a vegan “buttermilk.”

For most recipes, I use one tablespoon flax and three tablespoons of water to create a flax egg. For this one, I use slightly more flax (1 1/2 tablespoons) and four tablespoons of water.

As for the buttermilk, you can substitute vinegar (apple cider or white) for lemon juice if that’s what you have.

Mix dry ingredients

For the apple cinnamon waffles, those include all purpose and whole wheat flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Use a nice, roomy mixing bowl.

Mix the wet ingredients

These are the vegan buttermilk, melted vegan butter, and applesauce. Once mixed, you’ll add sugar to these wet ingredients.

Fold wet ingredients into dry

As you do this, you’re aiming for a batter that’s evenly mixed and without any big lumps or streaks of dry flour. However, some very small lumps are fine.

Add the apples

Time to fold in your diced apples! Add them to the batter and use a spatula to fold them in gently. Actually peeling and dicing the apples for the recipe is probably the most time-consuming step.

Make your apple cinnamon waffles

Once the batter has been mixed, it’s time to make your waffles. The amount of batter that you add to your iron will vary depending on the type of iron that you have. I recommend about a cup of batter if you’re using a 4-slice, square or round waffle maker.

I have two waffle makers: a round, 4-slice Belgian waffle iron, and a Dash mini waffle iron. It’s basically ridiculous that I have two, but they do make different shapes, and they can serve different purposes. The mini iron isn’t a big investment if you’re wondering whether you’ll use a waffle iron at all.

If you find that you do, a larger Belgian waffle iron makes a nice, fluffy, thick waffle. And it will allow you to cook all of your batter more quickly than using the mini iron will. The mini iron can only cook about 1/4 cup of batter at a time. I use my mini-maker for single serve or small batches of waffles, and I use the Belgian waffle iron when I’m batch prepping waffles (with the intention of freezing some).

No matter what, you should follow the instructions of your waffle maker to cook the apple cinnamon waffles. When the indicator light shows that they’re done heating, you can remove them, add your favorite toppings, and get down to eating.

Apple cinnamon waffle ingredients

Nothing fancy is needed to make the recipe, and there’s some room for substitution. A few notes on the main ingredients:

Flours

I use a combination of unbleached, all-purpose and whole wheat flour to make the waffles. You can certainly use all all-purpose, but I don’t recommend using all whole wheat—at least not if you want to preserve the fluffy texture.

Non-dairy milk

To make the vegan “buttermilk,” you can use unsweetened soy, oat, or almond milk. Cashew milk and coconut milk are also fine. I don’t recommend hemp milk (too strong a flavor) or flax milk (too thin in consistency).

Vegan butter

Any brand of butter you like is fine for the recipe. In place of butter, you can substitute two tablespoons of vegetable oil (such as refined avocado, grapeseed, canola, or melted coconut).

Cane sugar

Relatively little sugar is needed for the recipe (just 2-3 tablespoons, depending on how much sweetness you prefer), but the small amount does make a difference. If you like, you can use coconut sugar or brown sugar in place of cane sugar.

Flax meal

In place of the flax used for the flax “egg,” you can use ground chia seeds instead. (A chia “egg”!)

Applesauce

Applesauce helps to keep the batter moist and also highlights the apple cinnamon flavor of the waffles. In place of applesauce, you can use the same amount of pumpkin purée.

Apples

As you’ll see, SnapDragon apples are my favorite apple for everything—snacking, baking, and more. I love their balance of sweetness and tartness. However, you can use another apple of choice in the recipe.

An ode to my favorite apple

I love SnapDragon apples so much that I specifically go to my local farmers market, come rain or come shine and in spite of my schedule, to seek them out. I’ll do this for as many weeks of the year as SnapDragons are in season.

SnapDragons are irresistable. They’ve got a perfectly crunchy, juicy texture. They stay firm for long periods of time, which means that I can stock up on a bunch of them at once. And the flavor is so unique: sweet, tart, and with a slight hint of vanilla. For me, these are everything I want in an apple.

SnapDragons are grown and distributed in New York State, so they’re local to me. However, it’s possible to find them at retailers throughout the country, too. You can learn more about these wonderful, deep crimson, super crisp apples here.

Can the waffles be gluten-free?

Yes, the apple cinnamon waffles can be made gluten-free. I recommend using a gluten-free, all-purpose flour blend to prepare them.

Preparation and storage

The waffle batter can be mixed the night before making your waffles and refrigerated, covered, overnight. In the morning, simply heat your waffle iron and get cooking. If the batter is stiff and very thick when you take it out of the fridge, you can loosen it with a splash of additional non-dairy milk.

The waffles can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days and heated in a toaster, air fryer, or 350F oven. Heat until they’re warm through and getting crispy again (about 15 minutes in the oven and 10 in most air fryers—keep an eye on them and use your judgment in a regular toaster).

Vegan apple cinnamon waffles can also be frozen for up to 6 weeks after you prepare them. Thaw them in the fridge overnight and reheat as above.

Apple cinnamon waffle accompaniments

You should feel free to use any toppings that call to you with the apple cinnamon waffles! But here’s a short list of things that I like:

• Toasted pumpkin seeds
• Maple syrup
• Apple butter
• Vegan butter
• Chopped walnuts
• Salted date caramel sauce
• Raisins
• Almond butter
• Cashew butter
• Tofu whipped cream

Print

Vegan SnapDragon Apple Cinnamon Waffles

These vegan apple cinnamon waffles are the most wonderful winter breakfast! Fluffy waffles are filled with tender, diced apples and cinnamon spice. The waffles can be made ahead and frozen for future cozy, comforting morning meals.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Diet Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword apples, breakfast

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Equipment

• waffle iron

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax meal
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy, oat, or almond milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (180 g)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (60 g)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2-3 tablespoons cane sugar (24-26 g)
• 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
• 1/2 cup applesauce (112 g)
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and finely diced SnapDragon apple (175g; about 2 medium apples)
• Maple syrup, vegan butter, nut butter, and/or chopped nuts/seeds, for serving (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat your waffle iron according to manufacturer’s instructions. If necessary, spray the maker with vegetable oil before making your first waffle and between waffles as needed.
• In a small bowl, combine the ground flax meal with 4 tablespoons room temperature water. Whisk together and set aside. In another, medium bowl, combine the non-dairy milk and lemon juice or vinegar. Stir them and set them aside. 
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. 
• To the non-dairy milk and vinegar mixture, add the melted vegan butter, applesauce, and the prepared flax + water mixture. Stir these ingredients well. Pour them into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold everything together until the wet and dry ingredients are well mixed. A few small lumps in the batter is OK, but keep mixing (or use a whisk to mix) if you see larger lumps or dry streaks of flour. You’ll have a relatively thick waffle batter. Fold in the chopped apples. 
• If using a 4-slice, square or round waffle maker, add a cup of batter to the waffle maker. Cook the waffle according to manufacturer’s instructions. If using a round, mini waffle maker, drop the batter in 1/4-cup amounts into the maker and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions. Continue this process until you’ve run out of batter. 
• To keep the waffles warm during preparation, place them on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet in a preheated 350F oven as you work. 
• When all of the waffles are ready, serve them with your toppings of choice. Enjoy!

I’m so looking forward to making these waffles again, so that I can freeze a bunch and allow them to give me morning nourishment—and joy—right until Christmas.

I hope you’ll try and enjoy them, too. Happy breakfasting.

xo

This post is sponsored by Crunchtime Apple Growers. All opinions are my own. Thanks for your support!

The post Vegan Apple Cinnamon Waffles appeared first on The Full Helping.

This broccoli tabbouleh features finely chopped, lightly cooked broccoli in place of the traditional tomatoes. Much like a classic tabbouleh, it’s a fresh, flavorful grain salad that makes for a versatile side dish or the base of a nutritious meal.

The weather has been cooling down steadily and consistently in New York. With the exception of a strangely balmy, 60 degree day on Monday, it’s clear that early winter has arrived.

Of course I’m enjoying all of my favorite cozy, hearty comfort food soups, stews, casseroles, and pasta dishes as a result. But I also find, as the weather gets cold each year, that I crave a lot of bright, green, herbaceous food as well.

By January, I’m usually chopping fresh parsley into everything and making a lot of winter salads. Perhaps it’s my way of welcoming freshness into the gray landscape of the winter months. It’s a time of year that I love, but it can be wearisome. Bursts of color and crunch on my plate remind me that there’s sunshine out there to counteract the cold.

This broccoli tabbouleh is a non-traditional spin on traditional tabbouleh, which is one of my favorite things to eat during the summer months. In place of juicy, chopped tomatoes, it features finely chopped broccoli.

The result is a wintery tabbouleh salad. It’s different from the traditional recipe, yet still very much related to it. The broccoli tabbouleh is bursting with the bright taste of parsley and lemon. Yet the earthy, nutty flavor of bulgur also shines through.

Plus, the salad is a convenient way to eat more broccoli, if you or a loved one needs any encouragement. I don’t need encouragement to love broccoli any more than I do, but I always need new serving suggestions.

What is tabbouleh?

Tabbouleh is a Levantine salad made with chopped parsley, cooked bulgur wheat, tomatoes, onion, and mint. There are variations: sometimes cucumber or lettuce is added, and the ratio of parsley to bulgur can vary. I’ve seen recipes that call for red onion instead of white, or which include scallions.

Tabbouleh is usually served as part of a mezze. This broccoli tabbouleh can be served this way—as an appetizer or snack—or it could be a side dish with your favorite plant protein. You can also add to the tabbouleh in order to transform it into a lunch or dinner. I’ve included some ideas for that below!

What is bulgur wheat?

Bulgur wheat is the grain in traditional tabbouleh. Bulgur is parboiled, dried, and cracked wheat kernels.

There are a few major varieties of bulgur. Fine bulgur, which is also sold as bulgur #1, is often the type of bulgur used in tabbouleh salads. It cooks quickly, and I’ve seen recipes that simply call for soaking it, rather than boiling.

It can be a little tricky to find fine bulgur. Most of the bulgur I’ve seen in stores or online is medium bulgur (#2). This is the variety that I use in the broccoli tabbouleh. It takes about 10-15 minutes to cook (usually 12, for me). It’s available in a lot of natural and mainstream grocers, as well as online.

There are red and white varieties of bulgur, and I like to use both of them.

Bulgur wheat is rich in dietary fiber. It’s also a source of iron, and it’s relatively high in protein for a whole grain.

How to make broccoli tabbouleh

Cook your bulgur wheat

The first step in making the broccoli tabbouleh is to cook your bulgur. This is pretty straightforward, though I recommend double checking the packaging of your bulgur to be sure that it includes no special instructions.

For most medium bulgur I’ve used, I add 2 parts water and 1 part bulgur to a pot. I bring it to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for ~12 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed by the grain. I remove the bulgur from heat, fluff it with a fork, recover, and allow it to sit while I prepare the rest of the broccoli tabbouleh recipe.

You can prepare your bulgur wheat up to three days in advance of throwing the salad together.

Prepare your broccoli

Next, you’ll prepare the broccoli for the tabbouleh.

When I first tested the recipe, I thought about using raw, finely chopped broccoli. As soon as I tried that, I was reminded that raw broccoli salads aren’t my favorite. I miss the slight sweetness and tenderness of steamed broccoli (which is my default vegetable side dish).

So, I decided to try lightly cooking the broccoli instead. Rather than florets and pieces, I finely chopped my broccoli before adding it to a nonstick pan. I steam cooked the tiny pieces of broccoli for a couple minutes, uncovered, and then allowed them to cook for another minute or so—just until there was no water left in the pan.

It worked so well! In the end, I had chopped broccoli that was bright green and sweet, yet still crunchy. The broccoli retains a hint of its natural bitterness, too. It’s the perfect in-between of steamed and raw for the tabbouleh salad.

If chopping up a head of broccoli feels like more work than you’re up for, the good news is that broccoli rice (frozen and shelf-stable) is now a thing that exists. In place of the 12 ounces of broccoli called for in the recipe, you can use 10-12 ounces of frozen broccoli rice instead.

Chop your herbs

After you chop and cook the broccoli, you’ll wipe down your food processor and use it to chop your herbs.

Tabbouleh generally calls for mint and parsley. You can use that combination here, or if you’re having a hard time finding fresh mint in the winter, you can use all parsley. The salad is refreshing in either case.

If you choose to use frozen broccoli rice, rather than preparing your broccoli from scratch, and you don’t want to dirty the food processor, you can finely chop herbs by hand. I’d personally always rather use a processor for vegetable and herb preparation—a little more cleanup, but a lot less work.

Mix the tabbouleh

At this point, you need only mix your cooked grain, vegetables, and herbs together with seasoning for the broccoli tabbouleh.

The seasonings are simple here: garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt. You could certainly give the tabbouleh added flavor with the addition of cumin, coriander, or another spice. Additionally, you can increase the garlic to taste (I’m usually pretty conservative with it).

And that’s it. Your fresh, zippy little grain salad is ready to eat. If you like, you can top it with pomegranate arils for a festive touch. Not necessary, but bright and cheery for December!

How to serve broccoli tabbouleh

There are so many ways to enjoy a versatile salad like this one. Of course it’s a great side dish, especially for a Mediterranean inspired meal. I’d happily serve it with my baked balsamic tofu or lemon pepper baked tempeh cubes. Maybe with some pita wedges on the side.

If you want to go crazy for crucifers within a meal, you could serve the tabbouleh with my whole roasted lemon tahini cauliflower.

The broccoli tabbouleh is also a nice, fresh accompaniment to soup. I like it with my tomato soup, simple green soup, carrot ginger turmeric soup, and roasted garlic chickpea soup.

Finally, you could easily transform the tabbouleh into the base for a vegan lunch bowl (or dinner bowl). Add a scoop of cooked legumes (chickpeas would be great), some pita wedges, some roasted vegetables, some herbed tofu feta, and anything else you’re in the mood for.

Top the bowl with a generous drizzle of turmeric tahini or green tahini dressing, and yum!

Preparation & storage

The broccoli tabbouleh leftovers keep nicely in the fridge for up to three days. This is a nice little grain salad to make ahead of time for packed lunches, a gathering of some sort, or just to get ahead on dinner.

More simple grain salads & sides

Grains are pretty much the foundation of my diet year round. But the winter months give me a special opportunity to appreciate how grounding and nourishing they are. Here are a few of my other favorite vegan grain salads and simple sides—some of which feature bulgur, too.

• Lemony bulgur chickpea salad
• Farro salad with beets and carrots
• Quinoa citrus salad with tofu
• Millet and roasted carrot pilaf
• Pesto farro baby kale salad
• Black bean quinoa salad with cumin dressing
• Sweet potato bulgur citrus salad
• Millet pesto salad
• Eggplant quinoa
• Quinoa bean salad with tahini and pumpkin seeds
• Baked bulgur and chickpeas
• Simple, savory mushroom farro
• Tomato quinoa & chickpeas

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Broccoli Tabbouleh

This broccoli tabbouleh features finely chopped, lightly cooked broccoli in place of the traditional tomatoes. Much like a classic tabbouleh, it's a fresh, flavorful grain salad that makes for a versatile side dish or the base of a nutritious meal.

Course main, Main Course, side, Side Dish

Cuisine Mediterranean

Diet Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword broccoli, bulgur wheat, parsley, salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Gena Hamshaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat (90 g)
• 1 large crown broccoli, thick stem removed (about 12 oz/340 g)
• 1 1/2 cups parsley, packed (curly or flat leaf)
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, packed (substitute additional parsley)
• 1 small (or 1/2 large) red or white onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced (more to taste)
• Pomegranate arils (optional, for serving) 

Instructions

• Place the bulgur wheat and 1 cup water in a small pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer the bulgur for 12 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed. Remove the pot from heat, fluff the bulgur with a fork, re-cover, and set the bulgur aside. 
• Cut the broccoli into florets and pieces. Place them into a food processor fitted with the S blade. Pulse until the broccoli is in small (about pea-sized) pieces. Alternatively, you can finely chop the broccoli by hand.
• Heat a skillet or deep frying pan over medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of water to the hot skillet. Add the finely chopped broccoli and cover the skillet or pan. Allow the broccoli to steam cook for about a minute, then remove the cover and continue cooking, stirring the whole time, for another 1-2 minutes. The broccoli should turn bright green and no longer taste raw, but it should retain a lot of its crunch. Remove the skillet with the broccoli from heat. 
• Wipe down the food processor and then add the parsley and mint. Pulse the herbs until they're finely chopped.
• Place the cooked bulgur, broccoli, herbs, and finely chopped onion into a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon, salt, and garlic. Mix everything well. Taste and add additional salt as desired. If you like, top the tabbouleh with pomegranate arils. Serve.

As we move into this second weekend of December, I’m grateful for simple food, nourishing ingredients, and the cheery sight of bright green and scarlet red in my salad bowl. Hope you’ll enjoy this humble broccoli tabbouleh, too—happy Friday, all.

xo

The post Broccoli Tabbouleh appeared first on The Full Helping.

An old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie can’t be beat! These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies have perfect, chewy texture. They’re made with wholesome rolled oats, and they’re perfect with a glass of non-dairy milk.

The holiday season is often a time for elaborate cooking and baking. It’s my busiest time of year in the kitchen for sure, and I tend to save my most ambitious desserts for November and December.

In spite of this, or maybe because of it, I like to take breaks from the holiday madness in order to prepare some simple food. These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are the epitome of a low stress dessert. They come together in a single bowl, bake quickly, and they feature simple ingredients.

What’s more, they have the sweet, yet wholesome vibe that make oatmeal raisin cookies so lovable and special. They’re not the richest or most decadent cookie, but they don’t have to be. They’re sweet, soft, buttery, and studded with juicy raisins, and that’s more than enough.

An ode to oatmeal raisin cookies

I don’t think that any cookie is quite as divisive as oatmeal raisin cookies are.

Every time I mention oatmeal raisin cookies in mixed company, it seems that half of the people present love them. The other half hates them. There are no in-betweens.

I guess it’s easy to compare oatmeal raisin cookies to what they aren’t. They’re not bursting with melted chocolate. They’re not covered in frosting or glaze. They have neither the sweetness nor the intense buttery flavor of sugar cookies.

What oatmeal raisin cookies do have is that wonderfully chewy interior. The effect is heightened by the plump, juiciness of raisins and the nice texture that rolled oats lend to the cookie batter.

Oatmeal raisin cookies are subtle. Most recipes call for just a hint of cinnamon—not enough to make the cookies smell like pumpkin bread, but enough to give them the familiar aroma and taste of fall baking.

Oatmeal raisin cookies are buttery, but not in the overwhelming way that shortbread is buttery. And while this batch of vegan oatmeal raisin cookies is definitely sweet, they don’t register as being sugary.

The cookies are just the thing to enjoy in contrast to the many ornate cakes, pies, puddings, and pastries that you might enjoy this holiday season. They’ll make you smile, and they may evoke some nostalgia. But they’ll do that in a quiet and humble way.

My favorite rolled oats

A lot of oatmeal raisin cookie recipes call for quick oats. I like quick oats for breakfast, but when it comes to cookies, I think that rolled oats can’t be beat.

Rolled oats are key for giving the vegan oatmeal raisin cookies their perfectly chewy, textured interior. And I could only have chosen my favorite rolled oats from One Degree Organics for the job!

I love these oats, and I love all of the other cereals, granolas, and flours that One Degree produces. The oats have sweet, mild flavor, they’re always super fresh, and they’re great for both oatmeal and baking. (Or for baked oatmeal.)

The One Degree Organic oats are both organic and glyphosate-free. For those who are allergic to gluten, the oats are certified GF.

Best of all, One Degree prides itself on transparent sourcing. Each product bag features a QR code that you can use to trace the product’s ingredients and the farmers who grew them.

Other oatmeal raisin cookie ingredients

While oats are of course the starring ingredient of this recipe, there are a few others you’ll need to make the cookies.

Vegan butter

You’ll need eight tablespoons, or one stick, of vegan butter for the recipe. The butter should be at room temperature, as you’ll be creaming it together with sugar in a stand or handheld mixer.

You can use any butter variety that you like, but I find that vegan butter in stick form is easiest for baking.

Flax meal

The recipe calls for one vegan “flax egg.” It’s made with ground flax meal + water. You can grind the flax seeds at home, if you have a spice mill, or you can purchase pre-ground flax.

Sugars

The cookies call for both cane and brown sugar. The sugars each contribute different degrees of moisture to the recipe, which is why I use a mix. However, you can use all cane sugar or all brown sugar in a pinch.

Unbleached, all-purpose flour

I use unbleached, all-purpose flour in the oatmeal raisin cookies. The lightness and tenderness of this flour works well with the wholesome texture of the oats. If you like, you can use whole wheat pastry flour in its place.

And if you need the recipe to be gluten-free, you can try using an all-purpose, gluten-free flour blend.

Cornstarch

There’s not much cornstarch needed here, but a small amount can contribute to chewy texture and help to replace egg in vegan cookie recipes. You can substitute arrowroot instead. If you don’t have cornstarch at home, you can omit it.

Raisins

I tested the cookies with a whole cup of raisins and only a half cup. The batch with a cup seemed to be overwhelmed by the raisins, while half a cup wasn’t enough. Two-thirds of a cup was my sweet spot.

If you’re a big raisin lover, you can use three quarters of a cup instead.

How to make vegan oatmeal raisin cookies

The process of making these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies is fairly simple. And you’ll find that it isn’t very different from making regular oatmeal raisin cookies, if you’re already a pro. Replacing egg is the only real vegan modification in the recipe, and a flax egg does that very efficiently.

Prepare your flax “egg”

Preparing a flax egg is really as simple as mixing a tablespoon of ground flax meal and three tablespoons of warm water. Be sure to give the flax egg a little time to “gel” up into a thick mixture; you can let it sit and thicken while you proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Cream your butter and sugar

You can use either a stand mixer or a handheld mixer to cream butter and sugar for this recipe.

Creaming butter and sugar isn’t just about mixing the two together. It’s a process of aerating the butter as you disperse the sugar evenly through it. Be sure to keep mixing the ingredients until the creamed butter appears light and airy.

Add your dry ingredients

I add dry ingredients, mix to combine, and then mix in the raisins. Note that this cookie dough will be relatively wet and sticky. This is how it’s supposed to look at this point. Chilling time, the next step, will make it more solid.

Chill

If a cookie recipe calls for chilling time, then it’s probably a necessary and important step. Chilling cookie dough fully hydrates the flour, and it also allows fats to cool. This means that cookies won’t spread too much as they bake.

One hour of chilling time is enough for the vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, but overnight is fine if you have the time.

In this recipe, I also use baking powder instead of soda. While this is unusual for cookies, it works. When I tested the cookies with baking soda they spread too much. Baking powder gives them rise without making them overly thin and flat.

Scoop

You’ll drop the cookies in two-tablespoon heaps onto lined baking sheets before baking at 350F. A cookie scoop makes this easy, and is worthy having at home if you love to bake cookies!

Bake

It took me years to learn how to bake cookies without burning them. Whenever I removed them from the oven at the indicated time, it would seem to me that they were too pale and undercooked.

I didn’t realize that cookies always keep baking for a bit after you pull them from the oven. In addition, only two or three minutes of oven time can be the difference between burnt and properly baked cookies. A good rule of thumb is to remove them from the oven a little before you think you need to.

The oatmeal raisin cookies will need 12-14 minutes of baking time, and no more. They’re ready at the moment they’re just starting to brown at their edges.

Storage

Store the vegan oatmeal raisin cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days. A Stasher Bag is also a good storage container for them.

Can I freeze oatmeal raisin cookies?

Yes, it’s fine to freeze the cookies. They can be frozen for up to six weeks and enjoyed whenever you have a craving.

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Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

An old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie can't be beat! These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies have perfect, chewy texture. They're made with wholesome rolled oats, and they're perfect with a glass of non-dairy milk.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword cookies, oatmeal, oats

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Chilling time 1 hour

Servings 18 cookies

Author Gena Hamshaw

Equipment

• Electric mixer

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon ground flax meal (7 g)
• 8 tablespoons vegan butter, room temperature (112 g / 1 stick)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark) (96 g)
• 1/4 cup cane sugar (48 g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (90 g)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups One Degree Organics rolled oats (120 g)
• 2/3 cup raisins (55 g)

Instructions

• Combine the flax meal with three tablespoons of warm water. Mix it and set it aside for five minutes, to gel (this is a “flax egg”).
• In the meantime, place the butter and sugars in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat them on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, till fluffy. Add the flax egg and the vanilla extract. Continue to beat for one more minute.
• Add the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and oats to the stand mixer. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, or until the ingredients are mixed evenly. Add the raisins and mix again to incorporate. The cookie dough will be somewhat wet. Transfer the dough to the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. 
• Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the cookie dough by two-tablespoon heaps onto the baking sheet. Space the cookies two inches apart.
• Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until they’re just browning at the edges. Allow them to cool on their sheets for five minutes, then use a large spatula to transfer them gently to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy or store. 

It never hurts to have a bite of something very nostalgic and comforting. During these busy winter months, it also doesn’t hurt to bake something easy and low-stress. Something that you don’t necessarily have to share with anyone else. Just a wholesome, chewy treat for you.

My hope is that these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies will fill that need. Enjoy!

xo

This post is sponsored by One Degree Organics. All opinions are my own. Thanks for your support!

The post Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies appeared first on The Full Helping.