Pizza Bites

These can be eaten as a side or as a main entree. 

Ingredients:
1½ cups cooked green or brown lentils 
2 tubes prepared polenta, cut into ½” rounds 
1 bunch kale, stem and chop
¾ cup marinara sauce
¼ cup vegan parmesan 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Bake polenta rounds   for 8-10 mins, until golden and crisp (no need to flip). 
3. Steam kale. 
4. Toss lentils with marinara sauce. 
5. Top polenta rounds with steamed kale and marinara lentils. 
6. Garnish with vegan parmesan.

Notes:

• Serves  4
• Total Time: 10 min  
• Active Time: 10 min 

KTTA aka BLTA

This is a great compliment to an ear of corn on the cob. Recipe is based off a meal from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor. 

Ingredients:
water
liquid smoke
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pure maple syrup
3-4 oz extra-firm tofu, sliced into 3
2 slices bread
1 cup kale, chop
1 tomato, sliced
2-oz guacamole

Directions:

1. Toast bread (optional.)
2. Spread guacamole on bread slices.
3. Add 1/4 cup water, a tad of liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, and maple syrup to a skillet. Whisk together.
4. Ad tofu and cook over medium heat, turning regularly, until it starts to caramelize. This is now the "bacon" part of a BLTA.
5. Make sandwich with kale, tomato slices, and tofu "bacon".

Notes:

• Serves 1.
• Original recipe called for one portabello mushroom stemmed and sliced instead of tofu.
• Original recipe per serving: 384 calories, 12.5g fat, 58.1g carbs, 12.9g fiber, 15.6g sugar, and 12.7g protein.
• You can use a gluten-free tortilla instead of bread and make a wrap.
• You can use hummus instead of guacamole.

Indonesian Stir-Fry Noodles

What's funny about this dinner is that when I said it was what was for dinner, everybody balked. Then I made it, with an add-on of chicken for the omnivores in the family. One child, who is super-duper picky, didn't even try it. But it got whole-hearted yums from the other two people. So much that my son asked how much would be leftovers. And asked if I could make it again ... soon. 

The bowl above serves 4. That's right, 4. When I took my helping, everybody's eyes got wide and said, you get that much? Since I'm trying to watch my caloric intake. I said, I get a quarter of the bowl. Then they said, that isn't even a quarter of that bowl. By the way, I was quite full after eating the portion I served myself.

I got the original recipe from Happy Herbivores Meal Mentor. 

Ingredients:
12-oz dry noodles (i.e. spaghetti) 
6 tbsp teriyaki sauce 
2 tbsp soy sauce 
dash Sriracha (i.e., to taste) 
1/4 cup vegetable broth
oil
1 onion, thinly sliced 
4 garlic cloves, minced 
12-oz broccoli florets 
10-oz cole-slaw mix 
1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped
water, as needed

Directions:

1. Cook noodles via package instructions. 
2. Drain, rinse under cold water. Set aside. 
3. While cooking noodles, n a small bowl, whisk teriyaki, soy sauce, Sriracha, and broth together. Set aside. 
4. Sauté onions and garlic in oil until translucent. 
5. Add broccoli and cook until bright green. 
6. Add cole-slaw mix, cooking and stirring so the veggies starts to soften.  
7. Add kale, stirring to incorporate. 
8. Continue to cook to desired tenderness, adding water as needed. 
9. Stir in sauce and cooked noodles. 
10. Taste, adding more Sriracha or teriyaki sauce, if desired.  

Notes:

• Serves 4
• Per serving: 428 calories, 2.7g fat, 87.6g carbs, 14.8g fiber, 12g sugars, 18.5g protein
• You can use water instead of vegetable broth. You can use thinly sliced cabbage instead of cole-slaw mix. You can add-on more veggies.
• If you want to add some meat, chicken thinly sliced and fried in the same sauce (make more) worked well for us. I think pork may also go well in this dish.

Tuscany Risotto

About 5 years ago, I discovered risotto. I love risotto. Imagine my delight when Tuscany Risotto showed up about 1 month after I started getting meal plans from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor. The above photo is one-half of one serving. The serving was nearly as large as my big plate, but it wasn't particularly pretty for the photo. I submitted this photo on Instagram as a part of the March Madness challenges. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp miso paste
oil
12-oz riced cauliflower (available from Trader Joe's in frozen section)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups kale
2 tbsp almond milk
garlic powder
black pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk tahini, nutritional yeast, and miso together. Set aside.
2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, heat oil. Saute onion and garlic until translucent.
3. Stir in riced cauliflower and cook a couple minutes, adding splashes of broth to prevent sticking and stirring occasionally.
4. Add tahini mixture plus remaining broth and cooked rice, stirring to combine.
5. Cover and simmer for a few minutes.
6. Uncover and stir in kale until it softens.
7. Continue to heat over low, stirring, until kale incorporates and excess liquid cooks off.
8. Add milk to cream it up, adding more as desired. 
9. Let rest a few minutes.
10. Top with a dash of garlic powder and black pepper.

Notes:

• Serves 2
• Per serving: 404 calories, 8.4g fat, 71.9g carbs, 9.7g fiber, 6.5g sugars, 15.1g protein
• Add in some steamed carrots.

Tofu Scramble

I have learned that I love tofu scrambles. There's very few that I don't like. Given that I keep adding potential scrambles to this page, I should probably break them out into individual ones, but the thing about tofu scrambles is you can do a little of this and a little of that. You never have to follow exactly any given recipe. 

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion or 3 scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, orange, or green), finely diced
One 16-ounce package extra-firm tofu (previously frozen and thawed), drained and rinsed
1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves, rinsed and patted dry
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion and peppers are tender and turning a little brown.
2. Meanwhile, using your hands, crumble the tofu into a bowl to create the consistency of coarse bread crumbs. Add to the saute pan and stir to combine.
3. Add the spinach, brown rice, turmeric, cumin, paprika, and nutritional yeast, and saute for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tofu is a bright yellow color (from the turmeric) and thoroughly heated.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

• Yields 2-4 servings
• Great use for leftover rice
• You can add mushrooms (crimini)
• Adapted from the book the 30 Day Vegan Challenge (book).
• Make Mexican Scramble by adding 1 cup of salsa after the tofu is cooked, and allowing it to heat through. Put into a breakfast burrito by wrapping the scramble in a tortilla and serving with tortilla chips, avocado.
• For an Italian twist, add fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, and/or parsley.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can also do a Kale Scramble (shown right): 7.5 oz extra-firm tofu, 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 0.5 tsp garlic powder, 0.5 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, pinch turmeric, handful of kale. Follow directions above starting at step 2, adding everything except kale. Add in kale at the end, and cook down. Serves 1.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can do another Italian Scramble (shown below): 1-4 garlic cloves minced, 1 diced roma tomato, 15-oz extra firm tofu (drained), 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric. Saute garlic and tomato until mostly dry, add in tofu and all the seasonings, cooking over medium until warm and well combined. Serves 2.