VeganMoFo 2017 #7: Recipe Round-Up: Naturally Lean

7th: Original vegan: Vegan meals that aren’t trying to replicate meat/omni ingredients

Some omnivores seem to be so centered around always having meat or dairy or eggs in every meal, but there is a whole world of food out there that is none of those things. People think veganism is restrictive, but since going vegan I find my food options are ever expanding as I discover new ingredients or techniques. I love vegan versions of meat and cheese sometimes, but I mostly love exploring all the other options. And it doesn't mean that it needs to be fancy or hard. Noodles, pasta, stir-fries, soups, stews.... The list is endless.

Many of my cookbooks hit this brief, though today I am going to do a mini round-up of Naturally Lean by Allyson Kramer. While the book is designed to come into 300 calories or less for each serving, I don't pay attention to that. But it is a great book for tasty and healthy options. The book is divided into ingredient chapters - greens & crucifers, hearty grains, fabulous fruits, nuts & seeds, legumes, and squash, roots, & mushrooms. Recipes range from breakfasts to snacks to meals to desserts.

Choco-Chip, PB, & Banana Oatmeal (Hearty Grains): Allyson refers to this as her favourite oatmeal, and it is a pretty good combination. The oats are cooked (I used oat milk instead of water) and PB is melted into them, then they are topped with banana and cacao nibs (I love cacao nibs... more then chocolate chips!). I sweetened it with maple syrup rather than date sugar. This made a small bowl of oats, though reasonably substantial.
Rating: :)



Pad Thai Soba Noodles (Nuts & Seeds): Full disclosure: There is nothing pad thai at all about this dish, it is a pleasant, peanutty and coconutty noodles. First you make the Thai Peanut Dressing recipe on the following page, which is quite a thin and sweet coconutty sauce, I would have liked a bit more peanut and a bit more lime. This is tossed with soba noodles, veggies (I used scallions, carrots, mushrooms and peas), and I added some Japanese Style Marinated tofu because that is how I roll. Using 180g of soba, this made three serves.
Rating: Noodles :), Sauce :)



Zesty Black Bean Soup (Legumes): I made a half recipe of this and got just over one serving. It is a lovely soup, combining both savoury and sweet aspects. I left out all the chiles, of course, and used carrot instead of capsicum.
Rating: :)



Carrot Cake Smoothie (Squash, Roots, & Mushrooms): Carrots, apple, banana and pecans combine to make a very filling smoothie. The recipe calls for 2 cups of almond milk, I used 1.5 cups of oat milk, and got one bit serve (it is meant to serve 2). The best part about it is that it also has molasses, which makes it great! And also it is not too sweet.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



'Oh, you were planning on putting this blanket away? I think not!' Sahara had a sixth sense for knowing where potential comfy sleeping spots were. Any sort of blanket or doona piled up was always up for grabs.