“Normal” Vegan Recipes

The first "normal" vegan meal that comes to mind is pasta in tomato based sauce. Risotto is another good one.

Black bean tacos

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/228915/black-bean-tacos/

Couscous made with a vegetable stock and veggies stirred in.

Check out the website: https://www.onegreenplanet.org/foodmonster/ and the accompanying app Food Monster. They have terrific recipes. I am very frugal but decided to subscribe. I have found the trick is getting your larder stocked and ready to transition to a Plant Based diet. Simple things like coconut yogurt which is simple to make, couscous, quinoa in addition to brown rice. Plant Based diets can give so many more taste options than meat based. Something as simple as a baked sweet potatoe topped with beans can be very satisfying, over time you can learn to doctor them up a bit. As I live in San Francisco I found Amazon Fresh is a great way to get the basics (canned beans, couscous, flours etc) and cheaper than going to the market, though I will always go to market for my fresh Produce.

There is a book called Supermarket Vegan. The recipes are all normal ingredients you can find at the grocery store you shop at.

This is one of my favourite vegan recipes, I'd definitely say it's "beginner" level:

https://jessicainthekitchen.com/coconut-chickpea-curry-recipe/

The only tweak I made was that I added a couple tbsp of natural peanut butter to it...because I'm obsessed with peanut curry. It was DELICIOUS. Didn't even eat it with rice...not necessary.

Hi. I started vegan 6 weeks ago and I feel great. I used to think tasty food was long to prepare and head busting. Now I whip up delicious meals in 5 to 10 minutes. I've tasted things I'd never eaten before. Foods from all over France and the world, always yummy and colourful.

Ginger Tofu & Mushroom Yakisoba Noodles

2 wholewheat noodle nests
24ml soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
80g baby button mushrooms
25g thai spice jelly
15g fresh root ginger
280g plain tofu
1 carrot
1 red pepper
2 tbsp white miso paste †
5g black sesame seeds †
1 tbsp cornflour
2 spring onions
Vegetable oil

Top and tail the carrot into quarters lengthways, then cut into batons
Deseed the red pepper (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and cut into thin strips
Peel (scrape the skin off with a teaspoon) and finely chop (or grate) the ginger
Boil a kettle
Drain the tofu and cut into cubes
Add the cornflour and soy sauce to a bowl and mix until combined
Add the tofu cubes and mix gently until the cubes are fully coated in the cornflour mixture
Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with a generous drizzle of vegetable oil over a high heat
Once hot, add the tofu cubes and cook for 5-6 min or until golden and crisp
Once crisp, transfer the tofu to kitchen paper and set aside, reserving the pan and oil
Meanwhile, add the wholewheat noodles to a pot and cover with boiled water until fully submerged
Bring to the boil over a high heat and cook for 5-7 min until tender with a slight bite
Once tender, drain and reserve a cup of the starchy noodle water
Return the pan and oil to a medium-high heat
Once hot, add the baby button mushrooms, carrot batons and sliced red pepper and cook for 4-5 min or until beginning to soften
Meanwhile, combine the miso paste with the Thai spice jelly, mirin and 1 tbsp water and mix well until fully combined – this is your yakisoba sauce
Trim, then slice the spring onions finely
Once the vegetables have softened, return the tofu to the pan with the yakisoba sauce and chopped ginger and cook for 30 secs or until fragrant
Add the cooked noodles and half the chopped spring onion and cook for 2-3 min further or until all of the noodles are fully coated in the sauce
Add a splash of the starchy noodle water if it's looking a little dry
Serve the ginger tofu & mushroom yakisoba and garnish with the remaining chopped spring onion and black sesame seeds

Enjoy!

Peanut butter and jelly, carrots

Vegetable chilli, vegetable curry, pasta with veggies or tomato sauce, burritos with beans and rice, salad with chickpeas, pizza with roasted vegetables (no cheese or vegan cheese), vegetable soup with bread.....the options are endless.

It's super annoying that the most popular vegan food bloggers rarely post accessible recipes for normal people who can't go to whole foods twice a week, or who have limited kitchen equipment.

I eat really simple foods because I'm single and hate doing meal prep/cleaning by myself. Luckily I have access to a lot of pre-made mainstream meat imitation products and vegan staples (like veganaise and nutritional yeast). To me those ingredients are not that hard to find in a normal super market, but I understand that they might be in other parts of the US. So, sorry if this isn't super helpful to you.

Here are some things that I eat a lot. I'd say everything is very normal, although not necessarily the healthiest if you care about whole foods/plant based, nor the most cost efficient.

Full Meals and Meal Components

• some sort of frozen chicken imitation - (gardein mandarin nuggets, trader joes crispy tenders, boca chik'n patties, etc) + frozen broccoli
• half a tofurkey italian sausage + a piece of toast with peanut butter )topped with maple syrup, cinnamon, and sometimes frozen berries)
• tofu or chickpea "egg" salad - just mashed up raw tofu (or rinsed, drained canned chickpeas) and veganaise + spices and minced veggies or aromatics. A cursory internet search will yield pages and pages of recipes for this, with varying degrees of complexity. Eat on toast, crackers, or on a salad.
• baked sweet potatoes. Just clean, wrap in foil, and bake. Add to any meal if you can afford a starch component.
• basic baked tofu. Buy it premade, or use this recipe. Refrigerate and use it as you would grilled chicken. I usually add it to salads.
• RICE AND BEANS. If you're not a Fancy Vegan, you will eat. So. Much. Rice. And. Beans. My personal favorite combination is white rice + black beans. Cut carbs and bulk volume by eating it on top of a raw veggie salad (I like kale or chopped purple cabbage because it doesn't spoil very quickly).
• Amy's VEGETABLE burritos (NOT the bean and rice variety; they aren't vegan) are your friend if you have literally no time to cook. They're pretty commonly available in normal supermarkets where I live.
• (assuming you can get nutritional yeast)this mac and cheese sauce is pretty accessible and doesn't taste weird

Snacks/Small Meals that require basically no meal prep

• tofurkey deli slices + mustard
• bagged fruits that travel well and aren't super perishable - usually clementines or apples
• hummus and crackers (consider adding the deli slices to crackers)
• carrot or celery sticks and hummus
• kashi go lean cereal or special k with unsweetened almond milk
• a banana dipped in chocolate flavored pb2
• frozen edamame (cooked obvs, but I usually eat it cold]
• pre-portioned trail mix bags (you can buy them in single-portion packaging, or do it yourself)
• cliff builders bars
• vegan protein powder with unsweetened almond milk

fly_1 wrote: »

It's super annoying that the most popular vegan food bloggers rarely post accessible recipes for normal people who can't go to whole foods twice a week, or who have limited kitchen equipment.

I eat really simple foods because I'm single and hate doing meal prep/cleaning by myself. Luckily I have access to a lot of pre-made mainstream meat imitation products and vegan staples (like veganaise and nutritional yeast). To me those ingredients are not that hard to find in a normal super market, but I understand that they might be in other parts of the US. So, sorry if this isn't super helpful to you.

Here are some things that I eat a lot. I'd say everything is very normal, although not necessarily the healthiest if you care about whole foods/plant based, nor the most cost efficient.

Full Meals and Meal Components

• some sort of frozen chicken imitation - (gardein mandarin nuggets, trader joes crispy tenders, boca chik'n patties, etc) + frozen broccoli
• half a tofurkey italian sausage + a piece of toast with peanut butter )topped with maple syrup, cinnamon, and sometimes frozen berries)
• tofu or chickpea "egg" salad - just mashed up raw tofu (or rinsed, drained canned chickpeas) and veganaise + spices and minced veggies or aromatics. A cursory internet search will yield pages and pages of recipes for this, with varying degrees of complexity. Eat on toast, crackers, or on a salad.
• baked sweet potatoes. Just clean, wrap in foil, and bake. Add to any meal if you can afford a starch component.
• basic baked tofu. Buy it premade, or use this recipe. Refrigerate and use it as you would grilled chicken. I usually add it to salads.
• RICE AND BEANS. If you're not a Fancy Vegan, you will eat. So. Much. Rice. And. Beans. My personal favorite combination is white rice + black beans. Cut carbs and bulk volume by eating it on top of a raw veggie salad (I like kale or chopped purple cabbage because it doesn't spoil very quickly).
• Amy's VEGETABLE burritos (NOT the bean and rice variety; they aren't vegan) are your friend if you have literally no time to cook. They're pretty commonly available in normal supermarkets where I live.
• (assuming you can get nutritional yeast)this mac and cheese sauce is pretty accessible and doesn't taste weird

Snacks/Small Meals that require basically no meal prep

• tofurkey deli slices + mustard
• bagged fruits that travel well and aren't super perishable - usually clementines or apples
• hummus and crackers (consider adding the deli slices to crackers)
• carrot or celery sticks and hummus
• kashi go lean cereal or special k with unsweetened almond milk
• a banana dipped in chocolate flavored pb2
• frozen edamame (cooked obvs, but I usually eat it cold]
• pre-portioned trail mix bags (you can buy them in single-portion packaging, or do it yourself)
• cliff builders bars
• vegan protein powder with unsweetened almond milk

Not sure if it's available where you live, but this particular Amy's bean and rice burrito is vegan and I think it's pretty tasty: https://www.amys.com/our-foods/bean-rice-burrito-non-dairy