Tag: protein

Recipes

Shepherdess Pie

veganlivingbydanielle

I get so many compliments on this dish from vegans and non-vegans alike! I like to veganize this dish to share at potlucks and holiday gatherings. It is a hit time after time! I think it’s pretty simple, I hope you agree.

I Googled “what do you call a vegan Shepherd’s Pie?” and it came up “Mushroom Planter’s Pie” or “Sheperdess Pie” so I chose the latter. The first felt like a mouthful…

If I’m making this to serve for dinner, I use a casserole dish. For potlucks, I use a crockpot.

If you’re using a crockpot, you’ll have to skip steps 6 and 11.

This is allergen friendly too because it’s dairy free, nut free, gluten free, and soy free!* *depending on the “butter” used

Ingredients:

Mashed Potato Topping

  • 3-4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened original oat milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)

“Meat”

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 lb Beyond Meat
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 tsp parsley
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 8 oz vegetable broth
  • 1 1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
  • 2 Tbsp flour (sun corn starch to be gluten free)
  • 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions:

  1. Peel and cut the potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover the potatoes with water, and boil until they are soft, about 10-15 min.
  2. While the potatoes are boiling, dice the onion and mince the garlic.
  3. Saute the onions in a large frying pan over medium heat with olive oil. After about 3 min when the onions are golden, add the garlic and Beyond Meat. Turn the burner up to medium-high heat to brown the meat.
  4. While the meat is browning, add the herbs, salt, and pepper.
  5. Once the meat is browned, add the broth and veggies. Then add the flour and nutritional yeast to thicken. Cook for about 5 min until the veggies are no longer frozen, and the sauce has thickened.
  6. If you’re using a casserole dish to serve, move the oven rack toward the top of the oven. Preheat the oven on to broil at 550F.
  7. Drain the water from the cooked potatoes.
  8. Add the butter, milk, garlic, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast to the potatoes and mash them up until smooth.
  9. Add the meat and veggie mixture to the dish or crockpot and spread evenly.
  10. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and veggies evenly.
  11. Put the casserole dish, uncovered, in the oven to cook the top of the dish until the potatoes are golden brown. This should only take about 2 minutes so keep an eye on it!
  12. Top with parsley flakes for garnish, optional.

Enjoy!

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Recipes, Uncategorized

Chik’n Parm

veganlivingbydanielle

Dress up your Wheat “Meat” recipe and make a chik’n parm dinner!

It’s super simple and very similar to cooking up chicken or eggplant parm, if you’ve ever done that.

You’ll need flax egg, vegan bread crumbs, frying oil, flour (optional), and sprigs of basil (optional for garnish).

Make a flax egg:

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk 1/4 cup flax seed meal with 3/4 cup water.
  • Let stand for 5 minutes for the mixture to become gelatinous.

Prep bread crumbs:

  1. I use 1-2 cups of vegan Italian bread crumbs. I like these bread crumbs from Whole Foods because they’re vegan and already seasoned.
  2. Whatever bread crumbs you use, you can add a bit of flour to the bread crumbs to make them stretch further and last longer.
  3. You can also search through your grocery store’s panko or plain bread crumbs and check the ingredients list that they are free of egg and dairy.
    • You can add Italian seasoning to the plain bread crumbs, 1 tsp Italian seasoning per cup.
    • If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use 1/4 tsp of oregano, 1/4 tsp of basil, 1/4 tsp of onion powder, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder.
  4. Put the bread crumbs, whichever option you choose, on a plate.

Directions:

  1. Take one slightly cooled piece of Wheat “Meat” and dunk it in the flax egg until it’s evenly coated on both sides.
  2. Take the piece that’s coated in the flax egg and cover in the bread crumbs on both sides.
  3. Put the coated piece on a clean plate.
  4. Repeat until all pieces are coated in flax egg and bread crumbs.
  5. Set frying pan on medium-high heat and add frying oil.
  6. When the pan is warm, put the Wheat “Meat” pieces in the pan.
  7. Cook until one side of the piece is golden brown and flip to cook on the other side. Add more oil if needed.
  8. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
  9. Remove from pan.
  10. Top with warmed red pasta sauce and vegan cheese if desired. I prefer Violife mozzarella and parmesan.
  11. If you are using “meat” that is completely cooled, I recommend baking for 15-20 minutes. You can also bake for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese.
  12. Top with a sprig of basil for garnish.

Enjoy!

CH

 

 

Recipes, Uncategorized

Wheat “Meat”

veganlivingbydanielle

My friend and chef, Steve, was kind enough to share this recipe with me and let me share it on my blog here! Thanks Steve! I made some VERY slight adjustments to the recipe he gave me as he works at ION Restaurant and designed his recipe to serve the masses.

For this recipe, you need:

  • KitchenAid mixer or something similar with a dough hook (you can also combine by hand in a bowl and knead it if you don’t have a dough hook with a mixer)
  • medium to large sauce pan
  • cooking tongs or skimmer
  • rolling pin (I used a cup before I had a rolling pin, you can improvise!)
  • parchment paper or dough mat

Dough Hook

This recipe is protein rich (20g of protein per 3 oz serving). The first way I made it was as chik’n parm! You could also marinade with vegan BBQ sauce (most are vegan if they don’t have honey) and grill it up! I will expand on directions for prepping the Wheat “Meat” in future posts. I posted the finished product because it’s not very pretty before it’s prepped.

Dough Ingredients:

  • 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable broth
  • 2 Tbsp sesame tahini
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Broth Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions:

  1. Combine dough ingredients in the bowl of the mixer.
  2. Mix on speed 2 with dough hook attachment for 5-10 minutes or until dough has formed into a ball. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. If you don’t have a mixer, knead by hand until all the dough is mixed thoroughly. A wooden spoon may be useful for this as well.
  3. Once the dough is well mixed, shape into smaller pieces. (I use a scale to measure 50g dough balls to ensure the amount of protein per serving is accurate.)
  4. On a dough mat or parchment paper, roll the pieces out to about 1/2 – 1 inch thickness.
  5. Put water on the stove in the pot on high. Add broth ingredients to the water. Bring water to a boil.
  6. Place the “meat” pieces into the boiling water using the tongs or skimmer. Boil for at least 40-45 minutes. The “meat” will start to flake apart slightly. You can tell if it’s cooked all the way by cutting into it. The middle section looks thicker/ there’s no texture or air bubbles, if it’s not fully cooked. The texture should be consistent throughout.
  7. Remove the “meat” pieces from the water.
  8. Allow them to cool slightly and prep as desired.

Enjoy!

Lifestyle Tips, Uncategorized

Tips for Cooking Beans

veganlivingbydanielle

Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit…

It’s a topic we don’t talk about enough, but there are ways to cook or consume beans to reduce uncomfortable gas. Beans cause gas because they are complex carbs and have sugars (healthy sugars) that cause gas as they break down in our digestive tract.

**Note: This post is not intended to replace a visit to a medical specialist. I am not licensed or certified to give medical advice. This list contains suggestions that I have personally found useful.**

  1. Progressively add beans into your diet so your body can get used to digesting them.
  2. Avoid eating fruit or other sugary foods at least two hours before or after consuming beans. Adding different types of sugars makes digestion harder and produces more gas.
  3. Don’t just drain canned beans, but rinse them thoroughly.
  4. Chew your food slowly. The process of digesting foods begins in your mouth. The more the food is broken down before entering your digestive tract, the less work has to be done by your stomach and intestines, where gas produces.
  5. Don’t have a meal that combines beans and potatoes. Potatoes also have sugars that conflict with the sugars in beans that makes digestion more difficult.
  6. Avoid cooking meals that combine beans with other proteins. Each type of protein requires different enzymes and they don’t play nicely together.
  7. Make sure your meal is made up by 75% veggies to aid digestion.
  8. Be aware of the types of beans you consume. Mung beans, lentils, and peas have high protein, and produce less gas.
  9. Drink herbal tea after your meal. Certain herbs can reduce uncomfortableness associated with gas. Teas with ginger, peppermint, and/or fennel work best. (Try these: Simply Balanced by Target and Traditional Medicinals.)
  10. Consider seeing a specialist.

 

sources:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diana-herrington/pass-on-the-gas-7-ways-to_b_3080786.html 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228670/

 

Recipes, Uncategorized

Easy PB Cookies

veganlivingbydanielle

Vegan Living by Danielle | Easy PB Cookies

These vegan, gluten-free cookies are super quick and easy to make. The ingredients are simple and healthy, and the results are amazing! My boyfriend is super picky and he loves these. He had one the other day and assumed they are loaded with sugar…SURPRISE! They aren’t. When I told him the only ingredients are peanut butter, maple syrup, almond flour/oat flour, and a sprinkle of sugar he was so surprised and had another!

I normally use almond flour for these cookies, but I was craving them the other day and didn’t have any almond flour left. I was not going out to the store for it either, so I experimented with ground oats. It worked just as well as the almond flour, and it’s cheaper! I used the same technique as my banana bread recipe: put 1 1/4 cup oats in the blender/food processor and grind until it forms a powder like flour. Substitute in the recipe for the almond flour.

Vegan Living by Danielle | Easy PB Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of almond/oat flour
  • 1/2 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter (if PB doesn’t have salt, add 1/4 tsp salt)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • a few Tbsp of unrefined sugar (to roll dough in)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or use a stone cookie sheet like I have.
  2. Mix flour, peanut butter, and syrup with a wooden spoon until smooth.
  3. Take chunks of the dough and roll the dough in your palms to make 1-inch cookie dough balls.
  4. Put sugar on a plate and roll each cookie dough ball until covered in sugar.
  5. Evenly space the cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet.
  6. Squish the cookie dough ball down with a fork in an “x.”
  7. Bake for 8 minutes. They do not need more time or they will be very dry.
  8. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
  9. Allow to cool completely on a plate.

Enjoy!