#veganchrys dinner

[veganchrys]

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup (vegan)

The god of all comfort foods has to be bread bowls, in my opinion. I haven’t made this in a while because, from what I remembered, it was tedious. But after making it again a second time, it took no time at all! The hardest part is just prepping the broccoli and the bread. But you can just have this as a soup and skip the bread bowl, although I would 110% recommend doing it as a bread bowl.

Ingredients (this fills a large sourdough bread bowl, about 3 bowls of soup): - 1 box veggie broth (900 mL) - 2 cups chopped broccoli - 1/4 cup flour - 4 tbsp nutritional yeast - 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper (add more if needed) - 1/4 tsp turmeric (for colour, so this is optional) - 1/2 tsp paprika (for colour, so this is also optional) - Large sourdough or deep round bread 

Instructions: 1) Add 2 cups chopped broccoli, half of the broth (about 2 cups), salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, turmeric, and paprika to a large pot. Bring to a boil. 2) Reduce heat to a simmer. In a large bowl, add 1/4 cup flour. Slowly add the remaining broth, and whisk or stir with a fork until the flour is well incorporated and no longer clumpy. 3). Add the flour and broth mixture to the pot of soup. Leave on a simmer while you prepare your bread. This will allow it to thicken. If you prefer it thicker, prepare another bowl with a tbsp of flour and just use a ladle to take broth out of the pot to make another flour/broth mixture. You don’t want to add the flour straight into the pot because it will get clumpy. Keep doing this until you reach your desired thickness. 4) To prepare the bread, cut off the top like you would for a pumpkin. remove all the nice fluffy bread and break it up into pieces. Bake at 350 degrees C for about 5 min. Just until it’s warm. Feel free to leave it in longer if you prefer your bread a little more toasty. I left mine in for 8-10 minutes and thought it was a bit too crunchy.  5) Carefully add your soup into the centre of the bread bowl. ENJOY!

[veganchrys]

Vegan Tofu Feta and Spinach Pastry

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted a recipe! I have a really good one for you today. It’s a Greek spanakopita inspired tofu feta and spinach pastry. I don’t really feel comfortable calling it spanakopita because I used some untraditional ingredients. Feel free to used this tofu feta on any other dishes you’re making! It would go great on a salad or on a charcuterie spread!

For the tofu feta: Ingredients: - 1 block extra firm tofu, diced into cubes - 1/2 cup almond milk - 1/2 cup water - 1/4 cup white wine vinegar - juice from 1 lemon - 3 tsp salt - 3 tsp basil

Instructions: 1) Simply combine all the ingredients in a deep tupperware and store in the fridge over night to marinate!

For the rest of the dish: Ingredients: - 1 pack of Ternderflake puff pastry, thawed (or any other vegan puff pastry) - 1 pack of spinach (roughly 11 oz) - 1 tsp salt - Flour for rolling out pastry

Instructions: 1) In a large saucepan or frying pan, cook down your spinach on medium, low heat. Add salt and 1-2 tbsp of the tofu feta marinade. This shouldn’t take long. 3-5 min max. 2) Add spinach to a large mixing bowl. Crumble tofu feta into the bowl as well. For good measure, add 2-3 tbsp of the marinade and 1 tsp of salt. 3) On a well floured surface, roll out your pastry. The tender flake comes in two rolls. Roll each one out into a square, about 15 x 15 inches (or as thin as you can without it ripping). Cut each into three strips that are 15 x 5 inches. 4) Add filling to each strip of pastry and roll into a log. Then spiral the pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Don’t spiral it too tight. But not too spaced out that it’ll leave gaps once it’s done baking. 5) Continue with the rest of the pastry, and then bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until golden. 6) ENJOY!!!

[veganchrys]

Easy Sesame Peanut Zoodles (vegan)

Ingredients: - Zucchini! As much or as little as you want.... I used one large zucchini - 1/2 cup peanut butter - 3 tbsp sesame oil - 1/2 cup soy sauce - 2 tbsp rice vinegar - Sesame seeds and green onions for topping

Instructions: 1) Prepare the zoodles! I used a veggie spiralizer to make the noodles. I then laid the noodles in an even layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 200 F for about 15 minutes. You can prepare the noodles however you like! Some people eat the noodles as they are, some people boil them. It’s totally up to you! This method wilts the noodles slightly but still keeps them firm.  2) To prepare the sauce, I blended the peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar until smooth.  3) Toss the zoodles in the sauce and top with sesame seeds and green onion!  4) ENJOY!

[veganchrys]

Watermelon Poke (vegan)

Happy Monday, friends! As some of you know, I went to Hawai’i recently and fell in love with O’ahu. I made a master post of some of my favourite places to eat on the island (click here). Although Hawai’i was extremely vegan friendly, I was a little bummed that I didn’t get to try poke! Poke is a raw fish dish that is similar to a sashimi salad, often marinaded with asian sauces. I was lucky enough to find tofu poke at Down to Earth, and saw that Island Vintage Coffee made cucumber poke... but as a foodie, it can be difficult not getting to try the real thing. I’ve heard of people using watermelon as a fish substitute, so i decided to give watermelon poke a try! With some sesame seeds, avocado, and nori, it actually tasted a lot like sushi! So I feel like it was as close to the real thing as I could get.

Ingredients: - Watermelon, seeds removed and cut into small chunks (use as much or as little as you want. I used about 4 cups so my family could have some.) - 1 tsp salt - 2 tbsp teriyaki marinade - 1 tbsp ponzu (could easily sub 3 tbsp of soy sauce for the teriyaki and ponzo) - 1/2 cup rice vinegar - 1/4 cup sesame oil - 2 tbsp agave 

Instructions: 1) Simply put all the watermelon and marinade ingredients into a tupperware and store in the fridge overnight (or 2-4 hours if you’re in a crunch) 2) Serve on its own or turn it into a poke bowl! I served mine with white rice, avocado, carrots, cucumber, green onion, sesame seeds, and nori. This would also go really well with spicy vegenaise!

[veganchrys]

Soba Buddha Bowls (vegan)

A super easy vegan dish that I’ve been loving lately! Something about laying out a “Buddha bowl” is so therapeutic. This is also pretty cost efficient, since Soba is fairly cheap. You could also swap our some of these veggies for frozen edamame or canned chick peas to make it extra efficient for your budget.

Ingredients: - Soba (the T&T brand one comes divided as four servings. I made two servings, one for me and one for Momo) - Veggies of your choice! I used Diced cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped green onion, sliced bell pepper, and torn kale massaged with sesame oil and a sprinkle of salt.  - Per serving: 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste - Extra sauce: 2 tbsp sesame oil, 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 3 tbsp soy sauce

Instructions: 1) Prepare the soba as instructed on the packaging. Drain and since well with cold water. Transfer into a large bowl (if making more than one serving) and drizzle with 1 tbsp rice vinegar and 1 tsp sesame oil (per serving). Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper. Use tongs or your hands to toss the noodles. 2) Prepare all your veggies and set aside. 3) To prepare the Buddha bowls: Add your noodles to the centre, and arrange your veggies around. You can get creative with this! 4) I liked to prepare an extra sauce to drizzle on top as a dressing. In a squeeze bottle, I just combined 2 tbsp sesame oil, 3 tsp rice vinegar, and 3 tbsp soy sauce. I gave it a good shake, and just brought the squeeze bottle to the table with the Buddha bowls. That way everyone can use as much or as little dressing as they want. 5) ENJOY!

[veganchrys]

What I Ate on New Year’s Day (vegan)

Good morning, lovelies! 

Did you have a good New Year’s? It was absolutely freezing here in Canada... so much that all of the outdoor New Year’s Eve celebrations were cancelled this year! Momo’s birthday is on New Year’s Eve, but we had a big party a couple days earlier. This year we just stayed home and watched New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. 

The next day, we just had a chilled day and watched The Last Jedi. Here is what I ate that day!

Breakfast: Grilled cheese with Daiya cheddar, ketchup, and orange juice

Lunch/Snack: Cheatin’ on my New Years Resolution already and had a few pieces of Bombice (a Serbian chocolate, hazelnut dessert) and a small piece of leftover birthday cake.

Movie snack: Popcorn and iced tea at the theatre

Dinner: Quinoa taco bowl! Quinoa, kale, Tofurkey chorizo, pepper, tomato, green onion, coleslaw mix (without dressing), and a squeeze of lemon.

[veganchrys]

Vegan “Pulled Pork” (Jackfruit) Recipe

Hello friends! One of my favourite things to make is BBQ-style jackfruit, but I haven’t had it in forever because it’s kind of a trek to get to the asian supermarket to get young jackfruit. I’ve posted this recipe a long time ago (with awful pics), so I figured I could post again.

Ingredients (makes about large sandwiches): For the jackfruit: - 4 cans of young jackfruit in water - 1 tbsp oil of your choice (I used olive oil) - 2 tbsp brown sugar - 2 tbsp ground cumin - 2 tbsp chili powder - 1/2 tsp garlic powder - 1/2 tsp onion powder - salt and pepper (roughly 1/2 tsp each) - 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari - 3/4 cup of vegan BBQ sauce 

For the coleslaw: - Pre-packaged coleslaw veg mix (you could just use cabbage and shredded carrots!) - 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar - 1/3 cup vegenaise - 1/2 tbsp mustard  - 1/2 tsp salt - 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions: 1) Prepare the jackfruit: Drain and rinse jackfruit. Using a steak knife, remove and discard the core of the jackfruit. If your jackfruit came cut into triangles, it’s the pointy side. Cut where the spongey core meets the fibres. Gently massage the fibres to remove and discard the seed pods, which look like little garlic cloves. Wrap up some of the jackfruit in a paper towel or towel, and give it a good squeeze over the sink or bowl to remove excess water. Then add to another mixing bowl. Do this until all the jackfruit has been squeezed. 2) Add brown sugar, cumin, chill powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to the jackfruit and stir to combine. 3) In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the seasoned jackfruit, and cook for 5 minutes. I used a wooden spoon to break apart all the fibres.  Add the BBQ sauce and soy sauce. I like to leave it for 2-3 minutes at a time without stirring to get a bit of a char going. 4) To prepare your coleslaw, put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until it’s well-combined.  5) Toast some buns, and assemble your sandwiches! 6) ENJOY!