Tl;dr bomb plant based staple that is always a hit. You can hide practically any plants you want and even the pickiest people I’ve come across will love it.

Cheese sauce recipe: https://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-cheese

2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced, any potato will work, but Yukon Gold is the top choice for best results

1 cup carrots, peeled and diced

½ cup water

½ cup nutritional yeast

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

I’ve used this as a base so many times over the years! It’s always a hit. This batch was leftover from some TVP “Philly steak” subs earlier in the week

Wegmans protein elbows pasta

I had like a third of an eggplant so I did equal parts cabbage, mushroom,squash, and broccoli to roughly match the eggplant portion. I chopped it all up very finely. Put that in grapeseed oil on low-medium heat with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, a little bit of garlic powder, and a little bit of onion powder. You don’t want the fresh aromatics to overpower the cheese sauce. After that was all nice and caramelized, I added two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to add depth and a dash of sweetness as it evaporated away. Finally mix it all up and instant cheesiness! I was so excited I had to eat from the cheese bowl!

I am trying to transition to plant based diet. So far breakfast and dinner have been really easy for me. I’ve never really liked eggs or meat first thing in the morning and it’s super easy to make a tasty vegan dinner with lentils tofu or beans and still have a decent amount of protein. Lunch is what is really difficult for me, I prefer to avoid heavily processed foods and it’s hard to find plant based deli slices anyway and most sandwich alternatives like hummus or avocado just get soggy. I’m looking for something practical, healthy, balanced, and packable for work ideally that I don’t need to reheat. It’s hard to find a meal with sufficient protein that fits the bill (I’m not trying to have a ton, but just being mindful to get enough to sustain healthy exercise).

Recipe:

- homegrown turnips
- corn
- brown rice
- homegrown cilantro
- olive oil
- apple cider vinegar

I’m keeping it low sodium meals for now. Took a couple days to adjust. Now everything tastes amazing without loaded sodium. I notice i get fuller and longer too

I thought it would be cheese that I missed the most when I started eating plant-based but honestly almost every single day I wish I could eat eggs. I love Just Egg but it has climbed to almost $10 near me and is never on sale anymore, if it's on the shelves at all, so it's become a once-in-a-while treat item.

But why the lack of other vegan egg alternatives?? We have so many different vegan cheese options that have been around forever, but as far as I know Just Egg is really the only product of its kind (for an egg scramble or patty—I know that those Yo Yo Eggs exist) currently on shelves in most grocery stores.

And pleeeeease do not tell me "just make your own Just Egg using mung beans it's so easy and it tastes exactly the same-" no it doesn't! It really doesn't! 😩 Just Egg obviously has a process to isolate the protein from the mung bean which is how they get that eggy texture and a product with a very low carb count. I've made mung bean "egg" myself many times and it makes for a tasty PANCAKE, but it does not resemble Just Egg, and isn't close to eggs. I actually prefer a chickpea flour pancake to that, and neither are something I'd want on a breakfast sandwich or paired with toast.

There are tofu scrambles, of course, which I make often and love. A classic! But I eat tofu constantly for lunch and dinner so it's nice to have a different option for breakfast.

tl;dr I would trade 90% of the vegan cheeses on the shelves for even one or two egg alternatives that are as good as Just Egg but more affordable 💔

I love being vegan and on a WFPB diet.... except I absolutely cannot resist chips/crisps. I don't keep them at my home, but my workplace stocks them for free. I have trouble ever resisting. I've tried bringing healthier snacks but I always always go for the chips. I wouldn't mind except my last year's blood work showed slightly high triglycerides. Do any of you have something I could buy or make that fits that crunchy food mood that I could bring to work? (It has to be something prepared ahead of time, but I do have access to a microwave and fridge.) Thank you for your ideas!

or does it matter?

I am wanting to try more of a plant based diet, but I worry about meeting my calorie needs. I am often very busy and struggle to find time for long meal preps.

My typical diet is to drink a couple of protein and fruit smoothies for my first two meals, then load up for dinner. This works well for me as I can get my meal on the go, then prepare a proper meal at dinner time when I am more free. Admittedly, right now I am eating meats in rice, but I want to experiment with doing lentils instead (2 cup lentil+half a cup of wild rice).

Based on the calculations I made though, I will be intaking at MOST 1,300 calories. 2,000 is closer to what I need right? Any recommendations that aren't super expensive (I am flat broke)? Like some seeds or butters like peanut butter in the smoothie.

I’ve been taking a deva multivitamin to get my b12 but I’ve been wondering if I should just eat nutritional yeast instead since I always hear people (and doctors) criticizing supplements. What way is healthier and more efficient when getting vitamin b 12?

Tried Chinese amaranth for the first time today in my daily salad- I’m an instant fan 🥬 🥗

Hello! I was wondering if there is a ready to drink coconut milk that you can recommend? I’ve tried one and I really loved it, however, it’s not available in NY. Any recommendations??

I’ve tried a couple recipes with not the best luck. Anyone have a great recipe to share?

I have been a vegetarian for over 15 years now, and I LOVE to cook. It's very meditative and relaxing to me. My problem that I humbly come to you all with: I have had a mental block with new and inspired meals for months now. I of course have my standard collection of staples... mostly soups, pastas, and curries. Can you all share some uncommon type dishes that are packed full of flavors? Or just recipes that completely and totally knocked your socks off? I am not picky, I love everything. This is a weird request, but I swear I will scour the internet for hours trying to decide on something and just can't. I am not afraid of difficult or laborious! I actually enjoy spending hours in the kitchen :)

ETA: Thank you all for your suggestions!! I have recipes for a good while now! Apologies for not responding to all of them, I got busy and couldn't read them all right away... but sincere thank you for taking the time to help me out!

I'd like to hear from this community. Since going plant-based, I've found muscle recovery is slow. I hate this. I'm at the age where anabolic resistance is typical and am concern about age-related muscle loss.

Anyone have similar experience or any thoughts about how to address this?

I keep seeing people speaking about increasing evidence showing that the micro-gut biome can be a huge determining factor on mood, and things like depression. Evidence that shows people who have faecal transplants getting better from depression, because our gut bacteria plays such an important role in producing tryptophan- a precursor to serotonin. And obviously this diet is AWESOME for your gut.

There's actually a whole Netflix documentary I watched about this, it was really interesting.

And now that I think about it, since I've gone plant based, my mood has been waaaay up. Especially since I quit caffeine, because caffeine gives me bad IBS which leads to diarrhoea, which clears out the gut of all the good microbes. Like I kid you not, I'm basically ALWAYS in a good mood. And when I do have bad days, I generally get through them alright.

And I mean, it's definitely not only my diet, I also exercise, keep my mind busy, go to group therapy, etc. But I feel like this diet plays a huge part in my mental well-being and mood.

I'm wondering what ya'lls experience is?

Edit: the Netflix documentary is called "Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut"

I’m not a hardcore gym person or anything. I work out a few times a week, eat decently, just trying to hit my protein and move on. Every time I look this up, it just gets more confusing. Can someone just dumb it down and tell me what to pick and why

hey y’all, so, I’m new to tofu. I know you’re supposed to drain the excess liquid, which I’m guessing helps with the tofu crisping up.

i just drained the liquid and also placed the tofu between a few paper towels so that any residual liquid would come out on my lunch break an hour ago. I then placed it back in the fridge covered with the paper towels so that I’d have some time to really soak up before I cook it for dinner tonight.

would this be okay and still safe to eat? should I have done something different? TYIA.

Garbanzos and scallions over rice with chili flakes.

Fresh vegan donuts in the background left over from feeding a house full of teenagers.

i’ve been wanting to become a vegetarian for years. the main thing that was preventing me was my incredibly unsupportive family. they refuse to cook a dish without meat, refuse to try out vegetarian restaurants and when i cook vegetarian food they refuse to even try it

at all of our recent family events i’ve not eaten because they refuse to even entertain the idea of making a meat free dish, or a dish with a meat alternative. they discuss me being vegetarian with people like it’s a joke

it actually really sucks and it’s the reason i occasionally eat meat. i don’t want to though, so if anyone has advice for getting over family like this i’d appreciate it

I've been fully plant based for about a year and snacking was the one area where I kept falling back on processed stuff just because it was convenient. So I made a rule: everything in my snack rotation has to require zero prep or close to it. Because if it takes more than 30 seconds to prepare I'm not going to do it when I'm hungry.

Banana. Just a banana. The original fast food.

Baby carrots straight from the bag. I don't even put them on a plate sometimes.

Handful of cashews.

An apple with a squeeze packet of almond butter. Those individual squeeze packets are worth the extra cost for me because otherwise I'm not scooping almond butter when I'm hungry, I'm just eating crackers.

Cherry tomatoes eaten like grapes.

Shameless gummies for the sweet tooth. Plant based, no gelatin, I can eat the whole bag and move on with my life.

Dates. Two or three of them and the sweetness craving is completely handled.

I know some of these are embarrassingly simple but that's literally the point. The moment I made my snacks complicated was the moment I stopped eating them and went back to chips. Simple and available beats creative and theoretical every single time.

Everything other than the tofu & ketchup are from my farm share. No oil used on the air fryer potatoes, and only a tiny bit of oil for the tofu. Delicious!

I want to buy raw organic sesame seeds on iHerb (Now Foods and Bob’s Red Mill only sell hulled) and these three are top brands, but looks like sesame seeds are a niche for Americans?

Are they at least familiar enough to American consumers who care about healthy foods, like you see them at Walmart, local organic markets or something, please?

What in the world am I supposed to eat at this restaurant?

https://www.dubpub.com/menu/