Category Archives for Dinner

Baked No Fat Taco Shells

Are you tired of those cardboard-tasting taco shells you buy in the store, not to mention fattening and full of chemicals? Well now you can make your own tasty corn taco shells!

I buy yellow corn no fat tortillas from La Tortilleria in Toronto, Ontario. They ship worldwide if you can’t find these where you live. They’re made fresh and usually shipped on mondays in the hopes that you get it by friday so that they’re not sitting in the post office over the weekend. But even when this happens they still taste amazing. I order 8 batches of 30 and put some in the freezer and they still taste great, but will last 2 weeks in the fridge.

Put these tortillas over 2 oven rack bars or use a taco rack. Bake at 400F and watch carefully so they don’t burn. The upper rack works faster for me. If you don’t bake them enough they will have a partially crispy/chewy texture which i don’t like. Maybe take a test bite as they start to brown a little, somewhere around 10 minutes but it’s not advised to leave unattended.

No need to spray or coat in oil. Sweet! Great with my taco recipe.

Taco photos used with permission by www.plantplate.com

Crispy Potato White Bean Cakes

Crispy Brown and really to eat…soooo good! Low fat White Bean Potato cakes recipe below.

• One yellow onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp. of garlic powder
• 10 medium potatoes cubed and boiled
• 1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs (we make our own by baking or drying out some whole wheat bread, and blending in the Vitamix with garlic/onion powder)
• 1 540 ml of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed.

Mash together everything except the bread crumbs in large bowl but do not mash until smooth you want some lumpiness for texture.

Take a palm full of the mixture and form a patty about 3 inches in diameter. Take the patty and cover it in the bread crumbs.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You should get about 12-14 patties. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes then flip them over and baked for another 20 minutes.

We eat these with ketchup. Add a little salt to taste if desired. Enjoy!

The bean cakes are started at about 4:30 in this video.

No Fat Hash Browns

Ingredients:
-5 (or more) of your favourite potatoes eg. Russet potatoes, medium size. The number and type of potato is up to you, enogh to fill 1/2 – 2/3 of the blender (I use Vitamix).
–Ketchup or your favourite condiment

Chop up some potatoes (no peeling) into quarters or less, then add to your blender and fill with water past the level of the potatoes. I use my Vitamix. Blend until they are chopped up like hash browns.

Strain the potatoes in a strainer and press out as much water as you can with your hands. Then add potatoes to non stick baking pan lined with Silpat baking sheet or parchment paper, and bake at 450F until crispy, about 30-40 minutes depending on how much water was squeezed out. I scrape the pan once or twice as they cook to flip them over. Sometimes I turn on broil towards the end if you want them extra crispy – be sure to monitor during the broil phase so they don’t burn. Add seasoning salt (just an example, find the healthiest option) to taste if desired.

Vegan No Fat Brown Gravy

I discuss the brown gravy recipe here in the video as well.

Made my own single portion quick gravy mix, like the store bought packets, since I eat a lot of potatoes. I wanted to reduce the corn starch as it can affect the flavour.

1 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 tbsp vegetable stock mix (for less sodium use 2 tbsp nutritional yeast instead and optionally salt to taste, under your control)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce (add after thickened) – if you don’t have this use soy sauce and optionally caramelized sugar.
1 cup water (add more water if it’s too thick)

I blend it in my Magic Bullet or (alternatively NutriBullet), bring to boil then simmer. Add 1/2 tsp browning sauce. Gravy will thicken as it simmers. I like this one! Adjust to taste. I recently bumped up the vegetable stock amount from 1 to 2 tbsp.

Make a big batch of this mix without the browning sauce or water then just grab it whenever you need gravy instead of the store bought gravy packs which are usually $1-2 a pack! And if you have more time fry up some onions/mushrooms in a little water to enhance the flavour!

Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

Bonnie’s recipe.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Base Mixture
Up to 2 cups homemade bread crumbs (we make homemade by baking whole wheat bread, blending in Vitamix with onion/garlic powder. For store bought you might want to use less at first)
One finely chopped onion
1 tsp. of seasoning salt (optional)
One 19 oz can of Lentils (rinsed)
1 package Shepherd’s Pie Mix (eg. Club House check ingredients) – just use onion/garlic powder if you want
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup corn

Mix all ingredients. Place in a ceramic dish casserole that has a glass cover. If mixture is dry and falls apart add some water to moisten. We use our own breadcrumbs which tend to be more moist than store bought breadcrumbs. If it sticks a lot to the bottom of the dish and is hard to clean afterwards, try lining dish with parchment paper beforehand.

Topping
8 whipped red, Yukon gold or yellow potatoes with some onion/garlic powder (1 tsp each) (I don’t use vegan butter because I like mine fat free)

Add mashed potatoes on top of the base and bake covered for 15 minutes and uncovered for another 15 minutes or until potatoes start to brown at 375 degrees

Make vegan no fat gravy (see my brown gravy recipe) or Hain’s vegetarian brown gravy package. Feel free to improvise with other veggies in the bottom layer!

Making Quick No Fat Garlic/Onion Mashed Potatoes

I eat mashed potatoes almost every day with no exaggeration. They are made with red, yellow, or white potatoes most of the time as I can get them in 10 lb bags where I live.

I boil them until they break apart quite easily, then mash them with no added milk or butter (even vegan versions). Red potatoes whip up really nicely. My current favourite is yellow fleshed potatoes – so creamy without any added non-dairy milk or fake butter. But you can add some of the water from the potatoes or non-dairy milk as well. I add onion and garlic powder so I don’t have to fry anything as I make it so often. I add my no fat vegan gravy to these.

I eat these with a side of frozen, microwaved cauliflower, corn, or peas in most cases. Make a big batch (a full large pot of potatoes) and store for leftovers. I often microwave mashed or quartered potatoes and microwave the leftover gravy for a quick meal, and you can take it to work. Eat enough to be full, for me it’s a plateful of potatoes and veggies.