Category Archives for Lunch
Cauliflower ‘Chicken’ Cutlets
Ever since I came up with my cauliflower wings I was thinking of making “chicken” cutlets but recently I saw a post by Mary Wolf Dregalla on McDougall Friends that inspired me to get this out there asap!
Easy Burritos
You could use my taco mix recipe as well but this one is a bit easier and quicker. I don’t often measure things, just dump in rice and beans from my refrigerated batches.
Ingredients:
Yummy Lentil Chickpea Burgers
In most of my recipes there is one main thing that is important and that I want to bring to light. In this case it’s that you can easily mash some beans together and add any required spices and you will have a decent burger! I try to reduce the stress that people have about cooking – I rarely measure amounts and so feel free to vary the amounts or change/add your own spices below (chipotle powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, etc). This recipe was inspired by The Vegan Corner, a great channel you should check out.
Barbecue Cabbage Sandwiches
I made these today and really enjoyed them. Shoutout to Jill at Simple Daily Recipes for the inspiration! I had to cook the cabbage for quite a while to soften so I changed the recipe up a little bit, as well as added hot sauce and no extra maple syrup as the barbecue sauce I use already has sugar in it.
Ingredients (makes about 2 sandwiches):
1/2 head of green cabbage (or more, it shrinks up quite a bit!)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup of bbq sauce (find a no oil version)
1 tbsp of hot sauce (optional)
Crusty whole grain buns (or your favourite buns)
Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350F if you want to toast up your buns a little. Chop up the cabbage into small strips. I like the strips to be fairly narrow and short (1″ long) as they soften better. With long strips I found I had to pull them out of the sandwich quite a bit as it wasn’t easy to bite through the cabbage. Put a large pot on the stove and turn to medium high heat. Add the chopped cabbage and the water. Cover to soften the cabbage for up to 30 minutes (do a taste test to make sure they’re soft). If the water disappears add a little more to keep steaming the cabbage. When the cabbage is getting soft add the barbecue sauce and optional hot sauce and stir to mix well. Throw the buns in the oven for 5 minutes or so to warm up and toast a bit if you want. Turn up the heat on the stove to high to caramelize the sugars in the barbecue sauce and thicken the sauce. If the sauce is watery keep cooking at high heat to evaporate off some of the liquid before serving.
Remove from heat and add the barbecue cabbage to the buns and serve. Yummy!
Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
-2 or more potatoes (I use yellow-fleshed/Yukon Gold).
Instructions:
Pre-heat waffle iron or grill (I use Cuisinart 5-in-1 griddle). Use the grill (with bumps not the fat griddle) so it leaves grill marks 🙂
Cook potatoes until soft using your favourite method (eg. steaming, microwave) then put on the grill and squash down with the top plate. Cook until the skin has nice grill marks and the skin is crispy, 5 minutes or more. I also press down the handles every now and again to increase the pressure. Eat plain, with my brown gravy recipe, top with your favourite spices (paprika, pepper, etc), top with salsa or my vegan tzatziki sauce and chives.
Baked Falafels
I eat these with my vegan tzatziki sauce in a whole wheat tortilla. I put pickles, hot banana peppers, tomatoes and lettuce in the wrap as well. Inspired by The Vegan Corner but made for lazy people like me lol.
This recipe only uses dry ingredients because I rarely buy fresh herbs other than cilantro these days, I find many fresh herbs too strong and this way there’s less to chop!
Ingredients (Makes 12 falafel balls). I rarely measure things but here goes:
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ cup breadcrumbs (enough to coat the falafels). The breadcrumbs don’t stick that well to the falafels (they don’t have my flour/water mixture coating) but do what you can. I bake 5 whole wheat bread slices at 350F until crispy and blend in Vitamix often with a little onion and garlic powder. Save the extra for things like cauliflower wings 🙂
Instructions:
Blend the chickpeas in a food processor. I used a blender which isn’t great but it works (blenders are best for mostly wet things). Put in a bowl and then add the other ingredients. Mix well. Let sit for 10 or so minutes in the fridge. Scoop into balls and roll in breadcrumbs then place on Silpat non-stick baking sheet. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes. They tend to break apart in the wrap but they still taste yummy!
Green Salad and No Oil Dressing
There’s no specific recipe here but I like to buy some organic spinach, and chop up some Romaine lettuce to fill a big bowl (see picture). Sometimes I add some kale as well. Then I chop up red/green peppers, tomatoes, English cucumber and add to the salad. For dressing I use a delicate balsamic vinegar (I use President’s Choice) but you could also try some flavoured balsamic vinegars.
Try to eat a salad every day but if not throw some greens in your pasta sauces, soups and smoothies.
Curry Fries No Oil
I’ve been loving my baked herb crispy fries for a couple years now but after having gone to Costa Rica I got the idea for trying curry fries!
Ingredients (for one person):
4-5 medium potatoes
1 tbsp curry powder (adjust to volume of potatoes)
1 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt (optional)
Wash 4-5 medium potatoes and cut into strips, enough to cover a long baking tray. Put fries into a bowl and mix with the spices above so everything is coated. The spices will stick to the potatoes since they are a bit wet inside and starchy. Bake at 450 degrees F on a non-stick baking tray no oil or spray for half an hour or more until browning and crispy (lately I’ve been up to 40 minutes but keep an eye on them). You can put down a layer of parchment paper as well. Cut the potatoes thinner for more crisp fries. It’s possible to get crispier fries by boiling the potatoes a bit first, but who has the time? 🙂