Category Archives for Lunch
Low Fat Mashed Potatoes – No Milk/Butter Needed
Ingredients:
-8-10 medium potatoes, yellow-fleshed is my preference (more or less depending on how much you want – enough to fill a cutting board)
-1 tsp Onion Powder
-1 tsp Garlic Powder
Instructions:
Wash the potatoes. I don’t usually peel them. Cut the potatoes into chunks. Boil them until they break apart quite easily, with a fork then mash them with no added milk or butter (even vegan versions). Put into a bowl and add the spices. I use an electric hand mixer. Start on the slow setting then speed up as the potatoes get blended and creamy.
My 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 use onion and garlic powder so I don’t have to fry anything as I make it so often. I add my no fat vegan brown gravy to these.
Suggested items mentioned in the video, other than the potatoes (from Amazon):
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Large Pot for boiling potatoes
Metal Strainer
Hand Mixer
Large Plastic Containers for leftovers
Crispy Herb Fries
This is Bonnie’s idea. She made this today so I had to make myself a batch as well!
Ingredients:
4-5 medium potatoes
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Italian herb seasoning (oregano/basil) – use more to coat the fries as desired
1 tsp (or more) of dill weed
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 mat no oil or spray for half an hour or more until browning and crispy. If you use parchment paper instead watch the max temperature allowed on the package. I do up to 40 minutes many times to get them really crispy. 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? 🙂
Eat with ketchup and/or no fat brown gravy. If you want veggie burger ideas check out Jeff Novick’s Burger and Fries DVD.
Rice and Beans with Salsa and Tortillas – Plant-Based Tasty Filling Meal
2 cups of dry brown rice (cooked as per instructions but I now cook like pasta, drain and cover for 5 minutes to steam)
2 cans of black beans (drained and rinsed). Also see my black beans sauce recipe.
1 tsp cumin
Salsa (from jar, I use President’s Choice Extra Chunky Hot Salsa)
2 corn tortillas (I order mine from http://www.latortilleria.ca they ship to many countries)
Cook up the brown rice (bring to boil and let simmer for at least an hour) and add 2 cans of black beans, then store most of it in the fridge for leftovers. You can add a cup of frozen corn as well which is quick. On a plate add the rice/beans, a side of salsa and put the cumin on the rice/bean mixture.
For the tortillas there are many options. I bake mine in the oven or in the toaster. Great for nacho chips as well!
Healthy Cooking Can Be Quick and Easy
I hear a lot from people I talk to that eating healthy is expensive and time consuming. They would like to go plant-based but they don’t have the time. Well I’m here to smash those myths!
This meal was so easy. On weekends or some evening cook up a big batch of brown rice. Then when you get home, open a can of kidney beans, rinse them in the strainer and add to a plate of rice. Throw in the microwave for a few minutes. I added cumin after heating and put a side of hot chunky salsa on the plate. I also toasted 2 yellow corn tortillas (non-gmo, no fat) in the toaster – set fairly high as these are thin and you want them to be crunchy.
Cabbage Soup
Bonnie’s recipe.
We make a huge pot of soup. Put all this in a pot and cook on high until it boils and let simmer for at least half an hour until potatoes/turnip are soft.
(Calories) Ingredients:
(156) 1/2 green cabbage
(100) 4 carrots
(410) 1 can 540 ml black beans
(600) 6 red potatoes
(108) 1 can 540 ml diced tomatoes
(40) 1 onion
(40) seasonings (1 tsp each garlic/onion powder, 1 tbsp vegetable stock powder)
(100) 1 turnip
(0) 4+ cups of water (fill up large pot to almost the top after adding other ingredients)
(54) 1 leek (great flavour and a recent addition)
Total 1608 calories
Per serving 130 calories it make about 12 one cup servings.
Cajun Sweet Potato Fries
Bonnie’s recipe.
OMG these are so amazing, I am hooked and will be eating them quite often now!
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 large sweet potatoes (for 2 people)
Directions
Bake at 450 degrees F on a 11″x17″ non-stick silpat sheet on top of a baking sheet for half an hour and then optionally broil on high for a few minutes watching carefully until brown. Your oven may take longer but do a test to make sure they’re cooked through before starting to broil. Add a little thyme and rosemary if you wish. Make these with other potatoes as well, we often make them with red potatoes.
Crispy No Fat Potato Fries
This is an easy one. Wash 4-5 medium potatoes and cut into wedges or thinner fry shapes, enough to cover a long baking tray. Bake at 450 degrees on a non-stick baking tray no oil or spray for half an hour and then broil on high for a few minutes watching carefully until brown. 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? 🙂
Eat with ketchup and/or no fat brown gravy. Veggie burger not included or necessary 🙂
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.