Easy Vegan Meals // #2

Part 1: top 7 meals for bad days

An edit to the hummus pasta from the previous post: Add some vegan cheese to the sauce and melt it in! This makes it super cheesy. I’ve been loving the new Daiya cutting board style shreds.

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These are some more of my go-to lazy meals that I’ve been making. Like I said in my last post, I haven’t been in the mood to cook a bunch and make crazy recipes. Here are a few meals I’ve been eating recently that are cheap, quick, and easy.

Smoothies and nice cream.

I know this isn’t anything special, but it’s been my go-to breakfast recently. It’s quick and easy to make, plus it’s packed with nutrients:

2-3 cups of spinach (honestly, as much as I can fit into the blender cup.)
1 cup cashew milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen mangoes
1-2 scoops of protein powder
Lots of cinnamon.

Blend the spinach, milk, and water first, then add the other ingredients once the spinach is creamy.

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Also, use less water and milk and turn it into nice cream and add some toppings.

One of my favorite nice cream recipes lately has been:

2 frozen bananas
1 scoop of protein powder (we’ve been using the brand Aloha in the vanilla flavor)
lots of cinnamon
and a splash of vanilla extract.

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I like to leave the bananas out for 15 minutes before blending because I think it makes the ice cream easier to blend and makes it creamier.

My body feels so much better on days when I make smoothies. My inflammation goes down and my energy levels go up (it is a slight, but noticeable change). I highly recommend adding smoothies to your daily routine.

Taquitos.

We made these one night when we didn’t want to make dinner but didn’t want to get takeout either. For our filling we mixed together some Boca veggie crumbles, refried black beans, taco seasoning, and chipotle tabasco sauce. We rolled them up in little tortillas with some Daiya cheddar cheese, baked them in the oven until the tortilla was crispy, then topped them with a little hummus. We also found some vegan sour cream at the store and had that on the side too.

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I topped these with hummus, but I love making a vegan cheese sauce (like the one I mentioned above with hummus and daiya) and dipping it in the fake nacho cheese. These are so easy and so filling. You can also add in some spinach or avocado, pretty much whatever you want.

Potatoes.

We cut them up and bake them in the oven and eat them with some veggies, ketchup, and hummus. I find the little yellow potatoes easiest for me to cut. This one isn’t novel but it’s one of our go-to meals.

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Those are some meals we’ve been enjoying recently. They’ve been easy for me to cook especially on days when I don’t feel like cooking. Let me know what some of your go-to easy meals are in the comments!

top 7 meals for bad days // vegan

On May 21, 2018May 31, 2019 By VictoriaIn Low Spoon Recipes, Recipes, rheumatoid arthritis4 Comments

Most times when I have bad rheumatoid arthritis flareups I don’t want to cook. I’d much rather not eat at all or have takeout food, but that obviously makes my body feel much worse. Here are some examples of lazy meals I make when I don’t want to cook but need to eat something relatively healthy.

Tortilla pizza

This one is super easy to make. I took a tortilla (this one’s a spinach wrap) and topped it with with leftover marinara sauce, Daiya mozzarella style shreds, and Yves veggie pepperoni. I popped it in the oven and baked it at around 300° until the tortilla was crispy and the cheese was melted. Some additional topping ideas: leftover veggies, spinach, basil, nutritional yeast, and tofu scramble.

Creamy hummus pasta

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I’ve been making this a lot for dinner since it is so quick, easy, and delicious. First, I boil some pasta and microwave some leftover veggies. (I also like having just noodles and spinach). While the pasta is boiling I scoop out 2-3 tbsp of hummus into a cup (we usually have red pepper or garlic hummus at the house), add a splash of water, and mix it together to make a simple sauce. It’s tasty like this but sometimes I’ll add some black pepper, nutritional yeast, or paprika to spice it up.

White rice, avocado, spinach, and nori with hummus (sushi bowl)

This one is especially easy if you have cooked white rice leftover. I’ll put some white rice in a bowl, microwave or sauté some spinach, cut up half of an avocado, and place some nori sheets on the side. I also top the bowl with hummus and sesame seeds. When I eat this I’ll take a spoonful of a little bit of everything and lazily roll it into a nori sheet like a little sushi burrito. Optional: Gardein chik’n, leftover tofu, or any other veggies you want to add.

Avocado toast

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Avocado + toast. I usually like to have it on mini bagels or Dave’s Killer Bread and topped with any combination of lots of nutritional yeast, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, or garlic powder. Pairing it with a chickpea salad and tomatoes is really good too.

Peanut butter on toast with bananas and cinnamon

Peanut butter + toast + bananas + cinnamon.

Sandwiches and wraps

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Whenever I make a sandwich I’ll throw whatever we have in the fridge together and hope for the best.

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One of my new favorite combinations that resulted from random ingredients is a spinach wrap, purple hull peas, spinach, pumpkin seeds, almond slices, and sriracha.

Stuffed sweet potato

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I had this for breakfast one morning with a smoothie and I felt energized and full for most of the day. I baked a sweet potato and put some peanut butter and dried cranberries in it.

Those are some of my go-to meal ideas when I’m having a bad day or having a bad flareup. I hope this helps and inspires, and if you want more easy meal ideas check out my Instagram.

what I ate today // rheumatoid flare-up

On January 25, 2018May 31, 2019 By VictoriaIn Low Spoon Recipes, What I Ate TodayLeave a comment

I haven’t talked about it much here, but last year I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I went vegan shortly after for non-related reasons, but living on a vegan diet definitely helps control my flare-ups and swelling. I still get them on occasion, but they are much more manageable.

I had one today, so I wanted to take this opportunity to share what I eat on days where I’m not feeling well and everything hurts.

Breakfast: avocado toast. Avocados are a great source of anti-inflammatory healthy fats, and it’s a filling breakfast. I top mine with nutritional yeast and cayenne pepper.

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Snacks: Sriracha potato chips from Sprouts with the leftover avocado from breakfast. Not the healthiest, but today was a lazy day.

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I also picked up a kombucha from Sprouts. I never feel like eating on days like today, but having some kombucha or a bit of apple cider vinegar helps my stomach. The probiotics are also supposed to help your immune system, which I definitely need help with. I drank half of this bottle.

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Lunch: a mini bagel with some homemade soup. This one’s a combination of sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, Boca veggie ground crumbles, cucumbers, onions, garlic, cilantro, parsley, carrots, and tomatoes that we blended to use as a vegetable broth. This was our solution to cleaning out the fridge. I topped the bagel with some tofu sour cream.

Dinner: leftover rice, beans, mushrooms, and veggies with tofu sour cream in a tortilla.

Processed with VSCO with t1 preset That’s what a lazy day of eating looks like for me. I stayed home, watched cartoons, and relaxed. I feel my diet has helped a lot with the arthritis, and I couldn’t recommend a vegan diet enough. Let me know what some of your quick and easy go-to vegan meals are below!