


Eating Veggies with Ease and Fun
by Chef Eric
by Chef Eric
by Chef Eric
I plan to experiment more with meal prep. The idea here is I can make tasty and healthy meals in batch, freeze them, and then later enjoy them at work. I’m trying out these (https://www.amazon.com/Certified-BPA-Free-Reusable-Microwavable-Containers/dp/B0128YT76S) and while they are reuseable and sturdy, I’m switching over to the glass kind (https://www.amazon.com/Container-Leakproof-Microwave-Dishwasher-Rectangle/dp/B0175EUOL8). At work, I use a Hot Logic heating plate (https://www.amazon.com/HotLogic-Mini-Personal-Portable-Black/dp/B00EC7XJ00) so don’t have to bother with a microwave.
So today I created meal prep for Spaghetti and Veggie “Meat” Balls. My recipe for the plant-based “meat” balls is at http://www.vegcheferic.com/recipe/veggie-meat-balls-draft-edition/. Other than that I just cooked the pasta, added some spaghetti sauce, frozen peas, and some brazil nuts for good measure. This is very similar to the PlantPure frozen meal version they have.
by Chef Eric
This is my first attempt at making plant based “meat” balls. My goal was to make something healthy but also tasted good. They turned out wayyyy better than
I thought and must say I’m hooked since they are delicious. Also I’ve been toying with meal prep so the idea is I can make big batches, freeze them, and th
en enjoy them later at work. I may post my progress for different recipe ideas on this if others are interested too.
NOTE: This is a draft release so I don’t have exact measurements yet but I will let you know roughly how I did it. I wasn’t specifically trying to make them
Gluten-Free too, but turns out these are.
Ingredients:
Red Onion, chopped finely
Carrots, chopped finely
Garlic cloves, chopped finely
Chia Seeds, Soaked
Sesame Seeds
Multi-Grain 5-Seed Baked Crackers (I get these at Costco)
Cashews, unsalted
Nutritional Yeast
Benson’s Table Tasty
Italian Seasoning
Celery Seed
Chipotle Powder
Tofu, Extra Firm, Pressed
Directions:
1) Sauté Onions and Carrots
2) Blend Cashews and Crackers in dry Vitamix attachment until fine powder
3) Crush Tofu into tiny bits. Add Chia seeds, spices, garlic, and onion/carrot mixture. Mix well.
4) Add enough of the Cashew and Crackers powder till have firm mixture
5) Mold into balls and coat lightly with powder mixture
6) Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes
by Chef Eric
by Chef Eric
by Chef Eric
by Chef Eric
This is another edition of my attempt at making meals in bulk. This only takes about 15 minutes and yielded three full meals (10 burritos). Ate one meal and sealed/froze the other two for a later date.
Ingredients: Black beans, brown rice, onions, garlic, mushrooms, Chipotle Powder, Tortillas
Toppings(optional): pepperoncini, olives, frank’s hot sauce, Just Mayo
Side Tip #1: When using canned beans, always rinse thoroughly until the white foam disappears. This will cut down on the issues of gas that beans can sometimes cause
Side Tip #2: Garlic tends to get more mild as you cook it. If you enjoy a stronger garlic flavor, try adding this later in the cooking process. The less you cook it, the stronger the flavor will be. Mushrooms and onions however are the opposite and you can almost cook them forever.
by Chef Eric
This is the first in my series of meal planning. The idea here is yummy and healthy foods can be prepared well in advance in bulk. If you prepare ahead of time, you can avoid those terrible excuses of “I don’t have time to cook”.
Here I made my favorite Lasagna recipe http://www.vegcheferic.com/2016/05/25/raise-the-roof-lasagna/ and used the FoodSaver to lock in freshness. I’ve found this method keeps the food fresh almost as great as when you pull it out of the oven. A tip I used was to cut the lasagna, then freeze it till it’s almost solid before you seal it. This prevents it from getting crushed.
Let me know if you like these Meal Planning Edition posts and I’ll continue to add them. Next ones I have planned are likely Yakisoba and Bean Burritos. I’ll only post what works and share as I learn more
.
by Chef Eric
Had a craving and this one did the trick. I followed the recipe at https://crunchyvegangal.wordpress.com/2016/08/ for the most part. The main thing I did in the interest of time was a used my instant pot (electric pressure cooker) to saute the hard veggies for about 10 minutes in a little veggie broth before adding everything together. This cuts the cooking time in half. Also I cheated because I already had fully cooked baked potatoes so I just cubed those up.