Pegan Food Recap: Vegan + Paleo Recipes
By admin
Happy Sunday! I would tell you how my Sunday kicked off but it’s the same ole’ story: girl sleeps in, girl eats pancakes, girl starts bloggin’. Which by the way, I have almost perfected my vegan paleo pancakes. I’ll share the recipe some time this week.
Why stop there in terms of food? To be honest, I had no intentions of posting my weekly eats up for my 4-week Project Pegan, however, I’ve gotten a lot of request for them so what the heck. Even if you have zero interest in this project, you still should check these meals out because regardless… they are delicious and nutritious! Yup, I feel I can toot my own horn for week 1!
I will go ahead and say that most of these pictures were taken with my phone and posted up on Instagram which is why some aren’t as pretty in terms of quality. Can you tell which are with the iphone and which the DSLR? I sure hope so, that camera is Dan’s baby.
These are ordered by popularity (based off Facebook and Instagram)
I simply roasted a spaghetti squash for 30 minutes at 410-degrees (with a bit of coconut oil), “spaghettied” it with a fork and tossed the “noodles” with an herby pesto comprised of basil, rosemary, parsley, olive oil (very little), avocado, garlic and a splash of water (it was really thick). Served up with pan roasted balsamic onions, salad and oven roasted sweet potatoes.
Dan’s plate looked a little different:
Still paleo, just not vegan. Pan cooked chicken with the pesto drizzled over the top. He said it was delicious and he was quite impressed… it’s been a while since I cooked chicken!
The vegan paleo lasagna may be my personal favorite from the week. It’s one of those comfort foods that at the end of the day just makes you breath in and exhale with a smile as you eat.
This dish included: eggplant, zucchini, onions, daikon root, tomatoes and herby cashew ricotta cheese. All of the veggies were sliced thin and steamed for just about 3 minutes to allow them to soften up. The eggplant was then lightly (very lightly) brushed with olive oil and flipped in some pecan meal. The cashew cheese is my FAVORITE, just toss in 1 cup of raw cashews, 1-2 tsp rosemary, 1/4 cup of water and pulse until it’s ricotta like. Then layer it just as you would a lasagna… veggies, tomato sauce, cheese… veggies, tomato sauce, cheese.
This baked at 375-degrees for about 35 minutes. Dan’s side of the dish also included a layer of thinly sliced chicken breast.
I love this taco salad, it’s become a staple in our home for quick meal nights. I just grab a bag of chopped walnuts, toss them in a bowl of hot water to sit for about 10 minutes. Drain the water and cook the walnuts on the skillet just as if it was taco meat, with sautéed onions. Toss in all-natural taco seasoning and let it simmer until thickened.
Then put the salad together: spinach, tomatoes, avocado, salsa, etc.
I had some nori strips that I picked up and wanted to use, so that was the magical ingredient in this dish. In a skillet, quartered brussel sprouts, onions, carrots, mushrooms and broccoli went in and was then mixed with red curry seasoning I picked up at Whole Foods. Then I steamed up some cauliflower (it was frozen), once it was done I pulsed it in the blender until it was a pilaf consistency. From here just add the pilaf to the skillet and toss to coat everything.
Plate it up, add a few crumbs of nori and voila, ready in no time. I was surprised how much Dan liked this dish. I was a bit apprehensive but he loved it!
This meal doesn’t look like much, but it was really good. In terms of calories, it wasn’t high because I just wasn’t very hungry at all that night. Basically, it was a stir-fry of all the veggies I had left in the fridge: portabella mushrooms, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Then I poured on some all natural, gluten-free spaghetti sauce and let all the flavors simmer together. Topped with basil, avocado and olives… the end.
For some reason when I went shopping, I was determined to pick up some sweet potato gnocchi. I had never had it before but it was just screaming to my taste buds. Trader Joe’s let me down, but Whole Foods didn’t.
The gnocchi was preppared as the package said, just add to boiling water for a few minutes, then sauteed on the pan with a rosemary, veggie filled tomato sauce: can of tomatoes, 1 spring of rosemary (just the leaves), mushrooms, onions, basil, splash of veggie broth… pulsed together and done.
This was served with a salad topped with artichokes, olives, and a date-vinegrette.
And that’s it! All of these meals, except for the pesto dinner was prepared and ready in about 30 minutes (or less). It’s fun to have to go outside of my comfort zone in order to create meals that still taste great but meet the requirements for the pegan challenge.
What’s your favorite fast weeknight dinner?
Do you cook dinner most nights?
I’ll start back posting recaps on Instagram and Facebook tomorrow of my meals. Last night we were at a cookout with friends and today we’re having a family dinner with my parents, so there won’t be much to share except veggie plate… I will say that I enjoyed a few oysters last night though and they were amazing! Love lowcountry oysters!