Vegan Rosemary Parmesan Chicken Soup

This is hands down the best soup I've ever made. If I could eat only one kind of soup for the rest of my life, it would be this. I mean, at risk of hyping this dish up way more than necessary, this soup is literally going to change your entire existence forever.
Too much?

This recipe was inspired from another dish I recently created, a creamy coconut mushroom alfredo (recipe coming soon!). The trick is to add the noodles to the mix when they're dry or only partially cooked to let the starch release and thicken the broth. 

When I first tried this I was extremely skeptical. I thought it might affect the taste of the broth or turn my perfectly good soup into a gooey disgusting mess. Not so. I added my noodles in partially cooked to be on the safe side and it produced an amazing result. The soup turned creamy, comforting, filling, warm, satisfying, and savory. Perfect for a cold evening in.

10/10 would make again.

In order to make your own vegan parmesan, there are plenty of recipes online to choose from. The most important part of making your own parmesan is the fat and the salt. As long as you have those two aspects, the recipe should taste fine. Check these out for inspiration: [x] [x] [x] [x]

You Will Need:

3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium onion, minced

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

6 cups vegetable broth, or to preference

16 oz dry noodles of choice

1/2 cup shredded Gardein chicken strips (or other meatless brand, tofu, etc)

1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese (I use this brand, but you can make it homemade, see above note)

3 tbsp rosemary

1 tbsp parsley

1/3 nutritional yeast

2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos or soy sauce

1/2 tbsp black pepper, or to taste

To Make:

1. Chop all vegetables and shred the vegan chicken
2. Add all vegetables except mushrooms to the bottom of a soup pot on medium-high heat with some water or a little oil to cook
3. While the vegetables are cooking, you can optionally boil the noodles in a separate pot until they're partially cooked, or wait and add the noodles to the broth in completely dry later. This is all preference, but I would recommend pre-cooking them a little to not make your soup too creamy
4. Once vegetables are fragrant, add in mushrooms and saute for a remaining three to five minutes, add in the rosemary, parmesan, parsley, nutritional yeast, pepper, and soy sauce now and stir
5. Add the vegetable broth and noodles and bring to a boil
6. Once noodles are fully cooked, turn the heat down to a simmer and add in chicken
7. Let simmer for five to ten minutes to allow the flavors to fully combine, and add in any spices and broth as needed
8. Serve and enjoy!

Breakfast potato hash

This recipe came to me while searching through the breakfast recipe section of the Forks Over Knives webpage. If you haven't seen that fantastic documentary yet then you're seriously missing out. You can download or buy a copy here or watch it on Netflix, iTunes, or Amazon. Forks Over Knives is a must-see for anyone who is interested in the health benefits of a plant-based diet. 

Treat this recipe as a base instead of an end-all-be-all. Try it out with different kinds of potatoes, seeds, greens, legumes, and sauces for variety (I'm willing to bet this would taste amazing drizzled with BBQ sauce or tahini!). To make things easier on yourself, try making it the night before and keeping leftovers for the morning. 

I haven't tried it myself, but cooking everything together in a large pan with vegetable broth might make for a neat outcome. I'd imagine it would keep the moisture much better that way. The one downside to this recipe is that it can be on the dry side since it's free of oil. Personally, I don't mind the dryness, but if I did I would remedy it by whipping up some gravy or fresh salsa instead of adding oil.

Let me know what you guys think of this recipe either in the comments here or on my instagram, @tofuandsprouts! 

You Will Need:

3 medium russet potatoes (or potatoes of choice), chopped

1 small head broccoli, chopped into bite-size florets

1/4 cup prepared lentils

1/8 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped - look for ones with no oil or preservatives if possible

1 cup white mushrooms (or mushrooms of choice), chopped 

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

5 cloves roasted garlic, minced

3 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos or soy sauce

2 tbsp onion powder (you can use a fresh onion if you have it, but I didn't so I opted for powder)

1/2 tbsp rosemary

1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning or thyme, oregano, and basil

Black pepper and salt to taste

To Make:

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Chop all potatoes and arrange in a single layer on the parchment paper, bake for 20 minutes or until they're cooked through
3. If your lentils are not pre-prepared, cook them now then set them aside
4. While the potatoes are in the oven, chop your veggies
5. Add garlic and broccoli to a pan with a bit of water and cook until the broccoli is as soft as you like it. I personally like my broccoli to be crisp-tender so I didn't cook it for too long
6. Add the mushrooms and lentils to the pan and let the flavors combine
7. Once potatoes are done, add them to the pan with the sun-dried tomatoes. You can add the tomatoes sooner if you'd like, but I find that if I cook them too long they lose their sweet and salty flavor
8. Add in onion powder, black pepper, bragg's, and herbs and stir to combine
9. Turn off the heat and add the kale.
10. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and sriracha and serve!

Homemade Vegetable Broth

I've always suffered from headaches throughout my life. Recently, they've been more frequent and intense, to the point where I would be left miserable all day even after I caved and popped a Tylenol (or smelled essential oils or did yoga or drank water or anything else, I tried everything). I couldn't figure out the source for the longest time. Was I gluten intolerant? Allergic to tree nuts? Then finally, it hit me. Almost every time I've gotten a headache I've eaten something high in sodium and preservatives beforehand. The main reason it took me a while to figure that out was because the foods I was eating, like bread and pasta sauce, weren't what you think of as stereotypically high sodium foods. Granted, I also enjoy Asian noodle dishes drowning soy sauce, but otherwise my diet was pretty void of obvious salt-rich foods. Once I limited the foods I thought were giving me troubles I noticed immediate improvement. Unfortunately, the foods I based my diet on were the same that gave me headaches. So I've had to quickly find alternatives.

Enter this broth recipe. There's nothing better than a cup of soup on a rainy day, except maybe a cup of fresh soup with homemade broth. What's better is this broth recipe can be made low sodium (or I guess completely sodium free if you're into that sort of thing) and contains no preservatives or weird additives. As long as you know how to chop vegetables and boil water, it's super easy to make.

To make this as frugal and budget-friendly as possible save your veggie scraps, like carrot peelings and celery ends throughout the week in a container or bag and freeze them until you need them. If you save up enough scraps, you might not even need to chop extra vegetables strictly for the broth. Dried herbs work just as well as fresh ones, so don't stress out if you can't find or afford the fresh stuff. 

The vegetables I outlined here are just what I used and can be referred to as a guideline for whatever kind of soup you're going for. Adding in extras like mushrooms, ginger, zucchini, or tomatoes can make it more interesting. 

If you guys try this be sure to let me know what you all think in the comments here or on my instagram, @tofuandsprouts!

You Will Need:

Scraps of onions, celery, carrot, sweet potato, and other veggies from throughout the week
1 chopped onion
3 stalks chopped celery
2 chopped carrots
4 cloves roasted or fresh garlic
1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1/2 tbsp oregano
1/2 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp chives
Bay leaf, optional
Other herbs of your choice
Sea salt
Splash of Bragg's liquid aminos
2 tbsp white miso paste

To Make:

1. Chop all the veggies and add to the bottom of the soup pot with some oil or water. If you're using oil, saute until the vegetables start to stick a little to the bottom of the pot. Don't let them burn but let them form a coating. This will enhance the flavors like crazy!
2. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour
3. After an hour, add in herbs, miso and salt and continue to simmer for another hour
4. Taste test often and continue to add anything you think the soup needs, adjust quantities of vegetables and time spent simmering if needed
5. Once you’re satisfied, strain veggies from broth and you’re done! It's actually that easy to make a flavorful, mineral-rich homemade broth.

Fat-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese

Brace yourself for what I'm about to say... This is mac and cheese that you can enjoy every day while still staying perfectly healthy.
I know. That's essentially the dream.

Because this is based on whole plant foods, low in fat, and high in starch, this is the perfect healthy meal for when it's cold out and you want something comforting. Carbohydrates, especially starchy ones like potatoes, get a really bad rep in society for being unhealthy and fattening, which is both hilarious and awful because they're the exact opposite. Did you know we thrive best when we eat a diet high in starchy foods? That's what Dr. McDougall says in his book, the Starch Solution. Here's an excerpt:

The gold medal for the carbohydrate most beneficial to humans goes to starch. Like cellulose, starches are made up of long branching chains of glucose molecules. Starch is valuable to us because we can break it down into simple sugars that provide us with sustained energy and keep us feeling full and satisfied. Starchy foods are plants that are high in long-chain digestible carbohydrates—commonly referred to as complex carbohydrates. Examples include grains like wheat, barley, rye, corn, and oats; starchy vegetables like winter squash, potatoes, and sweet potatoes; and legumes like brown lentils, green peas, and red kidney beans. Starch is so important that an international scientific journal—Starch—is dedicated to its study. Starch is at the core of my health enhancing diet. If you take away just one message from this book, it should be: Eat more starch. Basic to our human nature is the scientific fact that we are, and have always been, primarily starch eaters. According to the world-renowned anthropologist from Dartmouth College, Nathaniel Dominy, PhD, “A majority of calories for most hunter-gatherer societies came from plant-foods, not animal-foods, thus humans might be more appropriately described as starchivores.” Think of yourself as a “starchivore,” like a cat is a carnivore and a horse is an herbivore.

So you can have your potatoes, rice, and pasta and eat it, too!

This pasta is wonderfully flavorful without the added animal protein and fat. You'll be astonished at how tasty and creamy it is without any dairy, nuts, or oil. It leaves you feeling energized instead of sluggish. Best of all, at least in my opinion, is it leaves room for experimenting. Instead of delicata squash, feel free to try butternut or acorn. Add more nutritional yeast, or don't. Try a splash of almond milk while it blends. Leave the skins on the potatoes or peel them off (I left mine on). I love recipes that you can make your own and this is definitely one of them. Let me know what you all think in the comments here or on my instagram, @tofuandsprouts!

You Will Need:

1 cup chopped and peeled delicata squash, about 1 small
2 cups chopped golden potatoes
1 cup chopped carrots, about 2 medium
4 cloves roasted garlic (you can use fresh if you'd like, but the flavor will be slightly stronger)
1 tsp concentrated vegetable bullion base
1/4 cup nutritional yeast, or to taste
1 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos (or plain tamari/soy sauce, but if you haven't tried Bragg's yet what are you even doing with your life?)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of turmeric for color

To Make:

1. Combine all chopped veggies and bouillon base in a pot of boiling water
2. Cook the vegetables until they're soft and then transfer to a blender- save the water/broth!
3. Add to the blender the nutritional yeast, liquid aminos, salt, pepper, and turmeric and puree until you've reached your desired consistency. You can use a little of the leftover broth to help get things moving, but not too much or it won't be as thick and creamy
4. Boil the noodles in the leftover broth for flavor. You might need to add more water, depending on how much you had left
5. Drain the noodles once they're cooked and combine with the sauce. Voila!
6. Store any leftover sauce in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to a week

Good news and bad news

The bad news: Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change, causes animal cruelty and torture, contributes to environmental racism, air pollution, water pollution, land use, deforestation, ocean dead zones,species extinction, threatens marine biodiversity, and contributes to tons of human rights violations.

The good news: Veganism is a solution that most people can consider. By adopting a vegan lifestyle, you can boycott the cruelty mentioned above, save the environment, improve your health, and of course, make a better world for animals. Not eating animal products is easier than ever nowadays, with tons of resources available at the click of a button. It is completely healthy and safe for the majority of people, and can be as affordable as you’d like.

The even better news: Even if you’re not able to be completely vegan for whatever reason, everyone can do something! Whenever you have the chance, turn down the opportunity to contribute to animal cruelty. You can do this in easy ways, such as switching your burger for a veggie option, buying products that aren’t tested on animals, purchasing non-leather shoes, etc.Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something, anything.

My parents won't let me go vegan!

You want to go vegan while living at home but your parents are hesitant to let you make the change. Usually, this is because of 5 main reasons:

1. they’re afraid you won’t get enough nutrients and will become unhealthy,
2. they worry it will be more expensive than a typical meat-eating diet,
3. they don’t want to take the time to cook a separate meal for you any time you all want to eat together,
4. they worry that you’ll pressure them to change their diets too when they don’t want to, and/or
5. they don’t want to devote their energy and time into understanding a diet that they think will probably just be a phase for you.

So, how do you go about changing their minds? This post will cover that topic, but it's in no way completely comprehensive of the process. I would recommend searching the web for more support (starting with this YouTube video by Essena ONeill and these these podcasts by Colleen Patrick Goudreau, both highly recommended), and reaching out to fellow vegans on a social media, such as instagram or tumblr.

1. Pick a good time to talk to your parents, either individually or together. When they’ve come back after a long and tiring day of work and just want to relax, the last thing they want to hear is something potentially stressful. Make sure you are both are well-rested and have eaten recently. Generally, unless you know their reaction will be relatively positive, wait until a peaceful moment to approach them.

2. Be calm, kind, and understanding. Your parents will be a lot more likely to listen to you if you are mature about the subject. Remember that almost every vegan in the world once ate meat, and you were in their shoes at one time. Try to recall how defensive or angry you might have been when you first discovered veganism, and extend your compassion towards them. It is okay to be angry. But we have to remember what works best: will your parents respond better to facts and logic, or screaming and hysterics? You want to appear as responsible as possible to show that you can be trusted to change your lifestyle by yourself.

3. Be prepared. Before you talk to your parents, you need to know what you’re talking about! Research ahead of time on the areas that you think your parents will care about most. If your mom is into fitness, let her know all about the amazing health benefits. If your dad is into environmentalism, emphasize to him how great eating plant-based is for the planet. Give them a broad summary of it all, but try to make it appeal to them as well. This is not to try to make them go vegan with you necessarily, but to appeal to their emotions. Which brings us to our next point...

4. Make sure they know this is about you, not them. As great as it would be if all parents transitioned into veganism with their kids, it’s not realistic to expect that. Assure them that you will still love them the same if they continue to eat meat and dairy so they don’t feel alienated. Yes, it’s easy and understandable to be frustrated with them, but change takes time. Just because they’re not willing to change now doesn’t mean it will be like that forever. Parents can likely feel like you’re going vegan to push them away, so make sure they know this is not the case.

5. Offer to show them other resources, like documentaries, credible websites, and books. They’ll be a lot more likely to listen to you if they can see that you have facts on your side. Ask if you can all sit down and watch a documentary together. This is a good way to let them know that you want their support and encouragement, and you’re not doing this to rebel against them. Check these out:

Earthlings - watch this with caution, it contains a lot of undercover investigations into slaughterhouses, fur farms, puppy mills, etc.

Cowspiracy - this is 100% worth the money to buy it!! if you don’t have the money you can search and find it online, but if you are able to support this amazing film please do

101 Reasons to Go Vegan - this one is really nice to watch for first timers since it’s more light-hearted and not very “preachy”

Vegankit - a great resource for beginners

The Vegan Society

Vegan.com

UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet - a good study from an extremely credible resource

ADAPTT - I don’t support Yourofsky at all but this website has amazing information

Nutrition Facts - brought to you by doctors

6. Offer to cook for your family sometime. This way you can show them that you’re willing to take some responsibilty for your choice. Sometimes parents worry that you’ll start to exclusively rely on their cooking so this can relieve that stress. Try starting with a dish that is already vegan, like pasta, to prove to them that the diet can be familiar. If cooking on your own sounds intimidating, offer to cook with them. Sometimes it helps to give them the option to add in meat and dairy afterwards so they don’t feel like they have to prepare a second meal for you. If that doesn’t work, offer to prepare your own meals by yourself.

7. Go shopping with them. Bring along a grocery list that is already written out and show them just how many food options you have at a standard grocery store. Sometimes parents worry that they’ll have to start exclusively shopping at whole foods, which isn’t true. Eating vegan does not have to be any more expensive than eating a meat-based diet. I will write more about this idea in a future post. Until then, see these resources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

8. If your parents are still not responsive to the idea, see if you can bargain with them. For example, offer to do chores in exchange for eating vegan. Offer to eat vegetarian at first to get them used to it. Trying to reason with them can show just how serious you are about transitioning.

Additional tips:

• Don’t address them as “you”, instead say “me” or “we”. It shifts the blame off of the people that you’re talking to and onto yourself. This makes them feel less pressured, and in turn, more likely to listen to you.
• If you think your parents will get defensive about ethics, tell them that your reasoning was environmental. That way you can bring up stone-cold facts if they try to challenge you (politely and calmly of course). With ethics it’s more difficult because the idea that idea that animals have to suffer and die for food is still considered an opinion.
• Whenever you debate with them, remember to be very respectful and calm. Being angry or frustrated might feel like the best option in the heat of the moment, but you have to remember that veganism is not about you in the slightest. It’s about the animals and what will help them the most.
• If your parents just want to hear themselves talk and aren’t actually curious, don’t bother trying. Point them to some resources they can go to if they’d like to know more on their own time, and end the conversation there.

If your parents are strictly against the idea for whatever reason, don’t lose hope. Just because you can’t commit yourself 100% doesn’t mean you can’t do anything! You can still eat a plant-based diet while outside your home, try not to buy items that were tested on animals, and encourage others to do the same. As long as you are doing everything in your power to avoid cruelty in your lifestyle (within reason of course) then don’t feel bad. Look forward to the day when you move out and can make your own food choices. Until then, just do your best and know that you have many other vegans who are on your side rooting for you.