My Plant-Based Family

Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget

Main Dish Recipes

Taco Potatoes

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Taco Potatoes
She shoots, she scores! Yes, this recipe was a huge success in our house. I’ve made it many times but never shared it with you. Well, today is your lucky day. This recipe was inspired by Laura at Heavenly Homemakers and her recipe for Taco Potatoes. She includes meat, heavy cream and cheese her recipe so I’ve adapted it to make it plant-strong!

Taco Potatoes 2

Taco Potatoes

Ingredients

  • Cooked Baked Potatoes (1 per person)
  • 2 cups Quinoa “Taco Meat” OR Quinoa-Lentil Tacos
  • 2 cups of cooked black beans OR 1 can of drained and rinsed beans (optional)
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 1/2 cup plain plant-based yogurt (optional)
  • guacamole (optional)
  • 1/2 cup corn

Do

  1. Cut cooked potatoes in half and scoop out some of the potato. I just cubed the potato for my kids.
  2. Fill the void with beans and quinoa.
  3. Top with your choice of fresh salsa, plant-based yogurt (for a tangy topping reminiscent of sour cream), guacamole and corn.

Serve

My husband and I LOVED this! My kids not as much. My two year old mostly wanted to eat all of the fresh salsa but he did finish his potato and quinoa. The 4 year old probably would have done better if all of the food was separated but he ate it.

This would be so easy to take to a potluck and is easy to throw together with leftovers.

This recipe was shared at Gluten Free Friday’s hosted at Vegetarian Mamma!

Lentil Shepherd’s Pie for the Virtual Vegan Potluck

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Today I’m taking part in the Virtual Vegan Potluck. I’ve participated before, “bringing” Gluten-Free Apple Muffins and Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with or without chocolate chips.) Now I’m branching out a bit with a main dish, trust me you will LOVE it!

 

You can start at the beginning of the potluck at Vegan Bloggers Unite or simply pick the category that most interests you. There are 169 bloggers participating so it may take a while to make your way through. The potluck was designed so you can seamlessly click from one blog to the next.

shepherd pie VVP

This Lentil Shepherd’s Pie has a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients but it is EASY to make. It has gotten rave reviews at several venues, even the Omni’s love it. It is a great holiday meal and perfect for a potluck. My toddler could not get enough.

shepherd's pie

Lentil Shepherd’s Pie (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

Potato Layer

  • 4 large potatoes
  • up to 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • up to 1/2 cup plant milk
  • salt and pepper to taste

Lentil Layer

  • 2 cups cooked Lentils
  • 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Veggie/Sauce Layer

  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1/4 cup onions, diced
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup green beans (I used frozen)
  • 1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen)
  • 2 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour (I use brown rice flour for a GF version, you can use wheat flour)
  • 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • 1 cup Rice Milk
  • Optional onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Do

Potato Layer

  1. Scrub, peel, and cut potatoes into large chunks.
  2. Cover with water and bring to a boil, cook potatoes until they are very soft.
  3. Drain potatoes and mash with a potato masher.
  4. Add salt and pepper, nutritional yeast and about half of the milk. Continue to mash or (whip) until everything is mixed, add more plant milk, nutritional yeast and salt as necessary to get the flavor just right. (Depending on the size of your potatoes this might not be enough seasoning)
  5. Set aside.

Lentil Layer

  1. Place cooked lentils in a pie pan, stirring in Liquid Smoke if desired.
  2. Spread lentils and pack them down into a smooth bottom layer.

Veggie/Sauce Layer

  1. Cook carrots, celery, and onions in a skillet, adding small amounts of water when veggies begin to stick.
  2. As the veggies begin to soften add mushrooms, green beans and peas.
  3. Once all veggies are soft, sprinkle in flour and nutritional yeast then give it a quick stir.
  4. Add 1/2 cup of the plant milk and lightly stir. Keep your eye on this and add more plant milk as it thickens, continuing to stir.
  5. Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to your preference.
  6. Once the sauce is like a thick gravy pour the veggie/sauce over the lentils.

Spoon potatoes over Veggie/Sauce Layer and smooth out. Put in the oven and broil for 10 minutes. Check often to make sure the top is browning and not burning.

– – –

This dish is great for a potluck, a family holiday dinner or to take to a family who needs a little bit of blessing. It reheats beautifully and could be frozen for a future meal.

I hope you ENJOY!

If you want to make your way through the potluck you can got back to On the Path to Zen or forward to Veghotpot to check out what they brought.

I hope you take some time to make your way through the potluck.

Avocado Grillers

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I never get tired of guacamole, chocolate mousse (the avocado makes it creamy), or eating avocado raw whatever I can, but sometimes a girl needs to branch out.

brownies, garden HC grilled avocado 160 (45)

Oh yes, I grilled avocado!

Even better I served it with Spicy Black Beans and Cilantro-Lime Brown Rice. This may be a combo made in heaven.

grilled avocado 160 (47)

I almost hate to call this a recipe because it is so easy.

Avocado Grillers

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe avocados, cut into equal slices (6-8)
  • bell peppers, cut into strips
  • onions, cut into strips (thin strips will burn)
  • corn tortillas or other gluten-free tortillas

Do

  1. Preheat your grill and add avocados, bell peppers, and onion.
  2. Check every few minutes to see how they are cooking, turn once they start to brown and don’t let them burn.
  3. Remove veggies from the grill.

Serve

We ate these on gluten-free corn tortillas but any tortilla will do. These veggies are also great served on a salad. For lunch the next day I mixed up rice and beans then topped it with the grilled avocado and veggies. So Good!

This recipe is being shared at Gluten-Free Friday hosted by Vegetarian Mamma!

Chickpea Quinoa Stir Fry

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Stir Fry’s are a great way to add extra veggies to your meal. When don’t use oil so when I say, “stir fry” I don’t mean I’m frying anything. This Chickpea Quinoa Stir Fry is oil-free and delicious. Even my two year old gobbled it up and continued to steal it off of my plate long after his was eaten.

I think the unexpected but delicious pineapple brings it to a whole new level. If you can’t get fresh pineapple you can use mango.

Chickpea Quinoa Stir Fry is vegan (plant-based) and gluten-free.

When making stir frys, ok most things I cook, measurements are just guidelines based on what I like and what veggies we have available. Feel free to alter the ingredients or measurements to suit your families taste. [Read more…] about Chickpea Quinoa Stir Fry

Plant-Based Lasagna (Gluten-Free)

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HC Feb 004

If you’ve recently switched to a plant-based diet you may be under the impression that there are some foods you’ll never be able to eat again. I’m going to let you off the hook, you can enjoy many of the comfort foods you have always loved with a few modifications.

This recipe does take some work, like any lasagna recipe there are many steps involved, most of the work is done by a food processor. The good news is many can be prepared ahead of time. I even build the lasagna a few hours before company arrives then put it in the oven 30 minutes before dinner time.

A layered view
A layered view

Lasagna (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

Ingredients (by step)

Step 1

  • 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 c lemon juice (1 lemon)
  • 1/4 c nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Step 2

  • 4 c tightly packed spinach or other greens
  • 1/2 large onion
  • 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
  • 1 c or handful of mushrooms

Remaining Ingredients

  • Large jar pasta sauce
  • 1 package gluten-free no-boil lasagna noodles
  • eggplant, peeled and diced (optional, I used 1/2 an eggplant)
  • mushrooms, diced (optional)

Do

  1. Add all the ingredients for step one to a food processor, puree then set aside until ready to build lasagna.
  2. Add all the ingredients for step two to a food processor, puree, then set aside until ready to build lasagna.
  3. Building the Lasagna. Layer ingredients in a large casserole dish, I used a 9×15 dish. I used the following order:1 1/2 cup red sauce, noodles, white sauce, greens, mushrooms, eggplant then finish with red sauce. Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients. Mine had 2 layers of white sauce and 2 layers of greens with 1 layer of veggies (mushrooms and eggplant). I had three layers of red sauce.
  4. Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 20-30 minutes.

Serve

This lasagna is company worthy. I’ve served it to large groups on two occasions and everyone seemed to like it. I don’t think you miss the meat or cheese from traditional lasagna. It also reheats well and keeps for several days in the fridge. It’s easily customizable. It pairs well with a large Italian salad, my salad included olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, red onions, and greens.

For a faux parmesan try whizzing 1 cup of cashews and 1/2 cup nutritional yeast in a high-powered blender and sprinkling it on top of the lasagna.

Do you miss Lasagna since going plant-based? Give this recipe a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. What comfort food do you miss the most?

Quinoa-Lentil Tacos

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We eat a lot of Mexican food around here. A few of the first recipes I posted were Lentil Tacos and Quinoa Tacos. Most of the time I prefer a combination of the two. Enter Quinoa-Lentil Tacos.

Quinoa-Lentil Tacos

I made these for some ladies last week and they all wanted the recipe so I guess everyone else loves them as much as we do. We don’t always keep tortillas on hand anymore so we normally eat this on nachos or in a lettuce wrap. I assure you these are great in stuffed burritos too.

It’s easy to throw these together with ingredients that are already cooked. When I make a big batch of quinoa and lentils, I’ll make these when I don’t have a lot of time to cook.

Quinoa-Lentil Tacos

Try using this taco filling on baked potatoes too.

This recipe can be kept warm in the oven or a crockpot until ready to eat. Try Quinoa-Lentil Tacos with Faux Cheese Sauce, Unfried Beans, and Mexican Rice. This recipe is pretty mild since I serve it to company and kids often but I love to spice it up!

If your family is not following a plant-based diet this recipe could be added to your traditional tacos to make them healthier, more filling, and more frugal.

This recipe will make about 4 cups of taco “meat” and you can use about 1/4 cup per taco for a total of 16 tacos give or take a few and about half as many burritos.

Quinoa-Lentil Tacos

This healthy, plant-based taco recipe is both filling and delicious. Choose your favorite ingredients or make it a Taco Bar so everyone can make it their way.

Quinoa-Lentil Tacos
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 c cooked quinoa
  • 2 c cooked brown lentils
  • 1½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1½ tsp onion powder
  • 1½ tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 4 oz tomato sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • crushed red pepper (optional more spice)
  • add your favorite taco fixings like lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and tortillas
Instructions
  1. If quinoa and lentils are cold heat in microwave or on stove until warm.
  2. Mix the lentils, quinoa, seasonings and tomato sauce together in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Assemble your tacos with your favorite ingredients.