Recipe: Chipotle and Bean Chili

This is a super simple but really hearty chili that can be made with very minimal prep. This can also easily be adapted for any diet. It can be made vegan using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and it can be gluten-free by substituting potato starch instead of flour. This is a fairly spicy chili so you might want to serve it with cream, cheese, or some bread but it’s not so hot you can’t just eat it as it is. If you want a thicker chili you can mash a portion of the beans before you put them in the pot as well.

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Recipe: Vada Pav Burger

This burger is basically inspired by vada pav which is a kind of dreamy street food that is carbs (potatoes) on carbs (bread) with spicy chilies. You can use whatever bun you like, traditionally it’s made in something more like a parker house roll. You can also pick and choose your own toppings though I kept it really simple and went for cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a ketchup-mayo mix for a sauce but feel free to experiment!

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Recipe: Chickpea Soup

This really hearty and delicious stew is great for a cold day or any occasion. You can make this ahead of time without the noodles and just add them as you’re warming it up (if you’re using thin vermicelli style noodles). This is basically minestrone but with slightly different flavors and chickpeas instead of beans in case you need a little variety in your life.

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Recipe: Panzanella

This is a great recipe for the summer because it’s not really cooking, it can be served cold, and it takes very minimal effort to make. Basically a dressed up bread salad and while I feel like it’s usually an appetizer dish, in the summer paired some fruit it could easily be a whole meal especially if you use really hearty bread (I used a thick seed-filled sourdough), this would pair really well with a nice piece of grilled fish or meat for a BBQ or cookout also.

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Recipe: Sweet and Sour Tofu

I was finally able to find reasonably priced firm tofu in the store so I’ve been trying out more tofu recipes lately and this is the winner by a large mile. It’s super easy to make, you can customize the sauce in a lot of ways, and it comes together with only one bowl and one pan. You can use fresh vegetables if you prefer but I love recipes where you don’t have to chop anything because some days you just don’t have the energy. I don’t love tofu but in this recipe it’s pretty tasty and it’s a nice change of pace every now and then.

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Recipe: Spicy Tomato Dal

This is one of those absolutely great recipes for when you have a bit of time but no time energy. You probably have everything you need on hand to make a tasty, healthy, filling, cheap, vegan, and exceptionally low effort food. The only thing you have to do is chop an onion and then sometimes check on the pot and stir it a little. This can be eaten on its own or with naan or pretty much any other bread product or even over rice. You can add in whatever you like to finish the dish: cream, nuts, cilantro, even fried onions. Also I like my dal thick but feel free to make it any consistency you like.

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Recipe: Vegetable Green Curry

This is probably one of the more interesting recipes I’ve made in a while because it’s not only 100% vegan but it also uses coconut milk as the fat that you cook off the vegetables in. I supposed you can just use coconut oil if you want to make it even faster but since I already use green curry paste (because I don’t really have access to any of the fresh ingredients) this recipe is already pretty easy.

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Recipe: Squash-Carrot Soup

Technically you don’t have to roasted the squash before you make this soup but the flavor is much richer if you do and it’s easier to cut squash up if you roast it first. You can absolutely used pre-cut squash and roast that also. This soup is a real warm winter treat and can be topped off with crushed nuts, breadcrumbs, or grated cheese. Paired with a nice roll or a salad it can easily be a full meal.

Squash-Carrot Soup

Recipe: Butter Chickpeas

Despite the title this is actually really easy to make a vegan recipe by replacing the butter with coconut oil instead. You can finish it with some almond milk if you like also. I like to mush half of the chickpeas with a potato masher to get a bunch of different textures and also I think it thickens the recipe without cornstarch. I might try adding more vegetables to this recipe in the future but I really liked its simplicity.

Butter Chickpeas