Selected WFPB Recipes #1

In this blog, I just want to share some new recipes with you (also added to the Recipes 1 pages). They come from the T Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Science website 2 . Although there are lots of other recipes there which I would recommend you check out, they are not all quite up to the non-SOS WFPB standard to which, for better or worse, I adhere. I hope you are able to try some of them out and let me know your thoughts…

You’ll find below a breakfast suggestion, then a couple of main courses with side dishes and a dessert. As with all recipes from the U.S., measurements tend to be in cups. I would suggest you use a normal sized coffee mug for all these recipes rather than worry about weighing everything. However, if you want to do the conversions, there’s a website 3 that does easy conversions for you from cups to grams for a wide range of foods.

For Breakfast

Guilt-Free Chocolate Granola

Ingredients

  • Dry ingredients
    • 8 cups rolled oats
    • 2 Tbsp sliced almonds (optional)
    • 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
    • Dried fruit – unsweetened cherries, raisins
    • ¼ – ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 cup freeze dried fruit – strawberries, mango, and/or banana (optional)
  • Wet ingredients
    • 3 ripe bananas or 2 cups of mango
    • 1 cup soft pitted dates
    • ½ cup water
    • 1 tsp best quality vanilla extract or a scraped vanilla pod

Method

  • Combine dry ingredients (except freeze-dried fruit) in a large bowl
  • Put wet ingredients into a blender and blend
  • Spoon out blended wet ingredients onto the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix together well
  • Spread out on a non-stick backing tray (I would recommend a silicone sheet 4 )
  • Bake for around 8 hours at 170 degrees F / 75 degree C (lowest possible setting on a gas cooker)
  • Switch off oven and leave in oven to completely dry and cool
  • Break into desired size of granola chunks
  • Put granola in a bowl and mix in the freeze-dried fruit
  • Store in an airtight container and enjoy whenever you want

Main courses (lunch or dinner) #1

Spaghetti & Mushroom Balls

Ingredients

  • Mushroom balls
    • 3 cups of Portobello or button mushrooms
    • ¾ cup of pecans
    • 3 Tbsp of rolled oats
    • 1 clove garlic, minced
    • 2 Tbsp tahini
    • 1 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp dried oregano
    • 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • Sauce
    • 1 onion, diced
    • 2 tsp dried oregano
    • 1 red pepper, diced
    • 1 green pepper, diced
    • 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
    • 3 Tbsp tomato paste

Method

  • Mushroom balls
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 170 degrees C / gas mark 4
    • Put pecans and oats into a food processor and process until the pecans are chopped
    • Add garlic, mushrooms, tahini, cumin, oregano and chilli flakes
    • Process until well combined and nearly smooth
    • Roll mixture into small balls and place on a silicone (or non-stick) baking tray
    • Put in the oven and bake for approximately 20 mins or until firm to the touch
  • Sauce
    • Saute onion in a little water until soft 5
    • Add oregano and tomato paste and stir well
    • Add diced tomatoes and peppers
    • Simmer for 20 mins
  • Spaghetti
    • Use a whole grain spaghetti or, better still, try out a vegetable spaghetti or “courgetti” (made from gently steamed spiralled courgette – see here 6 for instructions

Main courses (lunch or dinner) #2

Deli-style Tuna Salad Sandwich with Cashew Mayo

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cashews, soaked in water overnight then drained
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup + 2 Tbsp water
  • 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 Tbsp capers, drained
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 6 slices whole grain vegan bread

Method

This recipe makes makes approximately ¾ cup mayo, more than needed for this recipe, but it means you can keep extra on hand for your favourite sandwiches

  • Blend cashews, garlic, vinegar, water in high-speed blender until smooth and creamy
  • Mix chickpeas, ⅓ cup of the cashew mayo, and capers in a food processor until creamy, resembling tuna fish
  • In a mixing bowl, combine chickpea mixture with celery, salt, and pepper, and stir by hand until completely combined
  • Spread mixture onto three slices of bread. Top with the remaining slices

Side dish #1

Caramelised Smoky Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 ½ lbs Brussels Sprouts
  • Black pepper
  • 1 cup water

Method

  • Preheat a wide pan over high heat. Cast-iron is ideal
  • Peel, halve, and thinly slice the red onion
  • When pan is very hot, add red onion in a single layer then add smoked paprika on top
  • Leave onions to brown for about 5 minutes
  • Meanwhile, trim the bottoms from the Brussels Sprouts and cut in half. Remove outer leaves
  • When onions start to brown, stir and continue cooking until well-browned (another 5 minutes or so)
  • Move onions to the side of the pan
  • Add halved Brussels sprouts and spread as close to a single layer as possible. Allow them to char for a couple of minutes before stirring
  • When Brussels are brown on one side, stir and continue cooking until all of them have a little bit of colour. Stir frequently to prevent burning.
  • After about 5 minutes, add 1 cup of water to the Brussels. The steam should finish cooking them. If they are bigger, though, they might take longer so add more water to prevent burning
  • Season with pepper and serve hot

Side dish #2

Hearty Kale Salad

Ingredients

  • 4 cups finely chopped kale
  • 1 ½ cups cooked brown rice
  • ½ medium onion, finely diced
  • 2 large tomatoes, chopped
  • ½ cup chopped peanuts
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • Tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 4 Tbsp water
  • Black pepper

Method

  • Remove the leafy part of the kale from the stalk and chop into tiny pieces. Then massage by rubbing the kale leaves together between your fingers until they start to wilt
  • Stir together the kale, brown rice, onions, tomatoes and peanuts in a large salad bowl
  • Stir together the lemon juice, water, vinegar and black pepper. Drizzle over the salad. Taste and if needed, add more lemon juice and/or pepper

For Dessert

1.Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 3 frozen bananas
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa or cacao powder
  • ¼-½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

  • Put frozen bananas and almond milk in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth
  • Add cocoa/cacao powder and cinnamon. Blend until well blended
  • Put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes
  • Serve and enjoy

Finally

Because all these recipes are plant-based, they can keep well in the fridge and act as both excellent left-over meals and ready-made ingredients that can incorporated into other meals.

I hope you found some of these recipes interesting and useful. There are lots more on my Recipes 1 page. Keep cooking and keep healthy!


References

  1. WFPB: Recipes [] []
  2. CNS Website []
  3. Cups to Grams Converter []
  4. Tip 14. Use silicone and non-stick cookware []
  5. Butter, Shortening, Fats and Oils []
  6. Ideas for making vegetable spaghetti or courgetti []