VEGANUARY: favorite vegan meal roundup

As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I challenged ourselves to eat 100% plant based for the month of January. We actually had already planned on this but it helped that my brother and sister-in-law gifted us an air fryer (because she couldn’t believe we didn’t have one, lol!) and a vegan air fryer book. It’s been so much fun to use!

Guys. This was tough!! I was suddenly reading the ingredients on everything! Not to mention, we’ve been utilizing grocery delivery (Thanks Amazon Fresh & Whole Foods) so I’ve been online shopping the nutrition label. That’s another level.

We have a couple staple meals that are affordable, easy, and delicious. I found dairy products on the ingredient list so I had to modify and find my own vegan version. It was such a good challenge, I felt more energized, especially at night after putting Olivia down. All I want to do is watch tv, but I did have more energy to pick up baby toys around the house, fold laundry, etc vs leaving it for the weekend. On the cons list, I’d say dinners required more work. I’m used to one pot, one sheet pan and I did notice I was having to prep longer and use more dishes. I can’t complain when I work from home (in the breakfast nook) so when it’s 5 o’clock on the dot, I’m signing off and grabbing Olivia as my sous chef!

I am not a food photographer so the pictures and recipes I’m going to share are from Pinterest. You can find the recipe/food blog in the photo captions. Hope you enjoy our top vegan meals!! If you have any other questions about our challenge, I’m happy to answer them! Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Breakfast: I normally eat organic rolled oats with some nut milk and nut butter. That didn’t change during Veganuary but I also saw the breakfast tortilla wrap trend on tik tok. I was able to swap the egg and use Just egg patties instead. Tasted amazing and highly recommend! Just add your favorite breakfast toppings!

Photo from Haute Off the Rack IG
Photo from Haute off the Rack IG

Lunch: another modification of my standard Greek salad. Swap my salad dressing for hummus (or avocado) and I didn’t even miss any dressing!

https://www.beautybites.org/5-minute-mediterranean-bowl-healthy-lunch-meal-prep-recipe/

Dinner: Some of our staples just required subbing Daiya vegan cheese with our normal cheddar cheese. Stuffed sweet potatoes are on a weekly rotation in our house.

https://www.simplyquinoa.com/mexican-quinoa-stuffed-sweet-potatoes/

I mentioned another weekly staple is tikki masala and naan bread. But with our vegan challenge, we couldn’t have the store bought tikki masala and naan because of dairy products. I had to put in the effort and make homemade curry and naan bread. Very worth it though!

https://healthiersteps.com/recipe/butternut-squash-coconut-curry/
https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-naan/

We also love doing soup Sunday’s around here! Our favorite soup was a white bean chili.

https://www.contentednesscooking.com/vegetarian-white-chili/

Let me know if you try any of these and please share your favorite plant based and vegan recipes!

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