Learn the secrets to easy vegan cooking so you can get in and out of the kitchen and on with life.
So many times I hear people say the vegan diet is too difficult and time consuming. I can understand what they mean. Perhaps you feel the same way?
Do your vegan meals take you longer than 15 minutes (30 minutes TOPS) to get on the table? My friend, there IS an easier way.
What you'll learn here and throughout our website is how to pull your meals together quickly.
Not only that, but your meals will be healthier because they focus on whole foods and require very little pre-packaged foods, which are not only expensive but many times contain far more sugar and sodium than you need.
Here's how you can have a healthy meal on the table in minutes -- MINUTES -- using this very simple strategy.
But before we begin, be sure to read our Vegan Cooking Guide Tutorial first. This will help tremendously to make sense of the rest of the information in this article.
So right-click on the link to open in a new Tab/Window to review it before you proceed down the page.
I'll be waiting right here for you when you get back. :)
To begin with, have pre-cooked beans and grains on hand at all times. Now, that may sound boring, but you can do SO MUCH with these two ingredients. I rarely have the same meal twice.
So choose a bean and a whole grain to have on hand for the week. Set aside an hour one day per week to make these 2 basics, cool, and place in an airtight container in the fridge.
Fast Forward to Mealtime
You're simply going to pull out rice, or beans, or both (!), combine with some fresh veggies you have on hand, add some herbs and spices and other ingredients you need to use up and voila (!) your dinner is prepared.
But what will you use to flavor your dish? How will you know which herbs and spices and other ingredients to choose? Here are some ideas for you:
Use the Bean Vegan Flavor Matches to match flavors with your bean of choice;
Or use the same system to match flavors with your whole grain of choice. Examples include Brown Rice Flavor Matches, Millet Flavor Matches and Quinoa Flavor Matches;
Or match flavors according to which vegetable you're using. Most beans and grains will simply fall into the background and act as a supporting neutral flavor so your veggie can hog the limelight. Be sure to take a gander at the long list of Vegetables on VeganCoach.com, choose one that you have on hand, and then simply scroll down to find the Flavor Matches contained on that page.
For my recipe-free example today...
...I decided broccoli was going to take center stage for my dinner allowing the beans and grains to be supporting stars.
So I peeked at the Broccoli Flavor Matches which helped me to decide which other ingredients to add to my dish.
Take a gander at some of the matches for Broccoli:
Now, look at how the recipe came together on-the-fly with absolutely no planning.
I used what I had on hand in my cupboards and fridge ready to go...
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 cup pre-cooked brown rice
2 cups broccoli, coarsely chopped
1 stalk bok choy, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 Tablespoon breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
1-2 Teaspoons Tamari soy sauce
2 teaspoons Earth Balance
1 Teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coconut nectar (or maple syrup)
1/4 cup tomato, coarsely chopped
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
I started out by heating a large frying pan with enough veggie broth to cover the bottom (you can also use a little swipe of olive oil).
Next, I added my pre-cooked rice, broccoli, bok choy, and green onions. I covered the pan and heated the whole shebang until the broccoli was steamed tender, 7-10 minutes. (You may have to stir in a little additional water to prevent sticking. This way of steam-frying works beautifully when you're trying to avoid using oil.)
Finally, I added my remaining ingredients and cooked, stirring occasionally, until heated throughout.
Done.
This entire dish took me about 15 minutes from the time I started the veggie broth heating until it was cooked and ready to eat!
Notice how most of the ingredients I used to create this dish were lifted right from the broccoli matches? The matches you'll find throughout our entire website provide the training wheels you need to make easy vegan cooking your mantra!
Of course, I could have...
The options are truly limited only by your imagination.
Now, I understand that if you're used to cooking with recipes...
...it can seem daunting and scary to cook without them. But...
If you can learn how to let go of recipes and depend more on your own intuition and perhaps-you-don't-know-it-yet-but-it's-there cooking talent, then you will be rewarded with less time in the kitchen, healthier meals, and more time to spend doing other important things that need your attention.
My husband Jeff is a perfect example. He was never a good cook. He hated recipes and still does. I did most of the cooking. But when I went through a particularly trying and busy time, he had to step in to do the cooking or we would starve.
And you know what? He has now become one of the best cooks I know simply by using the techniques you are learning here along with a little patience and time to get the hang of it. But don't worry; you'll learn the ropes pretty quickly.
If, like me, your days are so busy you can barely think straight, then cooking on-the-fly can save so much time!
Sign up to our FREE adventure into cooking without recipes called Recipes Shmecipes for a quick starter course delivered straight to your inbox.
"Sassy, I don't have the patience or the time! I want to dive into freestyle vegan cooking right now!"
Ahhhh, a fellow go-getter!
If this sounds like you, check out our cooking course Vegan FUNdamentals. This online class is perfect for beginners to the concept of FREESTYLE cooking.
Thanks and happy cooking!
Authored by Patty and Jeff Knutson.
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