#cheap vegan recipes

Ingredients

• Pastry (If you’re in NZ and need gluten free, pavillion does one, you can get it from countdown. New Way does a non gluten free puff pastry that’s awesome, available from countdown and Pak n Save)
• A block of firm tofu (2 if you don’t want to use vegetables) You could swap out the tofu entirely for vegetables but it will change the flavour.
• 1 can of plain chopped tomatoes or puree (can be substituted for tomato paste, but use half as much)
• A good splash of soy sauce
• ¼ cup brewers yeast
• Sundried tomatoes (pams is the best brand). You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Kalamata olives (delmaine is good) You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Flour (can be gluten free)

Optional

• Whatever vegetables you have spare. I like eggplant, zucchini, spinach, and kale. Be aware that carrot will likely change the taste so use sparingly until you know what you like.
• Vegetable stock - this is ideal if you want a ‘meatier’ tasting filling (massel does a FODMAP friendly veggie stock)
• Dairy free cheese (zenzo chedder is good, if you want something creamier and milder the dairy free mozarellas are good). Plain hummus or one of my cheese sauce recipes will also do fine.
• Cumin seeds
• Ground coriander
• Herbs, fresh is ideal but dried is fine. I like basil, coriander, oregano, and chives (chives are good if you want a more onion/garlic flavour)
• White or apple cider vinegar
• Hot sauce - I like chipotle, it’s not too hot and it adds a smokey flavour.
• Another can of tinned tomatoes
• Chunky vegetables (pies, carrot, corn etc)

1. Method
2. Chop up the tofu and/or vegetables, and the olives and sundried tomatoes. It’s a good idea to either press or freeze/squeeze the tofu so it can soak up the flavours of the broth (see my earlier post about freezing tofu to make pressing super easy). If you feel like it, just run the tofu and vegetables through the food processor till they have a vaguely mince like texture. Don’t mince up any vegetables you want to keep whole (like peas and corn etc).
3. Throw the 'mince’, any other vegetables, and the cumin seeds (if you’re using them) in a frying pan or wok. You can use regular oil but I like to use some of the spare oil from the sundried tomatoes. Stirfry everything for ten minutes or so.
4. Add a good splash of soy sauce (more if you want a meaty flavour, less if you don’t) and the brewers yeast and stir them in really well.  Now is also a good time to add the ground coriander if you’re using it. Stirfry for another ten minutes. If the mixture starts to stick or clump up, add a splash of white or apple cider vinegar, it’ll deglaze the pan and add a bit of bite to the mixture.
5. Now add the tomatoes, if you want a strong tomato flavour add two cans. If you’re using it, add the made up stock. This will add quite a bit of moisture to the mix.
6. Let the mixture simmer for about ten minutes, then taste test. If the flavour is a bit too mild, add a quarter cup of the brine from the kalamata olives and test again. If you want more flavour, add hot sauce slowly until the taste is about right.
7. Add the chopped herbs and stir them in. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. If it gets too dry, add a bit of water, what you’re looking for is the pieces of tomato to be getting soft and mushy.
8. When you’re sick of waiting, or the tomato chunks are mushy, add a few tablespoons of flour (and more water if needed) and stir in well to make a thick gravy around the 'mince’.
9. While the mixture is simmering, preheat the oven to 180C and roll out or cut your pastry, then line a pie dish (use oil if it isn’t non stick) with it (you can also cheat and use muffin trays for small pies but it’s a bit fiddly). If you want to, brush the inside of the pastry with oil to keep it from getting soggy (I don’t usually bother). When the mixture is ready, spoon it into the pastry, then add slices of dairy free cheese on top or your preferred “cheese” mix. Dab a bit of water around the edges, and put the pastry lid on, smooshing the pastry together as you go.
10. Brush the top with oil, stab a few holes in it. Bake at 180C until the top turns golden brown. It’s nice hot or cold, but when it’s hot the cheese melts through the mince.

Apples and Peanut butter

This is something people either seem to have known about forever, or they find the concept so weird that when you mention it they just look at you funny and back away slowly.

Slice up some apples, grab some peanut butter, and use the apple wedges to scoop up the peanut butter. There’s a bit of an art to manipulating the peanut butter, but it’s one worth mastering because omnomnomnomnom.

‘Baked’ Potatoes

Grab a potato, wash it if you need to. Stab a bunch of holes in the top or slice a cross halfway through it. Microwave on high for a few minutes then stab it with a knife to see if it’s soft inside, it’s different depending on the size of the potato and the power of the microwave. Once you know the rough time, you can just do that.

Toppings - vegan butter/marg, hummus, crushed garlic or garlic salt, cashew cream cheese, brewers/nutritional yeast, chopped fresh chives or spring onion, the list goes on

Couscous

Instant couscous like you can get in most supermarkets is super quick and easy to make. It tastes like pasta (because it’s made of the same stuff), and you can flavour it however you want.

Boil water, pour a cup of boiled water for every half cup of couscous, leave it for a couple of minutes, add a pinch of salt if you want, and fluff it up with a fork.

For flavourings (if you want them) you could just add a dab of vegan butter or margaraine, a teaspoon of mustard, or a splash of whatever stirfry, curry, or pasta sauce you have in the cupboard.

Noodles

Instant noodles are awesome. The instant noodle cups are rough on the environment, so I try to avoid the ones with the styrofoam cups at least, or use noodles you can cook on the stove or in the microwave instead.

Sometimes finding your preferred noodles that don’t use animal unfriendly oil can be a bit of a challenge, but they’re out there! And there’s a whole range of noodles to choose from that cook almost as quickly as the instant variety (my favourite are these awesome ones made from sweet potato starch that are so springy you could use them for slingshots if you weren’t busy nomming them because they’re AMAZING with peanut sauce).

The flavour options can vary too. I’ve come across a fair few ‘chicken’ noodle packets that were accidentally vegan. If you just got plain noodles, or you’re mixing it up a little, here’s some of the easy sauces I like to use.

Sweet chilli sauce - make sure you drain the noodles for this one

Soy sauce - combined with sweet chilli sauce it’s really frickin’ good. You can drain the noodles or keep the water, either’s good.

Veggie stock - one cube to a cup of noodles (with water)

Barbecue sauce - just a little bit sweetens the noodles up nicely. Drain the noodles.

Peanut butter and soy sauce - A tablespoon of peanut butter, a splash of soy sauce, heat in the microwave (to melt the peanut butter) or stir straight through hot drained noodles, nommy. Add a bit of chilli if you like it spicy.

Optional extras

Frozen mixed veggies will also cook in roughly the same time as the noodles so long as they’re small, if they’re bigger, just put them in a few minutes earlier and then add the noodles to the boiling water.

You might find you like nuts and seeds in noodles, I prefer them in noodle dishes with thicker, more complex sauces, but that’s a personal preference.

Small TVP chunks will cook in roughly the same time as the noodles, and they flavour easily.

Sandwich type constructions

The humble sandwich. Cultures all around the world have developed technology to wrap some kind of delicious bread type scaffolding around other types of deliciousness. Pita pockets, Tortillas, Bagels, Burgers, Subs, the list goes on.

Some easy things to stuff in your bread type scaffolding:

• Fresh tomato slices, fresh Basil (optional), and hummus. It’s super simple and it’s delicious. Also great toasted.
• Banana sandwiches. I don’t know if this is a New Zealand thing only or what, but seriously, dry bread, or margaraine, or whatever, and banana slices. That’s all. It’s divine.
• Avocado and tomato. With a sprinkle of salt and a splash of lemon juice if you’ve got it. Also fabulous toasted.
• Tabbouleh. If you can get it easily ready made from the supermarket, this goes great on any kind of bread related construct. Also goes fabulously with hummus.
• Falafel. Microwave a few spoonfuls for a minute or two, add to bread, add tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, mustard, hummus, whatever. Devour.

Cracker type things

There’s all kinds of crunchy crispy nommy things out there - rice or corn cakes, rice crackers, water crackers, the list goes on.

Stuff to put on them or dip them in

• Peanut butter - surprisingly nommy on corn/rice cakes
• Hummus - unsurprisingly nommy on everything
• Fresh tomato (awesome with fresh basil)
  
• Avocado
• Olives - There’s two kinds of people in this world. The ones who love olives, and the unlucky ones who don’t have the joy of olives in their lives.
• Sliced banana - especially good on rice/corn cakes

Sticks, chips and dips

Stuff to dip with -

• Carrot sticks
• Celery sticks
• Corn chips
• Tortilla chips
• Toasted pita bread
• Mini spring rolls (raw or cooked)
  

Stuff to dip in -

• Hummus - it comes in a million flavours
  
• Pesto (just need to find a vegan one, or make your own :) )
• Mustard
  
• Salsa - home made or store bought
• Sweet chilli sauce
  

Toast

Much like the humble sandwich, perhaps even pre dating it, we like to put stuff on bread, all kinds of bread.

• Peanut butter - seriously. Just go buy some peanut butter and eat it
• Bananas - yep, sliced bananas on toast is amazing.
• Fresh tomato - Add salt, pepper (if you like it), and it’s divine
• Avocado - mashed on toast with a fork, a pinch of salt, and some lemon juice, it’s divine.
• Marmite - So about half the western world will know what I’m talking about. The rest will be dazed and confused. Google it. It’s awesome. Half of you will instantly hate it. Half of you will become helpless addicted to the magnificent mountain of b vitamins that is marmite. Also related to vegemite.
  
• Baked beans - Heat em up, pile em on.

Pretzels

They’re cheap, they’re crunchy (cept for the giant soft ones, which are awesome in their own right), and they’re little edible bows. what more could you want? They’re usually vegan friendly, but it’s worth checking the bag just in case.

Vegetables

Yep. Grab some veggies, I quite like cauliflower and broccoli, put them in a covered microwave safe bowl and heat on high power for a couple of minutes. Then add whatever sauces you like (there’s a whole bunch listed here)

If you don’t have a microwave or don’t want to use one, just add about two cm (just under an inch) of water to a pot, add the veggies and cover. Bring to the boil on high heat, let it boil for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and the veggies should be cooked and nicely crisp.

Before you get too excited, these do not have any special ‘herbs’ in them. I’m sure the internet has plenty of those recipes already though, if you’re that way inclined.

The thing about this recipe is it isn’t really a recipe so much as a big list of stuff you can pick and choose from to make brownies, most of it isn’t essential, but you’ll need at least some of it.

It can be made gluten free pretty easily, but it might be better if I just do a separate post for that.

What I like most about these brownies is how easy it is to pack all kinds of goodies into them. A while back my dr had me try a diet that was so restrictive I had about three protein sources in total. To make up enough protein, I started adding rice protein powder, ground linseed, and chia seeds to brownies, so I ended up with a rich, chocolatey treat that had 15% of my daily protein needs per serve. I ate a lot of brownies during that time. For protein *nod*.

Essentials

• Flour- Depending on your tastes you can switch out some of this for other stuff, but if you start out with two cups, you can swap out a maximum of a cup for other stuff.
  
• Cocoa- I find ¼ - ½ a cup is about what I like, but you can adjust according to your tastes
  
• Sugar- I like soft brown sugar, but white or raw will do fine too. I add ¼ - ½ a cup, but I don’t like my brownies too sweet, add more if you want.
  
• Oil or vegan friendly butter/margaraine - You’ll want about half a cup for this. If you’re not using peanut butter, you’ll want a bit more, and marg is better in that case.
  
• Salt- just a half teaspoon
  
• Baking powder - a teaspoon is about right
  
• Non dairy milk - A cup should do fine, but have more around for mixing. You can swap this out for water but I personally don’t like the taste quite as much.
  

Optionals

• Peanut butter - I much prefer the end result with peanut butter. It adds a richness to the brownies that is super nommy. It isn’t essential though. I usually add a couple of big tablespoonfuls to the mix.
• Vanilla essence - Personally I consider this to be essential, but you can do without it. A teaspoon is about right.
• Ground linseed - Often known as flaxseed, this serves a variety of purposes. It’s very high in protein and fibre, and it acts as a binding agent. Standard wheat flour should hold together ok on it’s own, but ground linseed can be very helpful. Add anywhere from a couple of tablespoons to a quarter of a cup. Add at least that much water as well.
• Chia seeds - Much like ground linseed but higher in protein. Expensive though, so I tend not to use much. I also notice if you do add a lot there’s a slightly crunchy texture in the finished product.
• Nut meal/flour - Almond flour and coconut flour or any ground nut type flours are really nice in this recipe. They have a really nice taste and texture. You can swap them out for the plain flour. I wouldn’t swap out more than half a cup of this type of stuff or it will get a bit grainy. If you do add something along these lines, add a little extra liquid and fat to help balance them out.
• Spices- I find cinnamon and nutmeg go really nicely in this. Just a tablespoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg is all that’s needed.
• Oats, Nuts, and Seeds - These are great sprinkled on top after cooking or added to the batter. They will affect the texture though, so just be aware :). Shredded coconut is nice in the same way. Walnuts go great with brownies, but anything along those lines will do nicely. You can swap these out for the flour.
• Pureed fruit and vegetables - I tend to tread carefully when adding fruit to this recipe. It tends to alter the flavour quite a lot, especially banana. But if you wanna give it a go, try a few tablespoons of applesauce, or mashed pumpkin and see how it goes.
  

Put it together

Grease a baking dish, or if you’re lazy like me, line it with parchment paper - make sure it’s oven safe, and preferably bio degradable. Set the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Try to get rid of any lumps.

Add the wet ingredients, mix everything together. I usually add peanut butter and marg last.

You want the batter to be a little bit thin. Think pancake batter, but a little thicker.

Taste test, it should taste good in batter form, when it bakes it’ll be a stronger, richer flavour, but you should be able to adjust according to your tastes.

Pour into the tray. Pop it in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check by stabbing with a knife or toothpick. If the toothpick/knife comes out clean, it’s ready. Depending on your oven you might need more time, so check regularly.

When it’s ready, pull the tray out, let it cool a look, use the parchment paper to lift the whole thing out of the tray, then slice (before or after cooling) and consume.

Can be topped with chocolate peanut butter icing.

Wary of whitesplaining/appropriating a food that is very much African/Middle Eastern, I did a bit of googling about it. There’s some very cool info about its history and how it’s made. Suffice to say that what us folks in the western world buy from the supermarket is the simplified version. But it’s the simplified version I’m gonna talk about in this post - because that’s what I use to make this recipe. And it’s super convenient (and I’m lazy). But seriously, go read about couscous and North African cuisine, it’s really cool.

This recipe has some similarities to Tabbouleh, but it’s a bit different.

Ingredients

Couscous - the make-in-five-minutes kind you can get at most supermarkets.

Fresh herbs - I particularly like mint and parsley, but any herbs you like are great

Any veggies you have lying around - I tend to stick to ones I don’t have to precook, but if you want to precook some, go for it :). I particularly like fresh tomato and raw carrot

Any nuts, seeds or legumes you have floating about - Again, I tend to stick to the kind I don’t have to precook, but precook away if it suits you. Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc are all great

Salt - just a pinch

Oil - just a little bit

Sauces - My personal favourites are a dollop of hummus, a splash of sweet chilli, and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. But you can add all kinds of sauces, or leave them out entirely.

Onion and garlic (optional) - These are pretty strong raw, so chop them finely unless you want to saute them for a couple of minutes first.

Lemon juice - Optional, fresh is best, but bottled will do too. You just want a splash or two. Maybe half a lemons worth to a decent sized bowl full (unless you really like it bitter)

Water

Method

Precook anything that needs precookin’

In a pot, bring about twice as much water as couscous to the boil, (or boil the jug and add it to a pot or bowl). Add a splash of oil and a pinch of salt, then add the couscous and cover.

Come back in five minutes. Go cuddle the cat, or the dog, and (if you’re me) pretend you never wanted to cuddle them to begin with when they don’t want cuddles.

Chop up the vegetables and herbs etc into small pieces.

Stir the couscous, it should be light and fluffy. Add everything else. Stir, and adjust sauces and herbs according to your personal tastes.

If you want the salad warmed through, you can stir it over medium heat for a few minutes, or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute on low to medium power.

Fight off anybody else trying to steal it.

Unless it’s the cat. Then you must render unto Felis Catus the things that are Felis Catus’. Unless there’s garlic or onions in it. Then you must protect your feline emperor at all costs.

Home made gravy is awesome. It’s winter here, so I’m slathering it all over roast veggies like it’s going out of style.

Important Ingredients

Oil - I like canola, any vegetable oil is fine though. I usually use leftover oil from roasting or frying something else.

Flour of some kind. Wheat, or corn flour will do fine. The only stuff I wouldn’t recommend is some of the really grainy gluten free flours.

Veggie stock - liquid is fine, just swap out the water for the liquid stock.

Soy sauce, marmite/vegemite, or brewers yeast. Or a combination thereof.

Salt

Optional ingredients

Herbs - I like thyme, oregano can be nice. Some people like pepper. Experiment to see what you prefer.

Garlic - remember that crushed garlic will be stronger in taste, so use less, and add it a little later than chopped.

Onion

Leek, spring onion, etc

Liquid smoke

Barbecue sauce

Non dairy milk

Quinoa, lentils, etc (these should be cooked beforehand)

Proceed thusly

• Chop up any onions, etc you’re planning to use. Half a onion would be plenty for a recipe this size. If you’re not using onions, skip this step and the next one.
  
• Fry the onions etc at the bottom of a pot, with a couple of tablespoons of oil (use this oil for the next step). Leave them in the pot with the oil once they’re going a little soft.
  
• In a small pot (or microwave safe bowl - this isn’t ideal if you’re using onions etc) mix a couple of tablespoons of oil with a couple of tablespoons of flour to make a thick paste. Don’t add too much flour, it will thicken up a LOT later otherwise and you’ll end up with way more than you need (gets me every time).
  
• Put the pot over medium heat (skip this bit if you’re using a microwave). Add a bit of water (or veggie stock), and stir it into the paste. Do this a couple of times until it’s thin enough for you to basically dump a cup of water in there and stir it in easily.
  
• Add a teaspoon of whatever herbs you want to use, add a teaspoon of stock power (if you’re not using the liquid stock). If you’re using soy sauce, add a teaspoon (soy sauces vary in strength, so experiment with the flavour), if you’re using marmite/vegemite, add half a teaspoon, it’ll take a bit to dissolve. Brewers yeast - a tablespoon. Add a pinch of salt and a dash of whatever other sauces you’d like to add. Go sparingly at first, the flavour will intensify as it thickens.
  
• If you’re using a microwave, now is the time to put the bowl in, and heat it on medium power for a few minutes.
  
• Keep stirring and heating for a few minutes till the gravy thickens. Adjust the flavour as you like. If you’re using herbs you might want to give it a little longer for the flavour to intensify.
  
• Add more water (or liquid stock) if you need to to get the thickness or volume you want.
  
• Pour over something delicious and consume.
  

Leftovers

The gravy will continue to thicken as it cools. I’ve found it stores fine for a few days in a jar in the fridge, and when I want itI just take it out, mix in some water and heat it up.

You can also add it to soups, casseroles, etc. The flavour tends to compliment any kind of hearty, winter warmer type dishes.

If I’m in a really lazy mood I’ll have it on toast (don’t judge me).

Pasta sauce can be expensive, at least over here. It’s decidedly cheaper to make your own, and pretty easy.

If you wanna go the whole nine yards and start from scratch with whole tomatoes - awesome, but put aside an afternoon for it. I’ll post a modified version of a friends basic pasta sauce recipe in the future.

Base Ingredients

• 2 cans of tinned tomatoes
  
• 3 tablespoons of crushed garlic (or about twice than much chopped)
  
• A few tablespoons of oil
  
• A pinch of salt
  
• Half a teaspoon of brown sugar
  
• Water as you need it
  

Optional Extras

• Onion, Capsicum, Mushrooms, Greens like Spinach or Kale
• Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme
• Black pepper, Paprika, Cumin
• Brewers/Nutritional yeast
• Soy sauce

The Plan

Fry the garlic (and any extra fryables) on medium heat in the bottom of a big pot, once it starts to smell good, add the tomatoes, sugar and salt (and any herbs and spices), and stir. Add water as you need to. Bring it to the boil and let it simmer till it’s soft and the flavours are all merging nicely, add water as you need it to get the thickness you like.

If you like your pasta sauce chunky, use it as it is, if you like it smooth, run it through a blender, or in a pinch force it through a sieve - this will leave some debris behind, but you can throw that in the compost. If you want to smooth out the sauce and then add chunkier vegetables, you can always put the sauce back in the pot and heat the veggies through.

Use it all in one go, or keep it in tightly sealed jars. I find soaking the jars and lids in just-boiled water is a good way to get them clean. Just use tongs to get them out.

From start to finish this should take half an hour or less.

Nutritionally, baked beans are actually pretty awesome. They tend to have a fair bit of sugar in the sauce, but baked beans and wholegrain toast are a fantastic quick/easy/cheap/nutritious meal for anyone. But if you’re like me and keep a bunch of 60 cent cans in the cupboard for when you’re skint, having them more than a few days in a row can start to get old.

So here’s how to jazz things up:

Garlic

Add garlic marg (dairy free) or garlic infused oil (add chopped, crushed or powdered garlic to a vegetable oil and leave it for a while before using) to toast.

Or mix it right in with the beans (if it’s crushed or chopped garlic you’ll need to let it simmer for a few minutes to let the garlic cook)

Spice it up

If you like it spicy, but can’t afford chilli beans (they’re three or four times the price of baked beans over here) you have some options.

Add some straight chilli powder or sauce and sweat it out.

Make something a little more complex, with garlic, onions, chilli powder, maybe even some capsicum. I quite like to add a touch of paprika, a splash of soy sauce, a little lemon juice/apple cider vinegar, some chopped celery, and some cumin, but that’s me. Mix and match to suit your tastes.

Creamy/Cheesey

If you’ve got a bit of almond milk or whatever non dairy milk you like, you can make baked beans really creamy with a couple of tablespoons to the can. You’ll want to simmer it a little bit longer so it thickens.

If you want a cheesier flavour, add a teaspoon of brewers/nutritional yeast. It has a very strong flavour, so add small amounts first until you know how much you like.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of apple cider vinegar if you want a sharp cheese taste.

Veggie stock

I find half a cube of veggie stock can add a nice flavour. For liquid stock I’d add about a quarter of a cup. Stir it in while heating, let it thicken, eat.

Herbs

Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Oregano, Basil and parsley are all really nice in baked beans. Add a little bit at a time and adjust according to your tastes. Dried herbs need a little more cooking before their flavour comes out.

Make a soup/stew 

Depending on what you’ve got going spare in the kitchen, baked beans can be a great way to use up leftover vegetables, and with some grains and legumes you can make it go a long way. If you don’t want big chunks of vegetables you can run them through the blender, most of the broccoli/cauliflower stalk we usually throw out can be used up this way).

I like to add some soy sauce, a cube (or cup if it’s liquid) of veggie stock, some garlic and onion, and then whatever else is around, plus enough water for it to cook in. For a more tomato based flavour I might add in a can of tomatoes. You could go in a totally different direction if you wanted though, non dairy milk goes well in soups and stews, you might find you end up with something more lentil based. Anything goes.

If the veggies or grains etc need to be cooked for a while you can simmer them in a pot, or add them to the crockpot, or even in the microwave.

I thought I’d miss ice cream when I went vegan. But I didn’t, which surprised me at the time, but maybe that says something about dairy not being necessary for noms.

This base uses bananas. Just bananas. You can add whatever you want to it though.

Method

Chop up bananas - if you use older bananas the flavour will be stronger.

Freeze them

Put the pieces in a blender. Blend till smooth.

Serve.

Different flavours

Chocolate - Add some cocoa and vanilla essence.

Nuts - Add some nuts. Cashew nuts and pistachio nuts are good. Depending on how you want the texture, add at the start or finish.

Coconut - Add some coconut cream or melted coconut oil (I won’t be doing this myself until I can find a source that isn’t linked to animal cruelty. Don’t add too much or it’ll go runny.

Vanilla - Add a little non dairy milk and some vanilla essence.

Berries - Nom.

Caramel - Blend up some dates soaked in water to make a thick caramel flavoured sauce, and stir it through, or just add it to the blender with the bananas.

Storing

If you want to store the ice cream in the freezer, but aware that it melts faster than dairy ice cream, but reacts in much the same way - let it melt and freeze it again, it goes like ice. So put it in the freezer quickly. You can just blend it again though for the same result.

Vegetables are nommy, but many of us have flashbacks from childhood of mushy lumps in varying shades of yellowish green that we were informed were vegetables and therefore good for us. So if you want a veggie side dish, or just a snack, or you just really like broccoli (who doesn’t?), here’s some ideas to make it nommy.

Prep

Leave the skins on - Unless you really need to, don’t peel vegetables, just give them a quick rinse or at most a scrub with some steel wool.

Use a blender/food processor - If you want small pieces, and you have a food processor, you can save a lot of time using the different blades to dice, mince, grate, and shred your vegetables for you.

Have sharp knives - I’m guilty of having blunt knives, and the difference when you have a well sharpened blade is incredible.

Use a mandolin - These aren’t always cheap and there’s a bit of a knack to them, but if you like vegetables julienned, thin to medium sliced, or cubed, it will save a lot of time and effort. Just mind your knuckles.

Cut stuff together - If it’s safe to do so, cut multiple vegetables together. Line carrots up, that kinda thing. It’s not worth slicing a finger for, but laziness can motivate some clever cutting tricks.

Have a bowl of water for washing/rinsing - If you’re holding stuff under the tap to rinse it, and you’re doing multiple handfuls, it takes a while. A collander is good to an extent as well, but I’ve found the best thing is a bowl of water you can just throw all the veggies in, swirl them round a bit, then shake them off over the sink when you take them out. Only thing this doesn’t really work on is veggies that need a good scrub.

Cooking

In a pot - Most vegetables in my youth were boiled into submission in true British style. There is a better way. Put the veggies in a pot, add a couple of centimetres of water, put the lid on and put it on the stove at high heat to get the water boiling. Keep the lid on, and let it boil, the steam circulates around the pot and cooks the veggies. Add more water if you need to, but I like my vegetables a little bit crunchy. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Most of the water should be gone when the veggies are done.

Note: This doesn’t work for potatoes and similar root vegetables.

Crockpot- This takes some time, but not a lot of work. Chop, slice or shred your vegetables however you want them, then add to the crockpot. Now you can either pour over a bit of oil and stir so the veggies and the pot are coated (for a more saute type effect), or you can add some water to help cover the bottom of the crockpot and slow steam them. If you have a lot of vegetables you might wanna stir them every now and again. Cook on high for an hour or two, or till they’re how you like them (longer if you have more vegetables, bigger pieces etc). If you have it on low you could cook them overnight.

Sauteing/Frying - This is the most labour intensive option, but it can be very tasty. Add some oil to the pan, throw in the veggies, heat up, and stir every minute or so. A lot of recipes call for adding certain vegetables at certain times, and that’s good advice, but I’m lazy, so I throw everything in together. If you have a bigger element and a bigger frying pan you have a bigger cooking area, which will help cook everything faster. 

Grill/Barbecue/Sandwich press - I like this option for courgettes/zucchini and eggplant/aubergine - which go well in veggie stacks, lasagnes etc. Line the grill/press etc with baking paper (preferably compostable or recyclable) or tin foil - this makes cleanup so much easier. Add a little oil if you want. Lay out the veggies, turn to medium to high heat, and cook. Turn them if you need to (sandwich press eliminates that ^_^). When you’re done, lift them using the paper and tip them onto a plate, and ditch the paper. Done ^_^

Roasting- This takes time, but it’s minimal work. Chop up whatever veggies you want to roast - root vegetables are idea. Marrow also roast nicely. Onions and garlic can be roasted in their skins (take it off before eating). Surprisingly, broccoli and cauliflower and similar vegetables roast nicely too. Roast tomato is awesome, but messy. If you want to go low cleanup, go low oil. Line a roasting dish with tin foil or baking paper, drizzle a little oil over your veggies. Turn the oven on medium to high. Come back in half an hour or so. If you want lots of oil (it is nommy afterall), add it to the roasting dish and shake the vegetables around in it so they get well coated. If you want them extra crispy, add a light dusting of salt before roasting.

Microwaving- This is the easiest cooking method. It works for just about any vegetable that you can cook. Put vegetables in microwave safe dish (with a lid - the exception here is if you want baked potatoes, in that case leave the lid off). Add a little water, put on the lid, and microwave on medium to high power. Cooking times vary depending on what it is, how you like it cooked, and how much it’s there, but start with a few minutes and go from there.

Go raw - Some veggies are great raw. Carrots, swedes, spinach, kale, are all vegetables we typically cook, but they’re great raw too.

Dips and Sauces

Hummus- Yep. Just plain old hummus. A dollop on top is a really tasty addition to almost any vegetables.

Garlic marg/oil - Just check to make sure the margaraine doesn’t have milk in it. A knob on top or a drizzle of oil (infused or with added crushed/powdered garlic) is simple and nommy.

Mustard- Mustard is surprisingly good on broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, green beans, all sorts. I usually mix it with a bit of oil but it’s not essential.

Sweet chilli sauce - If you have this in your fridge, it’s great with veggies. Drizzle it on after cooking or during cooking.

Soy sauce - This is best added during cooking. Start with a drizzle and add more to taste. If you can afford it, the higher grade soy sauce is definitely worth the money, it goes a lot further and tastes so much better.

Vinegarette dressing - I usually mix vinegar, oil, soy sauce and mustard. But with a vinegar/oil base you can make all kinds of dressings that go nicely on vegetables (cooked and salads). Stir together in a cup, pour over vegetables. Eat.

Gravy- Home made gravy is super easy. A couple of tablespoons of flour and oil, add a veggie stock cube, or a tablespoon of loose veggie stock and/or a tablespoon of brewers yeast, and/or a teaspoon of marmite/vegemite etc. Stir together to form a paste. Add a little water and stir on medium to high heat (stove or microwave), repeat a couple of times till you’ve got a thick sauce, then add a cup of water, stir, bring it up to almost boiling, add a splash of soy sauce and salt to taste (you can also add herbs, barbecue sauce, tomato paste, spices, whatever you want).

Tofu gets a bad rap, and really it’s undeserved. 

Yes, tofu tastes bad when you cook it badly, but then so does just about anything else. It’s just that we’re much more conditioned to be forgiving of bad chicken, bad cheese, etc. And at least tofu is unlikely to give you food poisoning if it’s under cooked.

Yes tofu takes some prep. But then, so do a lot of other foods. You pay more for convenience foods of many kinds because some of the work is done for you. But as far as a ‘raw ingredient’ goes, tofu is cheaper than many animal products, and when you compare it to the work involved with preparing any ‘raw ingredient’ it’s really not much different.

That being said, here’s a few ways to make dealing with tofu less effort

Pressing

Pressing tofu is kind of an art - convincing the water to come out of the soy sponge without mushing it. This is an art I refuse to master. It’s up there with the art of eating gracefully, and ironing collars.

So I just freeze the tofu I buy. If I’m planning on using it in the next two days, I move it to the fridge. Somehow, some weird magical thing happens that makes recently defrosted tofu stronger, so you can basically squeeze out almost all the water in your hands without mushing it. This doesn’t work for silken tofu though - seriously. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Another option, if you don’t care about the tofu being mushed up, is a clean tea towel, stick the tofu in there, wrap it up, and squeeze it that way.

Or don’t press it at all. This makes it less likely to absorb other flavours, but so long as you cook it enough it still tastes good.

Marinating

To be honest, I almost never bother marinating tofu for any length of time. My idea of a marinade is to throw random stuff in a bowl, then stir in some cubes of tofu. If I’m really patient, I might last a couple of hours. Usually it’s a couple of minutes.

If you want to marinate tofu to make it taste like something specific, like the ham component of a hawaiian pizza, you can make the flavours soak in a lot faster by immersing the cubes/chunks/whatever in the marinate and baking it for about ten minutes. Shallow frying with about 1cm of oil in a pot also works (avoid marinades that have a strong powder component).

Super easy marinades

• Vinegar, Salt, Soy sauce
  
• Brewers yeast (sometimes called nutritional yeast), salt, tumeric, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, oil (if you’re feeling like reaching for the spice rack)
  
• Mustard, Soy sauce, Sugar, Sesame seed oil or tahini (optional, because expensive)
• Veggie stock
• Basically any stir fry or pasta sauce you have lying around will do

Cooking

The ways to cook tofu are pretty much endless. You can even have it raw if it works with the recipes. My favourite quick ways are;

Deep frying - It’s not really deep frying since you only need about a cm of oil in a pot. You want it to be pretty hot (but not smoking). You don’t even really need to press tofu if you’re cooking it like this, just squeeze it a bit over the sink. It’ll be crispier if you go hotter, softer if you go cooler. I often don’t flavour tofu before frying like this, I just have it with salt and maybe a little vinegar (seriously, it’s good) after. I’ve found it takes less than ten minutes to cook a bowl of nommy tofu bites. Probably not so healthy, but I’m prone to the odd treat now and then. I’ve found this also is a fast way to cook tofu that’s going to go in other things - like curries and stirfries.

Baking- If you don’t mind waiting for noms to cook (I go surf the net while I wait), you can just put whatever flavourings you want on the tofu (immersing it in veggie broth and baking is awesome too - thank you @theveganzombie), and throw it in the oven.

Shallow frying - I’ve found this takes a bit longer than I personally like, but it has its uses. If you’re frying tofu to go with other stuff, put it in first, even ahead of onions, and don’t be afraid to let it sit in the pan without being turned constantly, it’ll cook quicker if you only turn it every so often. If you want the tofu to still be crispy when you eat and you’re using a sauce, cook the tofu separately and add it at the end.

Pre-cooking

If you want nommy soy goodness straight from the fridge for sandwiches, salads, world domination, noodles, whatever, then you can make it up ahead of time, and see how long it lasts. 

I pretty much never bother to do this. The last time I made tofu bites to go on a pizza, it took all my willpower to allow even two thirds of them to actually make it to the pizza. Cooked tofu does not last long when it’s within my reach.

But if you have more self control than me it’s a good way to have teh noms on hand.

Storing

Fridge - Tofu has a long shelf life, it usually comes sealed. You can keep it in the fridge for a few days after opening so long as you immerse it in fresh water and keep it sealed. For tofu that’s been cooked, just keep it sealed.

Freezer- Unless I have reason to want the tofu soft and mushy, I tend to just freeze it, and take it out when I need it. If I need to defrost it fast I just stick it in a bowl of hot water, then add more hot water when it starts to cool. This is enough to get it to the point where I can cut it without any trouble.

Here’s the deal. I like pizza. A lot. Like, if I had to live on pizza alone, I’d probably be pretty ok with that. I’d build a fort out of the pizza boxes and hoard olives like a vengeful olive hoarding dragon.

Sadly, I have yet to work out how to replicate the amazing basil sauce the local pizza place does, and I’m too broke to afford even cheap pizza on a regular basis.

So sometimes I make pizza at home. 

Some ready made dairy free cheeses are available here in New Zealand - and they’re pretty good, but they’re not super cheap. Hummus isn’t always super cheap either (unless you’re making it from scratch, then it’s definitely super cheap), but by weight, hummus is usually cheaper than dairy cheese anyway and it goes further. So here is my lazy cheese sauce for pizza, dips, toasties, sandwiches, etc.

THINGS THOU SHALT REQUIRE:

• Hummus (plain or garlic)
  
• Vegetable oil
  

THINGS THOU MAYST LIKE TO ADD:

• Lemon juice
  
• Brewers yeast (add slowly, it has a strong flavour, so taste test as you go)
  
• Salt
• Thyme
• Mustard (I like wholegrain but go with whatever you like)
• Coconut cream (seriously, it’s weird but it does some kind of sorcery to smooth out all the flavours)
  

HOW THOU SHALT PROCEED:

1. Half hummus, half oil, stir until combined (it’ll be kinda globby at first). 
   
2. Add any extra stuff you like. Personally I like a splash of lemon juice, a tablespoon of mustard, a pinch of thyme, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of coconut cream (the fatty part). I like quite a sharp taste with this sauce, if you’d rather something creamier or more subtle, go for more oil, and more coconut cream.
   
3. Glob it on pizzas (it gets thicker when cooked), sandwiches, whatever you want.
4. Omnomnomnom