I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while now, mostly because I’ve been to busy to post (thanks to a promotion at work back in June). However, recently I’ve been eating a gluten-free vegan diet primarily focused on whole, unprocessed foods.
Pictured above are the most recent meals I have made and are surprisingly delicious! Although I do miss things like cheese and chocolate - I’ve been able to adapt favorite recipes to my current diet AND find new GF vegan recipes that will now be a regular part of my menu line-up.
Top left is my Smoky Butternut Squash Veggie Chili, which turned out great. I took my usual chili recipe and used veggie stock for flavor and diced up some butternut squash to add some sweet substance. Recipe is as follows:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
pinch of cayenne (or more depending on how spicy you like it)
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 lb. butternut squash, diced
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar (to cut the acidity from the tomato)
2-3 cups water, veggie stock, or a combo of both
Sauté the onion, pepper, squash and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add spices and let cook out for a minute or two. Add tomatoes and their juices, tomato paste, water/stock, and sugar. Add beans. Stir together to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Simmer, covered, for about 30-45 minutes or until squash is tender. Serve immediately.
The right picture is one of my go-to work week recipes from Oh She Glows, her Black Bean & Butternut Squash Burrito Filling. This is great in a corn tortilla, topped over lettuce or even just plain.
The bottom left is sometime I make repeatedly during the fall and winter. It’s a Quick & Spicy Tomato Soup from Giada De Laurentiis. I used veggie stock in place of chicken stock and I used brown rice fusili instead of wheat pasta to make it gluten-free. Ended up being too much pasta so it was more of a spicy tomato sauce over brown rice pasta with cannellini beans, which was still very tasty! Since it is very easy to overcook rice pasta, I boiled it separately from the soup and just added it in at the end. Next time I’ll put less pasta.
To all of you vegan and GF folks out there, I’ve got to hand it to you. I always thought eating vegan would be SO boring because of all the restrictions and that I would be so heart-broken if I couldn’t eat gluten because of an allergy (pasta is my lifeline). When in fact, it isn’t so bad at all! I’m growing accustomed to it - but will never be able to stick with it for too long. I love my cheese, pork and pasta too much to give it up forever.
