One-Pot Cheesy Pasta & Sausage Recipe (VIDEO)

You already know I had to come back with another one-pot family-friendly recipe. Check out the previous one here 

This meal is simple, delicious, filling and takes about 30 minutes to put together.

It features pasta, vegan sausage, and cheese.

Never tried vegan sausage or cheese?

Check out these brands...

Popular brands of vegan cheese:

• Field Roast

• Follow Your Heart

• Daiya

Popular brands of vegan sausage:

• Field Roast

• Tofurky

Get the full recipe and watch the video below...

One-Pot Cheesy Pasta & Sausage Recipe (VIDEO)

by Brown Vegan

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 teaspoon oil or vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• (1) 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 lb linguine pasta, uncooked
• 1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese (Field Roast, Daiya and Follow Your Heart are options)
• 4 links of vegan sausage, chopped (Field Roast & Tofurky are options)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil (to garnish)

Instructions

In a deep skillet (use the deepest you have since everything will go into it), sauté onion and garlic for 5-6 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Stir in oregano, basil, black pepper, and salt.

Mix in tomatoes and vegetable broth and bring it to a boil.

Add in linguine and cook based on the instructions on your box, mixing with tongs every 2-3 minutes.

Once the pasta is done, mix in vegan cheese and sausage.

Season with salt & black pepper (if necessary).

Garnish with fresh basil and additional vegan cheese.

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What We Ate Today #10

Breakfast:

Roasted potatoes (here's the recipe), sautéed spinach (with garlic, salt & pepper) & strawberries

Lunch:

BBQ tofu (i sprinkled garlic powder, smoked paprika and salt on it before frying), jasmine rice and steamed broccoli 

Click here to watch an older BBQ tofu recipe video I made...here's the written version of the recipe. These days, I just dry fry (fry the tofu in a non-stick pan) instead of in oil like in that older video.

Here's an excellent video from Vegan Cooking with Love on how to press tofu to get great texture and make it easy to marinade.

Dinner:

Spring corn and potato chowder (here's the recipe) - I seasoned mine with cumin & coriander 

Check out the full video of What We Ate here

Music playing while I cooked lunch: Luther Vandross - A House Is Not A Home

Check out other "What We Ate Today" posts and videos here

Vegan Chili Recipe | Slow Cooker (Video)

Click to watch the video

Remember that 90s infomercial with the "Set it and Forget It" tagline?

Well that's exactly what you will do once you toss all the ingredients for this chili into a slow cooker. Gon' bout your business

I used to love the smell of chili simmering in the slow cooker when I came home from middle school back in the day. 

Chili is one of those recipes that is super easy to veganize because most of the ingredients are naturally vegan. If you prefer ground beef in yours, you can easily switch that out with a vegan version from brands like Beyond Meat and Gardein.

Also,  you can serve it with vegan cornbread, vegan cheese (Field Roast or Daiya are options), vegan sour cream and/or crackers (the regular Ritz crackers are vegan).

So go ahead - set it and forget it!

wHAT do you serve with your chili? Let me know in the comments.

Song playing while I prepped the veggies:

Ginuwine: So Anxious

Click below to watch the video.....

Chili

by Brown Vegan

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 6-8

Ingredients (Serves 6)

• 1 lb kidney beans, soaked for 8 hours-then drained & rinsed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 24 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 jalapeno peppers, diced (add seeds based on how spicy you want the chili to be)
• 1 package of vegan meatless crumbles (optional)

Instructions

Add all the the ingredients into a slow cooker except for the vegan crumbles and jalapeno.

Turn on and cook for 6-8 hours or until the kidney beans are soft.

During the last 30 minutes, mix in the crumbles and jalapeno. Also, check your seasoning and add more salt, if necessary.

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Small Grocery Haul & Recipes (VIDEO)

I hope you're having a great week!

We moved last month and it opened my world up to a lot more natural grocery stores (expect more reviews on vegan products on Instagram). 

I been playing around in Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and a local store called Mom's Organic Market. 

Click the picture to watch the grocery haul video 

Mom's Organic Market is where my latest haul is from.

I do like this store a lot and plan to shop there more because they carry a lot of local produce (which is more important than organic to me).

Watch the full grocery haul video here 

Quick info about the haul:

• I spent $130 on this grocery trip
• I can usually get a lot more food for that price at Wegmans (my usual store). Mom's is all organic, so I didn't have a choice if I only wanted certain items to be organic.
• Also, buying a lot of meat alternatives drove up the price too (I don't usually get so many on the same grocery trip).
• This food lasted about a week because I already had many ingredients at home.
• We spend about $650-$700 a month on groceries for a family of 5 
• We ate more meals than I listed below...these are the ones that I remembered to write down and take pics of 

What I cooked with the ingredients:

*** Field Roast meatloaf (very good!), mashed potatoes (I didn't measure but I used almond milk, Earth Balance vegan margarine, salt, black pepper & oregano to make these) & steamed broccoli

*** Stew from The Divine Hostess So simple, filling & delicious! 

***  Roasted potatoes recipe

*** We had smoothies (I skipped the peaches), pears, hummus, carrots & celery for snacks

*** Broccoli & vegan sausage recipe

*** Simple salad with carrots, onion & tomato

*** Spaghetti with Beyond Meat crumbles

*** Butternut squash-barlett pear soup from Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen-Delicious!

*** Chickpea salad recipe

Brands mentioned in this video:

Beyond Meat crumbles

Field Roast hotdogs, meatloaf & sausage

Veganaise

Check out previous grocery hauls here.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more vids!

Watch the grocery haul video here...

What We Ate Today #8 Vegan Family Meals | Video

 I love showing easy and delicious vegan meals that you can enjoy with the family. 

Check out the latest What We Ate Today vid...

Breakfast: Puffins multigrain cereal (the cereal featured in the video & picture is NOT vegan; here's a list of the vegan-friendly ones from the same company-scroll to the bottom of this page), almond milk & nectarine

It's crazy because when I skimmed the ingredients, I just knew this multigrain one would be vegan over their peanut butter, fruit medley & cocoa crunch (which is all vegan), since it's plain and has less ingredients.

This Puffins multigrain cereal contains vitamin D3 which is derived from an animal source (I believe sheep's wool).

At first I was pissed about featuring a non-vegan product in this video, but decided the lesson was too important to leave out that footage.  Even after 4 years on this journey, I still don't always get it right. 

I do the best I can daily and hope you do the same in your own journey. :-)

Progression over perfection, baby.

Lunch: Thai noodles from Forks Over Knives

My kids have a love/hate thing with sprouts, so I left those off. I doubled this recipe, so there was enough for lunch the next day. Get the full recipe here 

Dinner: Chipotle-white rice, black beans, fajitas, guacamole, mild salsa, lettuce

When buying or eating burritos out, be sure to check to make sure it doesn't contain lard (which is an animal byproduct). As far as I know, the flour tortillas at Chipotle are vegan-friendly. Articles here & here 

Another vegan option at Chipotle is getting the same ingredients in one of their veggie bowls. You can also ask for their vegetarian/vegan pinto beans, brown rice and sofritas.