EASY Chickpea & Black Bean Salad Recipe

This delicious salad is simple, has all accessible ingredients and doesn't break the bank.

Serve with pita bread and/or red wine.

Let me know what you think once you try it!

Chickpea & Black Bean Salad

by Brown Vegan

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix together with a spoon and cover for 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Serve with pita bread

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Recipe adapted from All Recipes

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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EASY Vegan Spaghetti | No Excuses #2

It's sooo easy to make a simple, inexpensive and filling vegan spaghetti for any day of the week.  The goal of the No Excuses videos is to show you the most basic recipes that take under 30 minutes to make. This spaghetti recipe is perfect for the days when you don't feel like cooking or if you're new to vegan life.

Check out the video....

Even though I used Beyond Meat crumbles in this video, you can use sautéed mushrooms or cooked lentils as your ground beef/turkey substitute. 

When I became a vegan, I was really surprised that most of the spaghetti sauce on the grocery store shelves aren't vegan because they usually contain dairy. Boo!

Here's a list of popular brands that are already vegan.

I used about 1/2 cup of onion, 2 garlic cloves & 1/2 teaspoon of oregano to add more flavor to jarred spaghetti sauce.

Most brands of boxed spaghetti are vegan...here's a quick list of popular brands:

• Lundberg spaghetti
• Ancient Harvest quinoa spaghetti
• San Giorgio spaghetti
• Barilla spaghetti
• Ronzoni spaghetti

In my experience, the fresh/homemade pastas aren't typically vegan because they usually contain egg.

Be sure to always check your labels when purchasing boxed products. You can also use the Is it Vegan? app or PETA's Accidental Vegan list for assistance. 

Fish Tacos using Gardein Fishless Filets | Review

I heard about Gardein Fishless Filets nearly a year ago and it took forever to get my hands on them.

When it comes to meat alternatives, Gardein is one of the most accessible brands out there (they even sell their products in Wal-Mart), so I have no idea why they're making one of their best products sooo hard to find. 

Anywho, my local Wegmans has them and I came right home to test them out on fish tacos.

Each bag contains 6 small filets, so I purchased 3 bags for the fam.

^^^Uncooked...right out the package

Pros:

• Will take care of your fish craving
• Tastes much better than Sophie's Kitchen fish (I wasn't a fan of those)
• Great texture-Very similar to Gordon crispy battered fish filets

Cons:

• Hard to find at most grocery stores (you can order it online though) 
• Kind of pricey-Since the filets are small, we have to get 3 bags to feed our fam of 5. It was $15 for us

I think these are a great occasional meal and are definitely an awesome replacement for fish.

Check out the full list of ingredients here

Have you tried the Gardein Fishless Filets yet? What did you think?

P.S. In case you're wondering, here's the recipe for the creamy chipotle sauce I used on top of the tacos...

Creamy Chipotle Sauce

by Brown Vegan

Keywords: appetizer vegan

Ingredients

• 2 chipotles in adobo, finely chopped
• 1/2 vegan mayo (Vegenaise and Just Mayo are good brands)
• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream (Tofutti is a good brand or you can make it using this recipe http://www.brownvegan.com/recipes?recipe_id=6070003
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients mixing well.

Serve on vegan tacos

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Taco Salad Recipe | Oooh, Baby I Like it Raw # 3

I've always been a fan of raw vegan desserts but lately raw vegan entrees are becoming more appealing.

We get to keep all of the nutrients and there's no cooking required? Hell yes!

For lunch the other day we had a delicious taco salad using recipes from Chemese's Instagram. 

I love Beyond Meat & beans as a replacement for taco meat, but this walnut and sun-dried tomatoes is delicious & genius!

Of course, when I put the plates in front in my kids, they looked at me like this....

.....but immediately perked up when I pulled out a bag of tortilla chips. Kids will eat anything on a chip. lol

This is a nice change from our usual taco salad, so I will definitely make it again.

Vegan Taco Meat Recipe

by Brown Vegan

Cook Time: 0

Keywords: raw vegan gluten-free soy-free

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

In a food processor, add in the walnuts & sun-dried tomatoes as the blade is moving. Scrape down the sides and add in the remaining ingredients, being sure to leave the walnuts chunky.

Serve with lettuce, guacamole, vegan sour cream and/or pico de gallo.

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How to assemble the taco salad:

1. We used romaine lettuce on the bottom
2. Walnut & sun-dried tomatoes taco meat
3. Pico de gallo recipe
4. Guacamole recipe
5. Vegan sour cream recipe
6. Garnish with fresh cilantro
7. Serve alone on with tortilla chips :-)

Let me know what you think once you try the taco meat recipe.