My favorite visit-every-single-day online magazine, GOOD, is challenging everyone to go vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based for the month of June, and YumUniverse is joining in, and here to hold your hand every step of the way. It’s our specialty after all—the plant-based thing. Whether you are an excited newbie, a skeptic, in transition already, or a veteran herbivore, let’s pool some GOOD energy and help each other tackle 30 days of clean, whole food eating. Read more…
I tend to keep the gluten intake to an absolute minimum, but one tasty exception is a quesadilla made with sprouted grain tortillas—full of assimilation-friendly sprouted legumes and grains, as well as fiber. And for those of you interested in protein, there are 9 grams per tortilla. I use French Meadow Bakery’s sprouted grain torillas for this easy and comforting recipe. You can use a nice non-dairy, vegan cheese like Daiya or homemade Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Ricotta or Simple Cashew Cheese Spread for whole food, non-processed options. Read more…
The other day I was taking my sweet time perusing the aisles at Whole Foods (walk-dancing a bit to the crazy 80’s music they had playing) and I came across a new product in the Asian foods aisle. 20-grams-of-protein-per-serving-organic-gluten-free Mung Bean Noodles! Just two ingredients: mung beans and water. I may have gasped out loud. I probably did.
It was one of those shopping days where I had no plan. I was just buying a few things because I thought they were pretty or I wanted to try them out. So when I got home, I had miso, purple kale, an onion and my new noodles. Happy to report, the experimentation was a successful one. This dish tastes quite a bit like beef stroganoff, without the beef. Read more…
This creamy, gluten-free and dairy-free Macaroni & Cheese recipe is first from the YumUniverse video series, YU REMIX—where my favorite, and your favorite, recipes get REMIXed into impossibly delicious plant-based options. Bring on your cheesy lasagnas and egg-dipped french toasts. My goal is to transform the ingredients into the taste that you love with the nutrition that your body craves.
This summer, on a Michigan lake trip with the gals, I made this recipe. My pal Maya has been encouraging me to post it since then, so this one is for her, and of course YU. I have to give more credit where credit is due, however. This recipe is inspired by the amazing Heidi Swanson’s book Super Natural Cooking.
Last week, I had a fridge full of leftovers from prep for the kickoff of The 24 Carrot Supper Club Dinner. There were enough sweet potatoes in there to sink a ship, but I had eaten enough of them as ravioli to borderline be sick of them, so it was time to summon whatever creativity I had left in me after the whirlwind week. I needed dinner. Time to make it happen. There were some bunches of kale in the crisper and I had some black quinoa stocked in my pantry. With a few seasonings added to the mix, I came up with these crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, gluten-free, vegan cakes. I loved them so much that I am actually prepping another batch that I will make as soon as this post is written. Read more…
This is one of my favorite meals to make for myself, and even more for the meat eaters in my life. They are always going back for seconds and commenting about how they “don’t miss the beef at all.” Visually and texturally, red quinoa makes a super plant-based ground beef replacement, not to mention that it is a complete protein that’s easy to prepare (and inexpensive if purchased in the bulk section). Topped with creamy Ancho Chipotle Sauce, these fixins make for a delicious taco night, and a taco salad that all of your co-workers will be envious of the next day during lunch.
I was recently visiting family in Maryland and came up with a fun food project to do with the kids. I partnered up with my little sister, Gabriella, and little brother, Lincoln, to make spinach and dairy-free cheese filled ravioli out of wonton wrappers for dinner. Super easy and fun. Read more…
I recently spent the afternoon in the kitchen with our contributor (and former Top Chef contestant) Valerie Bolon, and one of the dishes we prepared was a Thai Coconut Curry Soup with Sweet Potato Dumplings made two ways—one with an organic pre-made wrapper (contains eggs and wheat) found at the local health food store, and one gluten-free and vegan veggie wrapper made simply from sweet potatoes. Both are delicious, so pick your fave, grab your ingredients and watch the video(s) of us making this incredible soup so you can too. Read more…
