Vegan

Basic Buddha Burrito Bowl from Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook

https://www.chicvegan.com/buddha-burrito-bowl-from-fast-and-easy-vegan-cookbook/

This Basic Buddha Burrito Bowl from Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook by JL Fields will spice up your meal rotation. It’s perfect for either lunch or dinner (or both!). This easy recipe is vegan and gluten-free.

Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook

One of the complaints I often hear from people is that they don’t have time to cook meals. Dinner is especially a problem, as they want something fast and easy after a long day at the office. JL Fields has come to their rescue with her new Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook.

Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook is full of — you guessed it — fast and easy vegan recipes! Some recipes are fast, others are easy, and some are both! None of them require a lot of ingredients, and preparation for each one is pretty simple. A lot of the recipes include substitution tips, making it easy to use what you have on hand. And some include oil-free, gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free options, too, making it easy for those with dietary restrictions.

JL includes information on how to balance meals as a vegan, versatile ways to use vegetables, and even how to store veggies. She’s also included useful meal-prep tips and a list of equipment that’s handy to have on hand in your plant-based kitchen.

Rather than group recipes by meal, they’re divided by level of ease, which makes using the book super handy. Some recipes don’t require any cooking at all, some can be made with just five ingredients, and others take 30 minutes or less from start to finish. There’s even a chapter devoted to pressure cooking!

Chapters Include:

Vegan Meals Made Fast and Easy
No Cooking Required
Thirty-Minute Meals (or Less)
Five Ingredients
One-Pot Wonders
No-Pressure Pressure Cooking
Kitchen Staples

If you’re a vegan in need of fast and easy recipes, if you’re a new vegan and aren’t sure of what to cook, or if you’re just looking for new recipes to add to your collection, Fast and Easy Vegan Cookbook is the book for you!

Basic Buddha Burrito Bowl

Buddha bowls, also known as “hippie” bowls, used to be a way to sort of poke fun at vegan eating: “All you eat is beans, greens, and grains!” But, hey, what’s wrong with that? There are so many choices! And, for the lazy (or just plain tired) cook, it simply means assembling the plant-based elements—a cooked grain, vegetables (raw, cooked, or both), protein, sauce or dressing, and a colorful garnish such as nuts or seeds—all together in one bowl. This bowl is burrito-style, just one of so many ways you can create a bowl based on your favorite flavor profiles.

Ingredients

1
cup
quinoa
2
cups
water
1/2
teaspoon
salt
optional
2
teaspoons
olive oil
1
15-ounce can
black beans
drained and rinsed
16
ounces
(about 8 cups) fresh spinach
trimmed and chopped
1/2
cup
salsa
fresh or jarred
1/4
cup
vegan sour cream

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the quinoa, water, and salt (if using), and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside, still covered, for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
While the quinoa cooks, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil for 1 minute. Add the beans and spinach and toss gently until the spinach turns dark green and begins to wilt, 3 to 4 minutes.
To serve, portion the quinoa into four bowls, then portion out the sautéed beans and spinach. Top each bowl with 2 tablespoons salsa and 1 tablespoon sour cream.
Make It Ahead: Batch cooking is your best friend for Buddha bowls. Any legume partnered with vegetables and grains (or starches, like sweet potatoes or parsnips) qualifies. That’s why every weekend I prepare a batch of beans and a batch of grains or starch vegetables; during the week I can reheat and quickly assemble a tasty bowl with a steamed, roasted, or sautéed veggie and a little sauce or dressing.

Vegan

Mushroom Parmesan Pasta Bake (1-pan, nut-free, with soy-free and gluten-free options)

Cozy, hearty spinach cheese stuffed Mushroom Parmesan, is a one-pan dinner that your family is going to love! Even the orzo pasta bakes up in the pan with the cheesy mushrooms and marinara sauce! 1 pan, 1 baking Step!

close-up of a fork taking a bite of mushroom parmigiana

I wanted to make a simple mushroom parmesan pasta bake, because I had plenty of mushrooms on hand. And I wanted to reduce the pans and time in the kitchen. Enter this cozy 1 Pan Orzo bake!

The mushrooms are stuffed with this delicious spinach-tofu-cheese mixture that I often use to make stuffed shells, then I top it with a cruncy breadcrumb topping and pair it with a pasta, I use orzo, but other shapes will work too! The pasta and the sauce at the bottom, topped with cheesy stuffed mushrooms, and a crisp breadcrumb topping. Everything cooks in just one pan and one baking step!

close-up of mushroom parmesan in the pan after baking

The prep is very simple. Just make your spinach-tofu-cheese mixture by adding everything to a bowl and mixing it. Prep your mushrooms by removing the stems, and that’s it!

It’s an easy recipe that’s pretty flexible, too. You can add some veggie grounds or vegan ground meat substitute in with the pasta sauce to add extra protein to the meal. The recipe is already nut-free, and it’s easy to make soy-free and gluten-free, too.

You want to use about two- to three-inch mushrooms. Larger mushrooms take longer to cook, and pasta will overcook in that much time, so medium-sized works best here. I also use the mushroom stems in the recipe, so don’t discard them. Just trim away the tough end of the stem and discard that, but save the rest of the stem to chop up into the pasta sauce.

close up of mushroom parmesan on a plate

I paired this mushroom parmesan with orzo pasta, because it cooks up really easily in the baking dish and it works out just amazing. You can add a different pasta of choice, as well, just bake a few minutes longer until the pasta is cooked to preference.