Creating Vegan & Vegetarian Yumminess with Nasoya & Lightlife
**This is a sponsored post. All opinions shared in this post are my honest thoughts.
Did you know March is National Nutrition Month? Well, neither did I. Logically everyone knows that nutrition should be their priority, however, we can all come up with examples of how we fall short in this area. One of my constant nutrition-based struggles is getting my daughter to willingly add more vegetables to her diet.
Convincing my teenage daughter to eat healthy all the time can be a challenge. You see I'm a vegan, she's not. I became a vegan then vegetarian when she was seven years old.
Read more about my vegan journey here.
Transitioning to a vegan lifestyle when you're child's in love with chicken nuggets, hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches can lead to some comical situations.
Whenever I cook Chickpeas, I get massive eye rolling from her, teeth sucking and sighs as she gives an incredulous look that screams "Chickpeas again".
No matter how fragrant the food, when she comes into the kitchen and realizes I'm cooking veggies, there's a twinge of disappointment in her eyes. She doesn't even like green smoothies or oatmeal no matter how delicious the concoction.
Come on, who doesn't like oatmeal?!
But the experience hasn't been all bad. She has willingly eliminated meat from her diet and considers herself to be vegetarian, a decision she made on her own. As long as I use vegan substitutes for her favorite foods or cook some kid-friendly options she slowly agrees to try more and more vegan food.
This weekend I made some of her favorite vegan and vegetarian foods using Nasoya & Lightlife products. I've used Nasoya's egg roll wraps when I was a vegetarian. I stuffed the egg rolls with spinach, mushrooms, cabbage and carrots and my daughter loved it. Since that was such a big hit, I decided to make fried wontons for her this weekend.
Check out my recipe below.
Fried Veggie Wontons with Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
2 cups Coleslaw mix
1/2 package Nasoya wonton wraps
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp diced garlic
3 tbsp puréed ginger
3 green onions chopped (Reserve 1 tablespoon for dipping sauce)
1 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1. Heat grapeseed oil in frying pan. Sautée garlic and green onions for 1 minute. Add coleslaw mix, 2 tablespoons of ginger, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne.
2. Cook until vegetables have softened.
3. Put 1/2 cup of water in a small bowl.
4. Place 1 tablespoon of sautéed vegetables in the middle of wonton wrap. Dip your finger into the water bowl and wet the perimeter of the wonton wrap. Fold wrap in half. Wet finger again and fold again. Repeat steps until all coleslaw mix is finished.
5. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil. Place wontons into oil and fry on each side for 1 minute.
6. Place fried wonton on paper towels to remove excess oil.
I made a dipping sauce using 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of puréed ginger. Place ingredients in bowl, stir mixture and add remaining green onions as garnish.
Barbecue Tempeh Strips
According to Wikipedia, tempeh is a soy product originating from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into cake form.
At first glance, tempeh looks blah and tasteless but when paired with the right seasonings and/or sauces, tempeh transforms into total deliciousness. Tempeh is a great source of protein and is the ideal meat substitute for anyone interested in transitioning to a plant based diet.
Barbecued tempeh is one of my daughter's favorite dishes. She recently reminded me of that and of the fact that I haven't made tempeh in months. This recipe is simple, easy to make, a real treat for your tastebuds.
Using Lightlife Tempeh, I made these saucy barbecue tempeh strips.
Ingredients
1 8oz package of Lightlife Tempeh
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 cups barbecue sauce (I used Whole Foods 365 barbecue sauce; its only $1.99 and it's delicious.)
When making barbecue tempeh, it's common practice to boil tempeh to soften the product.
1. Boil 8oz package of Lightlife Tempeh for 10 minutes in a broth consisting of 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne, 1 tablespoon of onion powder and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Sprinkle seasoning and soy sauce on tempeh, then add water.
2. In a shallow dish, marinate the tempeh in a 1/3 cup of the broth for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
4. Remove tempeh from marinade. Cut into thin strips; should yield 11-12 strips.
5. Place tempeh on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush barbecue sauce onto tempeh. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip tempeh (use tongs). Brush barbecue sauce onto tempeh and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
By Monday, I was a riding a cool mom high. My daughter was thrilled that I made two of her favorites, instead of the usual dishes I have to convince her to eat. Now, I need to come up with more of her favorites to cook and keep her veggie enthused. Wish me luck!
Photo: CreateHerStock & IvoryMix
