A Week of Vegan Lunches

This blog is an accompaniment to this week’s YouTube video (scroll down for video) on a week of vegan lunches. This is going to be a lengthy post but by the end, you will have five recipes of lunch ideas you can make a head of time and take on the go or just enjoy on a weekend afternoon when you are too lazy to spend time cooking. So if all this sounds appealing to you, make sure scroll through all the recipes.

Eggplant and Lentil Curry

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dry red lentils
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 mini eggplants
• 1 tomato
• 1 red onion diced
• 1/4 large cabbage chopped
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 2 tsp each coriander seeds, garam masala
• 1 tsp chili
• 1/3 red bell pepper chopped
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp avocado oil
• Few leaves of basil and cilantro chopped

 Directions

1. In a pot at medium heat, cook the onions in the avocado oil with 1/4 cup of water till soft
2. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the cabbage and herbs
3. Let the curry cook at medium-low heat till the lentils are soft (this takes about 15-20 mins)
4. Taste the curry for salt and adjust accordingly
5. When the lentils are ready, add the cabbage and let the cabbage cook down for about 5 mins with the cover on
6. After the cabbage is soft, add the herbs and mix them in
7. The curry is now ready. Serve with spinach and brown rice

Vegan Barbacoa

This is a lengthy recipe so check out the link to the recipe here

Tofu Club Sandwich

Ingredients

• 2 slices sprouted bread
• 1/3 avocado
• 2 thin slices of smoked tofu (I used the sunrise soya foods brand)
• a handful of greens mix
• 1 tomato sliced
• 5 disks of cucumber
• Optional: Mustard and Ketchup

Directions

1. Toast your bread
2. Spread avocado on both pieces of bread, like you are making avocado toast. The avocado is to help components stick to the bread and keep everything together
3. layer our sandwich components, so greens, tomatoes, cucumber, tofu and the optional condoments
4. You can stick toothpicks through to give the sandwich more support when you cut it in half
5. I served this with steamed cauliflower and broccoli with a berry banana smoothie.

Berry Mango Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 mango sliced
• 1 handful of strawberries
• 2 tbsp of coconut yoghurt
• A small handful of nuts (I used almonds)

Directions

1. In a bowl, I mixed the oats, chia seeds and water and microwaved it for about 2 and a half minutes till it was nice and thick
2. I then mixed the oats with milk to soften it up
3. I topped the oats with the fruit, yogurt and nuts

Chickpea Tuna Sandwich

Ingredient

• 3/4 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tbsp copped onion
• 1/2 tsp dill
• a squeeze of half a lemon
• 3 heaping tbsp of creamy cashew dressing
• 2 slices of sprouted bread
• a handful of spinach
• 1 tomato sliced

 Directions

1. In a bowl, mash the chickpeas but still leave in some chunks,
2. Mix in the onions, dill, salt, pepper, lemon juice and cashew dressing till everything is combined
3. Spread the chickpea mixture on one slice of bread, load on top the spinach and tomato and top with the other slice
4. I served this sandwich with baby carrots