What I Eat In a Week: Repurposing Leftovers

Written by on in Recipes

I’ve been getting some fabulous produce from my local CSA this year. But after awhile, some ingredients show up over and over, and it’s time to get creative! This week I’m showing you how I use the same ingredients throughout the week to make many different meals. Your weekly menu never has to be boring on a whole food vegan diet!

I’ve written out the recipes for everything I made below. Jump right to the recipe you want here:

In addition to my own recipes I also used this delicious Spicy Kale and Split Pea Soup. I made a couple changes to this recipe. Instead of whole mustard seeds, I used the ground mustard I had on hand. I omitted the coconut sugar as I do not add refined sugars to my food. Also, I had a few carrots that needed to be used up, so I added chopped carrots. It turned out delicious!

Check out this week’s video below and be sure to catch up on everything I’ve been making this summer with my previous CSA posts.

Yellow Squash Bread

casserole dish with yellow summer squash bread

It’s that time of year when there is no shortage of zucchini and yellow squash. So once you’ve had so much sauteed squash, it’s time to get creative. One week I made a really delicious summer squash lasagna. And this week I decided to make this bread and it turned out delicious. You can substitute any variety of summer squash or zucchini in this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups soymilk
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 6 cups rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dill
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ cup date sugar
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 3 cups shredded yellow squash or zucchini
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Combine the soymilk and apple cider vinegar to make a vegan buttermilk. Let that sit and curdle, while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  3. Pulse the oats in a food processor until it makes a coarse flour.
  4. Pour oat flour into mixing bowl and add all the other dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
  5. Add the shredded squash and scallion and stir to coat evenly in the dry flour mixture.
  6. Add the soymilk and apple cider vinegar mixture and stir until just combined.
  7. Pour into a 8×12 inch baking casserole dish (silicone or parchment lined).
  8. Bake 45-50 minutes until browned on top and enjoy warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days.

Tempeh, Tomato, Mushroom Sandwich

plate with sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, tempeh and mushroom pieces, and a tempeh mushroom spinach sandwich

Ingredients

  • 1 package tempeh, thinly sliced
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons Bragg liquid aminos, tamari, or soy sauce
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • couple drops liquid smoke (optional)
  • water or vegetable broth (optional)
  • 2 portabella mushrooms
  • tomatoes, sliced (as much as you like)
  • spinach, kale, or lettuce (as much as you like)
  • whole wheat pita pockets or Ezekiel bread
  • vegan cheesy sauce (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix together the liquid aminos, vinegar, garlic powder, and liquid smoke, if using. Add a little water or vegetable broth to make sure you have enough liquid to fully coat the tempeh and mushrooms.
  3. Marinate tempeh and mushrooms 1 hour or more for the best flavor, but if you’re lazy like me, you can bake right away.
  4. Lay the tempeh and mushrooms out on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, flip and bake another 10 to 20 minutes.
  5. Fill a pita pocket or top your Ezekiel bread with the lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, tempeh and cheesy sauce.

Notes: Feel free to use more vinegar or liquid aminos if you like. I try to minimize the sodium content, so I don’t like to use too much.

Herbacious Summer Squash Soup

bowl of pureed summer squash soup

Ingredients

  • 1 onion roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves crushed garlic
  • 2 large or 4 small yellow squash (or zucchini)
  • ¼ cup cashews
  • ¼ cup cup Well Your World Cheesy Sauce mix (or substitute nutritional yeast)
  • 1 ½ cup vegetable broth
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 large bunches of fresh basil (about 1-2 cups lightly packed)
  • 1 bunch of fresh parsley (about 1 cup lightly packed)

Directions

  1. Water sauté onion in the bottom of a medium pot on medium-high until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute or two.
  2. Add yellow squash, cashews, cheesy sauce mix or nooch, and vegetable broth to the pot. Cover and cook 10 to15 minutes until the squash starts to soften.
  3. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for a couple minutes. Carefully add the mixture to a high powered blender, like a Vitamix, along with the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve as a soup or use as a pasta sauce.
  4. Stores in the fridge up to 4 days.

Notes: you can eat this as a soup, or use as a pasta sauce over your favorite whole grain pasta. This week I also repurposed it again on top of a mix of rice, quinoa, cabbage, bell peppers, and tomatoes. The possibilities are endless!

“Cheesy” Broccoli, Sorghum, and Tempeh

bowl on the left with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and sunflower seeds, and a larger bowl on the right with cheesy broccoli and sorghum topped with crispy tempeh and mushrooms

Ingredients

  • Leftover tempeh and mushrooms from the sandwich recipe above
  • Cooked sorghum or other whole grain (or pasta)
  • Cheesy Sauce
  • chopped broccoli, steamed

Directions

  1. Slice the leftover baked portabella mushrooms and then toast in the oven, toaster oven, or air fryer with the leftover tempeh to crisp up.
  2. Using as much of each as you like, combine cooked sorghum, broccoli, and cheesy sauce together.
  3. Sprinkle the crispy mushrooms and tempeh on top of the sorghum mixture and enjoy!