What I Ate Series
The purpose of this series is to capture my cooking method rather than tried and tested recipes. I rarely follow exact recipes, but instead follow a general template for building meals. Based off of that template, I create meals using whatever ingredients I already have on hand. So measurements provided are estimated, since I often eyeball things and adjust to taste.
In this first post of the “What I Ate” series, I’m going to share some of the transitional meals I made very early in my vegan eating pattern. I won’t actually provide strict recipes or measurements because, quite frankly, I don’t remember exactly what I did. But I think these are good examples of the types of things one can eat on a vegan diet and might provide some inspiration for you to create your own meals. At the end I’ll share some general tips for transitioning to a vegan diet.
My Transition
These are meals that I was eating before I decided to go vegan and I was simply reducing my meat intake. What I did for a long time was have at least one meat-free meal a day. At this time, I was coming from a pattern of limiting grains and legumes. You can read about why in my post about my health journey. So I didn’t exactly follow the meal template I use now. As I started eliminating meat, I added in legumes first and eventually slowly added more grains in as well. Many of these meals do not include any grains, but whole grains are now an integral part of my meals.
Cabbage Soup with Chickpeas
This was just canned tomatoes, canned chickpeas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and a beautiful savoy cabbage from the farmer’s market. I chopped all the fresh veggies and threw everything into a crock pot for a few hours. Seasoned with some dried parley and thyme, salt and pepper. Simple and delicious. If I made this today, I would serve with something like rice, quinoa, sorghum, wheat berries, or maybe even a nice slice of whole grain bread.
Lentils, Potatoes, and Turnip Greens
It ain’t very pretty, but this one was really delicious. We have turnip greens (from some exceptionally beautiful farmer’s market turnips) cooked with onions and garlic and finished with a touch of apple cider vinegar and mustard. Alongside that are green lentils and potatoes spiced with cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper. Not pictured, but I also ate a couple clementines for dessert. This was another meal where I wasn’t following the template I use now for my meals. If I made this again, I would add some kind of cooked grain alongside.
Tomato, Kale, Mung Bean Soup
Super simple soup with canned tomatoes and sprouted mung beans. I cooked this on the stovetop and wilted in some kale at the end. Spiced it up with turmeric, which is why it has that vibrant yellow color. And it’s always a good idea to add a pinch of black pepper with your turmeric to boost the absorption of the curcumin in the turmeric. Ate this with some pistachios and clementines. This would have gone really well with some brown rice or quinoa.
Salad with Chickpeas, Kraut, and Potatoes
Yet again, I would bulk this salad up now with some cooked whole grain or a hearty chunk of whole grain bread. But this salad started with a bed of red leaf lettuce, topped with roasted chickpeas and roasted yukon gold and sweet potatoes. Garnished with a bit of sauerkraut and sunflower seeds.
I wasn’t into making sauces or dressing at this point, so I don’t think I even put anything on this one. If anything it might have had a bit of olive oil and vinegar. Now I stay away from oils too, and instead use whole plant-based fat sources like nuts and seeds, so when I do make dressings I like to base it around something like tahini instead of straight up oil.
Hassleback Potatoes with Lentils and Spinach
These roasted potatoes were so delicious! Again, I used a bit of oil, though nowadays I never use oil when I roast veggies, and I topped it with some salt, pepper, and dried sage. The lentils were simply cooked with a store-bought BBQ sauce. Plus some simple sautéed spinach to go alongside. This was beautiful red kitten spinach from the farmer’s market.
Not pictured, I had some frozen mixed berries with cashew milk for dessert. I love pouring a little bit of plant milk on frozen berries, it solidifies on the outside of the berries for a really tasty frozen treat. Add a splash of maple syrup or some chopped dates for extra decadence.
Lentils, Riced Cauliflower, Butternut Squash, Spinach
Cooked these lentils with butternut squash puree and spiced it up with turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Once the lentils were about done, added some riced cauliflower and spinach to heat through, then topped with walnuts. Not pictured was a side of mango and pineapple.
Tips for Transitioning to a Vegan Diet
Hope you enjoyed some of these ideas and see how easy it can be to throw random ingredients together for a nutritious vegan meal! All of these meals were made without following a recipe, and rather just looking at what I had on hand and tossing it all together. But here are some general tips for giving up animal products.
Dairy
If you are not ready to go all in, I recommend making small, sustainable changes. For many people giving up dairy is the most challenging part. I had already given up dairy for health reasons before I decided to go vegan, so that made my full transition much easier. Before that, I was obsessed with cheese, so I get it. Knowing what I know now about the dairy industry though, it’s irrelevant how tasty it is, I would never go back. But I would suggest trying to cut back on this first to get it out of the way.
A few easy ways to get the dairy out of your diet is simply by making easy swaps. Start with adjusting your breakfast. If you usually have cereal or oats with milk, or a little milk in your coffee, simply swap the dairy for a plant milk. Once you are comfortable with this, try eliminating cheese. If you really can’t do without it, there are plant-based alternatives that I hear are getting better every day. I personally haven’t tried any as I favor whole, unprocessed foods, but they do make all kinds of cheese alternatives that might just hit the spot.
Meat
For eliminating meat, I suggest starting by cutting out one serving a day. If you are eating meat with every meal, for one meal a day, try adding a serving of beans in place of meat. Not only does this help to fill the caloric gap that is left by eliminating the meat, but you start to re-train your gut to properly digest beans. Beans are so healthy for us, and our gut bugs love them even more.
If you are used to eating meat all the time, your gut will be filled with the “bad” meat-loving gut bugs and your “good” bean-loving bugs may have suffered. This is why people often complain about gas with beans. It’s not that the beans are bad, it’s that your gut is not ready to digest so much so quickly.
But just as you might slowly build up your muscle endurance in the gym, you can workout your gut bugs by slowly adding beans. Most people can tolerate adding about a quarter to a half a cup of beans a day to start. After a few days or a week at this level, you can bump up to two portions a day, and eventually 3 or more!
With this method you start to eliminate meat while bumping up the nutritional value of your meals. You’ll likely start to feel some health benefits from this swap alone. Continue to swap the meat products for beans and legumes until all the animals are off your plate for good.
Eggs
I think the most difficult part of giving up eggs for many people is because of the baking applications. For baking there are tons of egg substitutes from store-bought plant-based concoctions that act like real eggs to much simpler things you can do from home.
Resources abound online for making “flax eggs,” “chia eggs,” or using aquafaba (the liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas). These can be used in baked treats just like a real egg and generally work just as well. Certain substitutes work better than others depending on the exact recipe, so until you’re a vegan baking pro, it is best to follow a tried and true vegan recipe rather than trying to simply swap out eggs in your favorite recipe.
If you love eating eggs in and of themselves, this can be more challenging. Again you can turn to store bought substitutes or find different things like omelet recipes made from chickpeas or mung beans. Tofu scramble, my formerly egg-loving dad’s new favorite, makes a good substitute for scrambled eggs. I plan to share some recipes using these swaps in the future so stay tuned!
Mistakes Are OK
The most important thing to remember is you don’t have to be perfect. If you slip up, it’s ok. What is important is working to have an overall healthy eating pattern. Try to aim for 80 to 90 percent of the time eating whole plant foods. Leave the rest for treats and “mistakes.” Offer yourself a little grace and compassion. The awesome thing about eating is we have choices every day. One bad choice does not have to set off a cascade of bad choices. Each time you sit down to eat you have the power to choose.
Resources
For more tips on transitioning, check out my post of 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Going Vegan. There are also tons of other resources online that can help you if you’re concerned about getting all the right nutrition. Try the Physicians Committee’s free 21 Day Vegan Kickstart. Or check out Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen.
