I’ve gone through periods of my life where I haven’t had the best or most reliable access to a kitchen. Sometimes — like when I was climbing Mount Chirripo in Costa Rica — I had no kitchen at all. Other times I may be staying with a friend for a few weeks and don’t have access to my full array of kitchen supplies.

Likewise, I’m always thinking about how to do vegan on the cheap, and it’s especially helpful when I’m traveling.

So I’ve had to adapt and come up with a few easy, go-to meals that I can rely on. Meals that are easy to shop for, easy to prep, and are tasty and healthy!

Here are three that I rely on regularly:

Bean Burritos

This is the best one for traveling. I brought this meal on my hike up the mountain because it packed a lot of calories in a small package, required no cooking, and was delicious and nutritious!

Here’s what you need:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Can of Refried Beans (I like black beans)

Hot Sauce

Potatoes (optional)

I roast up the potatoes in little cubes and find that their addition adds some nice texture to the burrito, but if you are traveling or don’t have access to an oven obviously you can leave those out. Otherwise just combine some of the refried beans in a tortilla with some hot sauce and it’s a satisfying meal on the go!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Kale

This one requires some cooking. Essentially it just requires boiling water.

What you need:

Whole Wheat Pasta

Marinara

Nutritional Yeast

Kale

Just chop up the kale, cook the pasta, add the kale at the last minute, strain, and combine with the marinara and nutritional yeast. I make this meal a lot actually, even when I do have my full kitchen. It’s just so darn easy, is tasty, and takes almost zero thought to prepare. It’s a nice option to have in my pantry on nights when I don’t feel like cooking.

Chickpeas and Rice with Carrots and Kale

This is another go-to meal even when I am home, and it’s so cheap and easy to make ahead of time in big batches that it’s great when you are crashing on a friend’s couch or traveling the world.

What you need:

Brown Rice

Cans of Chickpeas

Carrots

Kale

Nutritional Yeast

Soy Sauce (optional)

Just cook the rice first. Make a big batch and you can keep leftovers in the fridge for easy meals. Chop carrots and kale, cook, add chickpeas, combine with rice, add nutritional yeast, and, if you want, low-sodium soy sauce. The nutritional yeast-soy sauce combo gives it a cheesy taste. It’s uber healthy, ridiculously cheap, and pretty easy. The longest step is cooking the rice so just cook a big batch ahead of time!

So there you have it — three super easy, delicious, healthy vegan meals you can have in your arsenal for traveling or couch surfing. What are your go-to easy vegan meals?

Bonus: When I hiked Chirripo I also brought a jar of peanut butter and some jelly and used the tortillas to make quick PB&J while on the mountain! It gave me variety that was sorely needed!

What I brought on my hike up Chirripo in Costa Rica!

For the past 3+ years I have been working out at home with resistance bands. I spent a good while trying to find a workout system that worked for me.

In my early and mid-twenties I joined and stopped going to countless gyms.

It always worked the same way. I’d get inspired to get in better shape, find a good local gym, and sign-up with enthusiasm.

For the first couple weeks I’d go religiously, and start to feel better, seeing progress in my workouts.

Then, something would happen.

The process got stale and time consuming. I hated the fact that if I did an hour workout in the gym, it really took like 2 hours — an hour to workout, 30 minutes getting to and from, 15 minutes to shower, 15 minutes to get ready and cool down.

Can you guess what the single most cited reason is for not exercising?

Lack of time.

So this just always felt unsustainable to me.

That’s when I finally found Bodylastics and LiveExercise. Both changed my life. I finally found a workout system that worked for me! I could do a new workout broadcast live every day and do it all in my bedroom in like 45 minutes — no commute necessary.

Protein

But another story has gone hand in hand with this experience: what to have post-workout.

After a good strength workout, your muscles need protein to recover. Let me be quick to point out that they don’t need 50 grams administered intravenously within seconds of dropping the last weight.

The amount needed is likely way overblown, mostly by people selling protein supplements (think about who wrote and/or paid for the next protein article you read).

But the fact remains that you do need some nutrition after a workout to help your muscles recover well and grow — the whole point of the workout in the first place!

Vegan Protein Powders

If you are interested, they do make vegan/plant-based protein powders, and they are something I used for quite awhile.

Periodically I’d read an article about one that was recommended and I’d go with that for awhile (remember who pays for protein articles!).

It was soy at first, hemp for awhile, then pea protein, they a blend of several that was not cheap.

But the whole time it felt a little disingenuous. Here I was trying to follow (and promote) a whole foods plant-based diet and yet after every workout I was downing isolated protein powders — definitely not a whole food.

Isolated macronutrients are never good for you

Think about it — isolated carbohydrates are pure white sugar, isolated fats are butter, margarine, and oil, and both are not health foods. Can they be used in some recipes, sure, but they are not whole foods and they are not healthy.

Why are we so forgiving to isolated protein? Anytime you strip a nutrient from the whole food you lose nearly all of what made it worth eating.

A solution

A year and a half ago I finally swore off protein powders for good. It wasn’t worth the nearly $50 per tub I was paying for a food that I didn’t need and was arguably not good for me.

And it’s been a year and a half of tweaking, but I finally have found my entirely whole foods, vegan, plant-based protein smoothie of choice.

Banana-Pea-Protein Smoothie

Two Bananas

1 Cup Frozen Peas

1 Cup Frozen Spinach

1-2 TBSP Ground Flax Seed

Pinch of Amla

Water to cover

Nutrition Facts: 400 calories, 14 grams of protein, 88 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fat, 19 grams fiber

That’s it, just blend and enjoy! An entirely whole-foods protein smoothie! No need for expensive protein powders! No need to pay someone to isolate the protein from the green peas when you can just eat them whole, where you’ll get the fiber and antioxidants you’d otherwise miss!

If you’re interested in learning more about building muscle on a vegan and plant-based diet I can’t recommend any higher the work of Robert Cheeke and his community at http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/

Also the guy who runs Bodylastics and LiveExercise happens to be vegan as well

Not true.

Here’s a quick little video of everything I made, and everything I ate, on Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie: http://plantpoweredkitchen.com/pumpkin-pie-vegan-soy-free-gluten-free/
Maple-Miso Brussels Sprouts: http://kitchentonirvana.com/2014/01/16/roasted-brussel-sprouts-in-a-maple-miso-glaze/

I always grew up loving Thanksgiving. I think I was a foodie before that was ever a “thing.”

So for me it was an easy choice to have Thanksgiving as a favorite holiday.

I think I liked the simplicity of it. You knew what it was about. A meal and people you love. Simple.

And even as I went vegetarian, my love for this holiday persisted. I didn’t have the turkey anymore, that’s ok! Minor change really.

There were still plenty of other dishes on the table for me to get excited about. In fact since turkey is generally the only meat at the meal, I was left with everything else! No complaints here (I never was crazy about the turkey anyway).

Vegan Thanksgiving

Loving Thanksgiving as a vegetarian is one thing, but it seems crazy to have my love endure even as I went vegan. Without any planning the available options shrink considerably as a vegan. You’re basically left with rolls and cranberry sauce…

But that’s why you plan! If you’re vegan, never show up to someone else’s event without a main, a side, and a dessert that is vegan friendly!

At the end of the day, Thanksgiving is about a celebration of food friends and family. And every single vegan I’ve met loves food just as much as anyone else, if not more! So the spirit of Thanksgiving has never changed for me.

In fact, being vegan and plant-based forces you to think outside the box and be more creative, bringing dishes most would never have at their gathering. I love that! I love the celebration of the bounty of seasonal plant foods, like squashes and apples and pumpkins and cranberries. It’s wonderful.

My Vegan Thanksgiving Menu

Appetizer: Maple-Miso Brussels Sprouts (I omit the oil)

Main: Winter Vegetable Hominy Hash En Croute (From Thug Kitchen. Warning: Language)

Sides: Mashed Potatoes & Cranberry Sauce

Dessert: Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you enjoy the holiday with your loved ones. Celebrate all the bounty that nature has to offer by enjoying delicious satisfying vegan fare. Get out of your comfort zone and make one or all of these dishes! Going plant-based for Thanksgiving has never been easier

As I wrote about two weeks ago, I suffered a bruised rib in a basketball game that made laughing, coughing, sneezing, and lying down in bed particularly excruciating.

I am happy to say that I am 90% recovered, but sneezing still gives me pain.

During the process of recovery, I did a bit of research into what helps speed up the process. I absolutely hate being sick (one of the reasons I love being vegan) and anytime I am not in full health it drives me nuts. All I can think about is when I will feel better, and everything I do is in service of that goal.

Every bite and beverage is calculated, every bedtime precise, every thing I can do I do.

Turmeric

One of the things I encountered was the powerful ability of the spice Turmeric to fight inflammation and help with pain. Dr. Greger of Nutritionfacts.org recently put out a video detailing how surgery patients given turmeric saw less pain and speedier recoveries than those given a placebo.

That has me convinced this stuff is a miracle substance!

I went to Whole Foods thinking I’d pick up a bottle of the stuff in pill form. I hate taking pain killers as well, so I figured I’d pop turmeric pills instead!

At $30 a bottle for the cheapest, I left the supplement section empty handed and upset.

Then it hit me — this is a spice used for cooking! And it’s cheap in that form. I went to the herbs & spices section and found a bottle of organic turmeric for $3.99, a steal compared to the supplement.

But how to ingest it…

After a few days of just mixing a little bit with water and gagging it down like a shot, it hit me — it might make an excellent tea! Mixed with some other Indian spices, it could almost be like a chai!

A quick Google search confirmed I wasn’t crazy (this is something people actually do) and so I set off making my first batch. And it was delicious!

And because it was so helpful with pain and recovery during my injury, I figured I’d share the recipe here! So without further ado, here is my recipe for Turmeric Tea.

Turmeric Tea

In the teapot I combine the following:

1 tsp ground organic turmeric

1/2 tsp ground organic cinnamon

1/2 tsp amla powder (the most antioxidant rich substance ever tested!)

1/4 tsp ground organic fenugreek seed (shown to improve muscle strength and recovery)

a few shakes of ground organic peppercorns

In my mug I place a little minced organic ginger that comes in a jar from Whole Foods. This product has a little rice vinegar and just a hint of sugar, and rounds out the chai-like flavor of the tea.

I let it sit in the pot for 5-10 minutes and then enjoy!

I have been drinking a pot of this a day and have noticed a real benefit in terms of pain and recovery. I’d highly recommend giving it a try, especially as we head into colder months, it is so nice and warming!

Here’s to a speedy recover from whatever ails you. In health

I am addicted to cereal. There, I said it.

It started very early on when every night before bed my brothers and I would have a “midnight snack.” This was always cereal.

Growing up we had a limit on how much sugar could be in our cereal — anything less than 10 grams per serving was fair game.

This excluded some of the most heinous varieties — your Fruit Loops, your Trix, your Lucky Charms — cereal with absolutely no nutritional value. Essentially just bowls of sugar.

But a surprising variety of amazingly delicious cereals still fit under the 10 gram mark. Some of our favorites included Rice Krispie Treats Cereal, Peanut Butter Puffs, and Frosted Mini Wheats.

As I have gone through young adulthood I have found this conditioning to be pretty ingrained. When I was first on my own, I learned pretty quickly that if I had food in the house I would eat it.

Sounds super simple.

But you can’t eat what you don’t have in the house. And for me, my early lesson was this: you can’t have potato chips in the house. You will eat them first and you will eat them exclusively, until they are gone.

Cereal was a different story. I largely was ok with this habit. And as I worked to improve my diet in other ways (going vegetarian, then more vegan, then fully vegan), the cereal sorta just hung around.

I once remarked to my roommate that if cereal was the one vice left in my diet then I was probably doing alright.

I will admit over the years I’ve ditched the Rice Krispie Treats and opted for Kashi whole grain cereals or granola with almond or soy milk. Doesn’t sound all that bad. As far as vices go, this one is pretty tame.

But it’s still not healthy. It’s still not whole food plant-based, even if it is vegan.

The other thing it isn’t is cheap. I have recently become more interested in how cheap I can eat plant-based. Kind of a challenge to myself. I am not doing anything extreme like $1.50 a day or anything, just trying to keep my total food budget under $200 for the month.

Right away I noticed that at $4-$5 a box and $3.29 a half gallon, cereal and almond milk was actually kind of expensive.

As I walked around the store calculating what was left in my budget, it felt silly to drop nearly $9 on this indulgence. I could get so many bananas for $9!

And here’s how cereal fits into my diet: dessert.

When it is in the house, it’s not my breakfast (that’s oatmeal every single day, on autopilot). It’s not a snack, which is usually fruit. It is always my dessert.

With that in mind I have worked on trying to find cheap AND healthy dessert options, and I have three to share with you right now!

Berry Parfait

This is somewhat like cereal, and is super duper healthy. Here is the recipe:

~1 Cup of frozen berries, I usually do blueberries and raspberries

~1 Cup of almond milk (or soy or whatever plant-based milk you like)

1 TBSP of ground flax seed

~1/3 Cup of rolled oats

Just a dash of maple syrup

Combine in a bowl and mix up a bit, allowing the frozen berries to thaw just a tad. Boom. Super delicious super healthy dessert.

Oat Groats Yo

In a quest to find cheaper whole grains, I stumbled upon Organic Oat Groats at just $1.49/lb! So cheap! Oat Groats are steel cut oats that haven’t been chopped up yet. So, they are whole oats essentially, but they cook up more like rice almost, and still retain that nice sweetness of oats. Packed with fiber, oats are some of the world’s healthiest whole grains.

1 Cup Oat Groats and 3 Cups water — boil water, add groats, reduce to simmer, cook til water evaporates out

Once the groats are cooked up, you can store them in the fridge for a couple days.

I combine ~1/2 Cup of the cooked groats with some fruit, flax seed, and sometimes a splash of almond milk. My go-to has been bananas and frozen mangos. So good, and really nice warm dessert.

Banana Nice Cream

I’ve heard of this dessert for so long and was always super intimidated to make it. Honestly I didn’t think my blender was strong enough. Well I made it tonight and only used my lowest setting, so I guess that’s not an issue! And my goodness it was delicious. Here is the recipe. Get ready for it, because it’s super complicated.

2 Frozen Bananas

That’s it. Ok just blend them until they get all chopped up, smashed up, creamy. I added a splash of almond milk but probably didn’t even need it. It turns into ice cream! It’s ridiculous. I added just a few dark chocolate pieces and it was heavenly. Would also be great with shredded coconut or other fruits mixed in. If you Google Banana Nice Cream recipes there are actually a ton out there! I am so glad I tried this — I can guarantee my freezer will never be without a couple frozen bananas again!

So there you have it. Three super delicious incredibly healthy desserts that are insanely cheap — seriously they cost pennies — and can replace cereal cravings for even the worst addict like me!

You hear this a lot. It is a common belief (and misconception) that healthy eating has to be really expensive and cost prohibitive.

Whenever I hear this my immediate response is: “beans and rice are some of the cheapest items in the entire store!”

Let’s look at how to eat healthy, vegan, plant-based meals that don’t break the bank!

SOURCES: Price data from USDA and my local Whole Foods
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2010/01/veggie-might-veggie-burgers-mighty-good.html

I grew up in the Midwest. The heartland. The flyover states. However you want to call it.

One staple of my Midwestern upbringing was a (false) belief that a meal was not a meal without a big hunk of meat in the center of the plate.

When I first went vegetarian as a college-aged male in 2007, I really didn’t know what I was going to eat! Now, after almost 8 years at this, I have learned a lot. And sometimes the biggest hurdle to eating less (or ideally no) meat is simply figuring out what else to eat!

There are a few schools of thought that we will discuss:

1. Meat substitutes

2. Tofu/Tempeh/Seitan

3. Beans and Lentils (my personal favorite!)

Meat Substitutes

By far the simplest and easiest way to replace the meat in your diet is to switch to meat substitutes, and in 8 years I certainly have eaten my fair share. And there is good news on this front — in just 8 short years they’ve progressed from barely passing to convincingly similar!

If you are used to cold cuts on sandwiches, try Tofurky instead. If you are a chicken-lover, go with Gardein (this stuff is good!). If you have to have burgers, the closest that I have heard is the Beast Burger by Beyond Meat. They apparently even use a blood analogue so convincing it turns off a lot of long-time vegans! Of course, it has more protein than beef with zero cholesterol and far less saturated fat, so it is infinitely better for you. If you can’t find this burger however, there are plenty of other great veggie burger options to choose from.

One note: for both the environment and the animals, these are an infinitely better choice. For health, you’d still be better served going 100% whole-foods plant-based, but to be sure, these substitutes can be incredibly beneficial as you transition away from a meat-centric diet, and are still much better for you than the animal products!

Tofu/Tempeh/Seitan

When I went vegetarian I felt like there were two main camps to choose from: those who ate lots of tofu and those who ate lots of beans. We’ll talk about beans in a second, but many vegans and vegetarians rely heavily on soy and wheat-based protein products.

Tempeh

Tofu can replace eggs for breakfast with a Tofu Scramble. You can bake it and treat it like a cut of meat, seasoned with barbecue sauce or teriyaki.

Tempeh is fermented soybeans (sometimes with other grains as well). It has a firmer texture than tofu, and can be marinated to resemble the smokey flavor of bacon, used in stir-fries, and especially can star in some awesome vegan sandwiches!

Seitan is the isolated gluten from wheat. It is also known as “vital wheat gluten.” Obviously if you have Celiac’s this is not a choice. However for the 97% or more of Americans who are not gluten intolerant, it is a great choice, and can mimic chicken or duck in stir-fries (mock duck is seitan), can be used on pizza, and can bulk up soups.

I eat all three of these products from time to time. My favorite is tempeh sandwiches!

Beans and Lentils

This is the camp I most closely identified with! I absolutely love beans and lentils. They have great protein, and incredible fiber. And they are very versatile!

Gallo Pinto

For breakfasts you could try the traditional Costa Rican breakfast called “Gallo Pinto,” which is rice and black beans sauteed up with some onion, peppers, and a special sauce called Salsa Lizano.

Black beans make a great soup, and can star in spicy chili along with pinto and kidney beans. Chickpeas are phenomenal roasted as a snack, are great in Indian dishes, and can even be used to mimic chicken.

Lentils are real heroes of the vegan plate! I have enjoyed them Ecuadorian style, Indian style, and even have used them to replicate a childhood favorite with Sloppy Lentils! They also make a killer soup.

It’s Easy To Eat Without The Meat

There are so many great ways to go meatless! Use one or all three of these strategies as you transition away from an animal-based diet and toward a healthy, eco-friendly, animal-friendly, sustainable plant-based diet!

I guess it can be hard to imagine what you’d eat if you didn’t eat meat, dairy, and eggs! Those foods are unfortunately so common in America that we literally sometimes can’t imagine life without them.

Well let me tell you life is good. Real good. And tasty! And filling! And not all “rabbit food!”

I hope you enjoy watching a day in the life of a high carb low fat vegan. I shoot for 80/10/10 macro ratios (the food in today’s video landed spot on), and feel I eat somewhere in between starch solution and raw til 4. I definitely could increase my raw fruit consumption, and this is a goal for the coming months!

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Going vegan doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor. Eating great Mexican food is not only possible on a plant-based diet, but it’s enjoyable and easy. Most of the flavor elements in Mexican cooking — from the chiles to the limes to the cilantro — come from plants. These flavor profiles can easily be applied to bean and vegetable dishes for healthy Mexican fare.

Here are the top 5 healthy plant-based recipes for your Cinco de Mayo festival:

1. Guacamole — mash together a garlic clove, a small handful of cilantro, and a jalapeno with the juice of half a lime. This works best with a mortar and pestle, as crushing the cilantro releases the natural oils for a better flavor. Smash in two ripe avocados. Dice up a little red onion and mix in. Slice up a tomato or two to mix in. Salt to taste. Adjust by adding more lime juice or more jalapeno if you like it hot!
2. Black Bean & Salsa Soup (an absolute staple recipe as it is about the easiest thing imaginable)
3. Sweet Potato Enchiladas
4. Portobello Tacos
5. Lentil Taco Meat (seriously bomb).

Tofutti makes a great vegan sour cream, and Daiya is the closest cheese analogue. If you miss the meat, you can use Gardein Chick’n, which in a recipe you’d never notice the difference.

I generally advocate for 100% whole plant foods, however substitutes for animal products can definitely help you transition to a more plant-centric lifestyle, and can even be nice for an indulgence here and there if you are fully Plantiful.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo doesn’t have to mean loading up on cholesterol and saturated fat laden cheesy and sour creamy dishes. Go plant-based. Make the feast above and your taste buds will be satisfied, and your waistline will stay put.