Strategies for vegan cooking, meal planning, batch cooking, and kitchen organization
WAITLIST OPEN: Plan, Prep, and Relax: Plant-Based Batch Cooking for Busy Beginners
After months of brainstorming, consulting, and planning, I am finally starting to record my new course: Plan, Prep, and Relax: Plant-Based Batch Cooking for Busy Beginners The simple strategy you need for healthy, stress-free weeknights. Get on the waitlist! We start...
Join the Healthy Vegan Batch Cooking Club (everyone welcome!) – Spring 2024
Cooking club changes lives. We get together to cook some healthy vegan building blocks that will form the base of our weekday meals. In so doing, we find nourishment for our bodies and souls. When you sign up for cooking club, you get: Structure: Leave batch cooking...
Free workshop: Easy healthy vegan for one or two: meal planning and batch cooking strategies to eat better
When cooking for one or two people, mustering the motivation to cook healthy tasty meals can be a struggle. You might end up stuck in a rut, eating only a few different meals and even missing the mark on your nutrition targets. This free Zoom workshop will empower you...
Free demo and Q&A: Getting started with healthy vegan cooking
Do you feel reasonably comfortable cooking omnivore or vegetarian dinners every night, but healthy vegan, plant-based cooking intimidates you? This free talk and Q&A will give you tools to get started with more confidence and less stress. In this one hour live...
Vegan cooking for beginners: get started the easy way (even if you think you’ll never go vegan)
This guide to vegan cooking for beginners will help you add more plant-based, healthy vegan meals into your rotation. It is meant for people who already know how to cook enough to follow a recipe, but need a boost of confidence when it comes to turning plants into...
FREE EVENT: Simplicity Soup: Stirring Mindfulness Into Black Friday
Enough with the hyper consumerism: can we bask in an extra day gratitude and appreciate everything we have, please? Let's stir some mindfulness into Black Friday. We'll get together on Zoom and I will lead us all into cooking up a delicious soup from Thanksgiving...
How to store groceries to reduce food waste and cook faster
Most people could cook faster, waste less money and time, and be less stressed if they handled their grocery haul differently. How should you store groceries to reduce waste and make cooking faster? Try these four strategies and share yours in the comments. Clear your...
Can cooking be a spiritual practice? 5 rituals that bring meaning and joy to me
Can cooking be a spiritual practice? In this hyper-scheduled, busy life, preparing meals at home from scratch is often perceived as either a dreaded chore or something one does as a hobby. What if instead we could take advantage of the time we spend cooking to expand...
How to fit all the nutrients you need in everyday plant-based meals (talk and Q&A replay)
Have you ever wondered if you can truly get all the essential nutrients from everyday plant-based meals? You're not alone. Many people question whether a vegan or plant-based diet can fully satisfy their nutritional needs. Can a plant-based diet provide every nutrient...
Batch Cooking Demo (replay) – Planned and Plant-Based (September 8th, 2023)
Wednesday dinners do not have to be stressful to prepare. When you are drained after a long day, you do not need to rely on take-out or ready-made processed meals. Wholesome, tasty, and healthy meals are possible even when you don't have the time or energy to cook....
The unexpected benefits of cooking in a 310 sqft home: An interview with Kathy Davis of VegInspired
Most people believe that they'd cook better if they had a bigger kitchen... but is that so? Kathy Davis, who runs the Eat More Plants Academy and published three cookbooks, lives in a RV and her story challenges conventional views. It's all about intention. Kathy...
Minimalist meal prep for healthy stress-free vegan weeknights
If you can find one hour to for meal prep / batch cooking at any time in the week, you can prepare really good food you will enjoy throughout the week. It won't be perfect, but it will provide you with a solid base for meals that improve your nutrition and enjoyment...
How to save money on healthy vegan food
Rising food costs are a concern for most households these days. How to save money on healthy vegan food? I propose a strategy that goes deeper than perusing flyers. Warning: mindset shifts ahead. Ask where your (food) money going How much of your money are you...
Getting in shape after having kids: Plant-based personal trainer Amy Kakebeeke shares her best tips
How do you get into shape after having kids without spending hours in the gym? Amy Kakebeeke is the queen of squeezing short yet effective workouts in-between the many commitments of her busy life as a working mom. Get ready to be inspired to hop off the couch and...
Dinner ideas for picky eaters: what’s wrong with plain pasta?
I often get asked for dinner ideas for picky eaters or "good vegan food for kids." I disagree that there is any kind of specifically kid-friendly plant-based food, because every family has its own food history and different styles of cooking and foods will work best...
A plastic-free and zero-waste cooking and living journey – Interview with the Zero-Waste Chef: Anne-Marie Bonneau
Anne-Marie Bonneau has been living plastic-free since 2011 and you'll find her story and tips inspiring and empowering. In this episode, we discuss what motivated her and her daughters to say goodbye to plastic and reduce their food and packaging waste and Anne-Marie...
How to buy a knife – A vegan view point – No affiliate links (as always)
The most important kitchen tool for vegan and plant-based cooks isn't an Instant Pot, a slow cooker, or even a high-power blender. It's a knife. If you are going to eat more plants, and especially vegetables, chances are you will be chopping more vegetables as well....
Why I recommend an inexpensive slow cooker for plant-based cooking (no affiliate links!)
Many people bought a slow cooker only to leave it to gather dust on top of their fridge. That's really too bad because using a slow cooker for plant-based cooking is a great way to decouple cooking from eating: throw in the ingredients in the morning, switch it on to...
Wean yourself off meal kits with meal plans
Meal kits take the entire mental load and most of the physical load off cooking a meal: you choose your meal from a restricted menu of options, and all the ingredients and directions come to you in a neatly packaged boxed, pre-portioned and ready to be turned into...
Are CSA boxes worth it? Read this before you subscribe.
For the past 10 years, I have been an on and off subscriber of veggie boxes via a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme or another. Yet again this winter, I ask myself: should I sign up for a CSA box this year? Are CSA boxes worth it? The answer isn't...
From stovetop to Instant Pot and back (workshop)
How to convert a recipe from stovetop to Instant Pot... from Instant Pot to stovetop? It will become easy for you once you understand how your electric pressure cooker works. In this 60-minute workshop, I: Quickly explain how electric pressure cookers such as the...
Can dogs be plant-based? A interview with Laura Simonson of Virchew
About a third of American and Canadian households have a dog, and the numbers have grown since the beginning of the pandemic. My own household does not include tail-wagging friends, but I know dogs are part of the family for many. So what do they all eat? Can dogs be...
Healthy vegan and plant-based tool kit for organized people who cook at home
The best way to nurture your own health and that of the planet is to eat a healthy plant-based vegan diet consisting mostly of home-cooked foods. If you are just getting started with this healthy vegan plant-based lifestyle, it can be overwhelming. There is so much to...
Subscriber spotlight: The case for investing in our health and wealth: an interview with Alison Setton, financial educator
What do health and wealth have in common, other than 5 letter? Alison Setton and I, in this conversation, conclude that both health and wealth require some effort to build and maintain, but it's totally worth it: both reward investors with the fruit of compound...
Plant-based food preparedness for your family: start with a mindset shift
Plant-based and vegan people need to start thinking about food preparedness. With climate change, extreme weather events are bound to increase in frequency and severity, and those events impact the food that is available to us. That is not a prediction, but a fact we...
20+ things you can do to find joy in cooking
How is it possible to find joy in cooking? So many people hate preparing meals! If you find yourself in charge of cooking, you may dread it as a chore or even resent it because you feel taken for granted as the default cook. Maybe you think that you have more...
Why you hate cooking (and what you can do about it)
When I ask people what stops them from cooking more healthy meals from scratch at home, I often hear some version of the following: "I hate cooking!" "Cooking feels like a waste of my time." "I'm sick of making dinner." "Why is it always me who's expected to know...
The 3 most useful kitchen appliances for plant-based cooking (no affiliate links!)
What are the really, truly useful kitchen appliances for plant-based cooking? Here are my choices as a professional home cook who prepares a different plant-based meal, mostly from scratch, using whole foods, most days of the year. There are no affiliate links here,...
How to make cooking fun?! An interview with the fun coach, Siobhan Coates
It's time to make cooking fun. Does cooking feel like a chore? It doesn't have to! I interviewed Siobhan Coates, the fun coach, to ask her why we perceive cooking so poorly, and for her to share her best tips to make cooking fun again. She has great suggestions. Watch...
Plant-based vegan meal planning 101 (and a basic template with themes)
It may be time for you to start plant-based vegan meal planning if: you want to feed your loved ones healthy home-cooked meals based on whole plant ingredients, most nights of the week, you are a busy person, suffer from decision fatigue, and/or need to decrease your...
6 big reasons to be grateful (not resentful) when cooking
Many of us, myself included, can occasionally feel resentful when it comes time to prepare dinner. "Why me (again)?" "Didn't I just feed you?" "Cooking takes too long!" "I'm sick of cleaning up after meals." "Oh! Ungrateful hordes of hungry picky little monsters." I'm...
How to start batch cooking (with 20 vegan batch cooking recipes!)
Batch cooking changes lives... it really does! In fact, vegan batch cooking probably also SAVES lives. Why? Because when you've got a meal all ready to eat in the fridge or freezer, you're much less likely to eat unhealthy processed or delivery food (saves human...
Two plant-based pantry organization hacks to make whole foods cooking easier
Having the right plant-based staples in your pantry is important, but how you organize them makes a big difference in whether you'll actually use them, and how fast you can prepare really good food that uses them. Setting aside a half-day or two to improve your...
Your meal planning priorities: what matters most? what can you let go of?
Drawing parallels between meal planning and project management can help us make decisions about what to cook. In the kitchen as on any construction site, scope, time, and cost have to be kept in constant balance if you want to serve your loved ones really good food....
Dreena Burton’s 20 years as a vegan cookbook author and parent
Dreena Burton has published six vegan cookbooks and raised three children in 20 years. That elevates her to superhero status to me. Her recipes take nutrition, appeal, and ease into consideration all at the same time, and she keeps on showing up to inspire us with...
Plant-based doctors at home: An interview with Dr. Jimisha Patel and Dr. Nina Hourmouzis of the Columbus Prevent and Reverse Health Clinic
Traditional medical education makes very little room for nutrition and disease prevention. As a result, "health care" often ends up looking more like "sick care." But the tide may be turning and the number of plant-based doctors is growing. Thanks to the efforts of...
“My wife is going vegan!” Now what? An interview with my husband
When one spouse - often the wife - is going vegan but the other one isn't there yet, what happens? I have told my own transition story from meat lover to ethical vegan and plant-based eating advocate a few times, including along with some tips for late-blooming vegans...
Should I supplement B12? (No affiliate links.)
Should I supplement B12? My answer is straightforward: yes. This is probably true regardless of one's dietary choices, but even more so if vegan or even just a part-time plant-based eater (flexitarian). This article is required reading for all Vegan Meal Plans...
What I eat in a day as a vegan – Real honest food report from a plant-based mom
What I eat in a day as a vegan is mostly whole-foods, usually healthy, always plant-based food. In this post, I share what I ate on a typical weekday (Friday May 7th, 2021), and what guides those choices. I will mention what the rest of my family eats in passing, but...
5 urgent (and easy!) eco-friendly eating habits to adopt today
What happens roughly 24 billion times per day on Earth? Humans having a meal. About a third of all of the resources we extract or use from the planet are funneled toward our insatiable appetites. If we are to continue living together on this planet for a little...
Nutrition for plant-based runners: an interview with Kayla Slater, registered dietitian and running coach
I came to plant-based eating for environmental reasons, and decided to go 100% vegan for the animals. But fitness was also on my mind: would I continue to perform well as a vegan runner, or even improve? I'm no elite athlete: just a happy age-grouper aiming to keep...
Late-blooming vegan with family in tow? Here are 10 tips to ease your transition
Like so many other vegans, the only regret I have about veganism is not embracing it earlier. Going vegan in my mid-20s would have been so much easier. Back then, I was living with roommates and mostly cooking for myself. I even ate a lot of accidentally vegan food,...
Vegan meal prep for health: Katie heals her gut (subscriber spotlight)
What if committing yourself to doing some vegan meal prep on the weekend, using only whole foods plant-based ingredients, could mean something as profound as healing yourself from a disease that's been dogging you for over 20 years? That's what happened to Vegan Meal...
10 vegetables I never fail to put on my vegan grocery list
When you have these vegetables in the fridge, plus a few vegan pantry staples, you can improvise a delicious and nutritious meal in minutes. Read about my vegan grocery list picks and get recipe inspiration to use them.
15 reasons why you NEED to do a vegan meal prep challenge
The challenge is running LIVE from January 28th to February 7th. Sign up now! You know it: vegan meal prep is what you have to do to enjoy delicious and nutritious plant-based meals made mostly with whole foods on a day-to-day basis. In...
Vegan pantry staples: 75 plant-based ingredients to stock to cook healthy dinners every night
What if you could cook improvise practically any dinner, with just pantry ingredients and some fresh produce? It's absolutely possible with a well-stocked selection of vegan pantry staples. I compiled the list of the most frequently used ingredients that go into my...
One week of real-life plant-based dinners (mostly) following this week’s Vegan Family Meal Plan
What does my family eat for dinner? I thought I would share a pretty-typical week of vegan family dinners at our table. As usual, I followed the Vegan Family Meal Plan. I made a big effort to snap some quick pictures before starting to eat. I hope that new and...
How a vegan pediatrician feeds her family – An interview with Doctor Yami Cazorla-Lancaster
Dr. Yami is a busy plant-based pediatrician but she still finds the way to eat mostly home-cooked meals throughout the week. Read more about her simple meal planning, weekend prep, and cooking routines, plus her best tips for parents with picky eaters.
Vegan camping food for a family car camping adventure
Our children are now 8 and 5. It took my husband and I this long to build up the courage to attempt sleeping in a tent in their company. For our first long-weekend adventure, we picked a nearby destination - Golden Ears Provincial Park - and Labor Day weekend, hoping...
Should I buy a dehydrator? A vegan view point (with recipes and tips!)
It is peak harvest time and we can't possibly eat all the magnificent produce that is picked at the moment. You may be asking yourself: "Should I buy a dehydrator? I could make so many awesome vegan snacks!" You are right. But there are also some significant downsides...
For less stress and better dinners, join the plant-based meal prep challenge
It's unfortunate, but it's true: cooking up a whole foods plant-based diet does take more time and effort than if we were content with processed foods. Of course, we could make do with rice, beans, and greens every night... but let's just say that my husband wouldn't...
10 strategies to get your child to eat more vegan foods – Guest post by Joanna Olson of Raised on Veggies
Is transitioning to a plant-based diet causing power struggles with your children? Have you faced backlash from your little ones when trying to feed them more vegan food? I hear you! Even without the added challenge of swapping dairy for lentils and chicken for tofu,...
Your next 10 dinners covered: free vegan meal plan for 2 weeks!
I know what you want: a ready-made meal plan, and to some help so that you can organize a prep session on the weekend. I can't go and babysit your kids while you cook, but I can at least help you out with a meal plan. This sample, free vegan meal plan taken from the...
Minimum viable meal prep: basic plant-based batch cooking you should do every week (even when you are too busy)
Eating a steady diet of unprocessed, home-cooked plant-based meals takes more time than dishing out processed foods from a box. (Duh!) It doesn't have to take a prohibitive amount of time: 4 to 7 hours of cooking per week should yield very enjoyable meals. If you have...
How to improvise a balanced vegan meal from pantry ingredients (even when you are too exhausted to cook)
It's 6:34 p.m. and you just got home. You are hungry. Maybe you had planned something based on a new recipe, but you do not feel the energy to follow through. You don't have a prepared meal ready to reheat and gobble up. The temptation to pick up the phone and order...
Vegan pantry cooking recipes with tips from the pros
Need inspiration to keep on cooking from what you have in the pantry? Eight vegan bloggers shared their best vegan pantry cooking tips to make use of plant-based ingredients, along with their favorite pantry cooking recipes. Just pick one, follow substitution suggestions as needed, and make it happen!
Vegan shopping and pantry cooking in a pandemic: Brigitte’s tips on the radio show “Animal Voices”
Local vegan radio show Animal Voices invited me to speak about grocery shopping and pantry cooking during the weird and uncertain times of this coronavirus pandemic. What plant-based ingredients should we always have on hand in the pantry? How do we use what we have...
My vegan meal planning routine
If something matters to me, I know the only way to make sure it happens is to make it part of a routine. And there are few things in my life more important right now than feeding my loved ones home-cooked whole foods, plant-based meals. So I need to have a solid vegan...
Zero-waste cooking for vegans dos and don’ts – and keeping the bigger picture in mind
The zero-waste world can be overwhelming. Don’t get analysis-paralysis: read this post to find out how to shop, get organized, and cook to reduce the waste from your kitchen… while keeping the big picture in mind.
16 ways to improve your kitchen life that are better and cheaper than renovating!
Why not take a few steps to improve your cooking and eating? Pick any of these 16 ways to improve your kitchen life and get started! 1. Plan your meals Meal planning is the number 1 habit that will (almost) instantly improve your life. Your physical and mental health...
How to start a batch cooking club (because you really need one!)
Some of my most beloved memories involve batch cooking with friends. There is something magical about getting together with other humans and preparing food to nourish each others' bodies and souls. As we labor jointly to chop, cook, and pack meals, kitchens turn into...
How to convert a recipe from stove-top to Instant Pot (with great vegan recipes)
So you now own an Instant Pot and you'd like to use it more, but your favorite recipes are written for the stove-top? Are you scared to wreck your dinner when using your new appliance? Worry not! In this post, I will explain in detail how to convert a recipe from...
Cast-iron cooking for vegans (with great recipes for inspiration!) – no affiliate links
Is cast-iron cooking a good choice for vegans? After all, the much-touted capacity of cast-iron to sear steaks is moot for plant-based eaters. Compassionate cooks may even be repelled by the meat-centric marketing campaigns for this heavy kitchen gear. Yet, I recently...
Mindful screen-free cooking: the pathway to becoming a better, faster cook
At a time when kitchen appliance companies are starting to sell water-resistant, voice-operated tablets powered by Google Assistant, my advice puts me at risk of coming across as either curmudgeonly or perhaps quaint. Yet, in the face of the irresistible pull of...
How to involve kids in cooking at all ages (with lots of kid-friendly recipes!) | A guest post by Janelle Leclair of Peaceful Easy Vegan Nutrition
Do your little ones love to “help” in the kitchen? It can be hard to involve your kids in cooking at the end of a stressful day when all you want is to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. Yet, teaching kids kitchen lessons is an investment that will yield...
How to eat less meat and more plants: Try “Vegan After 6”
Are one of the many home cooks trying to figure out how to eat less meat and more plants? I have a new idea for you: try going Vegan After 6. "Oh, yes, we are trying to cut back on meat," or "I hardly eat meat anymore, except at my mother-in-law's house." I hear such...
How to cook everything faster: learn basic knife skills
Many times, even before I started cooking dinner, I have thrown the towel and ordered pizza from across the street. The mere thought of chopping a pile of veggies felt like an overwhelming feat. No more! Learning basic knife skills made a world of difference in my...
Change how you cook to make dishes faster
Has your life gone to the dishes? Try changing how you cook to make cleanup go faster. Eating three home-cooked meals per day consisting of plant-based whole foods will do wonders for your health. It will probably also improve your family's life as you say "yes!" to...
Should I get an Instant Pot? What’s a vegan to do (no affiliate links!)
Practically every time my Instant Pot comes up in conversation, I hear: "Oh I have been thinking about getting one - what do you think?" I have now owned one for two years and I finally feel ready to answer the question: "Should I get an Instant Pot?" This post does...
How to eat more greens and cruciferous vegetables (with 25 recipes!)
Do you eat enough green and cruciferous vegetables on a daily basis? Chances are, you don't. Even eating vegetables in general is challenge for most: less than 10% of Americans consume the recommended 2 to 3 cups daily. Within a few percentage points, these numbers...
Vegan batch cooking: the best way to enjoy home-made meals on demand! (with 8 free recipes to download)
Imagine having a stressful day and no dinner plan... and then remembering that, in your freezer, you have a few vegan building blocks that you'll be able to pull together in 10 or 15 minutes to create a delicious and nutritious home-cooked dinner. No expensive...
Natural vegan nutrition boosters: 6 easy cooking hack for your family
There are bloggers out there who boast about using only a few ingredients in each recipe, and that's great... but if I try their recipes I always end up adding ingredients to kick up the nutritional value. Taste and convenience really important for me, of course. But...
How to prevent a pantry moth infestation
A few years ago, I started seeing tiny little gray moths on the walls of my apartment. It was September and getting cool outside, so I thought maybe they were seeking shelter. No big deal, I am a pacifist, right? After a few weeks, the kitchen was overrun by moths. I...
Seven ingredients for successful vegan meal prep sessions
Meal planning and weekend meal prep sessions are the top two systems that can save you time in the kitchen. They'll also save your sanity! For anyone who wishes to eat more home-cooked meals and less processed food and take-out, vegan meal prep is a game changer. For...
Vegan cooking without recipes: 8 easy meals you can improvise tonight
Even with the best laid plans, you will occasionally find yourself having to prepare a meal that you haven’t planned for. Maybe you didn’t make it to the grocery store. Or your significant other has been… but brought back the wrong ingredients. Or you are trying to...
What to do when you crave cheese?
One only needs to participate in any online forum for vegan beginners for about an hour to see THE question come up: “What is the best vegan cheese?” (Often followed with: “I tried XYZ brand and hated it.”) Here is my answer. The 30-day Cheese Detox Dairy cheese is...
Meal planning around picky eaters in 7 loving steps
"I have never had a single concern about my child's eating" said no parent, ever. There are worries at all stages of life, from infancy ("is she getting enough milk?") to teenage ("too much junk food!"), with many years in-between spent bemoaning picky eating habits....
Quit eating from a package: three easy homemade vegan staples to get you started cooking from scratch
Whether you are trying to avoid allergens or additives, making your own staples from scratch at home is a great way to gain more control over what goes into your body. But forgoing the convenience of ready-made items has a cost: it takes time. On the flip side, it...
Buy your kale and eat it too: avoid food waste with these useful vegan meal planning habits
How can you cut food waste in your kitchen when cooking vegan, saving the planet and your wallet at the same time? Picture a Wednesday night. You just got home after a big day. Your preschooler is clamoring for a snack and you wouldn't mind one yourself. You think you...
How to do a vegan pantry challenge
The goal of a vegan pantry challenge is not to find out how many days or weeks your family can last on a year-old bottle of ketchup and a bag of pearl barley. It's a learning experience. If you invest a little bit of time upfront, and commit to cooking mindfully, you...
11 tips for vegan families to eat better on vacation (video)
Just like many other vegans with families, I prefer renting a cabin or condo when going on vacation. That way, I have a full kitchen to prepare our meals instead of depending on dubious (and expensive!) restaurant fare. In this video filmed on premises in Hawaii, I...
Vegan meal plan template: do it 2 weeks at a time
Make a bunch of decisions today and just execute for the next two weeks: that's what this 14-day vegan meal plan template can guide you through. This meal plan template is a little different from the previous versions, and perhaps will work best for cooks with an...
Save time by following the critical path: a sample vegan meal prep session plan
An advance food prep session on the weekend can save hours of your time (and awful headaches!) on weekdays. Just imagine this scene: You know what you will be cooking (thanks to excellent meal planning) and you have collected the necessary groceries. Then, you...
Prevent freezer burn with a super-organized kitchen (with geeky printable template!)
For vegans and plant-based eaters leading busy lives (and who doesn’t!), advance prep sessions and batch cooking are powerful tools that reduce kitchen stress and increase the enjoyment, taste, and quality of every meal. However, successfully applying those two...