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Vegetarian, Vegan And Paleo Cooking Made Fun: No Rabbit Food In Sight!

Because in no universe does healthy eating have to be boring and uninventive.

We'll admit that when we first looked into the Paleo diet, we thought that staring at some grey breezeblock sounded like more fun.

Since then, we've come round to the idea a little bit and that's purely because some fun souls, far more inventive and creative than the Yahoo team, have put some energy into making paleo-friendly recipes more fun.

But the paleo lifestyle isn't the only sort of diet that gets a bad rap though - vegetarians and vegans are constantly having to defend themselves for their choices and protest that no, they don't survive solely on a rabbit-food intake.

[Yahoo Lifestyle]
[Yahoo Lifestyle]

So, with the help of a number of different cookbooks and websites that have sprung up in recent years, we've decided to prove that vegetarianism, veganism and paleo diets can be colourful, fun and above all, tasty.

We've laid out some options for three courses and indicated at the end which are suitable for which diet.

STARTER

Yellow Pea Vadai

Yellow Pea Vadai [Tibits At Home]
Yellow Pea Vadai [Tibits At Home]

Everyone loves bite-sized morsels right?

Especially when they aren't your average defrosted supermarket starters.

Well, these pea vadais certainly tick that box. Thanks to to Tibits At Home - the cookbook brought out by our fave veggie restaruant, it's super easy to re-create them.

Ingredients:

200g yellow peas (available from most supermarkets)

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2-3 fresh chilli

4-5 fresh curry leaves

1tsp white pepper

2tbsp curry poder

1tbsp sea salt

rapeseed oil / canaloa oil for frying

Process:

Soak the yellow peas overnight, drain and puree. Chop the onion and garlic finely with the curry leaves and work all ingredients into a smooth dough. With your hands, shape into little balls and place oon baking paper. Heat the oil and deep fry for 4-6 minutes in batches and then drain on paper towels.

For a healthier option, bake instead of fry.

Suitable for: vegetarians, vegans.

Courgette Pancakes

If you can't eat flour, or even oats, you might have thought pancakes of any form were off the menu.

Not so! Our mates over at The Paleo Diet have dreamed some up.

[The Paleo Diet.com]
[The Paleo Diet.com]

Ingredients:

2 medium courgettes
1 egg
3 green onions, light green and white parts only
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
Zest of 1 lemon
Coconut oil, for frying

Process:

Grate the courgette, squeeze as much water out of it as possible or blot with kitchen towel. In a bowl, combine egg, courgette, onion (chopped small), lemon zest and some ground pepper. Heat the coconut oil in a pan, put a small amount of mixture in the pan and flatten into a nice round shape. Fry until golden on each side.

Suitable for: Vegetarians, paleo.

Mini Calzones

Now, WHO ON THIS EARTH, doesn't love a mini-pizza?

No one we want to know, that's for sure.

[Tibits At Home]
[Tibits At Home]

These are a little more complicated in the making, if you intend to create the dough from scratch. But totally doable.

And once again, they're from the fabulous Tibits At Home. If you want to know how to make them, you'll need to buy the book.

Suitable for: Vegetarians.

MAIN COURSE:

Cranberry And Walnut Veggie Meatloaf Panini

Okay so we've been following Kim's Coconut Diaries recipes for aaaages now. She's got a great story and transformed her body from unhappy and unhealthy, to super slim and now to a fit, muscular beauty.

We've made this meatloaf recipe with lean turkey mince before, which obviously wont serve this purpose, but it's equally doable with quorn mince or any of your favourite vegetarian meat substitutes.

[Yahoo Lifestyle / The Coconut Diaries.net]
[Yahoo Lifestyle / The Coconut Diaries.net]

Ingredients:

1 lb quorn mince

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 egg whites

2 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp pumpkin spice or fajita spice

dried cranberries and chopped walnuts

Process:

This couldn't be easier. Mix all the ingredients together, stick it in a greased bread pan, shove in the oven for 35 mins at 180. When it's out, cut of a hunk of it, throw it into a low carb tortilla, top with avocado, mustard, balsamic vinegar and a touch of maple syrup. Toast the panini lightly in a pan. Serve....

So. Good.

Suitable for: vegetarians.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Thanks to our lovely friend Deliciously Ella, who we interviewed the other day, there are so many lovely new veggie options suddenly on the menu! Hooray!

[Deliciously Ella]
[Deliciously Ella]

It's good for the gluten-free brigade too!

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower (about 500g)
1 cup of brown rice or buckwheat flour (150g)
2 tablespoons of chia seeds with 8 tablespoons of water
½ a cup of apple puree (100g)
1/4 of a cup of ice cold water
1 tablespoon of tamari
1 lemon
dried oregano
dried basil
salt

For the topping:
Tomato puree
Sliced tomatoes
Sweetcorn
Sliced mushrooms
Fresh basil leaves
sprinkling of salt and pepper

Process:

Place the chia seeds in a bowl, add 8 tablespoons of water, let it sit. Blend the cauliflower in a processor until flour-like. Squeeze out excess water in a muslin bag. Add to the chia seeds and stir in the chia seeds. Then add the brown rice flour, lemon, tamari, salt and dried herbs. Mix these ingredients well, pour in the ice cold water to make a sticky dough. Line the base of a pizza dish or baking tray with a generous amount of olive oil and a sprinkling of flour before evenly spreading the dough out over it. Bake in a 200C oven for about 20-30 minutes, if you’re not using a pizza dish then you will need to flip the base over half way through. Once the base is firm and ever-so-slightly crispy remove it from the oven and add the tomato puree and then the vegetables, before baking again for another 5-10 minutes.

Suitable for: Vegetarians, vegans.

DESSERT

We've included more desserts than anything else because...well, because dessert. right?

Raw Cherry Yogurt Bars

Look at that delicious goodness. That's an appealing looking mouthful right there. Thanks to Clean Eats Charlotte for this one.

[Clean Eats Charlotte]
[Clean Eats Charlotte]

Ingredients:

For the bars:
160g pitted dates
3tbsp ground almonds
2tbsp ground flaxseed
4tbsp oats
2tbsp desiccated coconut
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp baobab (optional)
A handful of stoned red or black cherries

For the yoghurt topping:
1tbsp coconut oil, melted
3tbsp yoghurt, soy or greek is great, or for vegans you can use CoYo.
A few tbsp berries
Agave nectar if desired

Process:

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until the mix forms a stiff, pinky red batter. Place the mix in a lined 6x6inch baking tin and freeze before coating with the yoghurt layer. To make the topping-
Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend, leaving some berry chunks for texture. Smooth over the bar mixture and return to the freezer to set for at least two hours. Slice the bars and keep frozen or refrigerated. Delicious!

Suitable for: Vegetarians, vegans (with coconut yogurt or soy yogurt).

Gingerbread Cookies

Paleo desserts can be really difficult if you're not allowing oats and grains... But these ginger cookies might just fill that sweet spot. Thanks to The Paleo Diet.

[The Paleo Diet]
[The Paleo Diet]

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds, soaked at least 8 hours
 ½ cup desiccated coconut
1 tbsp ginger powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
15 dates, pitted
 ½ cup coconut milk
 2 tbsp coconut oil
 2 eggs

Process:

Soak the dates in the coconut milk for 15 minutes. Food process the almonds and coconut. Blend the coconut milk, dates, eggs, coconut oil and spices. Stir into the almond mixture. Spoon the batter onto a lined baking tray in little circular dollops and flatten. Sprinkle some more coconut on top. Cook for 15 mins on about 150 degrees.

Suitable for: vegetarians, paleo.

Strawberry Cream Cookie Puffs

Cookies are nice and all that, but these are turbo cookies. Moist and delicious, thanks to Colby Triolo at Eat Clean Live Strong.

[Eat Clean Live Strong.net]
[Eat Clean Live Strong.net]

This recipe uses protein powder, which some people might be averse to, but there are plenty of lean vegan and veggie protein powders out there, so don't turn your nose up at it too quickly!

Ingredients:

1 scoop Vanilla Milkshake Quest Nutrition Protein
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 TB almond flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup natural applesauce/puree
1 TB coconut oil
2 egg whites
zero calorie sweetener (stevia is a good option, or you could just use some sugar).
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Strawberry Cream:
4 oz. fat free cream cheese
1/2 scoop Vanilla Milkshake Quest Nutrition Protein (though you could just skip this ingredient and blend the strawberries with the cream cheese)
4 strawberries

Process:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Bring water, coconut oil and apple puree to a boil. In a mixing bowl, combine the protein powder, coconut flour, almond flour and sweetener. Stir this into the boiling mixture. Keep on a medium heat and keep stirring until a dough-like mixture forms. Remove from the heat and beat for two minutes. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla. Add dough to a plastic bag, cut the corner and pipe dough into puff shapes! Bake for 10 minutes, turn heat down to 180, bake for 20 more minutes (cover with foil if they begin to brown).

Whip the cream and smear into the middle of the halved dough balls when they come out of the oven!

Suitable for: vegetarians and paleo with a couple of substitutions.

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What do you think? Will you be trying any of these fun ideas? Let us know in the comments!