When it comes to camping food, keeping it simple is the way to go, in my opinion.

When I was in Girl Scouts as a kid, we did a lot of “camp cooking” which involved prepping in-camp, sometimes cooking with a fire, and then there would dishwashing afterwards. When I go camping now, I don’t want to bring stuff like cutting boards and dishpans if I don’t have to, and I don’t want to spend time preparing meals out in the bush – usually when I and my fellow campers (ie kids and husband) are already hungry!

So here are my favorite no-cook, vegan camping and hiking foods. These are all either “grab and go” snack foods that you can eat on-demand, even if you’re walking, or foods where you only have to add boiling water – with no dishes to clean up after. Sound good?

Vegan Camping Snacks

Nuts & Seeds

Nuts are an ideal food to bring camping because they are packed full of good nutritious fats and protein. They don’t require any cooking at the time when you are ready to eat them, and they don’t need to stay cold. They also don’t get crushed up easily in your backpack or pocket. Since they are so nutrient dense, a couple of nuts goes along way.

Almonds

Almonds go well with other flavors of nuts as well as dried fruits.Are usually bring plane unpeeled raw almonds when I go camping but sometimes I will bring dry roasted almonds as well.

Cashews

Cashews have a high fat content, so just watch that if you are trying to be careful about it. (I’ll go personally when I go camping, I try not to worry too much about stuff like that because I am burning so much energy all day anyway!) 

I like to bring dry roasted cashews for camping. I usually buy raw cashews and then toast them at home before I leave to go camping. To toast them, I just boil them on a cookie sheet for about five minutes on one side, then flip and broil about two minutes on the other side. Do you want to watch the cashews closely as you broil them, because they can burn quickly once they start to brown.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds also make a great camping snack. Be sure that your sunflower seeds are unsalted because sunflower seeds are so small and can really hold a lot more salt than the larger nuts. You can grind sunflower seeds up with raisins and oats to make some tasty no cook snack balls, but I find out for camping and hiking plane I’m altered sunflower seeds are the easiest because they won’t spoil or get crushed in my backpack.

Dried Fruits

Dried fruits are absolutely perfect for a camping or hiking food. Since they are dried out they have a very low weight, so you don’t add heaviness to your backpack. A little bit goes a long way with dried fruits also. You can eat them as they are, or add them to some thing like oatmeal. They also make a great addition to your trail mix since they taste nice with things like nuts and pretzels.

Raisins

Raisins are a classic ingredient in trail mix and they are one of the least expensive dried fruit so you can find. They are sold pretty much everywhere including all grocery stores in the US as well as places such as gas stations. Raisins don’t have a very high sugar content compared to other dried fruits in this list which makes them nice for snacking on all day long.

Craisins

Craisins is a brand name for dried cranberries. They have a similar texture and appearance to raisins, but they are sweeter and cost a little bit more. They can add a nice bit of sweetness and tartness to your trail mix.

Dehydrated Watermelon

I got these dehydrated watermelon pieces from my mother who has gotten really good at food preservation over the past couple of years. They are surprisingly sweet and tasty, very light weight, and perfect for keeping in a baggie for camping snacks. Dehydrated watermelon is a good source of fiber and protein.

Here’s my mom’s tips on how to dehydrate watermelon: (thanks, mom!)

• Use seedless watermelon
• slice into 1/4 thick slices, snack size 3-4 in. long, 1-2 inches wide
• Remove visible seeds
• dehydrate at 135 degrees Fahrenheit (~57 c) 7-15 hours
• They should be dry to the touch, pliable and not brittle
• When done and cool place in a large glass jar or ziplock bag and shake for several days to insure dryness and keep from sticking.

Dehydrated Apples with Cinnamon Sugar

These dehydrated apples are also from my mother, they are just so delicious you would not believe. We are bringing them camping this summer and I know they will make a perfect snack for when we are out hiking all day. Of course you could always bring regular apples with you when you go camping, but the nice thing about this is that they don’t get bruised even when they are packed with a bunch of gear. And of course they are all as light as a feather which is always a good thing!

My mom’s tips on dehydrating apples: (thanks, mom!)

• Use very firm apples
• l cut mine on the Apple peeler, slicer, corer.
• Leave peels on or remove. (I left mine on)
• Once sliced and cored, cut in half or quarters.
• You can soak for a few minutes in warm water to avoid browning (I didn’t).
• Lay on trays of dehydrator not touching.
• I sprinkled the apples with cinnamon sugar.
• Dehydrate at 135 degrees Fahrenheit (~57 c) for 7-15 hrs. I started early afternoon and went overnight. Turned off for an hour and checked for dryness and pliability. When done and cool place in a large glass jar or ziplock bag and shake for several days to insure dryness and keep from sticking.

Premade Energy Bars

Premade bars such as these Larabars are made out of similar ingredients to the other ones and I have already mentioned here except they tend to come in more exciting flavors to try. Energy bars like these will have a pretty balanced nutritional content with higher calories. They’re not some thing that I would choose to eat on a daily basis, but for high activity days when we are camping and hiking in the summertime, they’re not bad. Check the discount section of your grocery store because you may be able to find energy bars at half price when the box they were in his broken open (like the ones I have here!)

Water Filter

No matter what type of snacks you bring when you go hiking or camping, the most important thing is to bring enough water and drink it regularly. We used to bring tons and tons of water bottles with us when we went camping which was so heavy. Then you have to figure out what to do with the empties!

This year we decided to switch to using a portable mini water filter. At first we considered the Lifestraw, but then we chose the Sawyer mini water filter. It’s easier and faster to use than the life straw, and has a smaller filtration size (0.1 microns with Sawyer vs 0.2 microns with Lifestraw). Basically it allows you to use any natural water source or non-potable wells near your campsite for drinking water. I was skeptical about it at first, since I thought it would take a long time to filter the water, but I am super impressed with how fast this little filter works. I can’t wait to use it again and again with all of our future camping trips.

Breakfast

Oatmeal

For camping oatmeal, I recommend getting the individual-size packs of instant oats. They often come in various tasty flavors such as apple cinnamon or brown sugar. All you need is some boiling water to make them. You can use freezer bags to pour the boiling water into if you don’t want to have dishes, otherwise, a small mess kit bowl will do. Since they tend to be sweeter than the oatmeal we normally make at home, I think they make for an excellent cozy camping treat.

Grits

For a more savory camping breakfast that’s also vegan, try making grits. You can pre-measure the ingredients into a freezer bag so you only have to add boiling water later. Aside from corn meal you can also add: salt, onion powder, vegetable broth powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, dried veggies.

Coffee & Tea

For the sake of simplicity we usually bring instant coffee with us when we go camping. That way there’s no additional equipment required other than a cup. We prefer the Starbucks instant coffee over Nescafe, which both come in small individual serving packs. Again, just add boiling water and you’re good to go.

If you drink tea in the morning, individual tea bags are easy enough for camping.

Lunch and Dinner

For dinner in the past we would bring things such as egg salad (which my daughter happily ate and then later referred to as “that gross butter,” LOL) or sausages.

And then there’s the classic “ramen bomb” which I learned back in my girls scout days. We cooked ramen with cream of mushroom soup over a campfire and then added canned chicken. It might sound terrible but it was actually so delicious, I remember coming home from day camp and making it again for myself on the weekend.

I’ll make a vegan ramen bomb for myself this time, and here’s how I’ll do it – use an egg-free ramen or noodle cup (just check the ingredients, there are lots of eggless ones in the store nowadays), add in some powdered potato and powdered mushroom, and instead of canned chicken I’ll do canned chickpeas.

Other vegan camping dinners we love are fire-baked potatoes (just bring russet potatoes or sweet potatoes wrapped in foil, and don’t forget to bring a fork!), veggie sausage, and canned baked beans.

I’m going camping in July ’21 so I’ll update this post with more info and photos after my trip! Feel free to comment with your favorite vegan camping foods below.

The post Vegan Camping Food appeared first on Instant Veg.

For this recipe, you will need some equipment:

1. A blender, preferably a high-speed one
2. A nut milk bag, also called a juice bag.

The nut milk bags I use are extremely durable and work perfectly for making dairy-free milk alternatives such as this almond milk. I have been using the same ones for a few years now and haven’t had any problems with them breaking. If you take good care of your nut milk bags (don’t wring them in the same direction every time and always wash and hang to dry immediately after use) they should be a good investment towards a healthier diet.

For the almonds, they should be raw almonds – not roasted and salted. I get raw almonds from Aldi and they aren’t terribly expensive. You can also order them in bulk online.

I recommend soaking your almonds in water for about 8 hours or overnight. I usually soak mine in the fridge.

If you don’t have time to soak the almonds, you can pour boiling water over them and soak for about 5 minutes. Either way works!

Once you have soaked your almonds, you are ready to start making almond milk! Just add the almonds to your blender and add water, and blend until very smooth. Remember, you don’t have to do any peeling off of the almonds skins. The nut milk bag will take care of them.

When your almonds are blended silky smooth and you see only very tiny pieces of the brown skins left, you’re ready to strain it. Place your nut milk bag over a bowl as shown below, then pour in your blended almonds and start squeezing.

Of course, make sure you wash your hands very well before you start straining the bag. Almond milk is very easily contaminated so wash those hands well first.

• How To Make Oat Milk
• Vegan Milk Alternatives – 5 Nondairy Milk Options You Should Know
• The Best Vegan Instant Pot Mac And Cheese
• How To Make The Best Oatmeal
• Vegan Pancakes – Fluffy & Delicious Coconut Milk Pancakes (Oil Free)

Print

Almond Milk

Make fresh, delicious almond milk at home! Just blend and strain, no peeling required.

Course Drinks, Vegan Basics

Cuisine American

Keyword almond milk, how to make almond milk

Prep Time 8 hours

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes

Servings 4 cups

Calories 206kcal

Author Shannon Hakala

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds soaked 8 hours or overnight
• 3 cups water
• pinch of salt optional

Instructions

• Blend almonds and water in high-speed until smooth (about 1 minute).
• Pour mixture into nut milk bag and gently squeeze to extract all the liquid.
• Store almond milk in air-tight container for up to 7 days.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 206kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 9mg | Potassium: 252mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Calcium: 100mg | Iron: 1mg

The post How To Make Delicious Almond Milk appeared first on Instant Veg.

I keep posting so many chickpea recipes lately but I can’t help it! They’re extremely versatile, and I feel like I’ve just discovered so many new ways to use them. So I hope ya don’t mind me sharing yet another garbanzo bean recipe (did you know, chickpeas are known by a lot of names?).

So this time it’s chickpea taco meat. We’ve tried so many different ways to make taco meat without beef, and this is one of my favorites so far. Let me tell you why.

Typical ways to replace beef in a recipe in order to make it vegan tend to include ingredients made from soy. There are store-bought vegan taco crumbles, vegan sofritas made from tofu, vegan taco meat made from TVP (which is dried soy). You catch my drift? It’s always soy.

This Vegan Taco Meat is Soy Free

I like soy and I especially love tofu, but it can be difficult to find, even for me living in a large urban area. And some people can’t eat it due to allergies. So I wanted to try making it from chickpeas to see if it could be a good vegan taco meat alternative.

I am really happy with the way this recipe turned out – everyone who has tried it says it’s delicious, even the kids. The chickpeas have a bit more texture that’s nice because they’re not total mush in the tacos.

It’s Lower Sodium, too

I’ve been trying to use less salt lately so that I can hopefully avoid giving myself blood pressure problems later on. Since the canned chickpeas are already a little salty, I find I don’t need to add any. You can add in a little sprinkle if you prefer, of course!

• Vegan Taco Meat – The Best Homemade TVP Taco “Beef”
• Tofu Sofritas – Vegan Taco Meat
• Southwest Sweet Potato Quinoa
• The Best Vegan Crunchwrap Supreme Recipe (Taco Bell Copycat)

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Chickpea Taco Meat

A vegan taco meat option that's allergy friendly and WFPB if you omit olive oil.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Mexican, Tex-Mex

Keyword vegan taco meat, vegan taco meat nut free, vegan taco meat soy free

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

2 minutes

Total Time 17 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 190kcal

Author Shannon Hakala

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 12oz cans)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (omit for WFPB)
• ½ cup onion
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp chili powder (not cayenne)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ⅔ cup water
• salt & pepper

Instructions

• Prep: Dice the onion and jalapeño pepper, mince the garlic finely, drain the chickpeas.
• In a skillet on medium-high heat, heat the olive oil (replace with ¼ cup water if WFPB), and cook the onions and jalapeños until onions are soft and transparent.
• Set stove heat to low. Add in the rest of the ingredients except the water. Using a strong blunt cooking utensil (such as a wooden spoon, potato masher, or spaghetti spoon) smash all the chickpeas.
• Add the water and keep mashing the chickpeas a bit more, stirring the water so you get an even consistency. Let it cook uncovered about 2 more minutes, stirring now and then so it doesn't burn. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 31mg | Potassium: 307mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 447IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Vegan Taco Meat Made From Chickpeas appeared first on Instant Veg.

What could be easier to make when you are short on ideas, and, frankly, HANGRY?

So, I have reviewed (with help from my kids) four different boxed vegan mac n cheese brands/flavors. I hope you’ll find these reviews useful and informative. You can click on a link here to go straight to the review you wish to read:

Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheezy Mac Review
Daiya Alfredo Style Deluxe Cheezy Mac Review
Annie’s Cheddar Flavor Vegan Mac Review
Annie’s Creamy Sauce (shells) Vegan Mac Review
The Best Boxed Vegan Mac And Cheese – Verdict

Daiya Mac And Cheese

Honest Review – Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheezy Mac

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I tried this Daiya vegan mac and cheese. But I had previously had great experiences with the other Daiya dairy free cheese products I’ve dried such as their vegan cheddar style slices. Love love love. So I was excited to try this.

Based on what we had heard other people say online, I expected this boxed vegan mac and cheese to be the best of the bunch. This Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheezy Mac comes with a pre-made sauce packet, so all you need to do is boil and drain the pasta. Nice.

Out of all the boxed vegan macaronis I tried, this one has the closest look to the basic Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese that kids in my generation grew up loving.

But looks are about all this one had in common with our expectations. We just didn’t like the taste of it at all – I’m not sure how to describe the taste even except that it tasted artificial. Even though it says on the box “Plant Based,” the taste didn’t remind of of plants (or dairy) at all, I couldn’t eat it. My kids & husband also didn’t like it, unfortunately.

It’s a bummer because it was on the expensive side and as I said earlier, I do like some Daiya products. This one was simply not for me.

Honest Review – Daiya Alfredo Style Deluxe Cheezy Mac

After our less-than-favorable experience with the Cheddar style Daiya mac, I wasn’t expecting the Alfredo style flavor to be much better. This one also comes with the sauce ready-to-go in a foil/plastic packet, so all you need to do is boil and drain the macaroni.

Taste-wise, this one was very different from the cheddar. Again, it had that hard-to-describe taste of artificiality. I’m looking at the ingredients trying to pinpoint what it is I don’t like, maybe it’s the tapioca starch? Hmm.

In my opinion, the Alfredo Style Daiya Vegan Mac was slightly better than the cheddar style because I did like the herbs in it. But otherwise, I was not a big fan of the sauce, and neither was my family.

Annies Vegan Mac And Cheese

The Annie’s brands of vegan mac & cheese come in several different flavors:

• Cheddar
• Creamy Sauce
• Gluten Free
• Rich & Creamy Cheddar with Broccoli

What Kind Of Milk To Use With Vegan Boxed Mac & Cheese?

I was a bit curious about what kind of milk or liquid would be needed to make this vegan boxed mac n cheese. On the box it just says to use 1/3 cup of non-dairy milk.

I haven’t always had good experiences in the past when using store bought vegan milks in recipes – they tend to have some additional ingredients that come out tasting funny in the final result. Some sweetness or vanilla – actually I just had this problem a few days ago when I tried making sauce with store-bought soy milk. It said it was plain, unsweetened, organic soy milk but it had an undeniable sweet taste in the end, which ruined the sauce.

So for this mac n cheese I opted to make my own oat milk, which takes less than 5 minutes at home and which I know will not add any funny flavors to the food.

Honest Review – Annie’s Cheddar Flavor Vegan Mac

Generally I have had good experiences with the Annie’s brand of foods. The price of this vegan mac and cheese was a little higher than it is for non-vegan boxed mac and cheese, but still under $3 for a box.

In order to make Annie’s vegan cheddar style mac and cheese you will need to have some vegan butter and non-dairy milk on hand. I almost always use oat milk at home because it’s inexpensive, quick to make (takes like 1 minute), and preservative-free when I make it at home.

I like this flavor of Annie’s vegan macaroni & cheese, and I would buy it again for myself. It tastes differently than the Kraft Mac & Cheese I grew up with, but for me it was not a bad taste. I also like that it’s certified organic, convenient, and tasty.

My kids on the other hand did not like it. They are 10 and 6. Even my non-picky eater said she didn’t like it. So it’s a no for the kids on Annie’s vegan mac and cheese…. oh well. Perhaps another flavor?

Honest Review – Annie’s Creamy Sauce (shells) Vegan Mac

After testing out the cheddar flavor Annie’s vegan mac, I wasn’t sure if we would like the “Creamy Sauce” version. According to the box, it’s made with pumpkin and sweet potato. The pasta is shaped like shells instead of the usual elbows for this variety.

I added vegan butter and oat milk to complete the vegan cheese sauce for this one, as directed by the package instructions.

Surprisingly, this mac tasted awesome. Out of all the boxed vegan mac and cheese flavors we tested out, the Annie’s Creamy Sauce Vegan Mac And Cheese (shells) was our absolute favorite. I didn’t expect to like the pumpkin and sweet potato sauce but it was actually lovely. My kids both liked it as well and they both asked for seconds. Finally, a win!

The Best Boxed Vegan Mac And Cheese: Verdict

In my experience, there is a learning curve when it comes learning how to cook a brand new diet. Sometimes it feels like all the things you grew up eating are now off the menu!

But nowadays there really are a lot of options. There are oodles of companies that specialize in vegan foods, and the choices are constantly expanding as more and more people eliminate meat, dairy, and eggs from their diets.

After reviewing four of the most popular boxed mac and cheese vegan options out there, the clear winner for my family and I was Annie’s Creamy Sauce (shells) Vegan Mac. We loved that you can taste the subtle pumpkin and sweet potato in the sauce, it tasted fresh, natural, healthy, and delicious!

When it comes to vegan dairy alternatives, there is always a danger of something tasting off or artificial. I found that many of the boxed vegan mac and cheese brands have this problem and I hope they will continue developing their recipes to come up with flavors that are more natural.

What is your favorite boxed vegan mac and cheese brand? Leave your thoughts in the comments – I love to hear from you!

The post The Best Boxed Vegan Mac And Cheese – My Honest Reviews appeared first on Instant Veg.

As you may have seen in my other post where I reviewed the Splendid Spoon vegan meal delivery service, I am a huge fan of this company’s foods and their practices when it comes to shipping their products.

Not only are their foods super delicious, completely plant-based, and really really easy to prepare, all of the boxes and packaging that they use in their shipments are either recyclable or biodegradable.

If you didn’t see my previous review of Splendid Spoon, I encourage you to check it out. OK now onto the noodles!

Kale pesto noodles

The kale pesto noodles contain rice noodles, kale, water, roasted tomatoes, almonds, cashews, olive oil, hemp seeds, black pepper, salt, lemon juice concentrate, and nutritional yeast.

The kale pesto noodles from splendid spoon taste absolutely delicious. They have a rich, flavorful, savory taste of comforting Mediterranean flavors. It’s pretty amazing that they’re actually dairy free. The almonds, cashews, olive oil, nutritional yeast, and hemp seeds give it the richness of feta cheese without any milk.

I definitely recommend these noodles to anybody even if you don’t like kale. You don’t even taste the kale over the flavor of the spiced roasted tomatoes and black pepper.

The kale noodles container contains two servings of one cup each. Each serving is about 240 cal, with 14 g of fat, 1.5 g of saturated fat, zero trans fats, zero cholesterol, 450 mg of sodium, 24 g of carbohydrates, 3 g of dietary fiber, grams of sugar, 6 g of protein, and 10% of your daily value of iron. 

Red curry noodles

The red curry noodles from splendor it’s blown spoon contain: rice noodles, coconut milk, sweet potatoes, kale, water, red curry paste, lime juice, tomato paste, olive oil, Thai Basil, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, and salt.

The red curry noodles have a sweet and spicy taste, that’s a little bit and creamy from the coconut milk. The kale is really soft and doesn’t have any bitter taste at all. Also the kale pieces are cut very small, so it’s a great way to eat and enjoy kale even if you normally are not a fan of it.

The red curry noodles would be a great meal to have when you have a sore throat or a cold and want some thing that’s really gonna warm your throat and warm your whole body. I thought it was very delicious!

The red curry noodles package contains two servings of one cup each. Each serving contains 210 cal, 11 g of fat, 6 g of saturated fat, 210 mg of sodium, 27 g of carbohydrates, 2 g of fiber, 2 g of sugar, 3 g of protein, 65 mg of calcium, 6% of your daily value of iron, and 6% of your daily value of potassium.

Green curry noodles

The green curry noodles from splendor in spoon include rice noodles, coconut milk, broccoli, butternut squash, she talking mushrooms, water, green curry paste, cashier line, sugar, spices, basil paste, scallions, olive oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice concentrate, salt , cumin, coriander.

The green curry noodles have a milder flavor that’s still pretty spicy so it’s a great noodle soup to have if you have a sore throat. I’d also recommend this noodle soup for when you have a bit of an upset stomach, because the ingredients are a bit healthier.

The nutrition in the green curry noodles is: 200 cal per one cup serving, 10 g of fat, 6 g of saturated fat, 0 g of cholesterol, 200 mg of sodium, 26 g of carbs, 2 g of fiber, 4 g of sugar’s, 3 g of protein, 25 mg of calcium, and 4% of your daily value of potassium.

Tangy ginger noodles

The tangy ginger noodles contain rice noodles, broccoli, water, bell pepper, carrots, lime juice, coconut amino’s, dates, almonds, scallions, sesame oil, olive oil, ginger, garlic, basil paste, lemon juice concentrate, nutritional yeast, jalapeño peppers, and salt.

The tangy ginger noodles have a delicious sweet and sour taste, all of the ingredients in this one are nice and soft and have quite a bit of umami.

The thing a ginger noodles container has to 1 cup servings that are 210 cal each, with 10 g of fat, 1 g of saturated fat, 0 mg of cholesterol, 180 mg of salt, 29 g of carbohydrates, 3 g of fiber, 7 g of sugar, 4 g of protein, 4% of your daily value of calcium, 6% of your daily value of iron, and 6% of your daily value of potassium.

Creamy Butternut Squash Noodles

The creamy butternut squash noodles from splendid spoon contain rice noodles, broccoli, water, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, lemon juice concentrate, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, sage, black pepper, ground turmeric, and cloves.

This creamy butter not squash noodles has a sweeter taste that it is not spicy, with a butternut soup base. There is the lovely scent of cinnamon that you will notice as soon as you heat it up!

The butternut squash noodles contains 170 cal per each one cup serving in the pack. It also contains 7 g of fat, 1 g of saturated fat, 0 mg of cholesterol, 350 mg of salt, 1 g of sugar, 3 g of protein, 4% of your daily value of calcium, 6% of your daily value of iron, and 4% of your daily value of potassium. 

Splendid spoon noodles review: conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading my review of the brand new noodle bowls from Splendid Spoon. If you’re looking for a delicious and easy to prepare vegan meal delivery service, Splendid Spoon is a great brand that I can’t recommend enough.

Also check out my other Splendid Spoon Reviews for their plant-based meal delivery boxes, where I reviewed their bowls and smoothies! They are all so yummy.

And don’t forget to click here so that you get your coupon off your first order if you are a new Splendid Spoon subscriber.

The post My Splendid Spoon Reviews – Noodles appeared first on Instant Veg.

Splendid Spoon is a plant-based meal subscription box company that offers over 40 different ready-to-eat smoothies, soups, and bowls. If you’re trying to eat healthier, but don’t have the time to cook from scratch every day, read on!

Affiliate disclaimer – I received a free box of bowls and smoothies from Splendid Spoon in exchange for a review. By clicking on my affiliate links in this post, I may receive monetary compensation at no additional cost to you. Please also be aware that I only recommend products that I personally like and think will be valuable to my readers.

The Splendid Spoon box arrived to me in one day via Fed Ex. I noticed that the box is well-insulated and all the packing materials are recyclable. After looking at some older Splendid Spoon reviews I can see that they have continued working to make their packaging even more sustainable which I think is wonderful!

The contents of my box included “bowls” – think grain bowls, buddha bowls, etc – smoothies, and something called a “wellness shot.” Everything was completely frozen thanks to a small piece of dry ice included in the packaging.

Click here for $10 off your Splendid Spoon box!

Splendid Spoon Bowls Review

I received five different bowl meals in my box. They come in microwave-safe, recyclable plastic containers (which I am keeping because I love reusing these type of containers for freezing leftovers!). Each of these bowls was frozen solid when I got them.

In order to reheat the bowls, you have to remove the lid and microwave for 2-4 minutes. I microwaved my bowls in the containers they came in and then transferred the contents to my own bowls for the sake of being able to show the ingredients better, since some of the bowls are layered (with rice on the bottom, for example).

Below I will describe each of the bowls I received in more detail!

Moroccan Spiced Buckwheat Bowl

The ingredients in this bowl are: buckwehat, butternut squash, broccoli, chickpeas, water, scallions, currants, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, Ras Al Hanout (spice blend), garlic, salt, and ginger.

After heating up this bowl I could already tell that it was going to taste delicious because the smell was very appetizing.

This bowl tasted amazing! I love all of the spices it contained. It wasn’t really a “hot spicy” that would make your mouth water and your nose run, but like a nice warm spicy like what you get from cinnamon and ginger.

The texture of the chickpeas and squash are soft and perfect in this bowl. The broccoli has just the right amount of crunch and softness. This was definitely one of my favorite bowls in the box!

Aloo Gobi Quinoa Bowl

So for the aloo gobi quinoa bowl it contains: quinoa, potatoes, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, red peppers, mushrooms, carrots, extra virgin olive oil, green peas, salt, curry powder, and turmeric.

The aloo gobi quinoa bowl had a really gorgeous array of colors with the red peppers, green peas, orange sweet potatoes, cauliflower etc. It had a very yummy and appetizing aroma.

Taste wise, this one has a more mild flavor, and it’s not spicy. The turmeric is a good flavor combo with the quinoa in my opinion. I’m not someone who LOVES the taste of quinoa, although I do eat it anyway because I know it’s good for me.

Well, in this bowl it was delicious. It wasn’t mushy at all, but had a nice fluffy consistency with just the right amount of crunchiness.

For the veggies in this bowl the potatoes, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, carrots and mushrooms have that nice roasted flavor.

Overall this aloo gobi quinoa bowl had a great savory taste that would make an awesome, filling, and satisfying lunch on the go or at home.

Cuban black bean bowl

You can see that each of these bowls are packed to the top with ingredients! This is what it looks like frozen:

And then cooked, after I have transferred to a bowl:

The Cuban black bean bowl is made out of organic brown rice, plantains, organic kale, organic tomatoes, black beans, scallions, lime juice, red onion, garlic, salt, cilantro, extra-virgin olive oil, jalapeño pepper, cumin, dried shiitake mushroom, paprika, chipotle powder, and oregano.

This both smelled absolutely delicious and I couldn’t wait to try it!

The taste of this ball was not spicy. The seasoning was delicious. The kale is chopped into very, very small pieces so even if you don’t like cake kale you will probably be able to tolerate this just fine.

I had never had plantains before trying them in this bowl, and I thought that they tasted great, and added a nice slightly sweet element to the bowl.

The black beans seem to have a deliciously spiced tomato-based sauce that’s totally mouthwatering and will make you want to eat every last bite of this bowl!

Brown Rice Taco Bowl

This bowl contains black beans, organic kale, organic brown rice, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, organic red peppers, pumpkin seeds, extra-virgin olive oil, lime juice, tomato paste, scallions, poblano peppers, garlic, cilantro, chipotle pepper, black pepper, paprika, red chili pepper, oregano, and ancho pepper.

This bowl is smelling and looking amazing with a combination of the sweet potatoes and the dark green kale, the black beans, brown rice and the yummy looking green pumpkin seeds. Frankly it looks super duper appetizing!

I really like the seasoning in this bowl and it’s a little bit spicier than the Cuban bowl – which I really love.

The kale is really cooked well and chopped up into small pieces so that it doesn’t taste bitter at all. It has a nice sweet taste and it blends in well with the rest of the dish.

The addition of the pumpkin seeds adds a satisfying crunch to the bowl and I love that there aren’t just a few pumpkin seeds but a decent amount!

Kabocha congee

This kabocha congee bowl contains water, squash, coconut milk, organic brown rice, onions, pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, coconut oil, sea salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Kabocha is the Japanese word for pumpkin and refers to a type of squash or pumpkin called Kabocha squash. I think it tastes and looks a lot like acorn squash. Congee is Chinese rice porridge which is typically made with savory ingredients.

Here’s the Splendid Spoon kabocha congee frozen:

And the cooked kabocha congee:

This congee is a very pretty yellow color from the squash. It has a really yummy coconut-y smell that’s very appetizing!

The kabocha congee tastes very creamy with a very mild level of spiciness. I wouldn’t really call it spicy at all but rather nicely seasoned. The coconut taste is there but it is not overwhelming.

You could easily want to have this congee as a breakfast lunch or dinner on a cold morning or when you’re feeling under the weather. It’s definitely a great, comforting meal!

The pumpkin seeds add a nice extra bit of protein and crunch. This was my favorite meal of all the foods in the box!

Splendid Spoon Smoothies Review

The smoothies in my box came packaged in square plastic bottles. They were mostly frozen. I could immediately tell that I was in for an adventure with these smoothies since they contain many ingredients I’ve never had before!

Dragon Fruit Berry Smoothie

This smoothie contains: pineapple juice, dragon fruit, raspberries, avocado, P protein, Chia seeds, vanilla powder, and Himalayan sea salt. It comes in a 16 ounce bottle and when you get it in the mail it’ll be frozen or partially frozen.

Having never tasted dragon fruit before I was excited to taste this smoothie!

This smoothie is dark purpleish-reddish color. It tastes really good and quite unique! It’s one of the more sweet smoothies in the box.

I can definitely taste the raspberries, pineapple, and dragon fruit. The consistency is very smooth although it is not completely smooth. There’s a little bit of gel like texture from the chia seeds, raspberry seeds, etc but that didn’t bother me.

My kids tried this smoothie and they both really seem to enjoy it, too!

AB&J smoothie

This almond butter and jelly smoothie contains purified water, strawberry purée, bananas, almond butter, coconut nectar, baobab powder, pea protein, and Himalayan salt.

This smoothie has a unique light brown color with a little flecks of what I am assuming are strawberry seeds banana seeds.

I’m not really used to the taste of almond butter, since I’ve only had it a handful of times and not in a smoothie until now. But I will say that the banana flavor and a strawberry purée definitely come through taste wise!

Green Matcha smoothie

This smoothie contains purified water, bananas, avocados, lemon juice, dates, hemp protein, vanilla powder, match a putter, and spirulina.

Don’t let the green color scare you! This smoothie is an intriguing blend of flavors that work together well.

The first thing you notice is the scent of banana. The smoothies taste is very mild, although the matcha is definitely the star of the show.

It is somewhat creamy tasting, and has a completely smooth texture.

Mint Chip Smoothie

This smoothie contains banana, almond butter, coconut nectar, coconut nibs, baobab powder, pea protein, Swiss chard juice, spirulina, peppermint, and Himalayan salt.

This smoothie has a pale green color with many little flecks of brown, reddish brown and white. The smell is really nice and reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

The flavor of this one is very sweet, creamy with a hint of mint and a little bit of dark-chocolat taste from the cacao nibs. I can definitely taste the bananas and the almond butter in it too.

My husband also tried this one and he really liked the taste of it as well.

Blueberry Coconut Smoothie

This smoothie contains purified water, blueberries, cashew butter, pea protein, baobab powder, coconut flakes, chia seeds, vanilla powder, açai, cinnamon, and Himalayan salt. It’s a dark-ish purple color with a very smooth blend.

The taste of this one is probably one of my favorites of all the smoothies that were in the box. I really like the combination of blueberries and cinnamon along with the vanilla powder and coconut.

I also really liked the taste of the cashew butter in it, which give it a balance between sweetness and creaminess. The blueberry and cinnamon are strong flavors in it and I think they taste really lovely together!

Splendid Spoon Wellness Shot

The wellness shot contains ginger, orange juice, lemon juice, and oregano extract. It comes in a small jar that contains 3 ounces of this juice, just enough for a few sips.

This little wellness shot tastes very sweet and orange orangey, as well as hot and spicy because of the ginger, lemon juice, and oregano extract. It’s definitely got a strong “zing” that will help you wake up!

Other ingredients in this little wellness shot include Himalayan sea salt. It does not contain any added sugar.

I felt more warmed up after drinking it which is something I always notice when I have ginger. I drank it in the afternoon around 4-5pm, which is a time of day I often start feeling sluggish. I don’t like to have coffee that late in the day because it’ll mess with my sleep, so this little shot was a perfect caffeine-free pick-me-up!

Splendid Spoon Subscription Box Review Conclusion: Would I Recommend It?

Yes! Overall, I had a great impression of the Splendid Spoon meals and smoothies. They all seem to be great combinations of nutritious, plant-based vegan ingredients, and the variety of flavors in each dish was a pleasant surprise. I love that each dish contained fiber-rich whole grains and veggies, and the quality of the food and its preparation also seems very good.

I think Splendid Spoon would be great for someone who has a goal of eating healthier, but doesn’t have the time to cook homemade meals (or to learn new recipes!). It’s the convenience of frozen foods, minus the processed crap. With Splendid Spoon it’s easy to eat what’s good for you.

A Splendid Spoon subscription would also be great for someone who’s looking to make the switch to a completely plant based diet. All the meals in my box were tasty and filling, and I didn’t feel like snacking for the rest of the day when I ate the Splendid Spoon bowls for lunch.

Click here for $10 off your Splendid Spoon box!

I hope you found my review of the Splendid Spoon box useful. If you have any questions about it you can leave a comment below or check out the Splendid Spoon website. Thanks for reading!

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1. Southwest Ranch Dressing (Vegan)

This dairy-free southwest ranch dressing tastes so good you’ll want to eat it straight off the spoon! It’s great in salads, over rice bowls & buddha bowls, and makes a fantastic veggie dip.

2. Red Pepper Miso Dressing

This irresistibly tasty dressing will add bright pop of orange color and a burst of fresh, tangy sweetness and umami to salads or cooked veggies. It’s the perfect topping for roasted or sautéed sweet potatoes, and makes an excellent dressing in buddha bowls.

3. Sesame Dressing

This sesame dressing is one of our favorites for salads and buddha bowls – it’s the perfect blend of sweetness, acidity, and umami. Toss in toasted sesame seeds and you’ll want to put this dressing on everything!

4. Vegan Ranch Dressing

This vegan ranch dressing can be made quickly and used as a chip dip, veggie dip, vegan chicken nugget dip, etc. Goes great on salads, too!

5. Tahini

Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds that have been hulled, toasted, and ground. Making delicious tahini sauce at home is easy, using a food processor.

The post Vegan Salad Dressing – 5 Vegan Dressing Recipes You Need In Your Life appeared first on Instant Veg.

This recipe will make about 2.5 cups of vegan “cool whip” style whipped cream. It uses coconut oil as a key ingredient. You should use refined coconut oil to avoid having a coconut-y taste.

I used an immersion blender to make this vegan whipped cream. First I blended it with the blade attachment, then after chilling, I whipped it using the balloon whisk attachment.

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Vegan Cool Whip

A vegan whipped cream recipe that tastes light and delicious, just like Cool Whip.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, European

Keyword vegan cool whip, vegan cool whip recipe, vegan whipped cream, vegan whipped cream recipe

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook Time 0 minutes

Whipping Time 10 minutes

Servings 10

Calories 108kcal

Author Shannon Hakala

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp plant based milk I use soy milk
• 2 Tbsp agave syrup can sub corn syrup or maple syrup
• 1 tsp xantham gum

Instructions

• Blend all ingredients using an immersion blender for 45 seconds, then chill for 2 hours.
• Using an electric mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, whisk until fluffy and peaks hold their shape, about 8-10 minutes.

Notes

• For sweeter whipped cream, you can add up to 2 additional Tablespoons of syrup after whipping.
• For vanilla flavor, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract after whipping.

Nutrition

Calories: 108kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 4mg | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 12IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg

The post Vegan whipped cream appeared first on Instant Veg.

I am SO excited to share this recipe for vegan butter with you.

If you’ve bought vegan butter at the grocery store, then you know how expensive it can be.

The vegan butter I used to buy was delicious – but it cost about $6 for 8oz, which is four times higher than the average price of dairy butter. Even though I have a fairly comfortable income I feel like that price isn’t sustainable for me!

So I decided to work on my own vegan butter recipe at home. I wanted it to function like normal butter as much as possible, but have a little more spreadability like margarine.

And I wanted it to be cheap. Here’s how much this butter cost me to make using the ingredients I had at home:

• 1 1/4 cups coconut @$2.99/30oz = $0.92
• 1/2 cup raw cashews blanched @ $5.09/lb = $0.42
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar ~ roughly $0.02
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil ~ roughly $0.02
• 1 tsp lecithin powder @ $9.18/lb = $0.15
• water & salt, let’s say they add another $0.02

Total cost to make a pound of vegan butter at home? about $1.65!

How To Make Vegan Butter

To make this vegan butter recipe, you’ll need a blender. We need to get the raw cashews completely incorporated into the liquids so that there are no lumps, and this can be done easily in a blender.

Coconut oil is the main ingredient in the butter – make sure you’re using refined coconut oil. I occasionally find good deals on coconut oil in the “reduced price” section of the grocery store, but the best price I find is at my local bulk foods store.

I use soy lecithin powder to emulsify the water, cashew solids, and oil. Soy lecithin is an emulsifier made by mixing soybean oil and hot water and spinning the mixture to in a centrifuge to extract the lecithin (source). You can leave it out, but the butter may separate in the fridge. If you avoid soy you can also use sunflower lecithin.

You can find soy lecithin powder on Amazon. I recommend checking your local shops that sell baking supplies as you may be able to find it for about half the price. A little goes a long way!

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Vegan Butter

This homemade vegan butter is easy to spread and tastes a lot like real butter. You can even use it as a vegan butter replacement in baking recipes!

Course Vegan Basics

Cuisine American, European

Keyword how to make vegan butter, vegan butter, vegan butter recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes

Cool & Set 1 day 30 minutes

Servings 1 pound of butter

Calories 21kcal

Author Shannon Hakala

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups coconut oil melted
• 1/2 cup raw cashews blanched
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp salt use 1 tsp for salted butter
• 1 tsp lecithin powder

Instructions

• Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it's all liquid, and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
• To blanch the cashews, pour boiling water over them and let them rest for about 20 seconds, then drain the water.
• Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend for about 45 seconds, stopping halfway to scrape down the sides. Taste it now and if you want to add more salt you can.
• Pour the vegan butter into a dish with a lid and chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
• Take it out of the freezer and use a butter knife to gently mix the solidified parts into the parts that are still liquid. If you do this for a minute it will all become creamy and soft with a butter-like consistency.
• Store your butter in the fridge for up to 1 month. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 21kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Vegan Butter appeared first on Instant Veg.

You might think that making bread from scratch is difficult to or that you need a lot of baking experience for it to turn out well.

Making good bread isn’t hard but there are a lot of ways it can go wrong. Maybe you’ve tried baking bread from scratch in the past and it didn’t turn out right at all, or maybe this is your first time ever baking.

The more you practice making bread, the more you’ll understand the process, and you’ll improve your results quickly.

My Bread Baking Tips

I recommend that with each batch of bread you bake, take notes on it. Write down what you did differently, or anything about your final bread that you like or don’t like.

I’ve been working on improving my bread baking for the last ten years that I’ve been married, and for a few years before that as well. Mostly I’ve worked on creating Finnish-style rye bread which is supposed to turn out hard, flat, and quite sour tasting. A pretty different animal from the fluffy white bread I grew up eating!

Now I think I’ve got my bread-making technique down just right. So I decided to share exactly what my process is like, from choosing ingredients to mixing the dough to baking the final loaf.

Mom Tip: Let The Kids Help!

If you have kitchen helpers a.k.a. kids, you can give them some dough to play with (once you get to step 3). They’ll have fun shaping their own little loafs, leaving you free to focus on the crucial final steps of the baking process. My kids loved it when I demonstrated some simple shapes they could make with their dough like ball shaped, snake shaped, pretzel, etc.

Basic Bread-Making Ingredients

To get started making a basic bread from scratch we’re going to need a few ingredients. Using good-quality, fresh ingredients makes a big difference when baking. This is what I use:

• Flour (I prefer to use a high-gluten flour for white bread. All-purpose flour does work but it doesn’t yield quite as fluffy of bread as the high-gluten flour.)
• Water
• Sugar
• Instant yeast (I use Red Star or SAF)
• Kosher salt

Optional Bread Ingredients

If you want to improve the crust of your bread, you can add a little “glaze” to it prior to baking by mixing a plant based milk and melted vegan butter.

You can also sprinkle on some seed toppings such as sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Oats, cornmeal, sunflower and kosher salt also make good toppings for the crust.

Use your personal taste and creativity to make it however you like! My family seems to like sesame seeds the most.

Equipment Needed To Bake Bread

The most basic things you’ll want to use in order to make bread from scratch are a large bowl to mix the dough in, and some kind of pan or baking sheet that you can put in the oven.

I usually bake my bread on a sheet of parchment paper. It helps prevent the bottom crust from sticking or burning, and makes cleanup easy-peasy. You can re-use parchment papers many times for baking bread. Just fold them back up and keep them in a drawer until you’re ready to make more bread.

I use a whisk to mix my water and yeast, but a fork works fine as well.

A rubber scraper or spatula is useful for scraping the sides of the mixing bowl. I often use a plastic rice paddle to mix and scrape my bread dough, since the plastic is hard and strong and won’t break or pull apart in the thick bread dough.

If you have a stand-mixer like a Kitchen Aid, you can use that to mix your dough too. However, I prefer using just my hands (and a rice paddle or spatula to scrape). I’m kind of a minimalist when it comes to bread baking so I try to use my hands as much as possible!

The Basic Bread Recipe

You can follow this recipe to make a basic white bread that’s done in less than 2 hours. The recipe will yield enough dough for two large loafs of bread or 3 medium loafs. If you don’t want to use all the dough at once, you can place the extra dough in a freezer-safe container and save it for another day.

You can also use this bread recipe to make things like hoagie buns, hotdog buns, hamburger buns, and even cinnamon rolls!

Step One: Mixing Yeast With Water

In your large bowl, add in 2 tablespoons of instant yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1/2 cup of warm water. It’s important that the water is very warm but NOT hot. If the water is too hot, it’ll kill the yeast, and the bread won’t turn out.

A good rule of thumb that I use when trying to determine the water temperature is to think about giving a baby a bath. Warm enough, but NOT hot!

Stir up the yeast and sugar in the water until it’s almost all dissolved. Then let it rest for about ten minutes. You’ll see foamy bubbles on the surface when it’s ready for the next step.

Step 2: Add In The Rest Of The Ingredients

After you’ve let the yeast, sugar and water rest for about ten minutes, add in all the other ingredients:

• 2 more cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of melted vegan butter
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 7 cups of flour

You can use your hands or a stand mixer to combine all the ingredients. You don’t need to do any kneading at this point – simply mix everything together until the dough looks consistent. There shouldn’t be any dry clumps or extra water at the edge of the bowl.

Your dough at this stage may look fairly sticky. This is normal! There’s no need to keep adding flour.

Cover up the bowl and let the dough rest on the counter until it has doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on how warm and humid it is in your kitchen, and how fresh your yeast is.

It can be helpful to take a before picture before you let it rest so you have something to refer to later when checking the dough.

Don’t rush! Just let it rise. If it doesn’t rise, you might have bad (old) yeast.

Step 3: Punching, kneading, shaping, and scoring the dough

After the dough doubles, you can punch it down to help release some of the excess gas that’s built-up as a result of the yeast eating the flour and sugar. The dough at this point should be smelling quite appetizing!

Kneading

If you’re using a stand mixer, you can just mix your dough on a slow speed for about 5-10 minutes.

To knead by hand, you’ll need a clean area on your counter that’s nice and large to work with. About 2-3 feet of counter space is ideal.

Sprinkle a generous amount of flour onto the counter and turn out the dough from the bowl onto the counter. You can sprinkle a little bit more flour onto the wet surface of the dough to make it easier to work with.

Now, with floured hands, push into the dough as if you’re pushing it away, and fold it back on itself. Repeat this process for a few minutes until the dough feels smooth and springy. You can add in a bit more flour if it becomes too sticky.

The purpose of this kneading is to help develop and lengthen the gluten strands in the dough. This ultimately gives the final bread an airier structure that’s nicely chewy.

For this recipe, you don’t need to stand there and knead the dough for 30 minutes. If you do this, your bread will end up too tough and too chewy. I usually knead my bread for about 5 minutes by hand.

Shaping

After you’ve kneaded the dough for a bit, divide it in half. You can also divide it into thirds if you want to make three loafs.

I used my rice paddle to cut this dough but you can use any knife.

If you want to only make one loaf of bread now, you can place the other portion of dough in a freezer-safe container and freeze it immediately. You’ll need to knead it again after thawing and then continue with the next steps.

Take one portion of your divided dough and roll it pancake-flat. It’s just like rolling out a pizza crust. You should try to keep the shape somewhat rectangular at this point as it’ll make the final shape of the bread loaf more straight-sided as well

Next, roll up the short side of the dough tightly, all the way to the other side. You can seal up the end by putting a little bit of water on it. Tuck the ends under the bottom of the roll, too.

Once it’s rolled up, place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make sure the open edge is tucked under the bottom of the roll.

Scoring

Scoring the bread involves slicing into the top surface layers of dough. It’s totally optional, but it helps give your dough more room to expand upwards (as opposed to outwards) during baking.

If you don’t score bread, sometimes the crust will be hard already but the moist, inner dough is still expanding, causing it to burst through the crust in random places. So scoring is a way to help control the expansion of the inner dough in a way that also looks more uniform and pleasing to the eye.

In order to score dough, you’ll need to have a flat razor blade. They make special scoring blades specifically for scoring bread dough, but I just use cheap single-sided razors. They usually cost less than $1 a pack in hardware stores.

Just make sure that the razor you use is very clean and sharp. If it’s dirty, don’t use it.

The trick to scoring bread is to make quick, deliberate cuts that aren’t too shallow or too deep. The direction of the scores can be done in a variety of ways, but I like to do them diagonally.

To do diagonal scores, it helps to score more along the length of the bread than across it. This way your cuts will be longer and allow for more expansion than if you just cut straight diagonal at a 45 degree angle.

Step Four: Proofing the dough

Proofing is when we let the shaped bread dough rest and expand to about 90% of the final size. Generally, you’ll want to let the dough proof until it has grown to almost double, but not quite.

I proof my dough by placing it in an empty cupboard. I like to microwave a cup of water for a minute and put it in with the dough, to give moisture and warmth to the air. This helps maximize the proofing time and keeps the surface of the dough from drying out too soon.

Proofing generally takes between 20 minutes to an hour. It depends on how active your yeast is, so check on your loafs after about 15 minutes and see how they’re doing.

After 15 minutes, my dough was almost at it’s full size and it was time to turn on the oven.

Step Five: Glazing & Baking

Once you’ve let the dough proof and expand to nearly double it’s size (again, it always helps to take a before picture if you’re not sure), it’s time to get the oven fired up!

Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the meantime, to help make a tastier crust, you can add a glaze. The glaze is just 1 tablespoon of melted vegan butter mixed with 2 tablespoons of plant based milk. You could also use olive oil. You’ll need a pastry brush to apply your glaze to the entire surface (but not the bottom) of the proofed dough.

At this point you can also sprinkle on some crust toppings to your dough. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oats, sunflower seeds, herbs, Kosher salt, etc all make good crust toppings. Don’t be shy with them!

Step Five: Baking The Bread

Once the oven is ready, carefully place your pan of bread into the middle rack of the oven and close the door. You can set a timer for about 15 minutes.

Keep monitoring the baking progress through your oven door. The dough will expand about 5% more in the oven.

You should let the crust become a nice golden brown color, but if it starts getting too dark on the top or one side, it’s not a bad idea to turn the pan 180 degrees. Oven often are hotter in the back than they are towards the front, so turning your loaf can help it cook more evenly.

Once you think it’s done, you can check its done-ness by tapping on the top of the crust. If it sounds hollow-y it’s done!

At this point, it’s a good idea to leave the bread in the oven and let it cool off in there, while keeping the door propped open to let the cool air escape.

Cooling the bread this way actually helps draw out some of the excess moisture from the inside of the loaf, resulting in a better structure.

It’s always better to wait until bread has cooled off completely before you cut into it, but warm bread is also lovely to eat! Once it’s been cut, you can store it wrapped up in a clean towel on the counter or in a plastic bag. Don’t put it into a plastic bag until it’s 100% cool though, otherwise the bag will trap excess moisture and your bread won’t keep as long.

You should consume freshly-baked bread within about 3-5 days of baking it. I’ve heard that homemade bread is at it’s most delicious after 3 days, but I’ve never had bread last that long to try it out! Haha.

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Basic Bread

A simple vegan recipe for delicious homemade bread. Makes 2 large loaves or 3 smaller loaves.

Course Vegan Baking

Cuisine American, European

Keyword basic bread recipe, how to bake bread, how to make bread, how to make bread from scratch, make bread from scratch, vegan bread, white bread recipe

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 2 loafs

Calories 243kcal

Author Shannon Hakala

Ingredients

Yeast Mixture

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 Tbsp yeast
• 2 Tbsp sugar

Dough

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp melted vegan butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 6-7 cups flour

Glaze (Optional)

• 1 Tbsp vegan butter melted
• 2 Tbsp plain unsweetened soy milk other plant based milk ok

Instructions

• Combine the yeast mixture ingredients and mix thoroughly. Allow to rest about 10 minutes.
• Add all the other ingredients for the dough and mix until a moist dough is formed. Cover and let rest until dough has doubled in size, about 15-45 minutes.
• Punch down dough and knead for about 5 minutes on floured surface. Divide into two equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Roll starting from the short side and tuck the edges under. You can use water to help them stick. Score the bread diagonally using a sharp razor.
• Allow the shaped loafs to proof in a warm, moist place until nearly doubled (about 15-45 minutes). A cupboard with a glass of hot water is a good proofing spot.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Optionally, you can add glaze and toppings to the crust. For the glaze, mix 1 Tablespoon of melted vegan butter with 2 Tablespoons of plant based milk and coat it gently onto the surface of the bread using a pastry brush. Olive oil can be used as an alternative glaze. For toppings, simply sprinkle them on as desired.
• Bake on the middle rack until the crush is golden brown (the top may be darker) and sounds hollow when tapped with fingers, about 15-20 minutes. Turn during baking if one side seems to be browning faster.
• Allow to cool completely before cutting. Store cut bread wrapped in a clean kitchen towel or in a plastic bag. Consume within 5 days after baking.

Notes

If you don't want to bake all the dough at once, store the other portion in a freezer-safe container and freeze until needed. After thawing, knead the dough one more time, then continue onto shaping.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 243kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 304mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g

The post Vegan Bread – Baking From Scratch appeared first on Instant Veg.