New to a plant-based diet? Here are the food hacks you need to know!
When first transitioning over to a plant-based diet, even deciding on what milk to put in your tea/coffee can be a challenge. For this reason, I wanted to share a list of a few of my favourite food tips/hacks that will hopefully help you if you're taking some first steps towards a more plant-based diet.
After trying some of these you’ll be wondering why you didn’t make the switch earlier….
✨ Milk:
#1 For coffee - the Oatly barista is hands down the best milk I've ever had for coffee…plant-based or not. It's creamy and gives an incredible flavour to coffee - absolutely delicious.
#2 For breakfast tea, cereal, baking, soy gets my top vote. It’s high in plant protein and nutritionally equivalent to cows milk. Although it doesn’t have as high protein content, oat and almond are enjoyed by many.
#3 Homemade milk - if you prefer to make your own milk, Minimalist Baker’s homemade cashew coconut oat milk is really great in coffee. (Canned full-fat coconut milk works well in coffee if you're in a bit of a pinch).
✨ Whipped cream - If you're looking for a cream alternative, stick a tin of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge. Whip it up with a tsp of vanilla extract - perfect on top of a banoffee pie or with any dessert.
✨ Creamy smoothies - Use frozen bananas to make a homemade ice-cream or use as a thickener for smoothies and smoothie bowls
✨ Vegan buttermilk - I love making soda bread but a key ingredient is a buttermilk. To veganise the bread, I mix 1 part apple cider vinegar to 3 parts soy milk. Works in the exact same way.
✨ Vegan egg alternative (baking) - Mix one tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water and let sit for 10 minutes to make flax egg as an egg replacer in baking. You can also do this using chia seeds.
✨ Sandwich filler - Mashed chickpeas with onion, sweetcorn and some vegan mayonnaise works as a great alternative to tuna sweetcorn. Sliced marinated tofu or tempeh grilled is also a delicious filler for a sandwich.
✨ Scrambled egg replacer - Tried scrambled tofu yet? It's delicious with some turmeric, black salt (or ordinary sea salt), some black pepper and a little paprika and garlic powder. Serve on top of sourdough - unreal!
✨ Healthier butter - use avocado…I think most of us know how good avocado on toast is. An added bonus is that there is 5 g of fibre in half an avocado!
✨ Nutritional yeast - plant-based or not…get a tub of this into your kitchen cupboard. I literally throw it on top of most meals I eat. It's so good for adding a little cheesy flavour to dishes along with some added B12.
✨ Creamy curries/soups - If you want to make a creamy dish - soak and blend 100g cashews with 300ml non-dairy milk or water. If you want to make it cheesier - add-in that nutritional yeast.
✨ Quick-cooking potatoes - Blanching potatoes before oven baking them speeds up the baking process.
✨ Healthy Caramel - blend up dates with a tbsp of peanut butter for making a healthier caramel alternative…trust me, it’s incredible!