By Gabby Uy, Year 9
“Wait, so… what can you actually eat?”
That’s probably the question I’m asked most often. Having been gluten free and vegan for almost a year now due to bad luck in the allergy department meant that I had to learn to survive without - here we go - wheat, dairy, eggs, refined sugar, meat, seafood, MSG or artificial anything for an entire 12 months. That’s only about half the list, which meant that I had to - very reluctantly, mind you - go vegan. For those of you who don’t know, “vegan” means not using anything involving animal products, such as meat, eggs or even dairy. In a nutshell, it means no pizza.
Yes, you read that right: no pizza.
If you ask me, the biggest misconception a lot of people have about healthy vegan food is that, for it to taste good, it has to taste like… well, bad food. Let me tell you now that that’s completely wrong, and I would know;I spent months just looking for perfect vegan, gluten free substitutes, which usually tasted...substandard, to say the least. After a lot of failed experiments and rock-hard cupcakes, I finally accepted that truly healthy food would never taste the same as the regular junk. However, that didn’t mean that my food remained boring. Actually, it got better and better, as I used more and more natural ingredients. I didn’t even miss pizza! Okay, that’s a lie. Maybe I still miss pizza a little bit, but after this year, if you told me to go without it, I’m absolutely sure that I could.
Below are some of my favourite “junk food” recipes - note the quotation marks, as all of them are 100% sugar free, nut free, gluten free and vegan! Basically, if I can eat them, I’m pretty sure you can too.
One Step Fat Free Raspberry Banana Ice Cream
This recipe is so incredibly easy that it’s nearly impossible to mess up. As the name implies, there is literally one step! You can substitute other fruits for the berries, such as blueberries or strawberries; however, there is no substitution for the bananas - omit them, and you’ll just end up with a cold, watery mush.
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| Image Source: Create N Plate |
Ingredients
5 large, ripe bananas, sliced and frozen overnight
⅓ - ½ cup frozen raspberries (the more you add, the more sour/pink your sorbet will be)
Up to 4 tablespoons cold water
(One step!) Method
Place the bananas and raspberries in a food processor, and process together until smooth. Add cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, if the desired consistency isn’t reached.
You can either eat it right out of the food processor, or store it in an airtight container in a freezer. I’m not sure how long it lasts when frozen, but trust me - it’s so good that it won’t stay in there for more than a few days!
Vegan Lentil Tacos
Recently, I had a bunch of friends come over for lunch, and of course, we served “normal people” food as well as my vegan tacos. Let me just say that no one touched anything but the tacos. I’m not even kidding. Also, don’t expect these to taste exactly like meat - lentils have a different texture, obviously - but these tacos taste good in their own way. I won’t lie - the list of ingredients seems to go on for forever, but I promise that the method itself is extremely easy, and the result is more than worth the wait. Using lentils is much better than using store-bought fake meat; not only is vegan “meat” extremely rare and expensive, but it’s also full of harmful, artificial ingredients. Here’s a rule of thumb: if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.
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| Image Source: Gluten Free and Vegan For the Whole Family |
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1 ½ cups dried beluga lentils (French lentils or gray-green lentils work too)
4 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons of olive oil or virgin coconut oil, plus more for oiling
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 cups of chopped stemmed shiitake mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of tamari
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons of ground cumin
½ teaspoon of ground coriander
¾ teaspoon of kosher salt
4 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of hot sauce
Chopped romaine lettuce for serving
12 corn tortillas or taco shells, for serving (gluten free options are often available at healthy options)
Method
- Rinse the lentils and put them in a large pot with the water.
- Bring to a boil or medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover.
- Cook until the lentils are tender and have absorbed most of the water, about 20 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large sauté pan or medium heat, heat the oil and sauté the onion, mushrooms, garlic and tamari until the onions just begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the oregano, chili powder, cumin, coriander and salt and sauté for about 1 minute more.
- Add the lentils, tomato paste and hot sauce to the pan and stir to combine. Cook for about 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and cover to keep the taco filling warm. You may need to add a tablespoon of water or so from time to time (to keep it from thickening or drying out too much) while getting the rest of the meal on the table.
- Serve immediately with chopped romaine lettuce.
Banana-Almond Butter Sushi
Another banana recipe?
Yes, another banana recipe, but on the opposite end of the banana recipe spectrum. The sorbet is light and refreshing, but this recipe feels sinfully decadent. Imagine a rice krispies treat, but on steroids, and on a banana smothered in creamy almond butter. Hands down, this is probably my all-time favourite snack, as it can be made in less than 5 minutes. The best part? Provided that your cereal isn’t loaded with sugar, gram for gram, this snack packs less than half of the sugar in a rice krispies bar - the perfect excuse to eat almond butter (straight out the jar)!
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| Image Source: Celiac in the City, 2014 |
Makes: 1 banana
Ingredients
1 medium to large sized banana (unpeeled)
2 tablespoons of nut butter
½ cup cereal of your choice (personally, I like to use gluten free honey nut loops)
Method
- Place the banana on a large sheet of clingwrap. Peel a third of the banana, and liberally apply almond butter until that side is completely covered. Coat the almond butter with cereal.
- Repeat until the banana is completely covered.
- Wrap the banana in clingwrap, and cut into 1-inch slices when ready to serve! The clingwrap allows you to store the rest of the banana in the fridge just in case you don’t finish it in one sitting. Although to be honest, it’s so good you probably will.
If you’re a wanna-be-healthy-eater-but-cake-is-just-too-good, then here are my top tips for replacing your favourite foods:
- Natural ingredients are best - I can’t stress this enough! Try to get the least processed foods that you can. Remember: “vegan” doesn’t always mean “healthy”. Oreos are actually vegan, for example (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), but that doesn’t make them any healthier than regular cookies.
- Bananas are your friend. They are extremely versatile, and are used as the base of countless desserts, just like are oats and nut butters. Embrace them. Love them. Then eat them (too dark?).
- The best way to quit sugar? Cold turkey - use coconut sugar, high-quality maple syrup or honey (for non-vegans) instead.
Happy eating!
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