Veganuary: Resolve to eat plant-based meals this month starting with these basics

Ah, January. The kids and I are back to school. Frank is back to his writing. Our beloved elderly dog is back to scream-barking exactly 15 seconds after being let outside.

The holiday decorations have been packed up. (Well played, neighbors with the skeleton army erecting — or destroying? — a festively-lit evergreen tree. Kudos as well to our neighbors with a plywood narwhal swimming in a candy cane sea. So many people’s holiday decorations have been amazing lately, but these were some of our family’s favorites.)

At this time of the year, many of us take up a challenge or resolutions, some way to start 2022 on a meaningful note. We'd like to suggest incorporating more plant-based foods into your life! Resolving to eat more plants is a great way to align your diet to serve your health, your compassion, and your planet.

But where to start?

Try these recipes: Cooking up some kid-friendly fun vegan recipes

We’ve loved trying to demystify some of our family’s foodstuffs in this column, but perhaps you’d like some tips to help you plan a full month or more of plant-based meals. Enter Veganuary!

As featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post, Veganuary is a nonprofit organization that encourages people worldwide to try living vegan for January and beyond. According to the Veganuary website, more than 500,000 people took their pledge to try a vegan diet during the 2021 campaign, and more than 825 new vegan products and menu options were launched in their key campaign countries. That’s a lot of plant-based food!

You can visit the Veganuary.com website and sign up for 31 days of easy meal plans, a star-studded celebrity cookbook, nutrition guides and daily coaching emails — all free.

In the spirit of Veganuary, we wanted to take a step back and debunk several myths about vegan meal planning, as well as sharing two very simple vegetable dishes that were part of a wildly successful holiday meal that we served to Frank’s omnivorous family members.

MYTH 1: Vegan is just “rabbit food.” While our children share our own rabbit’s deep love of kale, we very rarely eat salads in our house. Instead, we dig into overloaded tacos, luscious pasta dishes and bowls heaping with a wide variety of textures and flavors.

Alternatives: Vegan cheese, dairy add flavor to many dishes

MYTH 2: Vegan food can’t align with family and cultural traditions. Whether you’re looking for a recipe for “chicken” Cordon Bleu, “fish” and chips, cheesy lasagna, a dim sum spread or sweet potato pie, vegan chefs and home cooks have you covered. Traditions are important, and no matter your cultural background, chances are there are great home cooks who have been working to convert your favorite meals into plant-based delights.

Not all internet recipes and printed cookbooks are created equal, as we’ve learned the hard way while writing this column. However, sampling recipes from different sources will help you begin to see the general strategies and flavorings that can bring vegan food to life. Our local library’s selection of plant-based cookbooks is wonderful, with voices and recipes that will satisfy any event or palate.

MYTH 3: It’s expensive to eat vegan. Yeah, it sure is, if you buy the prepackaged stuff. In the past year, though, Frank’s learned to create our own flavorful vegan yogurt as well as homemade replacements for single-serving convenience “bars.” And we’ve been experimenting with buying dried beans and nuts in bulk, paying very reasonable prices and avoiding the heartbreak of swinging by the grocery store only to find few canned goods on the shelf due to supply chain snafus.

More: Waste not, want seconds? Even banana peels can be tasty

Growing up, my family often ate beans and rice as a survival tactic — my Papa tried to feed us well, but there were hard months when he couldn’t. We had the classic “meat makes the meal” ethos and only switched to inadvertently vegan meals when there wasn’t enough money for more. Now, though, my family eats plant-based foods joyfully as the basis of healthful, enticing meals. When you start with relatively unprocessed ingredients, delicious vegan meals tend to be quite inexpensive.

The two recipes we’re sharing this week are cheap to throw together, easy to flavor to your liking, and can help form the cornerstone of vegan meals. Whether you serve them atop rice or pasta, tuck them into tacos or spread them over a pizza, they’re delicious ways to eat more plants.

Seasoned Eggplant

1 eggplant, cut into cubes

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns

1 tablespoon miso paste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Add the eggplant to a nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron pan, cover the pan, and heat on medium for about 10 minutes. This will vaguely steam the eggplant and help to cook it much more quickly than just sautéing it, which helps for those of us who tend to procrastinate.

When the cubes of eggplant seem to have mostly collapsed and darkened in color, add the cooking oil and spices and continue to heat on medium, uncovered, for about 5 more minutes, stirring. In a small bowl, mix together the miso paste, lemon juice and sesame oil, then drizzle this mixture over the eggplant once you turn off the heat.

Grill-Style Tofu and Peppers

14 ounces tofu, cut into cubes

2 cups sweet or bell peppers, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon cooking oil (we often use olive oil)

2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, peeled and diced, unless you are serving this to children who might scream “Spicy!” if they taste even the tiniest speck of ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon basil, the leaves rolled up and finely sliced

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Add the tofu to a nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron pan and heat on medium low for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally (preferably by scraping lightly beneath each cube so they don’t tear), until most of the water has sweated out.

Add the peppers, oil, and spices and increase the heat to medium at this point, cooking an additional 5 minutes, stirring about once each minute. Turn the heat off and add the basil, lemon juice and soy sauce.

Garnish with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan, if desired.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Healthy recipes: Veganuary ready to help you eat plant-based meals