VEGAN MEAL PREP: 3 EASY PANTRY RECIPES

Paid collaboration with Kaslink AITO. Vegan meal prep: 3 easy pantry recipes is all about using pantry staples and turning them into 3 delicious meals. Actually turning one meal into 3 different meals! I’m using AITO Oat cuisine, oat-based cooking cream to make the meals creamy and cozy. Just what is needed in crazy times like these!

3 Easy pantry recipes: 3 meals in one!

With kids at home, working and everything else going on at the moment it’s not easy to find the time to cook. More than 30 minute recipes are a no-go for me at the moment, unless I make 3 meals in one!

I planned this weeks vegan meal prep: 3 easy pantry recipes to make your life easier. It surely helped me. I honestly haven’t felt like cooking much (I tend to turn to baking therapy more), so making a large batch of lentil stew was the perfect solution for this lack of cooking enthusiasm ( I do love to cook, but not necessarily twice a day with hangry kids screaming for food … 🙂 ).

I used this large batch of lentil stew to make two other meals. And with the help of AITO Oat cuisine oat-based cooking “creams” I seasoned each meal in a different way.

Vegan meal prep 1: cozy lentil stew

• 3 carrots
• small piece of ginger
• small piece of turmeric or 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 3 garlic cloves (or more if you want!)
• 1,5 tbsp mild curry powder
• 0,5 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp oil for cooking
• 1500 g crushed tomatoes
• 500 g tomato passata
• 500 ml vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried red lentils
• 250 ml AITO Oat cuisine (oat-based cooking cream), no flavor
• ~1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• For serving: cilantro & tortilla chips
• What you can add to the soup: marinated tofu or Oat block (and oat-based tofu like protein) + 1/2 – 1 tbsp soy or tamari sauce and oil for cooking.

1. Grate carrots, ginger, turmeric and garlic.
2. Cook in oil with spices and tomato paste for a few minutes.
3. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato passata, vegetable broth and lentils.
4. Let simmer (with lid on) in low-medium heat for about 30 minutes.
5. If you want to add the tofu / Oat block too you can cook it while the stew is simmering: dry tofu or oat block well, crumble it into tiny pieces, cook in a dry pan and then add oil and soy sauce. Cook for a few minutes.
6. Pour Oat Cuisine to the stew and mix well, taste and add salt if needed.
7. Decorate bowls of stew with cilantro and tortilla chips.

Vegan meal prep 2: comforting pasta sauce

The easiest way to make this pasta sauce is simply by warming up some lentil stew and adding vegetable broth if needed to make it more like a sauce. That’s it! Or you can season it like I did:

• Pasta for four (or as much as needed)
• about 1 – 2 cups of stew
• 500 g crushed tomatoes
• 1/3 cups sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tbsp ketchup (or you can use some other sweetener to balance the flavors, if using sugar, you need less than 1 tbsp, perhaps 1/2 – 1 tsp is enough)
• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 0,5 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 cups AITO Oat Cuisine pepper
• For serving: vegan parmesan and basil

1. Cook pasta in generously salted water.
2. To a pan, add 1-2 cups of stew, crushed tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes. Stir them together and add all the spices.
3. Let simmer for a few minutes until warm.
4. Pour AITO Oat Cuisine pepper to the warm sauce, add cooked pasta and mix well.
5. Garnish with vegan parmesan and fresh basil.

Vegan meal prep 3: pizza

For the pizza dough you can use any dough recipe you like. I use our quick & easy gluten-free pizza dough. If you want to make a regular pizza dough, which needs rising time for 1 hour or even more, you might want to start this meal prep by making the dough first and letting it rise while the soup simmers.

Pizza dough

• 210 grams (1 cup + 1/4 cup) gluten-free all purpose flour mix. I use a flour mix, which contains psyllium and absorbs liquids more. If you are using a regular gf flour mix (a lighter one), you might need to use more flour.
• 7 grams dry yeast
• 0,5 tsp salt
• 0,5 tsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water (42-45 C / ~108 F)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Pizza sauce

• about 1 cup leftover stew

You can also add some spices to the stew:

• 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp mild paprika powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp salt

Pizza “cheese”

• 1/3 cups cheese flavored AITO Oat cuisine
• about 150 grams of marinated tofu or smoked tofu OR Oat block
• 1/2 tbsp lemon (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 225 C / 437 F. Blend “cheese” ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, add warm water and olive oil. Knead dough to a soft ball. Press dough by hand to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let rise for 15 minutes. Spread pizza sauce on top of pizza dough. Add dollops of “cheese” on top. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges become crispy. Top with fresh basil.

I hope you enjoy these meal prep recipes! If you want more meal prep tips, here are my previous posts:

Breakfast meal prep

Snack prep with sweet potatoes

Vegan meal prep: 5 delicious weekday recipes, no food waste!

Stay at home, stay healthy and take care!

♥ Tiina