“M2” Meatless Mondays (8/13/18)

Hey my friends! As you can see from the photo, this is a food blog

So I’ve been tweaking a few of my favorite dishes to become more vegan or vegetarian friendly and healthier. If any of you are like me, you have high estrogen dominance and the foods you eat can be the cause or make it worse. What is high estrogen dominance you might ask? I will discuss that in tomorrow’s blog. For now, just know it is not good for your body.

With that being said, I have decided to bring back my series on vegan and vegetarian recipes. Every Monday I am going to have a blog series that I like to call M² (aka Meatless Mondays). There will be Mondays when I make a full course meal and days like today where I make a quick 20 minute meal. Whether you work full-time, in school full-time or and/or a parent…sometimes we just do not have the time to make a meal that is going to take more than 30 minutes.
This Monday I really wanted to eat kung pao chicken and lo mein. However, we all know that it isn’t the healthiest meal to eat. They fry the chicken to make it crispy and then add on the sauce. The lo mein is drenched in soy sauce. So I found a way to satisfy my craving, while not consuming too many unhealthy ingredients.

Today’s meal is so quick and simple to make. You only need two main ingredients:

Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower is amazing. Let me tell you…I do not like cauliflower AT ALL!!! However, this tempura cauliflower does not taste like I am eating that vegetable. I am telling you that it actually taste like you are eating chicken. I am not being sponsored, so I have no reason to lie.

Explore Cuisine has to be one of my favorite pastas. Just like cauliflower, you cannot get me to eat black beans or any beans for that matter. However, I love this pasta.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and coat your baking pan with extra virgin olive oil. Place the cauliflower on the pan and put in the oven for 20 minutes. In the meantime, you want to thaw out the kung pao sauce as per directions on packaging.

While you are waiting for the kung pao cauliflower, you can start making that black bean pasta (lo mein). Add water to your pot according to how much pasta you want to make. Add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, a couple sprinkles of ginger powder and turmeric powder, two dashes of your favorite spice seasoning and a small handful of shredded cabbage (not necessary if you do not have it). Bring to a boil, then add in the pasta. The pasta cooks within 4 – 6 minutes.

Once your kung pao cauliflower is done, pour the sauce over the cauliflower and lightly toss. Using this method will keep the cauliflower crispy. Assemble your dish and enjoy!

With this meal you get: