[Vegan Mofo] 5 Ingredient Meals - Tacos!!!!

This week I bring you 5 recipes using 5 ingredients from the food section of Target!  My initial plan was to group food items together by recipe and get pictures but after people started looking at me funny in the store I just gave up and snapped photos in the wild. I may just try to do the grouping later on this week instead of a Friday night!

Processed food police you may just want to lock me up now. These meals for the most part are healthy, fast and super tasty. That being said most items are bagged and boxed. Don't shoot me, don't judge me, just eat and be happy!

We have been on a Taco kick lately, Tacos like 3 times a week or more! So here is a simple taco recipe that takes about 15 minutes to get done and plate!

5 ingredient stars: 1/2 bag of Beyond Beef Crumbles, 4-5 (depending on size) Mission tortillas, 1 can of Amy's refried beans, big pinch of chili powder, 1/2 cup of salsa (Herdez or Mi Casa are both good).


Use a bit of oil (oil is a 'not counted' ingredient) heated on medium in a frying pan. Add crumbles and chili powder, Cook for a few minutes. Warm up your black beans. Add salsa to crumbles, stir and place tortillas on top of the mixture to warm up/soften. Remove tortillias, spread a layer of beans on each tortliia and then spoon in crumble-salsa mixture and eat! Simple and fast.

[Vegan MOFO] Target Tuesday - Coco-Peanut Sauce With Tofu

 

Target carries vegan basics like tofu, rice, beans, frozen veggies, non-dairy milks, seasonings/spices and meat alternatives. Throwing a meal together can be a snap if you just step outside the box and look around.

When buying a new vegan cookbook or looking at blogs online I am often disappointed if the recipes call for special hard to find ingredients that have me order them online or try to locate them in a specialty market that I may not have in town. So when I come across a recipe that I can make from simple to find ingredients I bookmark it and get to work on dreaming up a meal around it.

The Garlic Broccoli with Coco-Peanut Sauce from Plant Based on a Budget is a meal that is easy to put together from the aisles of Target, affordable and easy to make. Bonus it is super yummy!

The only things I changed from the recipe was using organic maple syrup instead of brown sugar, garlic powder for garlic (no fresh garlic at Target), I added a squeeze of Sriracha and I added some extra firm tofu triangles to the mix. Bagged broccoli again came into play and I used basmati rice. This meal is something I will make again. Creamy peanuty taste with a hint of kick (I might add more Sriracha next time), afordable and a thumbs up from Matt. 

[Vegan Mofo Day 2] Target Tuesday - Spicy Mandarin Orange Stir Fry

I love shopping at Target, I probably could go everyday - ask Matt. We have two in town and both are super similar but have a few different things that the other does not. Like one location has a phat supply of vegan cereal, the other carries more vegan beauty products...See why I have to go more than once a week?

My goal with Target Tuesday is to create a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert) with ingredients one can find at this mega chain store. Most of us have a Target in town but not everyone has a Whole Foods (raises hand!). Target has gotten super good over the last year stocking things like almond milk, sauces, meatless-meat products and supplies. Also a lot of the time Target has really awesome prices on things. Next time you are picking up kitty litter and cotton rounds check out the food! You will be happy!

Now on to the meal!

                                                         Spicy Mandarin Orange Stir Fry

! package of Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n
1 package of broccoli florets defrosted
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon (or more) of Sriracha
a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds (optional)
basmati rice (cooked according to package - I usually make a bunch of rice for Matt and I)
oil for for cooking

Heat a bit of oil in a pan (enough to lightly coat it) on medium heat. Toss in chick'n and toss every few minutes. In a small bowl with hot water defrost sauce packet that comes with the chick'n. At this point add the broccoli to the frying pan. Dump the defrosted sauce into the pan with the soy sauce, rice vinegar and Sriracha - toss to coat everything. Let it cook for a few minutes and serve it over rice topped with toasted sesame seeds!

This is often a go to meal for us after we get home from the gym on Tuesday. The carbs in the rice fills me up, the protein in the Gardein makes my body happy! This is one of the only Gardein product I am not allergic to and I enjoy it. Target always has the best price on Gardein - even at full price it is cheaper than the store. Buying frozen broccoli is another money save. When buying a head of fresh broccoli in the store, you are paying buy weight. Unless you are going to use the stock part of the celery for a soup stock or a herbivore companion pet it goes to waste. Buying a bag of frozen broccoli you are buying the florets - no prep and no waste! basmati rice is not the best price at Target - only because I buy it in bulk at the store but they carry it and it is my fave rice variety! You can use your fave rice or even some rice noodles!

Sweet & Spicy Stir Fried Noodles

Fast Sunday night dinner...Basically it is a package of baked tofu (Teriyaki flavored), some left over frozen veggies and fresh pineapple with fresh rice noodles. I cooked the veggies with tofu while boiling the water/noodles. I added the noodles to the oan, the pineapple and the sauce. Sauce: a dash of Sriracha, a tablespoon of fresh pineapple juice from the pineapple chunks, a squirt of Braggs and about a teaspoon of rice vinegar. Dump it over the mix and let it heat up and serve. 

Note: The fresh rice noodles from TJ's are hard to work with. They turn into a huge clump once cooked. I tried my hardest to break them up with no luck!