A Gluten-Free Vegan Meal Plan – Day Three

Following a vegan diet when you also cannot eat gluten can make it feel as if there is very little left to eat. At first this may seem overwhelming, impossible or at an unhealthy way to eat. Fortunately none of these need to be true and it is still possible to eat healthy and delicious foods while following a gluten free vegan diet. There is a wide range of natural gluten free foods available that are also free from animal products, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and soya products such as tofu and tempeh. It is also possible to buy some suitable products such as sausages, breads and burgers is you wish. These can also be made at home.

My two year old son and I both eat and gluten free vegan diet and enjoy a wide range of tasty food. One of his favourites is tofu scramble and he recently had his first coconut milk hot chocolate. In this hub I am going to share our meals for a day, to show that remaining vegan while also needing to avoid gluten does not need to be unbalanced, boring or result in repetitive and bland foods.

I wasn’t very keen on tofu when I first tried it. It reminded me egg and I wasn’t keen at all. It was a long time before I decided to give it another go and found that for me the firmer it is, the better. The squishy texture really put me off so pressing as much water out as possible is key. As I made tofu scramble many times know I tend to just make it by eye/taste rather than use a recipe now. A lot of my cooking is that way, which can be frustrating as it is harder to replicate particularly delicious meals again! There are lots of tofu scramble recipes online, some including additions such as mushrooms, tomatoes or herbs and spices. Two recipes I have used in the past are this tofu scrambled eggs from Fork and Beans and a scrambled tofu how to over at the Kitchn.

Gluten Free Pancakes

85g (3oz) gluten free self-raising flour
1/4 pint soya milk
1 tbsp dairy free spread
½ tsp ground flax
A little oil for frying

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for one minute. If mixing by hand mix to combine and then beat for one minute.
2. Heat the oil in a pan until hot. Add three tablespoons of batter to the pan and spread a little. Cook until starting to brown and then flip over. Cook until browned.
3. Repeat step 2 with the remaining batter.

The great thing about this kind of lunch is that it can be customised to suit your tastes or whatever you happen to have in the fridge. We often eat this way to use up small oddments of food leftover after making meals. It is also a very quick way to put together a tasty and nutritious plate of food and is great for sharing. I steamed the veggies for a few minutes to soften them a little but this isn’t necessary. Any type of plain soya yoghurt can be used to create the mint dip but the Alpro Go On will produce a thicker finished dip.

60g (2oz) baby carrots or larger carrots cut into pieces
60g (2oz) cauliflower, cut into florets
3 cherry plum tomatoes, halved
1.5 inch length of cucumber, deseeded and cut into batons
4 gluten free breadsticks
Thick slice of dairy free cheese, cut into batons
Salted Kettle chips
Salted or plain tortilla chips
Gluten free panini, Focaccia or similar bread, cut into strips or chunks
½ cup Hummus
½ cup Alpro Go On yoghurt
2 tbsp mint sauce

1. Steam the carrots and cauliflower if desired and cool.
2. Mix together the yoghurt and mint sauce until fully combined.
3. Place the mint dip and hummus into small container or directly onto the plate.
4. Arrange all items on the plate around the dips.

You can make this pasta dish with any gluten free pasta, we just happened to have these brown rice macaroni this week. It is more expensive than the pasta in supermarkets but provides variety as most of those are corn based. I order this one from Amazon sometimes and get three packs as it works out cheaper overall. The cheese spread I used was Tesco’s Free From original spread but again any would work fine. I think this dish would be nice with the chilli cheese spread they sell or a few chopped chillies added in.

150g (5.2oz) gluten free pasta
60g (2oz) dairy free cheese spread
4 tbsp sundried tomato paste

1. Cook the pasta according to the packet directions and drain.
2. Place the cheese spread into a pan and heat, stirring until it has melted.
3. Add the sundried tomato paste to the melted cheese spread and mix well to combine.
4. Add the pasta back to the pan and mix until well coated in the cheesy sauce.