Cozy Winter Vegan Recipes, by Michelle Chua

After a recent reiki session, I felt inspired to play with some ingredients at home and smell, taste and feel my way to a yummy meal: vegan dal vegetable curry, roasted cauliflower and pumpkin spice hot cacao drink for dessert!

Below, I recall the ingredients and steps to create each, and I invite you to also play with your food and let your senses and intuition guide you to the flavors that happy your unique belly.

Vegan Dal Vegetable Curry

Ingredients for about 3-4 servings:

• 1c organic red lentils
• 1 and 1/2 c organic coconut milk
• 1 and 1/2 c organic mushroom broth (vegetable broths works too)
• 2 diced organic tomatoes
• half yellow onion diced
• 3-5 cloves of garlic chopped finely (choose how garlicky you prefer)
• about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• about 2-3 tbs curry spice
• about 2 tbs himalayan pink salt or sea salt
• about 1 tbs black pepper
• about 2 c of chopped organic fresh broccoli
• about 1 and 1/2 c of chopped mushrooms (Use your favorite kind.  I had white and oyster)
• small handful of chopped organic fresh cilantro
  

Steps:
1. In a skillet, heat the coconut oil and lightly brown the onions.  Add salt.
2. Add garlic and saute the rinsed and cleaned lentils for about 2 minutes.  
3. Add the broth, coconut milk, curry spice and black pepper and let simmer for about 3 minutes.  
4. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes.  Simmer for another 3 minutes.
5. Add the broccoli and any additional fresh vegetables you'd like and simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
6. When the lentils have a soft consistency, turn off the heat and sprinkle cilantro before serving with a fresh pot of your favorite cooked whole grains or rice.

This recipe is loosely influenced by my casual cooking sessions with my friend Shona, who kindly shared her traditional Indian dal recipe from her Indian heritage, by Itzel, a retreat caterer who shared her spin on making curry and by the reiki session that put me into a state of flow.

Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:

• 1 head of chopped organic fresh cauliflower
• about 2 tbs Green Goddess seasoning blends from Trader Joe's (Taste a piece to see if its has the amount of flavor you prefer.)
• about 3 tbs Organic extra virgin olive oil (Adjust to size of vegetable, so it's not dry nor soaked)

Steps:​
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. With your clean bare hands massage the cauliflower with the oil and seasoning.
3. Roast in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.  Check periodically to stir and turn over pieces and remove when slightly browned and at the texture you prefer.

Hot Pumpkin Spice Cacao Drink

Ingredients:

• ​1 c of your favorite plant-based milk (I love Elmhurst brand cashew milk!)
• 1 tsp organic cacao superfood powder
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 2-3 generous dashed of pumpkin spice
• 1 dash of ground cardamom

Steps:
1. In a small pot, start heating the plant-based milk. 
2. Just before it starts to boil, stir in the cacao powder and maple syrup.
3. Add pumpkin spice and cardamom.
4. Stir until smooth and at the temperature you're ready to sip, and turn off heat.
5. Try adding a stick of fresh cinnamon in your cup.

Remember to pause mindfully before you take your first bite or sip, appreciating all that harmonized together to be able to enjoy the abundance of this nourishment from Mother Earth.

​Let me know how you tweak or enjoyed these vegan recipes!   I'd love to hear your feedback below.