6 Food Hacks Every Vegan Must Know

March 13, 2015

Following a vegan diet? Whether you’re doing it for the environment, animals, spirituality, physical health or all of these reasons, you deserve to enjoy your food as much as anyone else does. These hacks will make it possible:

Use Fresh Veggies To Add Bulk
Eating vegan food doesn’t mean eating less food. Load your meals with lots of fresh produce. You could also use veggies as smart fillings in place of meat and dairy-based food. For instance, use grilled carrots (mixed with apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, and pepper) as a filling in your ‘hot dog’ or vegan sandwich. For your noodles, use a spiralizer to create spaghetti-like swirls from carrots, beet, squash and zucchini.

Use Soda Instead Of Egg, For The Perfect Cake
In a bowl, mix together egg-free and dairy-free cake mix and a 10-ounce can of unflavored soda. Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan and bake according to directions on the box. For a chocolate cake, use a dark soda, like Coke or Pepsi. It helps the cake achieve good height and texture, even without eggs.

Use Avocado Instead Of Mayo
Several dishes such as sandwiches and salads call for mayo. Simply replace it with lighter, heart healthy and fiber-rich avocado butter instead. To make it, add some avocado flesh, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper, and blend well. Add a wee bit of olive oil slowly with the blender running, and puree to a smooth creamy mixture.

Use Frozen Bananas As Ice Cream
Instead of using dairy to make ice cream, just freeze segments of peeled banana, which you can blend with some peanut butter and almond milk to make a deliciously smooth, sweet treat. Top with some yummy chocolate sauce made by melting chocolate chips in coconut oil.

Use Herbs & Spices To Flavor Food
Going vegan doesn’t mean having to eat bland food. But instead of drowning your dishes in unhealthy sauces, flavor your food with low-calorie herbs and spices. Chillies and hot peppers contain capsaicin, and eating them kick starts a natural process that immediately converts some of the food into heat. This process is called thermogenesis, which helps you lose weight. Mustard seeds, turmeric, ginseng, and ginger are few of the many spices that will not only season your food, but will also boost your metabolism, break fat cells, and aid digestion.

Use Nutritional Yeast As Cheese
Missing the goodness of cheese? It doesn’t have to be so hard; simply replace it with some nutritional yeast. It’s healthy, dairy-free, and tastes just like cheese. Sprinkle some on your pizza, pasta, soup, stew and salad.