These decadently delicious chocolate lava cookies use my soft, chewy, almond flour cookie dough and a flowy, chocolate ganache filling that oozes out when you break them in half! (gluten-free and soy-free with nut-free options)

It’s cookie season, and I wanted to make a decadent, chocolatey cookie. And what better idea than to convert molten lava cake into cookie form! 

My motto is that baking should be super easy and flexible, so that even if you make a few measuring errors, things still turn out great. Nobody has time to whip up butter and sugar and all that, so I use my trusty almond flour cookie dough, which works every time.

To make this simple dough, you just add all the dry ingredients to a bowl, mix really well, add some melted coconut oil and maple syrup, mix again, and that’s it! You have a dough! 

For this recipe, we’ll add cocoa powder to make a chocolate cookie dough. Then, we make a molten chocolate “lava bomb,” which is a melted chocolate ganache that goes inside the cookie. As the cookie bakes, it spreads and traps the chocolate ganache inside. When you break it open, it’s oozy, melty, and so delicious.

Why You’ll Love Lava Cookies

• easy, flexible, foolproof almond flour cookie dough
• chewy, chocolatey cookie outisde
• oozy, melty chocolate ganache filling
• naturally gluten-free and soy-free with nut-free options

Continue reading: Molten Lava Cookies

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A creamy vegan cheese log coated in crunchy pecans and fresh herbs is perfect for holiday parties served with crackers and veggies. This recipe is super easy, delicious, and versatile! (gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free options)

This is a wow-worthy, super easy vegan cheese log that you can whip up for any party, potluck, or holiday gathering. It’s delicious, cheesy, and creamy with a fantastic pecan-herb crumb which adds wonderful texture and flavor. 

The holiday cheese log pairs beautifully with all kinds of veggies, crudites, crackers, fruit, or even spicy jams and chutneys. It’s perfect on a charcuterie board served with mango chutney and paired with one of my cheese balls, like my Jalapeno popper cheese ball.

You can also use this creamy cheese as a spread for baguettes or bagels or even to make grilled cheese, quesadillas, or mac and cheese. For mac and cheese, just add some stock to a pan, heat it up with the cheese log to make a sauce, and toss in your cooked pasta of choice. 

This vegan cheese log recipe is flexible and easy to adapt to your flavor profile. Try adding paprika and jerk seasoning, Cajun spices, or extra red pepper flakes for a spicy version.

Why You’ll Love this Vegan Cheese Log

• creamy vegan cheese log coated in crunchy toasted pecans and fresh herbs
• perfect for parties, potlucks, cheese boards, and charcuterie boards
• easy to make and versatile! Try different base and seasoning options.
• easy to make gluten-free, soy-free, and/or, nut-free

Continue reading: Holiday Vegan Cheese Log

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Lemon white bean soup is a creamy, vibrant one pot meal that’s perfect for busy weeknights. It’s hearty, filling, and uses simple, budget-friendly ingredients. (gluten-free with soy-free and nut-free options)

It’s soup season, and I am loving all the creamy, hearty, and budget-friendly soups — and this lemony white bean soup fits exactly into that category. It’s packed with tons of veggies, beans, and protein. 

The best part about this lemon white bean soup is that it’s flexible to your flavor profile. You can easily adjust the flavors and ingredients based on what you have on hand. It’s vibrant, lemony, and perfect for the whole family!

The soup gets its protein from beans, cashews or tofu, nutritional yeast, and the veggies. You also blend up some of the beans into a puree to create that creamy texture along with either cashews or tofu. You can even omit the cashews and tofu, if you need to, and use just the beans for the creamy base.

This creamy lemon white bean soup is wholesome, flexible, and easy to make. The perfect go-to for cozy soup season!!

Why You’ll Love Lemon White Bean Soup

• creamy, vibrant soup with tons of veggies and protein
• versatile recipe! Adjust seasoning and proteins to your taste.
• 40-minute, 1-pot meal
• naturally gluten-free with easy soy-free and nut-free options

Continue reading: 1-Pot Lemon White Bean Soup

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A cozy, hands-off, no sauté mushroom potato casserole that needs just 1 pan. Layers of rich mushroom gravy with beans and veggies, layered with crisp garlic herb potatoes that take only minutes to put together as the oven does all the work. (gluten-free with soy-free and nut-free options)

It’s fall, and it’s time for some comfort food. And what’s more comforting than this casserole, which has a stewy mushroom gravy with beans and veggies, topped with potatoes smothered in garlic butter? There are lots of fall herbs, like fresh thyme and sage, and it all comes together really quickly. 

This is a super easy one-pan casserole. No need to sauté or stand around the kitchen for long periods of time cooking the onions and mushrooms. Everything goes right into the baking dish, and the oven does all the work. 

Once the mushroom and onions are cooked, add the beans, herbs and stew ingredients and top them with some sliced potato and bake, and thats it. You get all the fall flavors and a dish that reminds of mashed potatoes and mushroom bourguignon w/o all the work.

It’s comforting, stewy, and perfect for a fall dinner with your family, served with a side salad, garlicky dinner rolls, or some crusty bakery bread. Or serve it however else you like!

Why You’ll Love Mushroom Potato Casserole

• cozy, hearty, stewy beans and veggies in a rich, mushroom gravy
• 1-pan oven recipe, no standing at the stove!
• very little active cooking time
• No cooking the aromatics and potato separately
• naturally nut-free with easy gluten-free and soy-free options

Continue reading: 1-Pan Mushroom Potato Casserole

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Chai tiramisu cake has a delicious, moist, chai-infused cake with layers of cardamom cream dusted with a cocoa-chai topping. It is an absolutely fabulous fusion dessert perfect for Diwali or any special occasion! (soy-free with gluten-free or nut-free option)

We’re actually making a super quick cake for this chai tiramisu, instead of using ladyfingers. The rich, creamy textures of the cake and cardamom cream give you the decadence of tiramisu without any eggs or dairy needed.

You can make this with vegan ladyfingers, if you can find those, or you can use vegan cake rusks. Cake rusks are like plain biscotti available in Indian stores, and they work well as a substitute for ladyfingers. Just soak them in the chai, and use them for layering. Or, you can make this simple cake with just a few ingredients.

I heard you about wanting a cake that used a cream topping that didn’t need a freezer to set. The cardamom cream for this chai tiramisu cake sets up thick and spreadable at room temperature, no freezer needed.

Whether you make the cake from scratch or use one of the substitutions, this incredibly delicious chai tiramisu is a hit at any dinner party. It also freezes well, so you can make it ahead. Just thaw it overnight in the fridge.

Why You’ll Love Chai Tiramisu

• quick, easy, moist, delicious cake soaked in flavorful milk chai
• rich, decadent cardamom cream that sets up with no freezer needed
• cocoa-chai sprinkle on top for extra flavor
• soy-free with gluten free or nut-free options

Continue reading: Chai Tiramisu Cake (Chaimisu!)

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Dal Makhani is one of the most ordered Indian dish in restaurants. You can make authentic, buttery, rich dal makhani at home. It’s just as good as the restaurant version! Black gram and kidney beans are simmered in a creamy spiced sauce and is perfect for special occasions or a great dinner. With Instant Pot and Sauce pan instructions. (gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, oil-free option).

Love ordering Dal Makhani at restaurants? You’ll love this homemade version even more! This is adapted from my home-style dal makhani that’s on the blog and in my books. The difference is that this version has more spices, including some whole spices, which create more layers of flavor. 

This version of dal makhani is a little bit more involved than my home-style version. It has both a base sauce and a spiced oil. This levels up the flavor and adds a smoky, creamy flavor, like restaurants usually serve.  There’s also a lot more Kashmiri chili powder in this version compared to the home-style one. 

The home-style recipe is quicker and still delicious, but this one takes it up another couple of notches, simmering the beans in a deeply-flavored sauce.

Makhani means both “butter” and “like butter,” and the dish is called dal makhani, both because of the butter content and the creamy, buttery texture of the dal. The goal is to cook the beans long enough that they become soft and almost break down into the sauce, thickening it and creating a smooth consistency. For the right texture, I prefer to use a pressure cooker / instant pot, but you can also cook it in a saucepan. I included both methods in the recipe.

After cooking the beans, we make a delicious sauce with whole spices, aromatics, and ground spices, then add the cooked beans to it. Then, we prepare a spice oil with toasted fenugreek leaves, Kashmiri chili, smoked paprika, and a smoky burnt cinnamon stick. Burning the cinnamon stick for just half a second before adding it to give the dal its smoky restaurant-style flavor.

Traditionally, restaurants achieve this smoky flavor by using food-grade charcoal. They place a piece of hot charcoal in a bowl with oil, which immediately smokes. Then, they nestle the bowl inside the dal pot and cover the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. If you don’t want to use charcoal or burnt cinnamon, liquid smoke can also work.

Why You’ll Love Dal Makhani

• creamy, buttery dal with two kinds of beans
• deep flavor from the sauce and the spice oil, no dairy needed!
• flexible! Cook the beans in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop
• naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free with an oil-free option

Continue reading: Restaurant-Style Dal Makhani

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Pillowy tortellini and a velvety tomato-cream broth, enriched with my easy homemade sausage spice mix. Bursting with bold Italian flavors and ready in just 30 minutes, it’s your new favorite irresistible soup.

I got some almond ricotta–stuffed tortellini, so I decided to make an amazing soup with it. This is a hearty, delicious, and easy tortellini soup recipe. It uses the usual suspects of an Italian-flavored soup: aromatics, carrot, celery, Italian herbs, and vegan sausage. Those flavors pair up with the tortellini, tomato purée, and some non-dairy cream. 

It turns out absolutely delicious.

I make this spice mix which adds all the flavor of sausage to whatever plant based protein you choose. This spice mix combines smoked paprika, fennel seeds, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, and pepper flakes, and it’s just so versatile and flavorful!

First make the spice mix, and then decide which protein you want to use for the sausage. You can use vegan sausage, lentils, walnuts, pecans, chickpeas, crumbled tofu, chopped up soaked soy curls, seitan, or whatever else you like. 

Cook your protein of choice with some garlic and the spice mix, then add all the aromatics. Fold in the tomato sauce, tortellini, and some stock, then add non-dairy cream at the end. The tortellini cooks up in the same pan with the rest of the soup.

The soup comes together within 30 minutes in just 1 pan, and is creamy and satisfying!

Why You’ll Love Tortellini Soup

• super easy 1-pot meal ready in 30 minutes
• creamy, tomatoey broth with sausagey flavors and tender, cheesy tortellini
• super versatile! Use whatever plant-based protein you like!
• Easily made gluten-free, soy-free, and/or nut-free.

Continue reading: Creamy Tortellini Soup (30 Minutes!)

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Lentil trail mix is a super delicious snack, and here I will show you three ways to make it! Peanut gochujang, Indian Chivda, Doritos Nacho flavor! This high protein, savory granola is easy and fun to make and a perfect breakfast or snack. (16 grams of protein and fiber per serving!)

When I shared my red lentil granola recipe, quite a few of you asked for a savory version, and today I’m sharing three different ways to make savory lentil granola/trail mix! Make all three flavors of this delicious lentil trail mix, or triple your favorite flavoring and make one big batch.

Why three ways? Because I just couldn’t decide between these amazing flavors: Indian-spiced, peanut gochujang, and nacho spice. So, I decided to let you choose for yourself!

This trail mix/savory granola recipe uses split red lentils (aka masoor dal) as the base. You cook the red lentils on the stovetop until they are just al dente, and they roast up to be light and crisp in the oven with your seasonings of choice. 

The result is a protein-packed snack that is absolutely full of flavor, no matter which seasoning mix you choose! A serving of this trail mix has around 16 grams of protein and 16 grams of fiber. You can amp up the protein even more by folding in hemp seeds into the granola once it has finished roasting.

The Indian-spiced lentils are inspired by Indian chivda, which usually uses rice flakes or other flaked or puffed grains. It is spicy savory with some balancing sweet from raisins or dates and is fantastically delicious! 

For the nacho spiced savory lentil trail mix, a took inspiration from my nacho cheese granola bars. It’s your favorite snacking chip in crisp trail mix form! you can adjust it to your flavor preference. Add more cayenne for more heat or more nutritional yeast for more cheesiness.

If you love gochujang, definitely try the peanut gochujang lentil trail mix which has an amazing savory-spicy flavor with a hint of sweetness. It pairs so well with the crunchy peanuts! Comment below on which one will you try first!

Why You’ll Love Lentil Trail Mix

• protein- and fiber-packed breakfast or snack with 16 grams each of protein and fiber per serving!
• make all three flavors or choose from 3 amazing flavors: Indian-spiced, peanut gochujang, or nacho cheese
• deep flavors and incredible textures
• naturally gluten-free with soy-free and nut-free options included

Continue reading: High Protein Lentil Trail Mix, 3 Ways Peanut gochujang, Indian Chivda, Nacho cheese flavors

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Marry me tofu bake is like a high protein plant-based lasagna style bake. Tofu, creamy smoky sauce, spinach sun-dried tomato tofu ricotta, and no pasta! Lasagna meets tofu parmigiana meets marry me tofu, minus pasta. Easy to make all in one baking dish. Over 20 gm protein! Options for gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

My husband loves my tofu parmesan bake, and so did you guys, because lots of you have made that one and variations of it since I first posted it. It’s basically like a lasagna with this delicious spinach ricotta filling and some pasta sauce, all layered up but with tofu slices instead of lasagna noodles. It’s a hearty dish that’s easy to make and can be served in various ways.

For this marry me tofu bake, I changed up the fillings. I used the flavors from my marry me pasta and made this creamy smoky sauce and the an umami filled ricotta filling to create something new and delicious. It has this incredible, smoky rose-style sauce. Then, we make the spinach ricotta filling, but we also add sun-dried tomato and some heat to it for a richer deeper umami flavor.

Together, all of these flavors create a sort of a marry me pasta flavor profile, but in a parmigiana kind of format. This bake is hearty, delicious, and everybody’s going to keep going in for seconds. And thirds!

It is a high-protein dish, because we use tofu layers instead of lasagna noodles, add tofu to our spinach ricotta filling and even in the creamy pasta sauce. The pasta sauce gets its creaminess from protein-rich cashews and tofu. So, there’s protein in each element of this dish. If you don’t want to use cashews for the sauce, you can use hemp seeds or silken tofu as another source of protein. There’s also nutritional yeast in the sauce, which adds even more protein to each helping, making each serving super satisfying and delicious.

You can serve this with some sourdough or whole grain bread for even more protein, or over lentil spaghetti or lentil pasta for an extra protein boost.

Why You’ll Love Marry Me Tofu

• super simple, 1-pan, weeknight meal
• Lasagna meets tofu parmigiana meets marry me tofu, minus pasta!
• bakes in the oven, so very little active cooking time
• tofu in creamy, smoky, marry me cream sauce
• high protein dinner
• easy gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free options

Continue reading: Marry Me Tofu Bake (Lasagna style)

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This Crispy Sesame crusted Tofu is Quick and super delicious! Tofu cubes are tossed in the peanut sauce then coated in sesame seeds and baked until crispy. Serve over greens dressed in peanut sauce, in a wrap or over noodles! Peanut-free  & soy-free version included.

I’ve developed a full-blown obsession with these sesame-coated tofu bowls!

I don’t know whether it’s the nutty, crunchy sesame-crusted baked tofu that does it for me or the totally addictive peanut sauce…it’s most likely the combination of both because I would not want to do without any of these additions.

I love that the sesame-crusted tofu is baked in the oven and turns out super crispy without having to add any flour or breadcrumbs the to coating.

Before coating the tofu in sesame, we toss the tofu cubes in some of our peanut sauce to allow the seeds to stick to them properly. This works way better than egg wash AND adds a bunch of flavor to our baked tofu.

These bowls are perfect for meal prep and the spicy peanut dressing keeps in the fridge for a whole week.

More bowl recipes:

Berbere Chickpea Bowl

Vietnamese Inspired Caramelized Pork Bowls with Lentils

Vegan Pizza Bowl

Spicy Maple Mustard Tofu Bowl with Sweet Potatoes

Cajun Roasted Vegetable Bowl with Garlic Sauce

26 Vegan Bowl Recipes

Continue reading: Sesame Crusted Tofu Bowls

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Vegan Chicken Changezi – marinated baked tofu chunks are simmered in a rich, mild tomato coconut gravy to create a vegan version of the popular spicy chicken changezi. Vegan & Gluten-free + Soy-free Option.

For a flavor-packed weeknight dinner that is plant-based and gluten-free, try this Vegan Chicken Changezi! Chicken Changezi is a popular dish usually found in restaurants in Delhi. It is a rather spicy chicken curry for which the chicken is marinated, then cooked or pan-fried.

While it cooks you make a sauce that varies a lot based on the restaurant. Sometimes the onions and cashews are fried together and blended up for the sauce. Sometimes  chopped onions are cooked to golden and then blended.

To balance the heat from the chili, some cream is added. For the cream part, you can use non-dairy cream such as cashew cream, or use cashew milk, coconut milk, or some yogurt.

For this recipe, we use tofu that has been torn up into organic shapes and marinated in a flavorful marinade and then baked. You can also pan-fry the tofu if you like.

The original recipe requires the premade sauce to be reheated and kind of panfried in some butter and then the tofu/vegan chicken is added to the sauce and then garnished with cilantro, chili, and some more butter and served. But for simplifying the recipe, I cook the sauce and then add the baked tofu. You can also use store bought vegan chicken subs, soycurls or chickpeas here.

More easy tofu curries:

Malaysian Tofu Curry

Shahi Tofu Kofta Casserole

Vegan Tofu Rogan Josh (Tofu in Chili Yogurt Sauce)

Tofu Vindaloo Recipe (Indian Tangy Chili Sauce)

Continue reading: Vegan Chicken Changezi

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This Vegan Jalapeno Skillet Mac and Cheese is made in just 1 Skillet! No need for multiple pans! A 30 minute simple vegan spin on a family dinner favorite that is perfectly cheesy with a kick of heat from the added jalapenos. Options for gluten-free soyfree nutfree

Jalapeno Skillet Mac and Cheese in all its cheesy, salty and spicy glory! This is the ultimate vegan comfort food for a cold night and with this recipe, it comes together quicker and easier than one that needs to make the sauce and boil pasta separately!

We make this dish in one skillet on the stovetop. Stovetop Pasta dishes like my Vegan Pesto Skillet Lasagna and my French Onion Skillet Lasagna are among my favorite dishes to make when life gets busy and I crave a comforting meal.

I love the spicy kick of the jalapenos to counterbalance the rich cheese sauce. However, if kids are eating with you, remove the seeds, or add less jalapenos or just to one side of the dish.

We want to bring on the flavor right from the beginning, starting with cooking the pasta in seasoned broth instead of plain water. If your pasta absorbs all the water while cooking, you might want to add a splash more of broth to bring the sauce together.

Looking for a gift for the new year to eat more plant based? Get my cookbooks to help you try easy and amazing meals in 2023! Ebooks will deliver instantly, get print books from local stores.

Why you will love this skillet Mac

• It needs just 1 skillet
• its easily made without gluten soy nuts
• It’s quick comfort food
• it takes just 25 mins

More Pasta Recipes and pasta casseroles:

Vegan Garlic Chili Oil Pasta with Smoky Pecans

Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes

Vegan Mac And Cheese Taco Bake ; Mac Taco Casserole

Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese with Gochujang

Continue reading: Vegan Jalapeño Skillet Mac and Cheese

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