Breakfast & Smoothies & Snacks

Smoothies and snacks are a delicious way to get a lot of nutrients with just a few ingredients. Usually, they are quick and easy to make and the necessary ingredients are affordable. Of course, smoothies and snacks are versatile in how they can be prepared, so feel free to add your own (vegan!) ingredients for improved taste or nutrition.

Both the cost per serving and the nutrition facts per serving will exclude optional additions, and they'll take into consideration the first option written in the case of ' x OR y '.

For other recipes: Index of Recipes

Hummus

Difficulty: 0/5

Time: 5 minutes

Servings: dip

Cost: $3.00

Ingredients:

• 1 can unsalted chickpeas
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 squeezed lemons (more to taste)
• 1/3 cup tahini
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper
• Water (or olive oil) for thinning the hummus at the end
• 1 handful fresh parsley OR 1 tbsp dried parsley (optional)
• 1 tsp cumin (optional)

Instructions:

• Put all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Adjust with miso paste/salt, black pepper, lemon and parsley to modify the taste. Adjust with more water/olive oil to thin the hummus if needed (consistency should be smooth). Blend again after adjustments.

Serving:

Serve as a side dip in a plate. Good dipping options are slices of whole wheat bread, carrots, celery sticks, and other crunchy vegetables.

Xberry yogurt with oats

Difficulty: 0/5

Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1

Cost: $1.80

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of mixed berries
• 1 sliced peach
• 1/2 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp flax seeds
• 4 tsp whole-grain oatmeal flakes, quick oats or toasted (uncooked oats may cause stomach upset and have lower nutrition)
• 4 tsp unsweetened soy yogurt

Instructions:

• If toasting the oats, warm a pan on the stove under medium heat, add oats and stir for about two minutes or until they just begin to brown slightly, take out of the pan and set aside to cool while preparing other ingredients
• Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

Serving:

Pour in your yogurt in a bowl. For added sweetness, sprinkle some date sugar or non-caloric sweetener.

Xberry smoothie

Difficulty: 0/5

Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 2

Cost per serving: $1.60 (total cost: $3.20)

Ingredients:

• 1 peeled banana
• 1/2 peeled orange
• 1 peeled kiwi (or another preferred medium-sized fruit, like a peach or an apple)
• 1 1/2 cup of mixed berries (or berry of your choice)
• 2 tbsp wheatgrass powder (if you do not have wheatgrass powder, you can use any other powder you have that you like, or a cup of kale)
• 1 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

• Break the banana in half (for easiness of space), and put it in the blender with the orange, kiwi, berries, wheatgrass powder, and water. Blend until smooth.

Serving:

Pour your smoothie in a glass. For added freshness, top with mint leaves.

Red bell-pepper creamy dip

Difficulty: 0/5

Time: 20 minutes (or 5 minutes with a store-bought already roasted bell-pepper)

Servings: dip

Cost: $3.40

Ingredients:

• 2 cans unsalted chickpeas
• 1 medium sized bell-pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 squeezed lemons (more to taste)
• 2 tsp paprika
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper
• Water (or olive oil) for thinning the dip at the end
• 1 tsp cumin (optional)

Instructions:

• Roast the bell-pepper in the oven, for roughly 15 minutes--or until the bell-pepper is darkening in color and becoming softer (you can skip this step if your bell-pepper is already roasted).
• Cut the bell-pepper in pieces (for easiness of space). Put all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Adjust with salt, black pepper, and lemon to modify the taste. Adjust with more water/olive oil to thin the dip if needed (consistency should be smooth). Blend again after adjustments.

Serving:

Serve as a side dip in a plate. Good dipping options are slices of whole wheat bread, carrots, celery sticks, and other crunchy vegetables.

Sandwich with crispy tofu, jackfruit and tzatziki

Difficulty: 1/5

Time: 15 minutes (or 5 minutes if the tofu is already crispy and the tzatziki is already made)

Servings: 1

Cost: $0.80

Ingredients:

• 2 slices whole wheat bread
• 3 tbsp tzatziki
• 2 thinly sliced cherry tomatoes
• 2 slices tofu
• 1 leaf chicory
• 4 thin slices cucumber
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 pieces shredded jackfruit

Instructions:

• Place the tofu in the oven to turn brown and crispy, and prepare the tzatziki.
• On 1 slice of bread, pile up all the ingredients, starting in order with the cucumber slices, then the tzatziki, the lemon juice, the cherry tomato slices, the jackfruit, the chicory, and top with the tofu slices (the picture won't show them in this order, but it's the best way to not make a crumbly and messy sandwich).
• Place the second slice of bread on top, and press to shrink the volume.

Xberry oatmeal

Difficulty: 1/5

Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 1

Cost: $0.50

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup whole-grain oatmeal flakes
• 1/2 cup mixed berries (or berry of your choice)

Instructions:

• In a pot, add your berries and water. Bring your water to a rolling boil.
• Lower your heat and stir in your oatmeal flakes. Let the mixture simmer until most of the water has been absorbed by the oats, making sure to stir every now and then to avoid the oatmeal from sticking to the pot.

Serving:

Pour your oatmeal into a bowl. For added sweetness, sprinkle some date sugar. You can also add other components, such as seeds, nuts, or other raw fruits.

Whole-wheat pancakes

Difficulty: 1/5

Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

DRY

• 2 1/2 cups sifted whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup date sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

WET

• 2 cups soy milk (OR any plant-based milk)
• 1/3 cup soy yogurt
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions:

• Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
• In a large bowl, place all of the dry ingredients and stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
• Slowly whisk in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until you have a consistent batter. Do not overwhisk. Set aside.
• Create rings using parchment paper on a baking sheet. These will served as molds for the pancake batter. Note that if not using an oven, you can skip this step and heat up a non-stick skillet.
• Pour a ladle of batter into a baking sheet lined with paper (or into a skillet if not using an oven) and cook all the way through. Repeat until there is no more batter.

Serving:

On a plate, stack some pancakes. Top with a slice of vegan butter or maple syrup. Drizzle chocolate sauce or a berry coulis, top with fresh mint, and sprinkle powdered sugar on the plate.

Fries not-fried

Difficulty: 1/5

Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings: 1 big one

Cost: $1.20

Ingredients:

• 5 medium-sized potatoes with peel (or 2-3 sweet potatoes with peel)
• 1 tsp salt, and possibly a bit more to taste
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• Cayenne powder (optional)
• Black pepper (optional)

Instructions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
• Wash the potatoes, and cut them in stick shapes, roughly 0.8-1cm wide, 0.8-1cm deep, and as long as the potato itself. Try to cut them in similar dimensions--they will cook differently from each other if they're too different.
• In a large bowl, put the potato sticks with the salt, the garlic powder, the paprika, and the cayenne powder (optional, and according to how spicy you want it) on top.
• Mix the potatoes with your bare hands until evenly coated--alternatively, if you don't want to get your hands dirty, put all the ingredients in a bag and shake repeatedly until evenly coated.
• Line parchment paper on a baking tray and place the potato sticks evenly on top, trying to not have them overlap too much.
• Place the tray in the oven. Leave the potato sticks baking for 1.5 hours, flipping midway through.
• Serve in a plate, and toss them again with some black pepper (optional) and some more salt (optional) to taste.

Serving:

Serve with dip of your choice on the side. Sprinkle some oregano on top for added flavor.

Banana Berry Smoothie

Difficulty: 0/5

Time: ~5 Minutes

Servings: 8 fl oz

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of Calcium Fortified Orange Juice
• 2 Ripe Medium or Large Bananas
• 1/2 Cup mixed Frozen Berries
• 1 Tablespoon of Golden Flax Seeds

Optional:

• 1 Teaspoon of Amla Powder

Instructions:

• Put Flaxseeds and Amla Powder into a blender, and grind them together.
• Add Orange Juice
• Add Bananas
• Add Berries
• Blend