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Quick, Easy & Plant Based Lunch Ideas


It has been quite the whirlwind this year traveling to and from Kelowna in snow storms, filming full time, photo shoots, LEO, JUSTIN … and dare I say … trying to get that body back!! My cousin Tori from Fraîche Nutrition and I have been talking about the difficulties of getting a quick, easy and healthy lunch now that we’re BOTH new moms and are back to work full time. You really start to cherish those extra few minutes in the day for simple things like feeding yourself!! SOOOO we have come up with THREE different lunch ideas for you that are nutritionist approved, plant-based, EASY and won’t take up too much of your precious time. I will let Tori take it from here …

It’s Tori here from Fraîche Nutrition!  The start of a new year marks a fresh beginning and for many, a whole whack of healthy eating resolutions. The Washington Post predicts that 2017 will see some strong food trends including eating more healthy fats, whole foods, and plant proteins: AMEN!

At this time of the year, you may be tempted to make some drastic changes to your diet, and many people cut out grains in an attempt to lose weight. And while I fully support reducing refined carbohydrate foods to improve your health (ie: white flour products, white rice, sugar etc), cutting out the grain group entirely isn’t the way to go.

Not all carbs are created equal. In fact, in North America research shows that we don’t eat ENOUGH whole grains, which has a profound impact on our health. Whole grains such as quinoa, oats, wheat, rye, spelt, barley (I could go on) are packed with nutrients including fiber, protein, B vitamins that are vital for our energy and minerals such as zinc and magnesium. Eating whole grains reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and some forms of cancer. Let’s just say that I won’t be cutting these out of my diet anytime soon!

We’ve partnered with Dempster’s to create two delicious plant-based recipes that taste amazing and are super healthy! The Dempster’s 100% Whole Grains line of bread has ‘whole grain flour’ listed as the first ingredient (ingredients are listed according to their respective weight in a product, decreasing in weight as you move down the list), which is exactly what you should look for in a bread. Not to mention it is ALSO made with NO artificial colours and flavours!

I hope these new recipes help you get a healthy kick start to your New Year!

plant based dempsters-toona-sandwich

Chickpea ‘Toona’ Sandwich

This sandwich tastes a lot like a traditional tuna sandwich but is completely plant based! If you want it to be entirely vegan, simply choose a different Dempster’s variety as this one has honey. You can pile it as high as you want with other veggies (we just suggest lettuce here), and you can easily transform it into a melt by only using 1 slice of bread per sandwich, topping with shredded cheese or vegan ‘cheese’, broiling, and adding a handful of fresh arugula or spinach on top.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices Dempster’s 100% Whole Grains Honey & Oatmeal Bread
  • 6 leaves of green lettuce, washed and dried
  • 1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, roughly chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. mayo (vegan if desired)
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp. capers
  • ½ c. diced celery
  • 2 scallions, roughly chopped
  • 1 large (or 2 small) cloves of garlic, crushed
  • sea salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Place 3 leaves of lettuce on two of the slices of bread (you can spread a light amount of mayo on each slice first if you wish).
  2. In a food processor combine all of the remaining ingredients and pulse until it is mixed but not smooth (you want to keep some texture in the filling).
  3. Spread one-half of filling on top of the lettuce leaves and place the remaining two slices of bread on top of each prepared half.
plant based toona ingredients-for-sandwich food-processordempsters-breadchicpeas-in-food-processorimg_0441 toona-melt-with-dempstersimg_3301 chickpea-toona-dempsters-sandwich open-faced-tuna-sandwichplant based vegan toona open-sandwich

Vegan Crispy Buffalo Tofu Wrap

We LOVE the taste of anything done buffalo style, and these wraps are sure to be a crowd pleaser! Even the carnivores in our family devoured them!

Makes 4 wraps

Ingredients:

  • 4 large Dempster’s 100% Whole Grains Ancient Grains tortillas
  • 1 x 350g. package extra firm tofu, cut into 8 long sticks
  • 1/2 c. corn starch
  • vegetable oil
  • ½ tsp. sea salt
  • 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
  • 2 cups Panko
  • Unsweetened almond milk (to dredge the tofu)
  • 1 romaine lettuce heart, washed with the stem end cut off
  • ¼ c. vegan Caesar salad dressing
  • 2 small tomatoes, cut in quarters
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • ¼ small red onion cut into slices
  • hot sauce (I used Frank’s Hot Sauce)

Directions:

  1. Using a paper towel or clean dish towel, pat the tofu dry.  In a large shallow bowl or pie plate, toss the tofu in a 1/4 cup of cornstarch to lightly coat. In another large shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the panko, sea salt, garlic powder and the remaining 1/4 cup of cornstarch. Dredge the tofu in unsweetened almond milk and lightly coat in the panko mixture. Set aside.
  2. Toss the romaine lettuce leaves (I keep them whole as they are easier to roll) in the Caesar dressing and set aside.
  3. In a medium frying pan heat ½” of oil on medium high heat. Cook the tofu on all sides (you should only have to turn it once) until it is lightly browned, about 4 minutes per side.  When done, toss the sticks in hot sauce.
  4. To assemble, place your Dempster’s 100% Whole Grains Ancient Grains tortilla on a flat surface and layer two romaine lettuce leaves, two tofu ‘sticks’, ¼ of the avocado, two wedges of tomato and a couple of rings of red onion in the centre of the wrap. Tightly roll the wrap-up.  Repeat this process with the remaining three wraps and enjoy!
buffalo-wrap-ingredients tofu-buffalo-wraps buffalo-wraps-made-with-dempsters buffalo-tofu-wraps blog-_-buffalo-wrap dempsters-buffalo-wraps buffalo-wraps

For more recipe ideas check out the hashtag #DeliciousStartsWithDempsters on Instagram. What are your favourite quick and easy lunch go to’s?? Let me know in the comments below!!!

 

xo

Jilly & Tori

 

 

 

Thank you Dempster’s Bakery for sponsoring this post. All comments and opinions are my own.


Leave a Reply to Emily Taylor Cancel reply

  1. These look delicious! Except the honey bread is technically not vegan ;p Not 100% vegan myself, but you should have use one of their other grain breads for a vegan recipe post. Thanks for the ideas though! 🙂

  2. Those buffalo wraps look AMAZING. Can you clarify what to do with the garlic powder and salt? Right now the recipe says to mix it and set it aside, but I don’t see where you bring it back in. Does it go on the tofu?

  3. Thanks for sharing, both sound great! In the second recipe, when do you use the sea salt and garlic powder that you set aside?

  4. Looks great, especially the buffalo tofu wrap! However, unless I am just old and confused, which is possible, there are only two recipes, not three.

  5. You’re blog says three recipes…maybe I I haven’t had enough coffee but I only see two. Also making the buffalo wrap, yummmmm!

  6. Hi Jillian…I love learning all about your vegan choices and healthy living. I am not vegan but do eat a large plant based diet. I am curious as to your thoughts on soy though as there is lots of controversy on it.

  7. O.M.G
    I just made those Buffalo wraps and holy hell they are delicious. And I am not even vegan. The frying of the tofu with the cornstarch makes the world of difference in the sometimes odd tenure of tofu. Great job on these recipes ladies!!!

  8. I just made the vegan buffalo wraps and they are AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing your vegan journey, I’m trying to shift from vegetarian to more vegan based when I cook at home!

  9. OMG these are TO DIE FOR, I had to eat the 2nd one. Even with Kraft ceasar dressing – I sent my husband out to pick up the ingredients and I said ‘vegan ceasar dressing’. He came home with Kraft and he said ‘what? there are no bacon bits in it, of course it’s vegan!!’

  10. I made these last night, they were SO yummy.. mm the texture!! Have I mentioned that you are AMAZING ?! Thank- you for sharing! <3

  11. Hi 🙂
    Can’t wait to try the chickpea toona sandwich (just bought all the ingredients!:D)… but I have a doubt. I’m Spanish and here we don’t use oz to measure… so I don’t know the amount of chickpeas I should use :S. It would help me knowing the equivalent in cups at least, please?

    Greetings,
    Ana.

    1. Ignore me, please! I do have a measuring thing that measures oz xD Also, I didn’t understand why it said 1 15oz… just realized it’s not 115, it’s ONE can of 15 lol (Yes, I’m blonde:P)

  12. What do you recommend for a food processor?
    And, Tori mentions the Washington Post 2017 trends…did she mean 2018? ?
    Can’t wait to try out these recipes!

  13. Hi Jillian & Tori! I love these buffalo tofu wraps, but unfortunately the ventilation in my apartment is awful so I always wind up setting off the smoke detectors when I fry the tofu…do you have any advice for how to tweak this recipe for an air fryer?

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