This past weekend I had my parents over for my mom’s birthday dinner. Mom LOVES Chinese food and we almost always without fail go down to Dragon King for heaps and piles of fried animal with a bunch of sauce. Even though I’ve become plant based in the last 2 years I usually still go, order the veggies dishes and the ginger beef with tofu instead of beef.
But this year, I got a little present from my mom instead. See, I’ve been trying to teach mom and dad about the effects of eating animals for a while now. The environmental effects (our planet simply cannot sustain the amount of animals we are consuming), The abuse of the animals (the agricultural industry also cannot sustain, resulting in factory farms … and trust me, Dragon King is not buying from grandpas ethically raised pork farm) and of course the consequences eating meat has on your body.
Mom and Dad are pretty old school and have never really gotten it. Lately, however, they’ve been having smoothies for breakfast every day and have started noticing HOW amazing they feel!?! (would you look at that lol) …
So, even though I have shown them dozens of animal rights videos, I felt like this week, was the week to show them ONE LAST VIDEO. I asked mom and dad to have no distractions, and watch the video with an open mind, from beginning to end…and then tell them to tell me what they thought (here is the link to the video if you would like to watch it).
The next day, mom came over and looked me in the eye, and said… Your dad and I are ready to make a change. Tears came pouring down my face and I was SOOOOO happy. Now, I don’t think they will become plant based over night, but I know they are ready to make changes for the sake of their health, the animals, and our planet.
So, for my mom’s birthday this year, I decided she shouldn’t go without her beloved Chinese food… I would prepare a 4-course Chinese food experience for her… ALL vegan.
I got most of the recipes online, tweaked a few … but overall it turned out AMAZING!!!!! (this is not a sponsored post btw).
Here is the menu:
Vegan Wonton Soup
Spring Rolls
Vegan Dumplings
Vegan “Ginger Beef” or Mongolian Beef
Vegan Sweet and Sour Pork
Rice
Green Tea
Starting with the Vegetarian Wonton Soup … (could be vegan but the wontons didn’t have the ingredients for the wrappers so I am unsure) …
- Vegetarian Wontons from the Oriental Market
- Shitake mushrooms sliced
- Carrots thinly diced on an angle
- Bok choy chopped
- Mini corn (canned)
- Sprouts
- Diced green onions
- Snap peas
You can add tofu, onion, peppers, zucchini, broccoli, whatever veggie you want! Wonton broth was to taste, mostly miso paste, vegetable stock, a dash of sesame oil and salt to taste!
For official recipes, you can go off these two that I came across on Pinterest!!
Vegan Wonton Soup by Cilantro and Citronella
Vegetarian Wonton Soup by China Sichuan Food
The vegan spring rolls were actually SO easy! again, I just found the recipes on Pinterest but didn’t over think it. In a nutshell …
- Carrots julienned
- Wrinkly cabbage (that’s what I call it … LOL…) julienned
- Brown mushrooms julienned
- Green onion julienned
- Sprouts
- Red pepper julienned
Tossed it in a bowl with some soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil and fried on medium just for a few seconds to lightly cook… (don’t over cook). I found spring roll wrappers with no egg and used those obviously… wrapped them and fried them in about 1/2” of cooking / frying oil ( vegetable oil).
The Mongolian Beef and the Sweet and Sour Pork turned out SOOOO good I was totally floored. Here’s what I did …
The sweet and Sour No-Pork was the easiest, I picked up the Gardien Package from Choices (or Whole Foods or your supermarket might carry it) and literally just made it… I did fry it up first, and then tossed it in the sauce with red peppers and pineapple. I was SUPER impressed.
The Mongolian Beef, I used the Homestyle beef tips from Gardien, tossed it in corn starch and fried it (of course)
then tossed it in the PF CHANGS copycat sauce recipe. I topped it with sesame seeds and sliced green onion. OMG! it was amazing!
All served with a side of rice and green tea… and mama was happy! I was also so thrilled about her decision to go more plant based… that I bought her a Vitamix!!! 🙂
Have you ever tried making vegan Chinese food?? What did you make and how did it turn out?? Share in the comments below!!
xo
Jilly
Problem with all this is you are replacing meat with a bunch of chemical junk – what is worse for you? Vegan isn’t necessarily healthier – especially if you eat all that processed, high sodium “fake meat”. And soy has a fair amount of issues as well. Vegan is hard – and that would mean ridding yourself of leather, most of your skin products and makeup you advertise and promote, and is not something to take lightly. Its a lifestyle change – maybe say you don’t eat animal products instead of calling yourself Vegan….
Even people who eat a “healthy” animal diet have cheat days where they eat things that are not super great for them and probably is a “bunch of chemical junk”. Just because she prepared one meal with fake meat doesn’t mean she eats this way every day. I have recently started cutting back on the amount of animal products I eat and and I don’t like tofu or fake meat. The meals I have made have been healthy and nutritious and free of animal products. We aren’t perfect, making small changes in your life can greatly affect those around you and your impact on the world. It is very rude for you to comment on the fact that she is trying to do something good. Jillian has inspired many people to reduce the amount of animal products they eat and use in their every day lives, she has inspired me. I have learned so much about being plant-based from her blog, instagram posts and snapchat. Also, I have been following her for a long time and not once has she called herself a Vegan, she has simply stated that she is trying to eat more plant-based foods. Maybe you should get your facts straight before calling someone out. Keep up the great work, Jill! You have been an inspiration to many people.
Great to hear. I like to think of food choices like religion – everyone is entitled to their own views, but as soon as you start banging on my door and trying to sell me on yours and why is so much better than mine, credibility is lost. Which she did to her poor parents. Those videos are fear mongering and have a lot of untrue facts in them. Eat plant based. Eat meat. Eat fake meat. Who cares. You do you.
She didn’t come knocking on your door. You willingly read her blog post. If you don’t agree with what she is writing don’t read it. As for showing her parents those movies… her relationship with her parents is her business. You don’t get to comment on that.
Neither do you. We all get opinions. Relax Caitlin.
Didn’t comment on her relationship with her parents. Soooo???
Caitlin, as soon as you make your personal life public by posting blogs, instagram posts, or other social media outlets, it’s no longer your private life. Jillian chooses to post what she does. So it’s not fair of you to lay into readers for expressing their opinion. If she had done this stuff behind closed doors and not posted about it, I totally get where you are coming from, But she didn’t. She posted about the videos. She posted about convincing her parents. So, end of day Roger is not an evil POS for having an opinion about it. He didn’t say anything wrong – you may not like to hear it, but that doesn’t make it wrong.
Thanks for your input on this topic.
While I agree with you about the processed “meat” (though give her a break, it was a special treat for her mum, not her daily diet), I’m pretty sure she did not refer to herself as “vegan” at any point, rather using the term plant based.
I totally agree with Roger, you should consider your environmental impact your decor career has on the earth…you live in a glass house darlin, don’t throw rocks
Hi Jillian, where is your tea set from ? I love it
Thanks so much for the great post, Jillian! We’ve been plant-based for a few years now, but I always have a hard time coming up with special-occasion meals…gonna have to try this one!
Amazing!!! Let me know what you think Dawn!! XOXO
This post is SO GREAT!! I’ve been following your journey all along and recently started implementing the similar changes as well. I have not only found that I’m able to do it quite easily but that the meals I make using vegan recipes and substitutes are SO TASTY! I can’t wait to try these recipes you just shared!!! Thanks Jilly!
Awwww that’s sooo great to hear Mar!!! Thank you so much for following along!! XOXO
Yay! I saw this on snapchat and was hoping you would post details. Can’t wait to try the wonton soup and spring rolls!
Yes!!!!! Let me know what you think!! XOXO
WOW Thank you so much for featuring my Vegan Mongolian Beef sauce!!! Your vegan dinner looks fabulous!!!!! Have a great holiday!!! And I look forward to following you 🙂
Awwww you’re welcome … it all looked SO DELISH!!! Thanks for following along Mila!!! XOXO
i love chinese food 🙂 the spring rolls are my favorite
This meal was pretty delish …. I must say so myself!! LOL!!! XOXO
I saw this on your Snapchat and thought it looked delicious, thank you for posting all of the recipes!! You make plant based eating look so easy and yummy, I’ve been considering making the change, you’re so inspiring! Love following you Jillian!
Had to come back and comment on this post – I was so inspired by the meal you made that I decided to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday dinner a while ago by recreating some of the dishes you made and he LOVED it! Thanks for the recipes and fun dinner idea!