7 Day Vegan Challenge (With Recipes)

When we talk to people about veganism and why we do it or what our motivation is, we always tell them about the environmental, health and animal-rights reasons. The first thing we hear most of the time is, “I could never do that.” By saying that, you are convincing yourself that you could never do it without even trying first. By being more open to the possibilities, you can open yourself to a new experience and maybe a whole new world of experiencing food, health and life itself.

We never want anyone to go vegan because they feel forced to and you should never go vegan because of other people’s beliefs. By slowly introducing yourself and your body into a plant-based diet, you might not only give yourself a better understanding of why people do it, but you may also begin to see the health benefits, which might surprise you. That’s why we thought we would give you a challenge; a 7 day vegan challenge!

Below, we have written out some of our favorite recipes for break, lunch and dinner; as well as snacks and desserts. 

You don’t have to make all of these recipes for the challenge, or any of them, but this is truly just a starting point for you to help get you started on this journey. You can use our recipes here, or you can search on Pinterest, which is what we always do when we are looking for new recipes. The main goal, eat vegan for one week! Breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between! 

We hope you have fun with this and please let us know how your week went!

Breakfast Ideas

Oatmeal & Berries

Simple. Filling. Healthy. Delicious.

Simply mix your oats with either water or your favorite plant based milk, throw in some chopped strawberries, bananas, apple slices, blueberries, whatever your heart desires. Cook it up to desired consistency (adding more liquid when needed) and enjoy that bad boy! (Tip: I like to sweeten just slightly with a little Agave).

Bread/Toast with Peanut Butter, Jelly, Vegan Butter & Herbs, etc.

Pretty simple, but it does the trick! We love a little vegan butter with some herbs!

Fruit Parfait

Gather some of your favorite fruit and mix in a bowl with your favorite non dairy yogurt. Soy yogurt is great and inexpensive! There is also coconut yogurt, cashew milk yogurt, almond yogurt, etc. Lots of options to choose from!

Granola

A classic breakfast dish

Enjoy your granola with plant based milk or with some vegan yogurt for a yummy, refreshing breakfast.
*Make sure your granola is vegan. Sometimes products like that use milk powder or the ones with chocolate use a milk chocolate and not a dark chocolate.

Tofu Scramble

Ingredients:

Tofu
Olive Oil
Bell Peppers
Onion
Garlic
Potatoes (Sweet Potatoes are amazing with this)
Really any veggie is fair game here! Pick your favorites!

 

Instructions: 

  1. Remove your tofu from the packaging, cut in half lengthwise, and place both halves on top of a paper towel. Place a second paper towel over the top and put a small saucepan or tupperware container filled with water on the top. (This is just to add weight to the top to help drain the liquid from the tofu)
  2. Chop up all your veggies. In a large saute pan on medium high heat, add about 3 Tablespoons of olive oil. When heated up, add in your veggies. I recommend starting with the heavier veggies first because they take longer to cook. Potatoes for example. Once all veggies are added, continue cooking on medium heat until completely cooked through.
  3. Next, take the tofu out from under the pan, and legit break it apart and crumble it over the top of the pan. Mix well until heated through.
  4. Season to your desire with salt, pepper, herbs, whatever you’d like.
  5. Plate it up and enjoy your protein rich breakfast!

Lunch & Dinner Ideas

Here in Austria, Lunch tends to be our biggest meal of the day, but we know that elsewhere in the world, Dinner tends to be the largest. So you can use these recipes for either lunch or dinner depending on when your biggest meal of the day tends to be 🙂 .

Vegan Tikka Masala

A classic Indian dish made vegan, and literally my favorite meal to make.

This recipe comes from theironyou.com which is a fantastic blog about becoming the healthiest “you” that you can be.

You can find the full recipe here: https://www.theironyou.com/2016/03/vegan-easy-chickpea-tikka-masala.html?m=1

Tofu Veggie Stir Fry

Another super easy lunch or dinner idea! Here’s what you need:

1 Block of Firm or Extra Firm Tofu (cubed)
Peppers (green, red, yellow, any combination of pepeprs)
Mushrooms
Corn
1 Onion (diced or in slices)
Broccoli and/or Cauliflower
Peas
2 cloves Garlic (minced)
Salt and Pepper
Rice (cooked)
Olive Oil

 

Instructions:

  1. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and heat to medium high.
  2. Add in the onion and saute until translucent
  3. Add in the minced garlic and saute for 1 minute
  4. Add in all the other veggies and mix well
  5. Add in cubed tofu pieces and mix well
  6. Turn down heat to medium and add in about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  7. Continue to saute until veggies are all cooked through
  8. Add salt and pepper as needed
  9. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Noodles with Sweet Potato Sauce

This sauce is SUPER yummy and we make it pretty frequently. It’s also super easy to make so it’s a quick way to get in your veggies but still satisfy that creamy craving.

What you need:

2 large sweet potatoes (cubed)
Plant based milk (we use Oat Milk but you can use any plant based milk)
1 medium to large onion
3 large cloves of garlic (minced)
4 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
Vegetable Broth/Stock Powder or Cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Noodles of your choice

 

Instructions:

  1. Add 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil in a large pot and turn on heat to medium high.
  2. Add chopped onion to the pot and saute until translucent
    Add garlic and saute for another minute
  3. Add sweet potatoes and mix well.
  4. Add water to the pot, just enough to cover the sweet potatoes but not more.
  5. Add vegetable stock cube or powder to the water and mix.
  6. Bring to a boil and cook until the sweet potatoes are cooked through
    Remove from heat and add nutritional yeast.
  7. Using a blender or a hand-held blender, blend the mixture until smooth. When the mixture too thick is, add some plant based milk, a little at a time until it is the consistency that you prefer.
  8. Add salt and pepper until it is seasoned to your liking
  9. Serve over your favorite noodles and enjoy!

Coconut Veggie & Chickpea Curry

This recipe is super delicious and super healthy! It’s great served over rice, quinoa or couscous, but you can also eat with noodles.

What you need:

1 large onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 large sweet potato (cubed)
1 can coconut milk
Olive Oil
Yellow Curry Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Rice, Quinoa or Couscous (your choice)

 

Instructions:

  1. Cook your rice, quinoa or couscous according to the package directions. Set aside.
  2. In a large pot, turn to medium high heat and add 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  3. Add in onions and cook until translucent.
  4. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute
  5. Add in sweet potato and mix well
  6. Season with a little salt and pepper
  7. Add the entire can of coconut milk to the pot (if you have solids on the top of your coconut milk, that is totally normal and you need it for the recipe. It’s just the fattier portion of the coconut milk solidifying.)
  8. Add about 2 Tablespoons of yellow curry powder.
  9. Bring mixture to a boil and then lower heat to medium.
  10. Add chickpeas to the pot and continue to cook.
  11. When sweet potatoes are cooked completely, taste to test the seasoning. Add more when needed.
  12. If the mixture is too thin, you can use Cornstarch. Simply put 3 teaspoons in a small glass with 1 teaspoon cold water and mix well.
  13. Serve over rice, quinoa or couscous and enjoy!

Vegan Chili

There is nothing quite like a nice bowl of chili!

What you need:

1 onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 green bell pepper (diced)
1 red bell pepper (diced)
1 can of corn (drained and rinsed)
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 packages of your favorite chili seasoning mix
1 sweet potato (cubed)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Instructions:

  1. In a large pot, heat 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil on medium high
  2. Add onion and saute until translucent.
  3. Add the bell peppers and saute for 2 minutes.
  4. Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.
  5. Add the two cans of tomatoes to the pot and stir well. Turn down heat slightly so the mixture doesn’t splatter everywhere while it heats up.
  6. In a bowl, add the seasoning packets to 200ml of water and mix well. Add this mixture to the pot with the tomatoes. Mix well.
  7. Add in all other veggies and beans (chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, corn, and sweet potatoes. Mix well.
  8. If it is too thick, you can add a little water to thin it out to your liking.
  9. Cook until sweet potatoes are fully cooked through
  10. Serve with your favorite vegan sour cream and vegan shredded cheese, or just enjoy as is!

Roasted Veggies with Rice

Super yummy and super quick meal that will keep your tummy satisfied!

What you need:

Sweet Potatoes
Bell Peppers
Onion
Carrots
Potatoes
Olive Oil
Rice

 

Instructions:

  1. Prepare rice according to package instructions.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F or (about 200 C)
  3. Cut all veggies to about equal sizes (but not super small otherwise they will burn).
  4. Toss the veggies in about 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  5. Season how you like: We personally love a little salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, and a few herbs like rosemary or sage.
  6. Toss well with the seasonings and lay out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
  7. Put in oven in the middle rack and roast for about 25-35 minutes. Keep an eye on them and stir once in a while so they don’t burn. When everything is easily poked through with a fork, they are done!
  8. Serve with rice and enjoy!

Falafel Wraps

Falafel is one of our favorite things to make! So flavorful and super healthy!

What you need:

1 package of falafel mix
1 can of chickpeas (drained)
Hummus
Bell Peppers (sliced)
Corn
Onion (sliced)
Olive Oil
Tortillas
Rice or Couscous

 

Instructions:

  1. Prepare rice or couscous according to package instructions.
  2. Add falafel mixture to a large bowl.
  3. Add the amount of water to mixture as stated on the package instructions.
  4. In another bowl, mash the chickpeas with a fork or a potato masher. Mash as well as possible so there are no large pieces.
  5. Add the chickpeas to the falafel mixture and mix until well combined. You can add a little water if it’s too hard to mix, but it should be really thick so it does not get too sticky. If it’s too sticky, you can add a small amount of flour and mix.
  6. Cook onion and peppers in the oven or in a pan, or just leave them raw.
  7. Form small patties with the falafel mixture.
  8. In a pan, heat 4-5 Tablespoons of Olive Oil on medium high heat.
  9. Add the falafel patties to the pan, turn down heat to medium, and cook, flipping over once, until brown on both sides.
  10. Now assemble your wraps! We like to put a small amount of hummus on the tortilla, then a little rice, then veggies, falafel and roll it up! Enjoy!

Snacks/ Smaller Meals:

Salad with Vegan Dressing

Prepare your favorite greens and veggies, and add a yummy vegan dressing.
My favorite dressing is:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
3 to 4 Tablespoons of Pumpkin seed oil
1 teaspoon of Agave
1 quick sprinkle of garlic powder

*combine in a small jar, close jar and shake well. Pour over your favorite salad!

Veggies and Hummus

Super good snack! Just cut up some veggies (I like carrots, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers) and dip in a little hummus.

Vegan Protein Shakes

There are some really amazing vegan protein shakes out there! Try to find some without all the artificial sweeteners in them and with a lower amount of carbs. Pea protein and rice protein are great choices!

Nuts!

Go out and get yourself a great mix of nuts! Cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, whatever you like best! Nuts have healthy fats and are typically high in protein!

Pringles

Did you know that some Pringles are vegan!? I know, it’s not the healthiest snack, but just because you’re vegan doesn’t mean you can’t indulge once in a while with your favorite snacks! Simply look on the container because the vegan ones say they are vegan 🙂

Desserts!

Sweet tooth? No problem!

Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice Creams!

Yes! Ben & Jerry’s makes vegan ice cream and let me tell you, it is amazing! It’s made with almond milk and is truly divine! It’s a little pricey, but totally worth it!

Oreos

Did you know that Oreos are vegan? I can’t speak for all the flavors but the original and mint flavors are for sure vegan. One of those accidental vegan foods that we are happy to indulge in!

 

Dark Chocolate

Make sure to check the labels, but usually anything over 70% cacao is vegan!

Vegan Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of our own recipes that we love! Check it out here: Vegan Cookies

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Another Spross recipe that we highly recommend! Check it out here: Vegan Cake

We hope you liked this challenge and please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Please share with your friends and family and make sure to tag us on Instagram @sproutedconsciousness

Leave a Reply