After last month’s vegan puddle debacle, I felt that vegan food needed to be redeemed. Despite what my disappointing soup suggested, vegan food should not be bland and boring. It should be a celebration of flavors and textures in the most nourishing way. To remind myself how great vegan food can be, I returned to some old favorites and tried out a few new ones that have become fast favorites.

Curried Lentils with Coconut Milk – When made with red lentils this becomes much looser than the curry shown made with brown lentils, but it is no less delightful. The coconut milk makes for a rich dish that is heavily flavored (but not overpowered) with cumin, coriander, and turmeric. I like to serve this with some roasted or sauteed veg to mix in as well and give a bit more texture to the dish, like cauliflower or cabbage. The curry and a veg can be made in the time it takes you to make brown rice, so dinner is on the table in 45 minutes. (I’ve been cooking through Small Victories bit by bit and I am liking it so far. Julia’s lasagna is a revelation.)

Goodness Wrap – This is everything I look for in a vegan wrap: various textures, the bright acidity of a pickle, and a sauce to tie it all together. I made this in the same week that I made the curried lentils and just made some extra rice to include, but honestly I didn’t feel it added that much to the wrap. I also added in some chickpeas for extra heft, which felt necessary to power more active bodies. These were so, so good.

Thai Chopped Salad with Tofu – This salad is the most refreshing thing to eat a lunch on a hot day. The crunchy veg and slightly sour dressing are spot on, and the tofu marinade with curry paste is so flavorful you might forget you’re eating tofu.

Thai-ish Cauliflower Rice Salad – Sprouted Kitchen again with a wonderful mix of colorful vegetables in a Thai slaw. The cauliflower rice was a bit weird to me, and didn’t go with the texture of the rest of the dish (it just coated the other things in mush). Next time I would just roast the cauliflower to include, as there will definitely be a next time. I made the same roasted tofu as in the salad above to bulk it up and the flavors went really well together. The crunchy vegetables were nicely coated in the peanut sauce. This is definitely an indulgent dish as it calls for a lot of ingredients that are not always easily found, but so worth the time.

Summer rolls with peanut sauce (pictured at top) – Now seems like a good time to remind everyone that peanut sauce freezes super well so you make make a big batch on a colder day and then have it at the ready for those nights when turning on the oven would be torture. I just picked up some brown rice wrappers at Whole Foods that I am pumped to try with rolls this summer.  I use any mixture of chopped raw veg (collard, kale, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, beets, summer squash, etc, etc), herbs (mint, cilantro), and leftover protein in my rolls on hot nights to make the best cold dinner.