Workweek Vegan Meal Prep Episode 22 🔪

Welcome back to another episode of Workweek Vegan Meal Prep, the series where I make four recipes using 20 plant-based ingredients for a week’s worth of enjoyable food. I started this series almost a year ago, and it has been such a joy to continue sharing these preps with y’all.

This week’s lineup is focused on utilizing some of my favorite mid-summer produce to deliver sweet and savory flavors that make the most of what’s in season. Starting off, we have these delightful Coconut-Mango Bites 🥭 that require just three ingredients and one pan to make. A refreshing sweet treat that’s great for on-the-go. Next, we have vegan “Beef and Cheese” Empanadas 🥟 served with a fantastic Chimichurri featuring in-season Fresno chilies for a nice kick of heat. My favorite meal of all is the Peach-Serrano Glazed Tofu with Herbed Farro 🍑. Peaches are often reserved for sweet preparations like jams, jellies, cobblers, and the like, but they work brilliantly in savory preparations, and the flavors in this recipe blew me away! It has the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and spicy. And lastly, we have French Onion Vegan Mac and Cheese 🧀. This one’s been quite popular on social media for about the last year now, although I’ve never seen a vegan version and knew I had to give it a try. My wife has repeatedly told me she’s shocked by how much it tastes like a French onion soup, and I couldn’t agree more!

TIPS FOR THIS WEEK’S PREP

• The Coconut-Mango Bites 🥭 require only 3 ingredients and a very straightforward prep. The key is making sure the mixture all the ingredients in the pan cooks to the point where it turns into a tacky soft dough, which ensures that they can roll into solid balls for tossing in the coconut shreds.

• The “Beef & Cheese Empanadas w/ Chimichurri 🥟 are the most labor-intensive of all the recipes, but still easy enough to manage. The key is to make sure the pie crusts are folded and crimped well enough so that oil does not seep in while they are deep-frying. And if you’re not looking to deep fry in the middle of summer, you can simply bake in the oven, and I’ve included instructions for this alternate method below.

• The Peach-Serrano Glazed Tofu with Herbed Farro 🍑 is really such a delightful dish, and if there is any recipe you’re going to make from this prep, it should most definitely be this one. I decided to air fry the tofu, but you can alternatively bake in the oven if you don’t have an air-fryer. The key to getting the tofu nice and glazed is in the use of a little bit of maple syrup in the pan at the end, while the tofu, peach, and serrano chilies are all cooking together.

• The French Onion Vegan Mac & Cheese 🧀 Requires just a pot for boiling the macaroni noodles and another pot or large pan for making the French onion cheese sauce. The key to making this a “French Onion” mac and cheese is in the (1) browning of the onions at the beginning of the recipe and (2) addition of dried thyme before making the roux and creating the cheese sauce. This creates that nostalgic flavor that pairs so beautifully with the cheese sauce.

RECIPE LINEUP

• 🥭 Coconut-Mango Bites

• 🥟 “Beef & Cheese” Empanadas w/ Chimichurri

• 🍑 Peach-Serrano Glazed Tofu with Herbed Farro

• 🧀 French Onion Vegan Mac & Cheese

20 CORE INGREDIENTS

4 to 5 ataulfo mangoes

2 1/4 cups shredded coconut

1 can (about 12 oz) sweetened condensed oat milk (I used Nature’s Charm brand)

1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley

chilies (1 to 2 fresno and 2 to 3 serrano or jalapeño)

2 bulbs garlic

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

onions; 1 red, 2 yellow

2 pounds plant-based ground meat (I used Impossible brand)

3 bags (8 oz each) vegan cheddar cheese shreds (I used Violife brand)

4 frozen pie crusts

1 cup farro

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 bunch chives

2 blocks (14 oz each) extra firm tofu

2 to 3 peaches

1/3 cup maple syrup

20 to 24 oz macaroni noodles (I used elbow-shaped)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 carton (4 cups) unsweetened original soy milk

Pantry items:

oils: avocado and extra virgin olive

spices: cumin, coriander, chili powder, smoked paprika, dried oregano, dried thyme

soy sauce

Kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper

FULL RECIPES

Recipe 1: 🥭 Coconut-Mango Bites (14 to 16 bites)

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 ripe ataulfo mangoes (enough to make 1 1/4 cup mango puree), scored by cutting two slices around the pit, scoring each slice, then scooping out

• 1 1/4 cup plus 1 cup shredded coconut

• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed oat milk

Preparation

1. Add your mango pieces to a blender and blend until you have a smooth puree.

2. Place a large nonstick pan over low-medium heat and warm three minutes. Add the 1 1/4 coconut shreds to the pan and toss in the pan with a spatula for one to two minutes. Add the mango puree and sweetened condensed oat milk, then use a spatula to combine everything. Continue cooking the mixture down over low-medium heat and folding with the spatula until it turns tackier, almost like a soft dough, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, place in a bowl, then set in the fridge to cool 15 minutes.

3. Remove the coconut-mango mixture from the fridge and add the remaining one cup coconut shreds to a small bowl.. Scoop one tablespoon of the mixture at a time and use your hands to roll into a ball. Toss the balls in the coconut shreds until well coated.

4. Store in a lidded glass container in the fridge up to five days, freezer up to one month. Serve cold out of the fridge or freezer.

Nutritional info:

Per bite (14 to 16 servings):

• Calories: 135

• Protein: 2g

• Carbs: 14g

• Fat: 9g

• Fiber: 3g

Recipe 2: 🥟 “Beef & Cheese” Empanadas w/ Chimichurri (about 16 empanadas)