how to make vegan cooking fun and simple

If you're someone who's always crazy busy, cooking can just feel like another thing that you have to take care of on top of everything else that you have going on. The thing is is that even if you're someone who's always getting pulled in a million different directions, cooking can actually be something that you look forward to and something that feels fun without needing to spend hours in the kitchen or a pantry full of special ingredients. So in this video I'm sharing a few simple ways to keep cooking easy and actually enjoy it. Let's start with the recipes themselves. One of the easiest ways to make cooking more enjoyable is to pick recipes that fit your life. If you're busy or tired or both, it's probably not the best time to tackle a recipe with 14 steps and a bunch of different ingredients that you have to go hunting for. Instead you want to focus on recipes that are as simple as possible for you. A good rule of thumb, one that I personally use, is less than 10 ingredients not including spices and less than 90 minutes of active cook time. This will help cut down on your prep time and your active cook time so that way you spend less time in the kitchen overall. Once you've got a few go-to recipes, one of my favorite ways to keep things interesting is with ingredient swaps. You don't need a whole new recipe every time, just take something you already love and switch out the main ingredient. Swap chickpeas for lentils or tofu for mushrooms. Little changes like that can make a meal feel brand new without any extra work. And if you're not in the mood to change up the main ingredient, you can still mix things up with spice swaps. Sometimes all it takes is a different seasoning to give your dish a whole new feel. Changing up the spices on some vegan burgers or trying out a new combination on a rice bowl is such an easy way to keep your everyday meals from feeling repetitive. Now let's talk about the not so fun parts of cooking because we all have them. If there's something that you dread doing like peeling garlic, chopping onions, find a shortcut. Buy peeled garlic, use a vegetable chopper, or add in some frozen veggies to your meals. Skip the steps that make you not want to cook in the first place. There's no shame in making things easier on yourself. And finally, keep looking for new things to try especially if they're simple. Whether it's a 10 minute sauce or a weeknight dinner with five ingredients, trying something new that's still low effort keeps things fresh and fun. You don't have to completely change everything or make something that's overly complicated to be a little bit more creative. It can be as simple as you want it to be because cooking at home doesn't have to be complicated to be good. And the more that you make it work for you, the more that you'll actually enjoy doing it. If you enjoyed this video, feel free to give it a thumbs up and subscribe so you don't miss the next one. And if you want even more ideas for simple, easy meals that you can make without a ton of time or energy, you can grab my free e-cookbook, 30 Easy Vegan Weeknight Meals. You can find a link in the description and in the comments below and I will see you in the next one.