Vegan Jars of Happiness That Make Meals Easy

Vegan Jars of Happiness, that's what I call them. They come to our rescue when the day has slipped away and we don't have much time to cook, when a simple meal needs spicing up, and when we're looking for a snack, dip, or spread. 

We know you can buy most of these at the store and sometimes that is all time allows us. We also know how much more delicious these homemade creations are! As a bonus, they'll serve you for several meals, not just one. 

Here are some of the ways we use these Vegan Jars of Happiness to spread joy throughout our week:

• Pesto gnocchi or pasta is ready to eat in a wink when the BEST Vegan Pesto is waiting for you. 
• Green Vegan Thai Coconut Curry hits the spot when your curry paste is ready-made and carries such a depth of flavor that you don't need much else beyond coconut milk, vegetables and broth to serve up a beautiful bowl. 
• The kids are happy with a warmed, tart-sweet bowl of applesauce with cinnamon on top. 
• Toast with pesto in the morning... need I say more?
• Your Vegan Family Horseradish Sauce to top any casserole, Vegan Frittata, Breakfast Muffins, Vegetable Souffle, baked potatoes, yam fries, sandwich, vegan burgers... 
• Quick Pickled Ginger Onions and Radishes provide contrasting texture and flavor for anything. We love them with Creamy Coconut Lentil Dahl, Instant Pot Three Lentil Dahl, Vegetable Explosion Chana Dahl, or Autumn Lentil Dahl with Beet Greens, on sandwiches, and in salads. 
• Spicy Tomato Chutney is difficult to keep stocked because we love it so much! We put it on toast, rice, vegetables, sandwiches, cornbread... anything that goes well with savory and spicy flavors. This is truly one of our favorite recipes. 

If you've been with us a while you know that the recipes we publish are foods that we regularly make in our home to feed our family. We admire the insanely artistic presentations we see on some blogs, but we honestly don't have time to do that while raising two fun and active boys.

We hope you'll give these recipes a go and realize how easy it is to eat a whole foods vegan diet. 

Here are links to a few of our most beloved Your Vegan Family recipes that we try to keep on hand in our refrigerator. We often make them on the weekends, or during the week if we run out and get hungry for them.

These vegan sauces and condiments make boring meals exciting and make mid-week 15-minute meals possible. Schedule some time to prep your week and create a healthy food safety net to catch you when you need it! 

1. The BEST Vegan Pesto

Our pesto is a combination of tangy lime, basil, garlic, and nutritional yeast. We vary the ratios of these flavors to satisfy our always changing food-mood! Cook up a bit of pasta or gnocchi, a baked potato, or add to pizza or red sauce!

2. Green Vegan Thai Curry Paste

This rich and complex Green Thai curry adds heaps of flavor to any meal without adding too much spicy heat. Mix with coconut milk to make a sauce that you can pour over grains or bowls of veggies, or add to a coconut curry soup. I'll even eat it on toast! 

3. Horseradish Sauce

We had no idea how much we liked horseradish sauce until we came up with this recipe.  It is made for those who like to the feeling of heat in their mouths! One of our boys is slowly warming up to this condiment :-). The other could drink it! We add a variety of spicy heat flavors to this sauce so that it's hot at the start and then leaves a gentle warmth in your mouth. 

4. Ginger Pickled Onions

I didn't grow up with pickled anything except cucumbers. My world happily expanded with these Ginger Pickled Onions. They're ready in just one day! They add crunch and zing to all things creamy like the myriad lentil dahls we make. We also add them to salads and serve alongside many a savory meal. 

5. Spicy Tomato Chutney

We've fallen in love with this Spicy Tomato Chutney! It takes a while to cook down so we monitor it on the stove while we're making a meal. The flavor is complex and potent. Add as many spicy peppers as you like. It's delicious when it's not spicy too! Add it to pasta, potatoes, grains, toast, and serve as a side dish with any Indian-style meal. 

With these Vegan Jars of Happiness in our refrigerator, we always know we can easily whip up a quick and exciting meal or snack.

They're a tasty stress remedy for busy plant-based families!

We hope you love these recipes as much as we do! If you have an article or recipe requests, let us know on our Facebook page: Your Vegan Family. While you're there, please like our page and share our posts!

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Written by Your Vegan Family 

Stacy and Markus live an adventurous vegan lifestyle and write articles about their experiences cooking global vegan cuisine, creating businesses, raising vegan kids, and traveling through more than 65 countries. They earned degrees in molecular biology and acupuncture, consulted over decades for healthcare companies and individuals, created businesses in Asian medicine, eco-tourism, cultural immersion, and taught yoga in myriad venues.

We’ve learned a lot from eating a plant-based diet for 25 years and are eager to share more with you. Learn more on our About Us page.