A Beginner’s Guide to Plant-Based Eating With Deliciously Ella (2024)

Herbs and Spices: "They're essential to helping make any ingredient or dish taste great, adding rich flavor and depth to each bite," she explains of the go-tos she mixes and matches for every recipe: Cumin, paprika, turmeric, mustard seeds, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, dried coriander, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and raw cacao powder (for sweetness).

Condiments and Sauces: For Mills, tamari, apple cider vinegar, tahini, nut butters, sesame oil, coconut oil, and a nice extra virgin olive oil serves as extra splashes of taste when recalibrating the flavor of a nutritious meal. "Stirring peanut butter and chilli flakes into a simple olive oil dressing instantly adds so much flavor to roasted vegetables, while adding tamari and apple cider vinegar to your quinoa and rice while it cooks keeps the grain from being bland," she explains. Then, for curries, stews, soups, pasta sauces, and other warming dishes, tinned tomatoes and coconut milk are major players. "Coconut milk makes the dish creamy and is a great carrier for all herbs and spices too," she says.

Grains and Pasta: More often than not, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Mills' meals are anchored by a grain as a base, side, or snack. "I make porridge oats for breakfast with almond milk and then top my bowl with peanut butter and banana slices," she says, adding that she'll use jumbo oats for baked goods such as on-the-go bars, cookies, and gluten-free cakes. And then, for easy meals after a long day's work: "I love quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat with salads, veggie bowls, and spicy curries, then use pasta for easy ten-minute meals."

Tinned Legumes : When rounding out a plant-based dish, you can't go wrong with beans, lentils, and chickpeas, which add more protein and make it heartier, says Mills. "I love making homemade hummus with chickpeas, using the lentils for warming dahls, and beans for veggie curries and stews," she says, adding that sautéed black beans in lots of garlic is always a favorite when cooking for friends.

Revamp Your Kitchen Appliances

Ingredients are only half the battle. And while there's nothing like the blissful ease of unboxing takeout, these days there are a plethora of cutting-edge appliances designed to make life easy when cooking your own meals. Making enhancing simple ingredients a cinch, Mills' kitchen MVPS are a Nutribullet Blender and MagiMix Food Processer. "I use my blender for simple things, mostly speedy breakfast smoothies and quick soups," she explains. "And then my food processor helps me make everything from hummus, pesto, and dips to energy balls, banana bread, and a whole host of desserts. It's so versatile and really increases the number of things that you can make at home with fresh, natural ingredients."

Shop Locally and Seasonally

When it comes to shopping for fruits and vegetables, the farmer's market practically does the work for you. "I think food tastes better when it’s seasonal and local, so that’s a great reason to shop seasonally, plus of course it’s better for the planet as we skip food miles," she explains. In the spring and summer, try a Mediterranean-inspired mix of roasted aubergines, peppers, zucchini, and red onion with garlic, balsamic vinegar, and sun-blushed tomato pesto over a bed of wild rice. Or, homemade zucchini noodles, cut with a spiralizer and drenched in a mint avocado sauce. In the fall and winter, try a warming squash, cannellini beans, and quinoa stew or a hot bowl of curry with potatoes, spinach, and carrots with spiced coconut sauce, cumin, turmeric and, chili. "It’s an incredibly inexpensive meal too, which is always great and it freezes well, so it's a very practical recipe to add to your repertoire," she explains of the latter.

Try Batch Cooking

In the spirit of planning ahead for busy, weekday nights, Mills likes to batch cook on the weekend, making a big meal once, freezing it, and then tweaking the dish through the week. Usually it starts with a grain, boiled with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a drizzling of tamari, dried herbs and pink salt, and then at the end, a spoon or two of tahini stirred in for a richer, creamier flavor. Then, she'll roast vegetables, cut them into small cubes, bake them in the oven on a tray with a generous sprinkling of paprika, dried herbs, cinnamon, and pink salt plus a drizzling of olive oil. Lastly, she prepares hummus. Storing everything in storage containers in the fridge, she'll make "rainbow bowls" throughout the week. Another favorite? "A five bean chili is so easy to make in big quantities," she explains, adding that in one sitting she might eat it with avocado, brown rice, a sprinkle of cilantro, and a squeeze of lime, while another she'll put it inside a roasted sweet potato.