Three Vegan Comfort Meals To Beat The Blues

The blues rarely show up as one big dramatic moment. It creeps in quietly through financial stress, loneliness, grief, or the simple weight of getting through the day. In a recent video, Merle O’Neal turns to vegan comfort meals as a form of care during a period of burnout. The result is three simple, protein-forward meals that feel cozy without being complicated, and grounding without requiring much energy.

Merle O’Neal, known for her YouTube channel, recently shared a video where she walks viewers through three easy-to-make comfort foods that helped lift her mood during a difficult stretch during the holiday season. Her video shows how cooking small, nourishing meals can be an act of self-kindness when motivation is low.

Read more: 10 High-Protein Vegan Comfort Food Recipes

O’Neal is a longtime vegan content creator whose channel blends high-protein plant-based recipes with candid conversations about mental health, money stress, and real-life burnout. She often emphasizes accessibility, both in cost and skill level, and makes a point of reminding viewers that caring for yourself does not need to be perfect to be meaningful. This video is no exception, centering vegan comfort food that feels doable on even the hardest days.

A yogurt bowl that feels like dessert for breakfast

O’Neal starts with what she calls an “elevated” yogurt bowl, easing viewers in with something intentionally low-effort. “This one’s really easy, quick, simple,” she says, noting that the vegan yogurt she uses provides “a minimum of 20 grams of protein.”

What sets the bowl apart is not the yogurt itself, but the warm, maple-toasted nuts prepared on the stovetop. O’Neal breaks walnuts by hand and cooks them slowly over medium-low heat with maple syrup until they begin forming sticky clusters. “You’ll notice if you’re doing it right that the nuts will start to cluster around the spatula,” she explains. “That’s how you know you’re basically done.”

She insists there is one crucial step. “When this happens, it’s really important that you eat it off the spatula,” she jokes, adding, “If you skip this step, it’s over.”

The bowl comes together with yogurt, berries, and a small handful of the toasted nuts. O’Neal opts for organic berries when possible, explaining, “With berries, I like to spring for organic ones”.

She frames the finished dish as a form of comfort disguised as nourishment. “If you’re thinking, Merle, that looks like a dessert. Exactly,” she says. “If you can have dessert for breakfast, why not?”

Ricotta crustinis for a fast, savory lunch

For lunch, O’Neal turns to vegan ricotta crustinis, describing them as “a little bit bougie” while still being quick and flexible. She notes that store-bought vegan ricotta works, but prefers making her own tofu ricotta for both flavor control and protein.

“Tofu ricotta is probably the easiest vegan cheese to whip up,” she says, walking through a blend of tofu, nutritional yeast, garlic, white miso, lemon juice, olive oil, and seasonings. She cautions viewers to go light on salt, explaining, “The miso is going to bring a lot of sodium to it already.”

The ricotta is spread onto toasted slices of ciabatta baguette, then topped with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. O’Neal emphasizes how fast the dish comes together. “This came together in five minutes,” she says. “If you already have the ricotta made, this comes together in one minute, maybe even 45 seconds.”

She highlights the versatility of the ricotta, calling it “super umami, flavorful, fantastic, high protein,” and adds, “You can put it on anything. I don’t care what you do with it. It’s your life.”

A noodle soup built for hard days

The final dish is a deeply comforting noodle soup, which O’Neal frames as emotional support as much as a meal. “Sometimes you just need hope in the form of a noodle soup,” she says.

She begins by slowly cooking sliced garlic and shallots, acknowledging the emotional release that comes with it. “It’s good to cry,” she says as her eyes water. “Cooking for myself is one of my favorite forms of self-love, and it is a true act of love.”

The soup builds flavor through a mix of mushrooms, including shiitake, cremini, and brown beech. O’Neal explains the purpose of each, noting that shiitakes are “very deeply umami flavored,” while creminis provide a mild, accessible base. She encourages flexibility, adding, “You can do any mushrooms. You can do one kind of mushroom, the most inexpensive one you can find.”

She allows the mushrooms to cook long enough to release their moisture, then adds soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, tofu, water, spinach, and noodles. The soup simmers until the tofu absorbs the broth. “I like to let the tofu simmer in there for at least 20 minutes because I want it to take on some of the flavor of the broth,” she says.

When tasting the finished soup, O’Neal is clear about its purpose. “Noodle soup, man. It can fix anything. Sadness, anxiety, heartbreak, you name it,” she says. “Honestly, sometimes that’s enough.”

Throughout the video, O’Neal returns to the idea that vegan comfort meals do not need to be elaborate to be meaningful. These meals are simple, flexible, and grounded in care, offering a reminder that small rituals can help create stability when everything else feels heavy.
Find more of Merle O’Neal’s vegan recipes on her YouTube channel.

Read more: Vegan Comfort Food Recipes That Never Fail