Help me, vegans!

[thefourthvine]

Because of my baby's suspected dairy allergy, I have joined the ranks of the more-or-less vegan. (I can actually still eat eggs, but they aren't a huge part of my diet anyway.) And, see, I've been a vegetarian since I was ten. I know how to be a vegetarian! It doesn't require thought or effort! Whereas this veganism thing is very new and very, very hard.

Normally I'd just hit Google and research the shit out of this. But, well, I have a four-month-old baby. I don't have time to make out with Google the way I used to. So I am hoping to use the friends list shortcut - that there are vegans on my friends list who might have advice for me. Or, I guess, people on my friends list who aren't vegan but just love to Google.

Basically, here's what I need to know:

1. What are the basics of a vegan pantry? What are the special things that vegans keep around all the time, that make cooking or meals easier?
   
   
2. What are really good vegan products?
   
   
3. What are some good vegan recipes? Right now I'm relying much too heavily on fake meat, and that is not how I like to cook or eat. At least, not this much. I might as well be a carnivore! So - recipes? I especially need ones for balanced meals that are super-fast or that I can make in a crockpot. Suggestions of cookbooks featuring these things would also be very welcome.

Help? Please? Anyone? I will take links or comments or just supportive pats. I am experiencing involuntary dietary change and it's very scary!

Comments

[abbylee]

I can't help with 1 and 2, but here's my contribution for 3: Abby's casserole.

The recipe listed mentions cheese because I was trying to hit all food groups but it is still a good recipe with the cheese omitted; I made it tonight without cheese, although the cheese was available on the side for my dinner hosts.

The recipe also calls for a whole bunch of things to be canned, but that's because I was trying to make it as easy as possible. Dried beans and fresh tomatoes will also work :)

I love it because it's easy to make and because you can't screw up the proportions. I listed amounts of each thing, but they're just general estimates. I just throw in whatever I have on hand or would work best for my guests. And since it's good for however long you bake it, as long as you don't burn it, it is also convenient for two moms with a baby.

My rice and beans (and a bonus dinner)

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

In a large frying pan, dump 3 tablespoons of oil and one quart cooked rice. Pour on the liquid from one 12-oz jar of roasted red peppers packed in water. Turn the heat on low and stir. Start chopping the red peppers. About 1/3 to 1/2 way through the red peppers go back to the frying pan, stir again. Another 1/2 to 1/3 way through chopping the red peppers, sprinkle some cumin, and stir.

Get out a can of black beans. Use no more than 5 oz beans for the quart of rice; less is fine. After about the same amount of time as before (not more than five minutes, probably) sprinkle on garlic powder, black pepper, and salt to taste (more garlic than pepper, more pepper than salt). Add the beans and stir again. Add the red peppers. Taste. Heat to your desired serving temperature, adjust seasonings, and serve.

The next night, you can use the rest of the can of beans to make bean dip:
Pour off the packing liquid and set aside.
Mash the beans with some of the liquid, a little oil, and spices to taste.
Serve with toast/pita/bagels and a vegetable, and you have a simple meal.

Simple vegetable:
Buy cooked frozen pureed squash.
Thaw in a saucepan with some orange juice, cinnamon/ginger/brown sugar/margarine to taste, serve when it reaches serving temperature.

My favorite margarine is Willow Run. It can be hard to find in some parts of the country, but it tastes good and behaves well.

By the way, I'd be please if you added me to the Earthling filter. I love everything you write.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

I suspect this is something you already know well, but legumes are your best friend. I tend to keep cans of 5-8 different kinds of beans on hand. Yes, they're high in sodium, but rinsing them well gets rid of about half of that, and I have a hard time find the time to soak and cook beans. Wild rice, couscous, and quinoa are are all adaptable pulses. Quinoa is relatively high in protein, and has a balanced amino acid profile. I know a lot of people who like/tolerate spelt and amaranth, but I've never had them. Amaranth has a pretty complete a.a. profile as well.

For cooking and flavour, I like to keep salsas, chutneys, various curry pastes, sundried tomatoes, olives, capers, ground flax seeds (as an egg substitute (http://www.recipezaar.com/104832)), roasted red peppers, concentrated frozen orange juice (a little goes a long way), lemon and lime juice, different vinegars, infused oils, etc.

For snacking, I like pumpkin seeds, soy nuts, dried fruit, rice cakes (especially sundried tomato ones, yum), various flavours of unsweetened apple sauce, dried wasabi peas, popcorn, Kashi cereal or granola bars,

You can make a pretty good curry by replacing milk or cream with coconut milk. They sell 'light' but if you put the full-fat in the fridge for a while, the fat solidifies at the top. This (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/mangocurry_5073.shtml) looks fairly similar to my mango curry sauce recipe, which has gone missing. Curries by their very nature lend well to vegan cooking -- potato and cauliflower or chickpea are my favourite. Lentil patties can be interesting -- I usually use a recipe for salmon cakes (http://southernfood.about.com/od/salmonrecipes/r/bln544.htm) but sub in lentils for fish and olive oil for butter, and add curry powder or cayenne pepper.

B-complex and calcium are more difficult to get with a vegan diet, so supplements aren't a bad idea.

Actual recipes to follow.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

First off, my recipes tend to be a little vague, so I apologize. I'm more an approximater than a cook, but these are fairly close to what I use.

'Greek' Salad
1/2 Cucumber
2 Tomatoes
1 Red or green pepper (or half of each)
1/2 cup pitted sliced olives
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1-2 cups cooked couscous
Dressing: Olive oil, garlic, oregano, pepper, vinegar, to taste.

Chop vegetables. Combine all ingredients except for couscous. Add couscous when ready to serve.

Lentil salad
1 can lentils
1/2 cucumber
1 pepper
1 tomato
Dressing: Vinegar, crushed chilis and/or cayenne pepper and/or hot sauce, lemon juice, sprinkle of brown sugar, Italian spices

Chop vegetables, combine with dressing, and chill overnight. Time: 10 minutes.

Cold Rice Salad with Dill
1 cup wild rice blend
1 lime (rind and juice)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c broccoli
1/2 c snow peas
1 yellow pepper
1 bunch green onions
Dill

Cook rice with lime rind. Mix lime juice, oil, and soy sauce, then pour over rice and leave to cool. Steam vegetables and refresh under cooling water. Mix with rice and add dill.

Ratatouille
1 large onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 large eggplant
1 large zucchini
6-7 tomatoes
1 tin tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp herbes de province
1/2 tsp oregano

Saute onions in olive oil. Chop and saute peppers, eggplant, zucchini. When brown, add tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings. Simmer until desired consistency is reached. Serve with rice, pasta, or couscous. Note: It's not traditional, but you can add chickpeas to up the protein content.

Vaguely Asian Cold Noodle Salad
250 - 300 g of whole wheat spaghettini/spaghetti/linguine or buckwheat noodles, whatever you'd like
1 sweet pepper (slivered)
1 large stalk of celery (slivered)
2 large carrots (grated)

Sauce:
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1-2 tbsp sesame oil (or olive oil plus 2 tbsp of sesame seeds)
1/3 cup cilantro
1/2 cup of the pasta water to stretch the sauce

Cook pasta as directed, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water to stretch the sauce.

Combine the sauce ingredients in the blender. So good, so easy to transport.

Pumpkin Bread
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups all-purpose flour

Note: I make this in my bread maker, so I'm not sure how long you'd cook it for in an oven. Until it looks ready? I kind of fail at cooking.

Cherry's Honey/Oat/Apricot/Raisin Bread
1 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp honey
1 c unbleached white flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c oats
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp yeast
3/4 c dried fruit (apricots, golden raisins, mango, etc.)
1/4 c chopped walnuts, if desired

Another breadmaker recipe. That thing is one of my best purchases.

[tm-nicholas.livejournal.com]

I was too lazy to look through the above comments, so I apologize if some of these are repeats. As far as pantry items for vegans, I would suggest some of the following: nutritional yeast, tvp, flax, whole wheat noodles (all different kinds), canned beans, canned veggies, frozen veggies, vegetable juices (or V8), peanut butter and vegenaise.

Soups are really easy, can be frozen and are filling. Boil pasta, add vegetable juice and throw in frozen veggies and you've got a fast and simple soup. I know you said you're not a fan of mock meats, but I find tempeh really good on sammiches with lettuce, tomato and vegenaise.

I wouldn't buy any of Isa's cook books, unless it's a book on baking. I don't like any of her other recipes, which is quite surprising.

[jadelennox]

oh, right. Forgot about nutritional yeast -- it's a staple of my pantry now. Also, I save all my vegetable scraps in the freezer to make stocks -- might be too much of a pain with the baby -- but if you thought one out, add a little bit of tamari (another staple) or salt, and maybe some noodles, you get instant soup.

[jadelennox]

Rather predictably, my vegan pantry (I'm not a vegan, but I go through more or less vegan phases, barring cheese) is full of soy. I was indifferent to soy milk until I discovered Silk brand in the refrigerator case (not the pantry-safe version), and now I go through two cartons a week of plain and chocolate. Tofu, and there's always a few bricks of it in the freezer which has a very strange texture but can be mashed up as a nice filler in stews. Textured vegetable protein, not as a meat substitute, but again, as a nice protein rich filler in stews.

I can't eat wheat, but I eat a lot of quinoa and rice. Quinoa has the advantage of cooking quickly and being a complete protein. I often cook extra rice and keep in the fridge to use over the course of the week.

To replace eggs, I have gotten quite happy with flaxseed as a binder, and they very much prefer it to the equally common applesauce or banana. I've never used EnerG egg replacer, and I don't see myself trying it.

Mostly, though, I get by perfectly happily with local produce -- and aren't you in California? You probably have a vastly superior selection of good local produce. Zucchini and summer squash are my main summer fillers, potatoes and winter squash are my main winter fillers.

I think the most important thing is a good vegan cook book. A friend recently got me Vegan with a Vengeance, which I would love, except that a lot of the foods in it aren't seasonal at the same time and I've become a farmer's market addict, so I'm always eating seasonally. Southern Cooking Vegetarian Style is also one of my favorite vegan cookbooks. Lots of recent vegetarian cookbooks have a great vegan recipes, although Molly Katzen's books and the Vegetarian Epicure DON'T.

Honestly? I would try just starting with interesting things based on vegetables, that don't have cheese. Protein shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially given that it sounds like you will still be eating eggs, and throwing in soy or quinoa or nuts -- do you like peanut butter? There are some fantastic winter stews with sweet potatoes and peanut butter and greens -- should be an easy adaptation for someone who's already a cooking vegetarian.

my general method for quick vegetable cooking is:
-- start sautéing some onions and garlic
-- look and see what other vegetables I have. Throw them in the pan. Start sautéing.
-- decide what flavors I want, and add some combinations off the spice rack, maybe wine or juice or stock, or something like pickapeppa sauce (which seems to be an ingredient in many vegan recipes)
-- decide whether I want this meal
---- to be a stirfry (in which case, keeps sautéing, serve over rice)
---- to be a casserole (throw in a casserole dish with eggs if you will still be eating eggs and maybe a little bit of soy milk, throw in the oven, go change the baby)
---- to be eaten next to potatoes, in which case throw some potatoes in the oven
---- as a burrito, in which case, warm burrito, maybe add a little bit of rice
---- to be a quiche (take a frozen vegan piecrust out of the freezer, add some eggs if you will still be eating eggs and a little bit of soy milk, throw in the oven, go play with the baby)

You see what I mean? Endless possibilities. Frozen pie crusts help a lot, at least if you will still be eating eggs.

[fairestcat]

I'm a complete omnivore, so I can only offer hugs and sympathy.

*hugs*

[duckyjane.livejournal.com]

If you're already vegetarian, hopefully you have Diet for a Small Planet and Recipes for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe and Ellen Buchman Ewald respectively (and then you can just go dig around in them for tasty things without dairy). If you don't, you should somehow obtain these books - you should be able to find them in any second hand bookshop, in a lot of fair trade places, in a lot of stores that simply consider themselves groovy ...

The books aren't set up to cater to vegans. However, they are full of vegan recipes, because they don't centre around meat or a dairy-based meat replacement. They all consider how you're going to get your full set of amino acids, and the ingredients are super, super cheap. My parents started cooking out of them as students in the 70s, and the books have been reprinted about a hundred thousand times since. There are sections for meals in one pot, and they include much deliciousness generally. If he gets over the dairy allergy, you can keep using the book for the dairy filled recipes too. Nom.

[ohevet-likro.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry that your child has a suspected dairy allergy. I feel your pain, since my son was diagnosed with a "potentially life threatening ,dairy allergy" when he was 7 months old.
Up to that point I had been nursing but needed him to acclimate to formula so I could go back to work because I wasn't able pump enough.
I was lucky in that I was not told to avoid all dairy while nursing but it has made feeding our son an exercise in creativity for the past 10 months.
I don't have much diet help for you but if you would like advise on solid feeding a baby who can't eat dairy or just want a shoulder to vent on, feel free to email me, at ohevet[.]likro at gmail.

[livrelibre.livejournal.com]

I'm not a vegan (nor do I play one on TV) but I'm always up for some research. The National Agricultural Library has a whole list of resources on vegetarianism (including specifically vegan resources) at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/bibs/gen/vegetarian.pdf [PDF].

Google Books brought up the following books, some of which have a limited online preview: http://books.google.com/books?q=vegan+recipes&source=citation. You can also do the same thing with Amazon by looking for vegan cookbooks and then doing a search inside the book. And other people's lists (http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/reau/lists/166067 if you want to see which libraries have them or search Amazon's Listmania if yu want to buy) are good.

A quick Google search (no guarantees on quality) brought up the following:

http://vegweb.com/
http://www.vegan-food.net/
http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-recipes.asp
http://www.veganchef.com/
http://www.americanvegan.org/resources/vegan_cookbooks.htm

Hope that helps!

[livrelibre.livejournal.com]

Oh and on the vegan products thing there's also:

http://www.vrg.org/links/products.htm
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
and somebody's random Amazon list at http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/byauthor/A1LZJZIHUPLDV4/ref=cm_pdp_lm_all

And for recipes I'm assuming you already know this one but I didn't see it mentioned above: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/

[blackletter]

I'm not vegan, so I can't help with the vegan diet question, but I thought I should mention that, in adults at least, some people who are allergic to milk protein are also allergic to soy protein (apparently the protein structure of the two is similar). So you may want to be careful with soy until you know how baby will react.

[boutell.livejournal.com]

Hi! Smitty sent me.

You're receiving great advice already.

Random tips:

Soy milk works nearly everywhere milk-milk does, cooking-wise.

Ener-G egg replacer is handy for baking (but since you can eat eggs, this may be a nonissue for you).

Small children will cheerfully eat chunks of plain firm tofu. At least until some jerk tells them it's not cool. My daughter once threw a tantrum because she couldn't have tofu. Not an issue yet perhaps.

Vegan biscuits and gravy (http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/gravy.html), while no healthier than the original, go a long way toward addressing Thanksgiving envy.

Asian food pretty much never has milk in it, so if you like Thai, Chinese, etc. learn to cook them. It's not very hard and you won't have a sense that you're missing out on an obvious ingredient.

Good luck!

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

ok, as a 16-year vegan, i find it kind of hard to answer these things, bc it's just my life and my food and i barely think about it anymore. but i will try, for you and baby. :)

1. i'm trying to think of what staples we have that aren't already in a vegetarian kitchen...
-nutritional yeast. i have always loved this, but for some it's an acquired taste and some people just don't like it. it's full of nutrients and you can add it to things to make them taste sort of cheesy. we sprikle it on salads, make cheeze sauce (http://www.pakupaku.info/quesadillas.shtml) out of it, add it to pastas and scrambled tofu. and one of our cats LOVES it.
-chick peas. srsly, i do not know how i would survive without them. they are so easy to whip up into a tasty dish. i also love them raw with salads and especially roasted. to roast - rinse and dry some canned chickpeas, then coat them with a little canola oil, a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast and some salt. spread them out on a baking sheet and cook them at 400 for about 20 minutes. crunchy yummy snack! also, if you do all that and instead of cooking them, just mash them up, they make a good sandwich filling.
-"milk." i'm trying to eat less soy, so i have stopped using soy milk or soy creamer. but both used to be staples. then i switched to rice milk which i like too, but it's thinner and has a sort of ricey flavor. then i was told that oat or hemp milk is better for me. both of those are pretty good. i think oat's a little tastier, though it does have a little bit of graininess to it.

2.
-almond cheese is not completely vegan. but it's only casein that makes it that way and i'm not sure whether you need to avoid that. i started eating it when i had to avoid soy and felt like i had very few options. it's very tasty and handy as a protein-rich snack. there are some decent vegan cheeses, though the best (sheese, teese) are expensive and hard to find. if you want to know more, i can tell you more about them.
-we like snacking on tings and veggie booty and such.
-coconut milk-based yogurts and ice creams are new tasty treats from so delicious.
-rach loves chocolate soy pudding cups from zen soy.

3. i see in your comments lots of recommendations for veganomicon and vegan with a vengeance. those are both great cookbooks, but more for the person who is just dying to do some serious vegan cooking than maybe for the new mom who needs to feed herself in a timely fashion. i would recommend -
-the three sarah kramer books - How it all Vegan, Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan. garden of vegan is probably the best but they're all full of very simple, quick, pretty healthful recipes.
-bryanna clark grogan's books, especially 20 Minutes 'Til Dinner. and she has a website - not very well organized - http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/

as i said, i find it kind of hard to pick out info that might be helpful to you, but if you have any more specific questions i would be more than happy to help if i can.

<3

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

i just remembered that i forgot to link to this (http://urbanvegan.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-express-101-simple-vegan-meals.html) - very handy when you don't have much time.

[teaotter.livejournal.com]

My partner is allergic to dairy proteins, so we've developed a number of work-arounds for foods. We're not vegan, so the complete-protein question will have to be answered by other people. But we do vegetarian food most of the time.

There are a lot of cuisines with easy-to-adjust recipes. Asian food is generally your friend -- Chinese, Japanese, Thai. If you buy something packaged you still need to read the ingredients. But it's easy to drop the meat out of most stir-fry recipes and add tofu, tempeh, some other legume, potatoes, mushrooms -- basically whatever looks good at the time.

Traditional Italian food often works well, too. Lots of veggies and pasta in tasty sauces. Just substitute out the cream or cheese.

So I'd say our staples are pasta, beans, rice, potatoes, nuts, and loads of fresh veggies and fruits. We make most of our own baked goods, because most breads/pastries have butter, milk, whey, or margarine (which usually has whey in it, darn them!). We also keep lots of broth on hand, fresh herbs, and lots of pickles, olives, nuts, and assorted tasty condiments. My partner is a big believer in condiments.

We've discovered that canned coconut milk is a better dairy replacement than most soy or nut milks (obvously, YMMV) and makes fantastic baked goods and cream sauces. And custard.

Cheese... well frankly, most of the cheese substitutes aren't very cheese-like. We've been replacing things like parmesan with ground walnuts and chopped olives (to give you that thick salty taste) for quite a while now. We haven't found a mozzarella substitute we really like, but we'll often add something with a similar smoothness of texture (like fried eggplant, in lasagna).

We've only successfully made "macaroni and cheese" (the baked kind) as a very eggy noodle casserole. It tastes great, but I can't imagine how you'd bind it without the eggs.

There are also some decent vegan butter substitutes -- Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (available at Whole Foods and other health food stores) can pretty much do anything that butter can do, in sauces or baked goods both.

We use a lot of the recipes at CookingLight.com as well.

Good luck!

[missmollyetc.livejournal.com]

Hello! You don't know me, and I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd give you a few pointers that help me! I was born with a dairy allergy myself and for reasons that don't need explaining at this juncture, had to learn the hard way about what happens when grow up thinking that--like a lot of babies--I grew out of it. (OMG. I SO DIDN'T. AND ALSO, OW.)

Anyway, soy formula (if your kid isn't allergic as well) is totally your friend here. Once the solid foods kick in, it's pretty basic. You can always give her cut up fruits and make peanut butter 'sandwiches' with tortillas, or Trader Joe's Fat-Free English muffins.

That's a point, actually. You should look out for bread recipes, unless it's a very old recipe, there's probably going to be a long list of preservatives, often including whey, and possibly containing milk-derived preservatives (sodium stearoyl lactylate can be one of them.) The thing is, that Lactic Acid can be either dairy derived or from vegetables like beets. Some vegan items use lactic acid, but unless they say it's non-dairy derived I'd steer clear. I always err on the side of caution in that way, just to avoid the rash, hives, and the throat closing. There are actually a lot of vegan items out there that taste quite like the real thing! Milton's brand has a wheat bread that's non-dairy, and I believe the Ezekiel brand of sprouted bread is dairy free, but goes bad quickly and is rather dry to my tastes.

I'd recommend Tofutti's brand products, they're quite good and people who still remember what dairy taste like say that the taste is quite similar. I'm a regular user of their cream cheese and sour cream products, and a great fan of their 'Cuties' brand of ice cream sandwiches.

The cream cheese, I can personally attest, stands in very well for the cheese in lasagnas, and if you want to sort of mimic the texture of ricotta then you can stir in a little TVP, or Textured Vegetable Protein (I don't, but I'm lazy.) TVP is also a meat substitute that must be hydrated before use. I've used it in bologneses, and it doesn't really have a taste by itself. It's soy beans, so it's basically like adding ground up edamame to a dish. It's fast too, just add water, zap it in the microwave and it's like rice, it doubles in amount.

[missmollyetc.livejournal.com]

The sour cream is very good in mexican food. As an aside, just say NO to soy cheeses. Many of them still contain casein and whey and the one's that don't...look, it all tastes bad. Just. It's bad.

There's lots of stuff that's already vegan in recipe unless the manufacturers fiddled with the recipes, such as pierogies, and for a lot of cooking recipes you can just substitute soy or rice or almond milk for the dairy.

Soy Earth (or Earth Balance) soy butter is a fabulous substitute for both cooking and general use. My mom loves it and she's perfectly able to eat dairy!

Asian food. I was lucky enough to grow up in an asian neighborhood so I developed a taste early on, and it's really good and not a dairy-based culture (boom-CHING!).

A word about eggs. They aren't dairy, and I've honestly never had a problem eating them, and I am ridiculously sensitive to dairy products. I've heard some studies, however, that say they carry dairy-like proteins so I'd check with your doctor to be sure. Substitutes include: ground flax seed (try Bob's Red Mill brand), apple sauce, and bananas, but they all leave a certain degree of taste.

Things to know! If she's really allergic, a lot of bread recipes proof the bread yeast in milk. They don't post about it in the recipes, either, but I've found that Trader Joe's fat free english muffins are fine and that the Amy's brand of non-dairy pizza is great.

For cookbooks, I'm a big fan of Vegan with a Vengeance (http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Vengeance-Delicious-Animal-Free-Recipes/dp/1569243581), and the Veganomican (http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-Ultimate-Isa-Chandra-Moskowitz/dp/156924264X/ref=pd_sim_b_1), however, I've often just used my mother's old recipes and substituted. This book is also a lot of fun: a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cupcakes-Take-Over-World/dp/1569242739/ref=pd_sim_b_2">Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule

Pantry items: Molasses, lentils, split peas, TVP, tofutti cream cheese, Earth Balance(Soy Garden) butter, hummus, lots of celery and carrots and onions, Cheerios, saltine crackers, peanut butter, Apple Cider vinegar, olive oil, canola oil, baking powder, etc.

This website: Food Fight! Vegan Grocery (http://store.foodfightgrocery.com/) is very helpful with questions and finding vegan foods. They also ship!





If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help out!

[jmtorres.livejournal.com]

-coconut water can be a milk substitute in baking (sometimes marketed as coconut milk, but you have to read the can on that one, because sometimes it *is* milk). Combined with that egg-banana thing, this can make your baking very tropical :-)

--you want your vegetables to balance each other so you get your full complement of amino acids. Rice and beans is a classic one; peanut and wheat (peanut butter sandwich). I like a book called Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe for complementary tables. Here's a quick and dirty guide (http://pics.livejournal.com/jmtorres/pic/0003377a) (single line == "only some examples complement each other," double line == "dude, anything from column A and B and you're awesome). On the other hand, you can eat eggs: eggs are a complete (some nutritionists say "perfect") protein. You might want to start leaning on them more heavily.

--Vitamins you'll have to work at: B12 (http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm), potentially iron, although if you like raisins at all that shouldn't be a problem, D. An article on veganism for pregnant and breastfeeding women (http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/veganpregnancy.htm) that you might find useful.

[vass]

I thought the amino acid thing was later found to be false. If I recall correctly, you don't need to balance them at every meal, because your body stores them up. You just need to eat a variety of foods generally.

[nimnod.livejournal.com]

I am clueless but have asked a vegan friend to pop over to this post and give you ideas. Is this allergy thing what came out of the gastroenterologist's visit? How does one tell if they have a dairy allergy? (I ask because it could be very useful info in my ongoing battle to make colicky baby happier...).

*hug*

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

The typical path a milk-allergic baby takes is this: they start out seriously cranky, all the time. (One of my friends with a milk-allergic baby said her baby had to be walked around their house every minute she was awake, or else she cried and cried and cried.) Eventually, the baby has mucus in its poop, which the parent may miss because it's, um, not that easy to see. And then, after a while with mucus, there's blood in the poop, which is when it usually gets caught.

i'm casein intolerent...

[orwhoeveriam.livejournal.com]

soy ice cream is your friend.
all of the brands are pretty tasty, but purely decadent by turtle mountain is my favorite.
silk soy milk is the best, i think. it's definitely the creamiest.
chocolate mousse can be made with coconut milk.
thai sticky black rice with coconut milk is really tasty.

soy cheese is mostly not dairy free. casein (milk protein) is what makes cheese cheesy, so most soy cheeses are just lactose free.
cake frosting (like pillsbury or whatever in the little plastic things) is made entirely of chemicals, and usually dairy-free. dunno how you feel about poly-whatsits though.

sorry, don't have much non-dessert advice. being milk intolerant sucks, but once you get used to it, it's not as bad as you'd expect. i think it helps to just ignore milk, instead of trying to replace it, if that makes sense. like having a spinach and tomato sandwich instead of trying to create the perfect dairy free grilled cheese sandwich.

[vass]

Ironically, this is after I've gone back from veganism to lacto-ovo! But I keep thinking of going back to being vegan fulltime. (I'm only lacto-ovo for the treats.)

1. Miso is good, as a base for stock. Vegan stock. Olive oil - nearly anything savoury you would have used butter for, you can use olive oil for. Tomato puree. Sambal oelek. Soy sauce. Lentils of all kinds. Rice. Pasta. Couscous. Soy milk. Vegan margarine. Bread. Vegetables. Fruit. Balsamic vinegar. Cracked black pepper. Cumin. Curry powder. Peanut butter. Nuts. Pickles (there's a raging debate about kashrut and whether pickles are vegan, but I don't care and doubt you do either.) Tofu. Tempeh. GARLIC.

2. I don't know if you have them in the US, but there's a brand called Massel that makes 'chicken' and 'beef' flavoured stock cubes that are vegan and really good. I don't know the USian soy/rice icecream brands, but I know they're out there. I live near an awesome vegan shoe shop. Sweet spicy chili Doritos are vegan, but I haven't tried them, and Stephen Colbert's expression on trying to plug them on his show was memorable, but not encouraging. Here is a list of vegan snacks, but in general just check the ingredients, since I don't think you're going to be the sort of vegan who won't use sugar unless she's certain it wasn't refined using animal charcoal. Check the freezer section: sometimes the apple or apricot pies are vegan. They won't say vegan on them, but they might say vegetarian - check the ingredients list. If you like the taste of cheese, nutritional yeast is said to taste like it - you can sprinkle it on top of things. Or there are commercial vegan cheeses, which don't melt well.

3.a) When it's summer and it's too hot for pasta but you still feel like pasta, cook a quantity of your preferred type of pasta, drain and run it under cold water, add a drained can of cooked brown lentils, slosh a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar in, and salt and pepper it to taste.

b) Carrot and white bean soup: Peel and chop about a kilo of carrots, and a couple of cloves of garlic. Shallow-fry them in olive oil until the garlic's cooked, then cover with water and a bit of stock, and simmer until the carrots are cooked. Add a drained can of white beans (haricot, navy, cannelini, whatever) and stick most of it in the blender, keeping a little back for texture.

Continued in reply to this comment.

[vass]

c) Choc chip cookies

d) Pad thai Panda. I use 2-minute noodles (I think in the US that's ramen?) instead of the rice noodles. (pic)

e) From Leah Lenemann's 365+1 Vegan Recipes: Lentil and Barley Soup
2/3 cup brown lentils, 1/3 cup pot barley (pearl barley works if you can't find unpearled/pot) 1 onion, 2 sticks celery, 2 carrots, 5 cups water, 2tsp dried mixed herbs (Lenemann's not very good at herbs - add whatever fresh herbs you like) 1tbs miso.
1. Cover the lentils and barley with boiling water and leave to soak a few hours or overnight. Drain and rince.
2. Chop the veg finely.
3. Combine all the ingredients but the miso, bring to boil.
4. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until tender. Remove a little of the liquid and mix thoroughly with miso until smooth. Mix thoroughly and serve.

f) Spaghetti aglio e olio: spaghetti with a huge quantity of garlic fried in a medium quantity of olive oil (with salt and pepper and maybe a little chili) counts as food. It even counts as a real recipe. And it's good.

g) Tomato risotto. I don't think you can make this with an infant, but in case you want to try: take a package of arborio rice, a litre of vegie stock, and a bottle of tomato puree. Fry some garlic in some olive oil in a big pan, then add the arborio rice so it gets coated with garlicky olive oil, then turn the heat down really low, and keep adding a cup of stock or tomato puree or water and stirring until it's absorbed then adding more for an hour or until the rice is finally perfectly soft. You can't leave the stove at all during this process. Music is an ingredient in risotto.

h) Soup, general ideas: tomato, potato, leeks, and brown lentils are all good soup ingredients. And any other vegetable you can think of. Curry, general ideas: you can get a curry base from the supermarket (they come in cans or jars in the foreign foods aisle) and add them to potatoes, tomatoes, lentils, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potatoes, etc. Pasta sauce, general ideas: think of a pasta sauce as being like a vegetable soup, but less liquid.

i) Lasagna: you can make a white sauce / roux with margarine, flour, and soy milk. Layer this with lasagna and a mixed vegetable (or lentil) pasta sauce. It doesn't taste like traditional lasagna, but it does taste good.

j) Cheesecake: Leah Lenemann again:
1 cup granola, 2tbs margarine, 1 1/2 cups tofu, 2tbs vegetable oil, 3/4 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup pecans.
1. Grind the granola in a blender. Melt the margarine and mix with the granola. Transfer to a pie dish and press down well.
2. Blend the tofu, oil, and maple syrup in a blender. Chop the nuts and stir them in.
3. Pour the tofu mixture over the granola crust and bake at 350'F for 30-40 minutes until well risen and turning golden brown. Cool and then chill before serving.
(I would recommend adding just a little lemon zest to the tofu mixture.)

4. What are some good vegan sites or communities?
The Vegan Lunchbox: scary, scary, perfectionist vegan stay-at-home mother. I recommend it as a source of food porn, not a standard to live up to. Includes the loaf studio, a script for creating Seventh Day Adventist style lunch loaves.
cheapvegan: for recipes and advice. Ask your questions there and you'll get a bunch of answers.
PETA used to have a site that was useful to vegans, though wrongheaded, but they seem to have reorganised, so it no longer appears to be useful.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

Can you simply substitute soya/rice/almond "milk" and other products for dairy? Soya milk eventually starts tasting like food (after you've lost the will to live, or maybe that's just me), and rice milk seems very digestible - personally, I find it too sweet. My godson has severe problems with dairy, and has been on rice milk since he was weaned (his mother is not vegetarian, but also has dairy allergies and simply has no dairy at all in her diet). A doctor I used to babysit for, back in the mists of time, had his children on goat milk due to their dairy allergies. He said children are very rarely allergic to goat milk (beware, it tastes exactly like strained goat).

[amchau.livejournal.com]

If your vegetarian diet used lots of cheese, I recommend exploring bean and lentil based dishes. Rose Elliot's 'The Bean Book' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bean-Book-Essential-Vegetarian-Collection/dp/0722539479/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222673151&sr=8-1) is billed as vegetarian but a lot of the contents is actually vegan; there are some really lovely things, such as her quick-and-tasty chickpea nibbles.

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

rubbishvegans has some good basic stuff, although it's not often updated. I find that a surprising amount of things can be made with olive oil instead of butter, that any combination of beans and rice is filling and nutritious and, when in doubt, make couscous.

Tabbouleh is an easy tasty dinner or side:
chop tomatoes, fresh mint and a small salad onion (or not, if you hate onions) into a good glug of E.V. olive oil and lemon juice. Hit a garlic clove with the flat of a knife and leave the bruised lump of it in with the tomato mixture. Meanwhile, soak cracked wheat/bulghur wheat in hot water with some salt until it's completely puffed up. Takes half an hour to an hour. Drain the wheat, hike the garlic clove out of the tomato mixture and dress the wheat with it. Vary components as you like. Eat with nice bread/houmous/tsatsiki/a spoon out of the fridge.

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

Oh, also, peanut butter is your friend. A laarge spoon of peanut butter and good glug of soy sauce is my favourite quick stir fry sauce and goes well on most chopped vegetables, which are then nutritionally brilliant with rice. Especially good if you chop some fresh ginger in there, too.

eta: and let me just praise mashed avocado on toast to the SKIES. Especially for breakfast with a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle of salt and pepper. Dammit, now I'm hungry.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I spent about six months on a very tasty vegan diet, but I wasn't exactly worried about giving proper nutrition to a baby at the time. However, you can actually eat, pretty healthily at that, nothing but raw produce. I especially recommend carrots and spinach (raw, baby if you like) - if you like salads, that is - because they're really tasty and nutritively complete. Also, you want to eat lots of nuts! The staples of my diet when I was vegan were: pesto and pasta; peanut butter with raisins, bananas, dill pickles, or jam; bananas, oranges, peaches, plums, and other fresh produce; huge salads with fresh herbs and baby spinach, at least once a day; lots of fresh guacamole (straight out of the avocado); organic miso paste (made into soup and spread as topping on bread); and my aunt's stellar sunflower paté recipe which is great by the spoonful, scooped up in spinach leaves, or spread on crackers. I'd post it, but I don't seem to have it right now.

[mtgat]

You may want to try asking at eating102, too.

*hugs*

[ldthomps.livejournal.com]

Lotsa great advice, I'll just add another vote for Silk soymilk, Silk plain yogurt, and Tofutti cream cheese substitute. All work great alone or in recipes.

[sapote3.livejournal.com]

So it's all dairy, not just cow milk? I ask because the thing that ran my veganism out of Dodge was goat cheese and goat yogurt. And while I'm at it, canned goat's milk and fresh goat's milk and dried goat's milk.

If there's no sign of a soy allergy, my best advice (besides all the above-mentioned hummus and dal and refried beans) is to find three tempeh recipes and three tofu recipes you like and wear them out. My favorite tofu recipe is scrambled tofu: one pound firm tofu, and onion, garlic, tumeric, cumin, and soy sauce to taste. Chop the vegetables, drain and crumble the tofu, heat the spices in a bit of olive or sesame oil on medium heat in a skillet. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and stir until they're your preferred level of cooked-ness, and then add the tofu and stir until it's your preferred level of dry. (I tend to cook my tofu very dry, the same as I like my eggs, which takes about fifteen minutes.)

I've found that it helps to get a vegan cookbook that's from your general cultural background. Isa Chandra Moskowitz's books have some great ideas, but I tended to stare at them blankly and have no clue where to start, and it took me a while to figure out that it was because most of her recipes were for veganized things you eat in Brooklyn and I live in Southern Appalachia. I have therefore cooked the heck out of Cookin' Southern Vegetarian Style (http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Southern-Vegetarian-Style-Jackson/dp/1570670927), which is my go-to book for things to do with tofu (her biscuit recipe has never worked for me, though.)