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

[j00j.livejournal.com]

I have referred a vegan friend (who is an avid and talented cook) to you-- hopefully she'll have a minute to drop by and share some info. Like you, I know how to be vegetarian and incidentally cook some vegan stuff, but I don't know all the ins and outs of veganness.

In the meantime, a few things I'm aware of:
the magical loaf studio (http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html) assists you in making a vegan dinner loaf with ingredients of your choice. It is fun and makes tasty loaves.

I haven't used this site much, but it looks good: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/

ditto this one http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

You could also check out the vegan cooking lj community: http://community.livejournal.com/vegancooking

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

I'll second the Fat Free Vegan blog. I'm mostly vegetarian (aka the Lazy and Cheap Carnivore), but Susan's got recipes that aren't all Chemistry Set Food.

Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian have plenty that qualify as vegan and still include protein. They're both humongous books, but worth the weight.

[eleveninches.livejournal.com]

I third Fat Free Vegan. I cook a lot of her recipes.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

I just played with the magical loaf studio, clicking random ingredients - it looks pretty useful. Also, I named my test loaf "Maria", then laughed like a fool at the final line of the recipe: Cold leftover slices of Maria make a great sandwich filling. :-)