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

[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.