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

[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/