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

[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.

[jmtorres.livejournal.com]

What I'm saying is more along the lines of "make sure you're balancing in general and not leaving yourself a deficiency because you don't like beans or something." I find it easier to do it at every meal, and I believe what the research shows is that yes, the body does store amino acids to later combine, but that that's more inefficient than processing them all at once.