As a beginner, I really don't know a lot of dishes to cook that are all vegan. I always end up with chopped fresh veggies or stir fried veggies since it's the most convenient way that I know in order to prepare food on the go. I'm looking forward to your kind suggestions. I'm planning to prepare food for my family dinner tomorrow. Any help will be very much appreciated. Thank you!
Recipe suggestions, anyone?
- Thread starter ColeNic
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SweetPea
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Try to incorporate other things in your daily intake. Being Vegan should not be so much the focus, but being healthy....with the consumption of natural, organic sources. That means you may incorporate in your daily meal time, nuts, grains, seeds, fruits (and I am sure there are some very healthy, tasty options). Ripe banana may be had with strawberries, Watermelons may be had nice and chilled, you may make guacamole with avocado and eat that with Irish potatoes and corn...you can mix lemon juice with cane juice, nice and chilled....the possibilities are endless and nutritious
Just aim for cooking a dish that you like and making that vegan. Once you get your head around it, it really is not that difficult.
There are loads of soups that are vegan or easily made vegan, and anything that asks for cream, you can just add soya cream (readily available in both fresh and long life versions and the long life version tastes exactly the same as the fresh version, just ever so slightly less creamy) or you can make your own if you have a suitable blender/liquidiser. Just soak some cashew nuts overnight (or in boiling water for 2 hours, letting the water go cold) and then drain. Add the cashews to some of the stock and blend until totally smooth and creamy. It is best if you either have a high speed blender/food processor or a dedicated powerful liquidiser for this but you can get away with an ordinary one and strain it to remove any unprocessed cashew nuts. If the recipe calls for sour cream, then exactly the same and just add lemon juice to taste. You can use any other vinegar as well, but I have found lemon juice to work best.
If you must have recipes to follow, then look at some vegetarian Indian and Middle Eastern options. There are some wonderful cookbooks out there that have amazing recipes in them that are exceptionally easy to adapt to being vegan. Switch out meat for grated mushrooms (yes, just grate the mushrooms, it works really well) or with minced or chunks of soya protein or tofu. The 'issues' with soya are only in very high levels so adding it into your daily diet 2 or 3 times a week is not a problem if you are not drinking gallons of soya milk each day. Or just miss out the meat completely, switch with pulses or beans if there are none already in the meal and once you start to get your head around it, you will see there are endless possibilities.
There are loads of soups that are vegan or easily made vegan, and anything that asks for cream, you can just add soya cream (readily available in both fresh and long life versions and the long life version tastes exactly the same as the fresh version, just ever so slightly less creamy) or you can make your own if you have a suitable blender/liquidiser. Just soak some cashew nuts overnight (or in boiling water for 2 hours, letting the water go cold) and then drain. Add the cashews to some of the stock and blend until totally smooth and creamy. It is best if you either have a high speed blender/food processor or a dedicated powerful liquidiser for this but you can get away with an ordinary one and strain it to remove any unprocessed cashew nuts. If the recipe calls for sour cream, then exactly the same and just add lemon juice to taste. You can use any other vinegar as well, but I have found lemon juice to work best.
If you must have recipes to follow, then look at some vegetarian Indian and Middle Eastern options. There are some wonderful cookbooks out there that have amazing recipes in them that are exceptionally easy to adapt to being vegan. Switch out meat for grated mushrooms (yes, just grate the mushrooms, it works really well) or with minced or chunks of soya protein or tofu. The 'issues' with soya are only in very high levels so adding it into your daily diet 2 or 3 times a week is not a problem if you are not drinking gallons of soya milk each day. Or just miss out the meat completely, switch with pulses or beans if there are none already in the meal and once you start to get your head around it, you will see there are endless possibilities.
Viva Cookbook is great, from www.viva.org.uk, it's all vegan recipes and my bible at the moment. I think it's £9.99. It has lots of advice at the beginning.
Oatley do a lovely single cream. Alpro custard is just like ordinary custard. You can make crumble in exactly the same way as normally, just using a dairy free spread like Pure Sunflower instead. You can't tell the difference.
I have been following recipes for a while and that has given me the information I need to make up my own. So I do a variation of following a recipe, using up leftovers by making it up as I go, and having ordinary meals (my husband is a carnivore) and replacing meat with a vegan meat substitute for ease.
You'll get the hang of it. The recipes have led me to use green Oxo, dried cumin, mild chilli powder, dried paprika, mustard, mixed herbs, tomato puree, salt and pepper, balsamic and cider vinegar and tamari quite a lot. Also Bisto gravy granules are vegan. It's tricky at first, but your confidence will increase as you go. I haven't made anything I couldn't eat yet. I've found the girls in my local health food shop incredibly helpful.
Oatley do a lovely single cream. Alpro custard is just like ordinary custard. You can make crumble in exactly the same way as normally, just using a dairy free spread like Pure Sunflower instead. You can't tell the difference.
I have been following recipes for a while and that has given me the information I need to make up my own. So I do a variation of following a recipe, using up leftovers by making it up as I go, and having ordinary meals (my husband is a carnivore) and replacing meat with a vegan meat substitute for ease.
You'll get the hang of it. The recipes have led me to use green Oxo, dried cumin, mild chilli powder, dried paprika, mustard, mixed herbs, tomato puree, salt and pepper, balsamic and cider vinegar and tamari quite a lot. Also Bisto gravy granules are vegan. It's tricky at first, but your confidence will increase as you go. I haven't made anything I couldn't eat yet. I've found the girls in my local health food shop incredibly helpful.
I have lots of recipes and information on my YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/c/KirlySuesKitchen
http://www.youtube.com/c/KirlySuesKitchen
Hiya
I know how it is as a beginner but I have found the following recepies useful in helping you get to grips with it all
http://veganismguide.com/vegan-recipes/
Let us know how you get on
I know how it is as a beginner but I have found the following recepies useful in helping you get to grips with it all
http://veganismguide.com/vegan-recipes/
Let us know how you get on
I watch a ton of vegan "what i eat in a day" videos and they are THE BEST inspiration. Theres tons of them out there if you google "what i eat in a day vegan" on youtube or click around here (url)https://www.youtube.com/jenniferroper
HaleyLauren
Newcomer
I always find YouTube to be a great place to start! Just search "what I eat in a day" and you might be surprised by how many easy vegan recipes you'll find!
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Mark Mywordz
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Breakfast and lunch are cold meals in our house (actually it's a boat not a house at the moment) but I cook one-pot meals for 2 or 3 days or more and freeze some. My latest favourite is Mixed Veg Goulash. The ingredients are:
2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 large red onion, 1.5 Tbsp smoked paprika, 400g can chopped tomatoes, garlic, 400g can mixed beans, rinsed, 1 oxo stock cube (or other brand),
1 tsp oregano, 3 small peppers, sliced, salt and pepper. Fry the onion, garlic and spices, 3 minutes, add the rest (except beans and cook for 15 mins, adding water if it's dry. Add the beans last and heat through. I prefer red kidney beans but any beans are fine. This is for 2 people. Only one pot to clean and if you double the quantities (or treble) you can have 2 or 3 days off cooking
2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 large red onion, 1.5 Tbsp smoked paprika, 400g can chopped tomatoes, garlic, 400g can mixed beans, rinsed, 1 oxo stock cube (or other brand),
1 tsp oregano, 3 small peppers, sliced, salt and pepper. Fry the onion, garlic and spices, 3 minutes, add the rest (except beans and cook for 15 mins, adding water if it's dry. Add the beans last and heat through. I prefer red kidney beans but any beans are fine. This is for 2 people. Only one pot to clean and if you double the quantities (or treble) you can have 2 or 3 days off cooking
