The Vegan Quiche

[LentilAsAnything]

Hi

Thought I'd start a thread for the vegans and wannabe vegans.
Anyone here!?

Old thread here.

[Breadandwine]

Thought I'd come on here and share my lovely roast I had for Sunday dinner.

Ever since I became vegan and gave up my usual Quorn roast, I've been trying to find a vegan, sliceable roast. The Cheatin' range of roasts are pretty good - but at nearly £5 a time they're very expensive.

However, with this homemade seitan roast, I really think I've hit the jackpot!

I made a batch of seitan from some left over Thai curry, which I mashed thoroughly, then added vital wheat gluten to which I'd added curry powder, bouillon powder and nutritional yeast and mixed it into a dough.

I generally add 150g of wheat gluten to 400g of whatever I'm mixing it with.

I pressed about 300g of the dough into a little oven-proof dish and cooked it for about 20 minutes at 200C. The oven was already on, of course, for the spuds, etc.

(Most recipes tell you to braise the seitan, but I've never found that very successful.)

I sliced about 2/3rd of the roast and had it with a spicy tomato sauce. (I haven't had gravy since I became vegan and see no point in trying to make a vegan version! )

It was excellent! Full of flavour, with a lovely, soft texture.

The rest of the seitan I pressed out into a circle the size of my frying pan, fried it for about 6-7 minutes each side, cut it into cutlets and froze. I'll probably use one of them for seitan chunks in a chilli non carne later in the week.

[ShakeyPushDown]

I'm new to this. Four weeks now trying to stick to Raw Till 4, Low Fat High Carb. I need to take snacks to my Book Club tonight but having a hard time finding something that's not high fat (e.g. nuts, hummous or olives) or high sodium (e.g. crisps). Off to Tesco in a minute to see what they've got.

[PlumpingThePartTimeMother]

I've recently discovered these and they are fab!

[MrsGiraffe12]

Hi everyone

I was emailed a link to forks over knives by my sister and now cannot contemplate meat or dairy again

What's the best way for an omni to go vegan? Should I go veggie first or is it better to go vegan cold turkey?
Thanks

[LentilAsAnything]

Hi, MrsG. Welcome to the club. Is your sister vegan?
Sorry for the delay. How have the last few days gone for you?
I went vegetarian first, but had no idea about the dairy industry then. I think if you understand what happens to cows, and how unhealthy dairy is, it's easy to just go vegan. Mistakes may happen as you learn what the various ingredients are that you need to avoid, but your heart will be in the right place! Just do it! I'd recommend giving up all obviously non-vegan things, then learn what else it is that you need to swerve. My dh went straight from omni to vegan, and found it easy (15 years ago) - it's even easier now as there are more specially vegan alternatives, and labelling is getting better too.

[Anon15]

Hi lentil
Yes, my sister is vegan, a new one but vegan all the same

I've just used pre packed vegan stuff the last few days and it's not been too bad but I'm unsure I'm doing it right do I need supplements etc? x

[LentilAsAnything]

That's great you and your sister are new vegans together.

I'd supplement B12 to be on the safe side, though it is added to so many things (soya milk, cereals and loads more) so we are probably ok.

I personally am a fan of making smoothies and adding superfoods like chia seeds, wheatgrass, spirulina, but loads of vegans don't.

I'd ensure I got loads of variety in my diet, lots of differently-coloured fruit and vegetables.

If you are on Fb, there are loads of vegan groups with loads of helpful advice - sadly this thread is a little quiet, and I'm not on as much as I used to be.

[LentilAsAnything]

I also sprinkle this on loads of dishes: nooch.

[LentilAsAnything]

* I am not a health care professional, need to state that. It is really worth doing your own research on stuff like nutrition and supplements.

[Hubb]

Hi, I think the vegan society website is where I got most of my information from regarding nutrition.

I take their supplement to be on the safe side but I do think my diet probably has it covered. My diet is certainly no worse than before I was vegan anyway! :)

It has made a big difference to me to have some other vegans to talk to, even if just on facebook etc. I found the transition to vegan much easier than I thought though and there is so much info on line about eating out, easy recipes etc that can help make the change much easier for you.

Good luck! I will try and keep an eye on this thread as it has been a bit quiet in the past :)

[mrbob]

Hello everyone have come to join :) I have been veggie for most of my life but recently have started to feel a bit yuk about eggs and cheese and am trying slowly to head towards veganism partly for health purposes and partly because I realise that there are some fairly awful things that happen in the food production industry. Unfortunately this has coincided with me realising high carb foods (or at least pasta, bread etc so maybe it is just gluten I don't know) make me feel pretty rough so when I am out I may end up not quite managing to stick 100% to both! Having said that I feel a million times better when I do and I am amazed by how much I am loving being vegan at home- I never thought I would get so excited about tofu and tahini and veggies! I am also lucky in that my city is pretty good for asian food which tends to be light on the dairy/eggs which is perfect :) I have found some fab websites- First Mess, Clean Food Dirty Girl (heavy on the swearing but entertaining) and Chocolate Covered Katie which are giving some good ideas

I have found some good B12 supplements and am taking iron anyway because I am deficient just so I don't have to worry so much about trying to get B12 sources.

I also tried making seitan as I love the mock meat stuff but I have NO idea what I did to it as it was utterly disgusting! Maybe I should try again with the recipe up thread as I love fake meat. I am also a little wary of the gluten level. I don't want to end up as one of those people who refuses to eat anything though…

I can't bring myself to watch some of the films suggested above- I am guessing they might be a bit brutal? I am not sure my slightly fragile state could deal with seeing tortured animals just now- is there one that focuses more on the health type stuff?

Anyway waffling over and am glad to see what other people are up to on the vegan planet :)

[BleachEverything]

Just marking my place.

[Breadandwine]

Hi gang!

I must change my thread settings as this keeps falling of my active threads list! Or, I should post a lot more often.

About going vegan, I did the same as lentil, I first of all became veggie - simply to avoid BSE - then gradually, as my awareness grew, withdrew from dairy, eggs, etc. Finally, I had to give up Drambuie when I discovered it contained honey. That all took about 18 months, but, if I had my time over, I'd have gone straight into veganism.

As I said earlier, I don't feel the need for supplements as long as I keep up with my flaxseeds, but I do eat Marmite (or the cheaper own brands) most days and my nooch is fortified with B12.

And I had a blood test a couple of months ago which said my B12 was fine.

I do have a couple of successes to report: I was very concerned to find out that Pure contains palm oil, which I'm trying to avoid, so - I've developed a vegan pastry which only consists of s/r flour, salt or sugar, water and either veg oil or olive oil.

I've made both savoury and sweet pies in the last couple of days, and, although I say it myself, they were both pretty good!

But my biggest achievement has been to persuade a Portuguese hotel to cater for vegans - and they rose to the challenge magnificently!

All these are featured on the first page of my blog, along with other vegan recipes.

[OrnamentalAsAnything]

Sorry for being quiet. RL is busy.
Just popped on to recommend Cowspiracy - now available on Netflix. Veganism is happening.

[MoriartyIsMyAngel]

Can I ask for some advice? My friends have been watching Earthlings and Cowspiracy, and as Ornamental says above, veganism is a big topic. I didn't want to watch them because I knew I would be traumatized, so I thought I'd just accept the basic fact that animals go through all kinds of pain and early death for no good reason, stop being a hypocrite and just take the plunge. I've never been a big meat consumer anyway, and I dislike eggs and fish so it didn't seem a big leap.

I was a vegan for four days and I stopped because of extreme flatulence! I was eating fruit more than anything else, potatoes, veg, chickpeas, gf pasta. I had to stop because I needed to leave the house and be around other human beings without sounding like a one woman brass band. It really was non-stop. I wasn't even eating huge portions.

Am I just not wired right for veganism? Is it something that goes away eventually? (In which case I may have to wait until summer 2016 for my next proper attempt because that will be the next time I can get a week to myself.) I'm quite disappointed. What I want to know is if this happens a lot, and if there is a way to manage it?

[ppeatfruit]

Hello, sorry to join so late in the thread, I'm basically vegan with a tiny bit of ethically caught fish\organically raised poultry (we actually go to the farm for our veg too so know how the birds are looked after) occasionally.

Iam very fussy (I know most MNers hate this!!) I don't eat hydrogenated fats or palm oil. Or wheat.

Moriarty i don't eat chickpeas because of the wind problem!!

[economymode]

Am I going to be shunned for following a vegan diet but not necessarily a vegan lifestyle? I struggle to find decent vegan shoes (I walk around 4 miles per day and find my DM boots the best as they are so so comfy, I did order pair from wills vegan shoes but returned them as they would not offer me the same support/comfort. In my defence my leather boots were purchased from eBay, worn once). So, any tips on comfy, stylish vegan boots/shoes?

I do struggle when visiting my in laws as they find basic vegetarianism a bit much in itself! They buy me houmous as if it's the most exotic, odd food they've encountered. Been vegetarian for roughly 15 years. My other struggle with declaring myself vegan is that I suffered from anorexia for a long time and so my parents, in particular, still think all food-related decisions are my eating disorder talking. If my sister made the decision, they'd be fine, but because it's me, it's a whole other ball game. I am almost 33 so really shouldn't be scared of my mum, but she reacted so badly to my ed and I still feel I'm walking on eggshells with her half the time, so very reluctant to rock the boat.

On a more positive note, I tried some booja booja ice cream today - amazing!

[stargirl1701]

Could I crash this thread for some advice please? My DD2 has multiple food allergies and I'm struggling to get enough calcium for her. I would like to make breastmilk yoghurt but I need a vegan starter. Can anyone help? I am in the UK.

Many thanks.

[LentilAsAnything]

Bump for all the new vegans springing up all over the place.

[ppeatfruit]

stargirl There is lots of calcium in greens and soya. Also protein. If you think that a gorilla does very well on a vegan diet. Apart from a few insects!

Normal dairy milk is not well digested by most humans anyway because we haven't got the correct vitamins in our gut.

Our GD is vegan and is healthier than her friends at school!

[Breadandwine]

Just watched Forks Over Knives, (extended interview version) which is now available on YouTube:

There's also a shortened (16 mins) version here:



This thread has fallen off most people's active list, I guess (it had disappeared from mine ), so I'm going to link to it from a new thread.

[Bourgainvillia]

Courgettes and creamy cheese with shallots does it for me.

Lovely texture too, better than others.

[ImissTerry]

Any ideas for 'ready made' vegan christmas food? I've got access to Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and M&S. It is for boxing day when we will be having salad which will include ham, etc but I wanted to add a couple of things in that don't necessarily need to be cooked but would take the place of sliced chicken or ham iyswim. The amount of food that has milk in it is totally staggering - a jar of pickles was my latest find!

[Laughingcamel]

Falafels?

[LentilAsAnything]

Hello, Vegans and wannabe vegans! It's been a while!
How are we all?