Vegan recipes - family and kid friendly

[cakeycakeface]

I'm not vegan (eat fish and veggies) but would love to start introducing more vegan recipes into my family's diet. I genuinely believe this would improve our health and expose us to interesting food. I am hoping vegan parents will share their tried and tested recipes to help me get my fussy DCs salivating!. Anyone else interested in this?

I would he very interested too.

I always feel better when I lay off the meat and dairy.

I'm interested too, I'm omnivorous but not of the stolid 'meat makes a meal' brigade & will often choose the veggie option on a menu over the meat options. Here's my recipe for vegan lemon cake, its so nice I use it all the time & have never gone back to the non-vegan version as this is so much better :)

275g self raising flour
200g sugar
1tsp baking powder
Zest & juice of one lemon
100ml vegetable oil
170ml cold tap water
150g icing sugar & more lemon juice to make an icing

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil, lemon juice & water & mix thoroughly. Pour into a loaf tin & bake at 200 for about 30 mins, if not done then cover with foil, put back & check at 10 minute intervals.

When cool make an icing with the icing sugar & lemon juice & pour over the top

You should look into vegan freezer foods too - they won't please the "clean-eating" brigade (but they're not unhealthy) and theyre delicious, child-friendly and a great source of protein.
Found in Holland and Barrett, Ocado, Morrison's and independent HFS

www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Frys-ChickenStyle-Nuggets-Frozen/97454011?from=shop&tags=%7C20000%7C20911%7C127551%7C128521%7C128520&parentContainer=%7C20911%7C127551%7C128521%7C128520_SHELFVIEW

www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Frys-Schnitzels-Frozen/97448011?from=shop&tags=%7C20000%7C20911%7C127551%7C128521%7C128520&parentContainer=%7C20911%7C127551%7C128521%7C128520_SHELFVIEW

The nuggets are INCREDIBLE IMHO. "Fast food" experience without the unknown chicken parts. -I've eaten them every day this week-

Also Tesco do vegan cornettos and choc ices. Get a pack of Violife vegan cheese slices from the chilled Free From section.

I could go in for hours.

One of the best ways to discover new vegan foods is to visit your local healthfood shop and have a browse.

HTH

My fifteen year old daughter decided to go vegan for Veganuary. She's still sticking with it, and as I'm not into cooking different meals for different family members lazy I cook straight vegan meals most of the time.
I use pinterest a lot for inspiration, I joined a group on FB called 'what fat vegans eat' for ideas.(but the admins can be a bit quick to delete any posts that do not fit the groups ideology) another group on FB is vegan supermarket finds, where people post things they've found, a lot of it 'accidentally vegan'
Our local health food shop has been added in to my weekly shop for meat substitutes. (beware quorn, a lot of it has egg white in)
I certainly feel healthier, I was very much an omnivore last year, and we eat plenty of interesting, healthy filling meals.

I'm not vegan, but I do veganuary every year so often use vegan recipes.

foodandspice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/creamy-thai-coconut-mushroom-soup.html?m=1 This is my favourite Thai mushroom soup- coconut milk is the only creamy type alternative which works imo. ( the almond milk recipes in my opinion are disgusting- marzipan pasta anyone?)

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-sweet-potato-curry
This curry is great ( without the yoghurt obviously)

www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/mejadra-from-jerusalem.html
This mejadra is lovely comforting family food

www.parsleysoup.co.uk/vegan_recipes.php
This is a good vegan website which I use quite often.

Anna Jones is a great source for good veggie and vegan meals- her books are my favourite non meat books.

I'm not vegan but only eat meat rarely so most of my meals are veg, fish. I have started making a few vegan things after I had a vegan friend over for dinner

my favourites are;
Jamie Oliver's vegan chocolate tart ( it's delicious)
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate-recipes/vegan-chocolate-tart-with-rhubarb/#PJGD0D5iKJohoO4A.97

Vegan toffee apple upside down cake
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/vegan-toffee-apple-upside-down-cake/

Grilled pumpkin and black bean burger
Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil

½ c diced red onion

½ c diced red pepper

3 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

1-15 oz can organic black beans

1 tsp kosher salt

2 minced chipotle peppers

¼ c fresh corn

3 tbsp pure pumpkin

1 c vegan Bread crumbs

½ c chopped Pecan

Method

1. Dice red onion and red pepper and mince garlic. Heat canola oil over medium heat then add garlic, onion, red pepper and corn and sauté for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Place rinsed and dried black beans in a deep bowl. Using back of fork, mash about half the beans and leave half whole. Then add pumpkin, sautéed vegetable mixture, chipotle peppers, pecans, bread crumbs and cumin. Mix well until all ingredients are combined to desired consistency. Note, if mixture is too dry you can add a little more pumpkin. Using hands, form into four large patties and refrigerate.

3. Heat grill medium high heat. Brush grill with canola oil then place burgers on the grill. Cook for approx. 3-5 minutes on each side.

4. Remove and serve immediately on your favorite vegan roll. Top with Callicoon Kitchen Avocado spread , fresh roasted tomato, caramelized onion or your favorite burger toppings. Garnish with Kosher Dill pickle.

Thai sweet potato bean stew

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
3 cups (531g) cooked kidney beans or (492g) chickpeas or 2 cans (425g each), rinsed and drained
1 mild jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 cup (235ml) water
1 can (390ml) light coconut milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon (8g) grated fresh ginger
1 cube veggie bouillon
1 tablespoon (5g) lemon grass, lemon verbena, or lemon balm, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried ground galangal root (or 1/4 teaspoon coriander plus 1 1/8 teaspoon cayenne)
Zest of 1/2 a lime
Salt, to taste
Fresh cilantro or Thai basil, for serving

On the hob

Put everything except the salt and cilantro into a soup pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and then decrease the heat to low.
Cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, 20 to 30 minutes.
Mash a few of the sweet potatoes to thicken up the stew, add salt if needed, and serve over rice. Top with the chopped cilantro.

I made a lovely veggie chilli con carne yesterday. Makes 4 small portions (at around 250 cals per portion) or 2 big portions. Not strictly vegan though as it contains Quorn which i don't think is suitable for vegans? Got it from BBC and adapted slightly.

400g can of baked beans (I used Branston).
400g can of chopped tomatoes.
100g Quorn mince.
1x chopped onion.
1x red pepper.
1x tbsp of cumin seeds.
2x tbsp of garlic powder.
2x tbsp of tomato puree.
1x vegetable Oxo cube.
Salt and pepper.
Olive oil for frying.

Fry the onion and pepper in olive oil until soft.

Add the Quorn mince for a few minutes.

Add everything else. Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with rice, baked potato or just on its own.

My very fussy daughter loved this.

ooh those all sound delicious!!!!

I know he isn't flavour of month (accidental pun!!!) but Jamie Oliver has great vegan recipes in his everyday superfoods book. I would really recommend it, we eat 4/5 evening meals with it. Some of the recipes contain fresh chilli so if you are cooking for children perhaps leave them out!

Definitely don't shy away from trying "fake meats" etc (AKA vegan meat alternatives) - I've been vegan for a while and I'd hate to eat vegetables and lentils all the time.

I makea lovely lentil bolognese. Fry off some onion, garlic and whatever veggies you have to hand...I tend to use mushroms, peppers and chopped carrot. Add 100g dried red lentils, a couple of cans of tomatoes, some dried herbs and a glug (125ml?) of either veg stock or red wine. Simmer for 30 minutes. I usually add a couple of chopped courgettes towards the end.

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Pizza, (easy enough using cheese alternative) I used to be afraid of bread /dough making but found really easy once I gave it a go.

Cornish pasties, either spicy veg filling or 'cheese' onion/leek and potato.

Risotto, either mushroom or butternut and sage (both with white wine)

Big field mushrooms in place of meat in a roast dinner, with all the trimmings Yorkshires/stuffing/redcurrant sauce etc, (BBC Goodfood do a nice vegan Yorkshire pudding recipe).

Peppers stuffed with flavoured couscous and baked under foil to stop them drying out.

Mushroom pies, in either a creamy or a red wine 'gravy' type sauce.

Chow mein made with a ton of chopped up veg (peppers/mushrooms/courgettes/baby sweetcorn/onion/ginger) add vegan noodles and stir fry sauce (we like yellow bean).

Special fried rice; cold rice, fried in sesame oil with a bit of five spice, onion, waterchestnuts, carrot strips corn and/or whatever veg needs using up, we add far too much soy sauce at the end.

Meze, Just a platter full of nice olives, sundried tomatoes, marinated peppers, oils and hoummous for dipping naice bread into.

Place marking but will definitely be trying that lemon cake

I really need to revisit 'fake meats'. We used to like the hot dog sausages but my DCs won't touch them. Other than that, I have to confess I don't like them much. I do eat fish occasionally. Our diet is mostly veg and beans for us, but recently we've been relying more and more on fish again. My Dcs are not that great about eating beans (unless they're of the heinz variety). However, they do really love this Jamie Oliver Frumpy Minestrone soup. It is delicious, and quite filling. I don't bother with the croutons, and just serve it with crusty bread.

I'm going to explore some of those links now, and I've saved that lemon cake recipe. Sounds yum!

Frumpy Minestrone Soup (Jamie Oliver)

2 onions
1 kg mixture of carrots, celeriac, and butternut squash
olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tin chopped tomatoes, 400g tin
1 tin borlotti beans, 400g tin - keep juice when you open the tin
200 g mixed pasta, can be odds and ends
200 g frozen spinach
200 g mixture of frozen peas and broad beans

Croutons
1/2 loaf ciabatta, or stale bread
30 g grated Parmesan cheese (or vegan alternative)
red wine, just a splash at the end (optional)
extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle at the end

Preheat the oven to 180'C.

Peel the onions, carrots, celeriac and squash, cut into 1 cm dice and put into a large pot with a good lug of olive oil. Cook for around 10 mins on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, then crumble in the stock cube and add the tomatoes, the beans and their juice, and 2 litres of boiling water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Smash up and chuck in the pasta, along with the spinach, peas and broads beans, for the last 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, tear the bread into rough chunks and toss in the roasting tray with pepper and olive oil. Finely grate over most of the parmesan, then roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and crispey, turning halfway.

Season the soup to perfection, adding a swig of red wine (optional) then drizzle with extra virgen olive oil and grate over the rest of the cheese. Serve with the croutons on the side.

We're veggie and one of the few vegan things we eat regularly is this creamy curry.

It's basically spices with coconut milk and cashews blitzed up with stock to make a smooth cashew milky sauce, and then little bundles of courgette, chickpea and almond pan-fried off til crispy. It's great. Make double the sauce and it freezes well.

Place marking. Would love to introduce more veg based meals for my kids

I make a vegan chilli with a mixture of puy, green and red lentils. The recipe is on here if anybody wants it - should come up with a search. Or give me a shout and I'll try to find it, if you want.

I make veggie curries using coconut milk and a bought paste, or with coconut milk, spices and a load of chopped fresh tomatoes.

Things like ratatouille/garlic or spiced mushrooms/ spiced chickpeas etc are vegan and can be nice with a baked potato or rice.

I have a couple of friends who love Kofta Malai so I'll definitely be trying that captain ! While looking at the recipe on the guardian site I came across these recipes too. I really fancy the sound of aubergine jambalaya!

http://gu.com/p/3q3cf?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

It depresses me that so many veggie/vegan recipes involve tinned tomatoes. Hate the horrible pussy red little bastards.

And now I've killed the thread with my moaning about tinned tomatoes! Oops.

Bump

Ah Remus- a food thread wouldn't be a proper food thread without your moaning about tomatoes. When I first joined mumsnet you described eating a cherry tomato as "popping a white head , with your teeth , IN YOUR MOUTH! " I've not been able to eat them since. It's been seven years.

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