Vegan-Vegan friendly MNetters- the new thread-sign in here!

[anyabanya]

Hi Vegan and vegan-friendly MNetters!

Just wanted to know if anyone was out there and wanted to form a support thread- to talk about food/ veganism, 'stuff' in general.

I am late 30s, have been an on and off vegan for about 6 years, and after a hiatus of about 9 months or so am back 'on'. I adore cooking with a passion, and love reading food blogs and vegan food blogs.

I would very much like to exchange thoughts/tips/frustrations with anyone else out there!

http://www.theppk.com/2011/03/spaghetti-nos-with-mini-lentil-meatballs/ This is dinner tonight, These tomorrow and http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/8958 these on Monday. Not sure what to do for lunches yet, as I always start at dinner, but I am getting excited! Now off to Holland and Barrets for a range of Vegan cheeses to whack on the pizzas. Dp is taking the micky, but I don't care!!!

Hang on, I'll try those links again!

Tonight

Tomorrow

Monday

I haven't tried any vegan cheese yet, but I had homemade pizza last night covered in veggies without it and it was bloody amazing! As though the cheese was just dulling the awesome taste IYSWIM.

Those are cool - I love the look of those spaghetti-no's! I keep finding vegan cookbooks on Amazon that I want, need to stay away from the online shopping...

I must confess that I find the thought of vegan cheese a bit grim, the only stuff I've tried in the past has been really vile. Think I need to give all of them a try and see which are best, although it might just be easier to try not to cook things which involve lots of cheese...

I'm trying some Cheezly tonight, and some Tofutti tomorrow. I love cheese, but am allergic to very mature cheeses, so this could be quite good (as I'm used to plastic cheese anyway!). Will let you know how it goes!!!

Well, Cheezly is nice! I prob wouldn't have oodles of it on it's own, but baked potato with beans and cheezly = mmmmmmmmm! Also a big thumbs up for alpro soya yogs! I found agave nectar in Sainsbo's too. Looks identical to honey, and again, awesome!!! This is the best life choice ever!!!

I love agave syrup. Even when not vegan-ning (I know that is not a word! ) I prefer it to honey.

Try the alpro choc puddings also- very chocolatey.... mmmm..... They are not usually in the chiller section, I think with the 'free from' sections.

Oh, I love agave nectar. Much better for you than normal syrup, too.

And Tofutti with garlic and herbs is just as nice as Philadelphia. It's the harder cheeses I'm scared of, but maybe I'll have to give Cheezly a go!

I love Cheezly on pizza, on jacket potatoes, with fajitas etc, but as just a chunk, on a cheese board, no, not so much. Really don't miss eating cheese like that. Their garlic and herb one is awesome! :)

hello everyone

i haven't posted here in an age (was without my Mac whilst it was fixed and then forgot about the thread when i got it back ) but have read the last lot of posts

on the cheezley front - we love the non-soya one, made from pea protein.

redwoods (now owned by heather mills btw) are doing lots of great new stuff imo. we love the new 'meatballs'. they're also bringing out some non-soya yoghurty things.

how's the weaning going nohun? we're a couple of months into blw our 8.5m dd and she's eating like a horse. this is the second time round for us as we also did blw with ds (now 2.6) and it's been much easier this time round - partly as dd's just interested in food (compared to ds) and partly because i'm a bit more clued up about more manageable textures etc.

what are you finding is going down well?

pod my dh is an omnivore whilst the DCs and I are vegan. Works fine as DH rarely eats meat in the house and meal-wise he eats the vegan meals i cook. he's v supportive about the DCs being vegan as he thinks it is healthier etc.

right, off to bf dd and then get some sleep... [hopeful]

Yes, loving that soya-free cheese! Love it all, really!

Haven't had the meatballs yet - will keep a lookout for them. Mmm! MMMMM! :)

Weaning is going GREAT, Cake! He loves courgette, has a really good suck on that, and I am amazed at how much goes down (no teeth). Broccoli he holds well. He's had a good go on carrot and houmous. He is a happy eater. It was my birthday a couple of days ago, and he had a bit of cake. He's had pancakes, oh, the face when the lemon juice hit - too cute! :) He's had some haggis (DH is Scottish), and that seemed to be a nice taste, though hard for him to handle. Stringy noodles are good for him to pull and hold - though I've not seen how much of that actually goes in. Peppers too. We give him miniature versions of whatever we are having.

Please give me as many tips as you feel able to, re manageable textures etc.

Tahini is lovely as a dip it's also full of calcium so valuable for vegans, you could sprinkle sesame seeds on or grind into home made bread, avocado as well.

nohun i'll have a think and post tomo re weaning.

Nohun here goes....

Just found out the tip of only toasting one side of bread rather than both and then spreading the untoasted side with humous/puree or whatever. Seems to make it more manageable.

Both of mine struggled/disliked the usually ubiquitous ricecakes but managed crackers (eg poppy and sesame seed ones) well

Humous is usually a hit full stop! Dd's current fave is having it mixed into pasta and veggies.

Quick-cook spirali pasta seems the easiest to pick up and bite/gum bits off

Very thin slivers of fruit seem to work much better than 1inch thick chunks

Noodles/spaghetti are fun but not much tends to go down, here at least.

Dd's very adept at feeding herself with loaded spoons now - is ds doing that yet? Makes it far easier to get lots of nutritious stuff down them. Eg DD has quinoa flakes soaked and cooked a la instant porridge. Has it flavoured with banana/fruit puree/ground almonds etc.

If you make a thick porridge and then allow it to go cold, it ends up like a solid 'pancake' which seems to go down well with some - bit hit and miss with my dd.

I'll update you on other stuff I think of/find works as and when. There are various blw threads on here but not many vegans on them so not many ideas for us.

Apols if this is full of typos etc, typing on blackberry.

Note: I don't use wholemeal anything at this stage as it's important that infants don't fill themselves up on fibre. Sorry, I'm probably teaching my granny to suck tofu here ;-)

Actually nohun, I'll pm you my fb details (are you on fb?) When I'm next on my mac so we can take some of the more mundane (it can get v mundane, believe me!) waffle ref vegan blw off this thread, if that suits? I don't know any RL vegan parents so keen to swap nutrition/feeding tips, advice etc if you are :)

I wonder whether there would be an appetite for a vegan parent thread on here actually. Or maybe they'll all be scared off following the awful 'vegan' french baby threads :(

Dh has left a pack of Japanese rice crackers next to the laptop which I am trying not to finish off completely

Anyway, we have all the ingredients to have this for lunch:
www.theppk.com/2011/04/pesto-soup-with-gnocchi-beans-greens/

and then Vegan hot dogs watching "Inception" DVD this evening

I have read that yeast flakes are great as a cheese substitute on pasta or pizza. Anyone know where to buy them from?

I make a choc pudding that is very similar to alpro choc dessert. I use a block of silken tofu and whizz it up in blender with 3-4 teaspoons cocoa poeder and a drizle of agar nectar it is fantastic!

brillo that is soo my kinda lunch! was it good?

we're hotdogging tonight too! Inception will fry your mind.

canei i get my nutritional yeast flakes from my local health store. the make is marigold. you can get it online too.

pp any recommendations/tips for surviving as a vegan in france? Thinking of booking hols there. Will def go self-catering but would be nice to eat out at times.

We usually go to italy which is soooo much easier!

Sorry pp, I didn't say please! Typing on blaackberry and hard to see what I've written!

C&R I put too much black pepper in; and also DH said that he wouldn't have blended all of the cauliflower... overall I was a bit unhappy with it but I have been a little uninspired in the kitchen recently. It also made masses- there's 3 tupperwares in the freezer!

Yesterday I made this
www.cookingforvegans.co.uk/veganrecipes/meals/portobellopastry.html
DH really liked it bless him I think it was the novelty of eating something that looked like you could have bought it from Greggs

ah what a shame brillo. looked great in the pic and i usually love her recipes too. would you make it again with pepper/cauli adjustments or not worth it?

the greggs pasties look yum too

is your dh vegan too?

went to a music festival and was spoilt for vegan food choice. had mezze for lunch and thai noodles for dinner.

jus rol croissants are vegan!! from Parsley Soup - Vegan Recipes facebook page:

Jus Rol Croissants are vegan!!! I couldn't wait until breakfast. Thank you Toni-Anita Edwards!

Parsley Soup - Vegan Recipes ‎(Btw, it says 'may contain eggs and milk' on the tube, but one of my friends phoned the jus rol help line and they said the ingredients were all totally vegan. The usual cross-contamination disclaimer, then. Good enough for me!)
April 25 at 9:40pm · Like

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