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!

i killed the thread

and the croissants are v nice too!

I am back! Had relatives staying for a couple of weeks, no time to MN!

Am ordering those croissants with my next groceries shop! Can't wait! :)

And thanks for the info on BLW. It's going great! DS loves his food. I am really happy with how it is going. Still BFing loads, doesn't look like that has diminished much, but not concerned about that.

Where is everyone else!

Phew! I'm not in the habit of killing things

welcome back would be nice to get a few others back to the thread too.

9mo dd and i had the croissants for brunch the other day, stuffed with veggie ham and cheezley. most yum!

she's down to 3 breast feeds a day (2 in the day and 1 at 11.30pm) now which seems to be working well all round. i proactively cut some of her feeds out as she seemed like DS who would just bf whenever it was offered but not really ask for it either iyswim, so it was always led by me rather than being baby-led! she's bf much better (less bitey and fussy) and eating solids much better as a result.

not saying that you should do the same btw, they;re all v different.

have you tried the redwoods 'meatballs' or the dairy/soy-free yoghurts yet? the meatballs are now a regular fixture on the menu casa cake and the yoghurts have gone down well with dd and ds tho i'm not that keen on the taste/texture myself (i'm not really a yoghurt fan anyway tho).

made a great pie last night. i need to right out the recipe for friends on another thread so will post it here too in case any fancies it:

Vegetable and lentil pie
(sorry if this isn't very nailed down - i made it up as i cooked so hard to be exact re quantities now!)

Pastry:
I only used half of this quantity but you can freeze other half
110g/4oz wholemeal flour
110g/4oz plain flour
a pinch of salt
140g/5oz butter
very cold water
Sift flours & salt and rub in butter. Add 2tbsp water and mix to a dough and roll out.

Filling:
2 cloves of garlic
good glug of olive olive
1 parsnip
2 medium carrots
'handful' of runner beans cut to thin 2 inch long pieces
1 tin of green lentils
1/2 pint (ish) of vegetable stock - i usually use Marigold bouillon (made up with boiling water as per packet instructions)
Salt/Herbamare (which is what i use) and pepper to taste

Saute a couple of cloves of garlic and a leek in the olive oil
2 mins later add the carrot and parsnip
3 mins later add the lentils and runner beans and enough stock to moisten so it's not dry but not so there's loads of sauce either
Continue simmering until veg is cooked, adding stock as necessary
Season to taste

Place in pie dish and cover with rolled out pastry

Bake at 200c until pastry is done.

We had it with roast potatoes, peas and gravy.

I will make this again with more spring/summery veg like asparagus too

Hee hee, nor me!

Where has everyone else gone?

Had a lovely time at a vegan child's birthday party today! Was so nice to see so many vegan children and vegan families. DS had a great time too, lapping up the attention from all the little girls! Bless!

He is doing really well with his eating, we are happy with his progress. I think his BF feeds are reducing slightly, but it is hard to tell. He is getting his nourishment somehow, as he is a very strong chunky monkey, so no concerns here. And he is very happy, so so are we.

Haven't found meatballs yet - our local healthfood stores haven't had any in when I've been in. Will keep looking, they sound lush! :) Haven't found soy-free yoghurts either - where is this vegan haven that you live in that you can find all this stuff!!!???

I don't cook any pies (except sweet ones!), must expand my menu to include some!

Found meatballs! :) And very nice they were too! Yum!

Hi folks! I'm a former vegan but now veggie, and am hoping to raise dd as as veggie until she is old enough to make up her own mind! Thing is she has suffered with colic related to lactose intolerance so I would also like to go easy on the dairy with her to begin with, so was wondering if any of you could recommend any resources that might help me with weaning her on a meat and dairy free diet to make sure she is getting everything she needs? Thank you! x

Welcome reflux

If you contact the Vegan Soc and Viva they should be able to give you some helpful guides. I also bought book plus a couple of other vegan nutrition guides not specifically written about children.

Of course, feel free to ask any specific questions on here too

I would personally recommend giving a decent broad-spectrum supplement for peace of mind re the biggies like B12, D, iron and calcium but i'm a worrier with stuff like this, others might not agree it's necessary.

Also find ways of boosting specific nutrients with diet - eg i use things like ground almonds (calcium) and flaxseed oil (omega 3)

Lastly just getting enough calories in her should be your focus as it's a bit harder on a mainly plant-based diet.

I'm sorry if I've made it sound hard, it's not, it just requires a bit of attention to make sure you're giving them the best diet they can have - but really shouldn't everyone pay this kind of attention to their children's diets?

If you scan this thread you'll see lots of previous helpful posts about all of this too.

Thanks! I've absolutely no doubt it can be done with no risks, just want to make sure! I've started weaning slightly early on medical advice and I'm using a book as a guide that suggests introducing rice, fruit and veg purees introducing new foods every 3 days to avois allergies, but the protein recipes for 6-7 months onwards are all meat/dairy/fish based apart from one lentil recipe. Therefore mainly looking for suitable recipes for 6-7 months onwards, as I'm guessing if I just feed her a red lentil dish with no variety this won't give her all she needs! Are meat substitutes/soy/tofu suitable for kids this age do you think?

I'm sorry some of you had problems with anti vegans, I guess it was all so long ago for me now but people do take it personally. I think it's to do with latent guilt. MIL was not too happy when I was pg, first thing she asked/assumed was that I would stop being a vegan and also stop climbing. I did neither.

DD has got a bit stuck with food lately and I worry about the variation. She basically has porridge for breakfast, fruit for snacks, peanut butter sarnie for lunch and yogurt for desert (oat milk but soy yogurt) We also give her what we have for dinner but she rarely eats it. I figure all we can do is keep trying and she knows what she needs but I get a bit wobbly. She's 14 months.

I've stopped BF her as am pg and was struggling with the pain and night feeds (she has only fed at night for a long time so I didn't have to express at work.) I think her sleep is getting better and it wasn't painful. Decided when she woke we would resettle her and if she didn't go off I would feed her. Turned out that 95% of the time she went straight back off. Maybe she'll feed when she see's the new one doing it. I was a bit worried about milk intake but have relaxed now.

co-op has labelled their stuff for years. A lot of their toiletries are vegan and so are more affordable than original source etc.

and tonight's dinner was chick pea in a 'Moroccan' sauce. Boiled toms, veg few spices with plenty of cinnamon. I one had a Tesco jar (which was horrible as I find all jars to be) but basically looked at the ingredient list as inspiration for creating it myself.

We're going for a 3.5 week road trip around the US and mostly staying at hostels (i.e. no kitchen) so any ideas on food welcome as we will have a very tight budget. Most have fridges but just can't cook anything.

You're brave penguin! IMO yr D.D. has a healthy diet you could try a pretty fruit plate as a snack for her, also sesame and avocado, salad stuff are good sources of protein.

I travel with a spoon and sharp knife to eat dips, tahini and haricot (I can't eat houmous) pumpernickel bread and whole avocado. good luck with the journey

Ooh, I've always wanted to do the American Road Trip! Will definitely do it one day. Have a great time! My experience of America is that they provide brilliant vegan food. The only place I've struggled a bit was Vegas, and it was fine, just didn't have the luxury vegan dining experiences I enjoyed in places like San Fran, NY or LA. Where are you going? A raw-food detox would be ok for three and a half weeks, if you are really struggling for food and places to cook.

I've no experience re toddlers eating, Penguin, as my DS is only seven and a half months. When are you due? I'd love to be pg again soon, but am still BFing loads - so am encouraged when I hear people getting pg whilst stil BFing.

I am not a vegan but I would be very grateful if someone could give me a recipe on how to make really nice vegan cookies and some tips where to get the ingredients ....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but biscuits don't have eggs. If you therefore have a suitable recipe already, just pop to the supermarket get yourself some soy milk, vegan marg (the pure brand is vegan but sainsbo has their own free from range) and some vegan dark chocolate (co-op or holland and barrett if supermarket doesn't have any) and continue as normal. hth

although you may want to check their take on flour. You can get unbleached flour

Thanks, is all soy milk okay? I don't have a Sainsbury, but Tesco, don't think I have seen the pure brand, do you know of any other margarine I could use???

ahh Tesco is a bit shit with these things, but they should still have it. It's normally on a higher shelf. tbh until I looked for it I hadn't never seen it either.

Any soy milk should be fine, some are sweetened some not. Fridge soy milk is normally sweetened but since you're making cookies it shouldn't matter.

Hello, I'm due in September and am having a good vegan pregnancy so far!

Bit apprehensive about what'll come at toddler stage and beyond especially as the expected one's father is veggie (and a bit of a lax one at that, I think) and doesn't seem like he's going to be that pro-active in keeping her vegan, whereas I want to try as to as far as possible until she's old enough to make up her own mind. Still, I may just be borrowing trouble, as I don't know how many situations will crop up where he's in charge of food for her and there are no easy vegan options.

Honestly don't worry about it yet, there are more important things to deal with first. Deal with it as it comes and enjoy/focus the time you're in. She might be like my DD and refuse the meat that MIL tries to force upon on . We're getting more strict with the vegan thing as we go along, but we introduced things to check for allergies etc. Still when travelling she eats more what her father eats if I'm living on fries and crisps.

Road trip: yes the big cities it'll be fine, I love San Fran but we'll largely be in smaller places (went to a lovely raw food place in LA last weekend). Hoping to stock up ready to eat things that last when we're in the cities. For those that are interested here is out itinerary and a map so if you've been to any of the places and can recommend anywhere. When we went to Vegas/Canyon there were quite a few Mexican places so that was good. We will however only have $50 a day so really can't eat at restaurants that often.

I am due in Oct (DD will be 19 months ) my periods came back when she was only 10 weeks though.

dikkerjedap there are good vegan recipes on google!! i made some fab biscs (like the sesame snaps you can buy) but with plain choc. You use a heavy saucepan and put all ingredients in to warm up.

You can buy the ingredients in a good health Food shop. I use oil instead of marg (they've all got palm oil in) and the saucepan method works for cakes and biscs.!

Re. biscuits - I heartily recommend the "happy vegan chocolate chip cookies" on vegweb, they're incredibly easy to make.

for those wanting to get serious about their vegan cookies/biscuits then this book looks great. Same author as the fab Vegan cupcake book which i've used lots. I'm not a big biscuit fan so haven't bothered to get the cookie one.

jammyscone congratulations on your pregnancy . It'll all work somehow - vegan children aren't one of those things you can really plan for imo, you just do your best and watch the results. My dh isn't even veggie but has been amazing at making sure ds (2.7y) gets vegan food when they're out together. you might be surprised

nohun not sure if i've told you this before but i got pg with dd when i was still bf ds who was just over a year at the time?

v of your roadtrip penguin i've only been to washington and NY so far so not much help. you'll have to let us know how you get on. can you look on happy cow to find health food shops en route?

Just made the most delish lemon drizzle cake - i used a vegan cake recipe but then used a Jamie Oliver method of adding lemon syrup then drizzle.

anyone got any good tahini recipes please? i love the tahini sauce that you have with falafels but i haven't managed to cook with it myself without finding it too bitter.