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!

are you tall or do you have a long torso? that can make your bump measure small.

hmm, not sure about dinner here. had asparagus, leek and mushroom risotto on Mon, went out for a curry last night. I bought some Fry's burgers yday so you might have inspired me to do burgers, baked potatoes and corn on the cobs.

I think my bump was slightly on the smaller side, people used to express surprise that I was further along than they thought. I think I carried him far back against my spine though.

Think we may have fajitas tonight! Had pizza last night, oh it was good!

Hello! I'll be at Doncaster hospital, not expecting gerat things, but I checked out the policy and it seems ok, and I remember the omni food being nice when I was in last time.

Penguin, nice to have a v-pg-buddy.

Still working on the transition, have been having disappointing veggie sausage experiences, but am spending some money on Vegan cookbooks this week.
Getting Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.
They look amazing, anyone tried anything from them before?

the vegan cupcakes one is my bible - my friend's dh makes his cakes from it (plus other flavours of his invention but based on the book's sponge recipes) and so many people have said they're the best cakes they've ever tasted!

and what sausages have you tried? We like Fry's one the best altho made 'meatballs' using the Granose sausage mix last week (long story as to why!) and dh said they were the closest ones to sausages he's had (despite me trying to make them meatballs!)

Had some nasty Tesco beg sausages other week, I seem to have gone off Linda Macs and some Redwoods (I think) cocktail sausages were disappointing. I've some regular Redwoods to try. Not heard of Fry's are they in the freezer section?
I've a Granose nut roast mix to try that looks good.

I'll def get the cupcakes book then! The other book is by the same woman, so should be good too.

We had those Redwood cocktail sausages - the three different types one? Thought they were delicious!

Cakes, how is your Home Ed thinking going?

well I never made the burgers as DD decided she didn't want to nap this afternoon and this morning's took 3 attempts. But she never eats dinner anyway. I do feel bad that she's been offered three more processed meals the past few days but still settling back into the UK and staying at my parents adds more upset to the routine.

penguin how old is DD? is she still having 2 naps or did i misread that?

don't feel bad about her dinners, you've got tons on and all toddlers go thru weird eating/non-eating phases.

I've started asking ds (nearly 3) what he wants for lunch and sometimes dinner now and find he generally eats far more. he usually asks for really cute, healthy things like 'Pasta, beans (meaning chick peas or similar), carrots and brocolli' although sometimes it's just beans on toast.

A quick lunch i often do for us is just pasta, 'butter', 'cheese' (usually the redwoods soy-free one) and peas - that gets wolfed down and covers the food groups ok . would dd eat something quick and simple like that?

home ed... will have to update you when i'm clearer nohun, i've been a bit stretched with work etc and have a minor panic whenever my mind touches on school/home ed!

She's 17 months now. She has been napping twice a day, but also quite long (90mins each). It's hard to say what her natural routine is after the road trip and move back to the UK. Just in that period of waiting to see if the dust settles. I think she needs 2 naps until she does more towards 12 hours at night, but just before the road trip it did look like she was transitioning to 1 (well according to DH who always struggled more than me with her naps despite being the SAHD).

I am going to make the burgers in the morning today!

Let us know how the burgers turn out.

I was browsing thru cookbooks last night (DC's nursery have asked for more vegan pudding ideas, bless their hearts!) and saw a chocolate and pear torte that's def going on my To-do list!

fwiw, dd (just turned 1yo) has been having just one long nap for months now as it was easier for me for her to fit in with ds's routine. she has one 2 - 2.5hr nap at around 11am. I'm on a ante-natal thread and almost all the 1yos on that only have one nap too. you might find she goes down easer if you put her down later and she just has one nap.

I would like that too, but she when she does 10 hours at night it's a struggle getting her through 2 hours. she heads that way again. Until we move (again) and get a routine with some timetabled activities I'm not pushing anything one way or another. I'm grateful that she is past the 30 min nap stage.

Burgers I just use a standard recipe thing. Mash beans of choice, start with about a 1/8th of the mixture of flour (I divide mixture roughly in half, then one again and so on, then add the amount of flour that looks the same volume - very technical me). Chopped onion, garlic, lemon juice and chosen spices of the day. Adjust flour if required (cannolinni (sp?) beans normally take more flour, chick peas normally need more fluid). Chuck in fridge for a while to help set. When frying move them around a little until not sticking, then cook thoroughly on one side first so as to turn as little as possible.

Mm, burgers. Might have those tonight. We have a vast array of delicious relishes in, yes, think it's burger night tonight!

Well, be kind to yourself, Cake, you have a bit of time to decide re HE, and do remember you can change your mind either way. Us, we are both getting more and more set on it. I am very excited about doing it, as is DH. Just hope DS is!

I've made a tomato sauce thing with veggie sausages as low on veggies. Will cook pasta later to go with it. I don't find the sausages as offensive when in liquidy things.

I have some butter beans to use up, any suggestions?

Chuck the butter beans in with the tomato and sausage stew! Sounds perfect to me!

you see I was going to do that, but then I had beans the day before so wanted to use it after the sausages (hence their use instead of the butter beans). I need to go shopping anyway so can grab some random things I might not have.

Ah. Something with rice?

Hello. I've been vegan for 28 years. I have 3DCs aged from 8-13 and they have all been vegetarian from birth (DH also vegetarian). :)

Hi thetasigmamum 28 years :) look forward to picking your brains

wow, 28 years?! ditto what penguin said!

what did you do with your butter beans in the end?

i'm planning to buy some today after you reminded me of them, ds loves all types of beans but i haven't given him butter beans for ages.

puddings what do you tend to give your DCs as puddings, everyone?

after lunch: they both have dried fruit bars, organix cereal bars or fruit. ds (nearly 3yo) sometimes has some chocolate. on Monday I soaked some dried apricots and made some chocolate dipping sauce for him to dip them in - that went down well

after dinner: ds usually has home-made cake or an alpro soya dessert with flax oil and ground almond added to it. dd (1yo) usually has alpro natural yoghurt with mashed banana, flax and almond.

we're not really a dessert household

I haven't used them yet, using going to use them with stirfried veggies and tortilla wraps this evening. maybe make a salsa. Have started stocking on my spices and herbs again.

We should be moving in our place over bank holiday weekend and I get a cupboard store etc. going which should start to make the cooking easier. Amazing how being out the country for just over a year makes you rusty, I can't remember what it is I used to cook over here.

We don't have dessert/puddings much either. Main meal is usually plenty. I will occasionally bake a cake/cheesecake/crumble, but we're not a starter/mains/dessert family.
We usually have a stash of the Alpro yoghurts and the soya desserts in, yummy.

Oh and hello and welcome, tsm! Vegan for 28 years is awesome!

i guess i've always been focused on getting as many calories into them as poss given vegan food is often lower in calories anyway so pud is very helpful with that. all the advice i've read suggested main meal + pud and i've stuck to that religiously, mainly because ds is such a light eater he would be waif-like otherwise! i understand tho that if you feel that they're getting enough without pud then it's not an issue for you.

oooh exciting about your new house penguin, hope it all goes smoothly for you