Vegan chat thread

[Springswallow]

Just wondering if anyone is interested in a vegan chat thread , inspired by a reply I gave on another vegan thread ,I don't know any vegans to just chat to.
We are a vegan family,but other than that ,I don't know any vegans,I'm not in any vegan groups.
It's actually a big part of my life ,that I don't really get to talk about at all.
Be nice to chat to any other vegans, especially at night when I often can't sleep

I'd like to join in too. I am.vegan. My husband is vegetarian....getting there!

I have 4 children..two vegan., two vegetarian

I feel.the same. Makes me so sad that people actually don't care about the cruelty to get meat on their plates. It really gets me down

Hi, joining in. I’m the only vegan, dh eats meat and the kids were raised vegetarian. Since the kids were born I chose veganism but didn’t know enough/didn't want to restrict them as much so they stayed veggie. None have chosen to eat meat/fish etc as of yet, all young adults.

im moving from plant based to veganism - replacing leather items with non leather etc.

currently trying to get a little recipe book of protein and easy bowls - rice, curry, daal / black beans, couscous, tofu etc so I can meal plan for me and have some easy things to do.

That's a good idea of receipe book. I was given a simple one with Buddha bowl receipes which I often use
Tonight could not be bothered cooking so had baked potato with filling of crushed chickpeas mixed with vegan mayo , red onion and red pepper with seasoning to taste. Sliced avocado on the side. Strawberry and banana alpro yoghurt with pumpkin seeds.
Would be interested in anyone else's dinner ideas.
Off to bed now. Night night all

@Snowyowl99do you cook the chickpeas first? Am thinking red onion, crushed chickpea, vegan mayo and maybe tofu

Yes, I’m interested! And hi!

… but I’m going to have to be the tedious person who points out that plant based eating and veganism are different things. The first just deals with what you eat, whilst the second is a philosophy that includes an approach about what you do, what you buy and what you wear.

Though none of us is perfect, we try..

I am vegetarian and have been for nearly 20 years. I just love cheese too much to go for a 100 per cent vegan diet. Also, I love watching equestrian sports and as I understand for vegans that would count as animal exploitation.

This is what I alluded to in my earlier post.

I use Tinned chickpeas

I do a coronation chickpea recipe that sounds very similar @Snowyowl99 . Chickpeas, vegan mayo, powdered curry powder, almond flakes, apricot jam, diced onion and celery. I took it as my contribution to a bbq in the summer and one of my friend's husbands absolutely hoovered it up. He said 'I don't even LIKE salad!' and when I told him it was also vegan he was quite astonished. (In a good way. A sort of 'maybe the weirdo food tastes good and I like it' way.)

Last night I was feeling lazy so I mixed leftover mashed potato with a drained tin of green lentils, diced cooked onion, a bit of cajun pepper and sweet paprika and shaped them into patties and fried. It wasn't anything ambitious in terms of flavours but it really worked out well. I'm doing the same tonight with roasted veg on the side I think.

@MoodyMargaret11 like you, there is not much I miss. Mainly easy and quick grab and go things like a decent sandwich when on the run. I would say also that it is DH who has really influenced me. When we met he was a hunting, shooting, fishing type and one day about a decade ago he put his knife and fork down after a Boxing day meal and said he couldn't do it anymore. He said he truly did not understand why he called himself an animal lover yet ate them. His friends took the piss out of him big time. But over the past 12 years several have come to really respect it, and he is often asked about vegetarianism at least with interest and an open mind. He just eats what he eats, and doesn't talk about it unless asked.

I was really proud of him.... then thought what the fuck am I doing 'being proud' of him when it was perfectly straightforward for me to follow his footsteps.

I really love it tbh. I'm a little mad for tofu and have to eat it about 3 times a week or I feel I get withdrawal symptoms!

Re chick peas. I find chickpeas in a jar a game changer.

I buy Bold Beans Queen Chickpeas and now find tinned chickpeas quite inferior.

They were recommended by posters from a lengthy thread a while back about Ottolenghi's Confit Tandoori Chickpeas recipe, which is our all time favourite vegan meal.

Oh yes, totally agree the Bold range is fabulous. Their butter beans are great too
It's just they are so expensive 😩

The addition of apricot jam sounds good . Im going to try that! I often add some french mustard
Patties are always good too. I struggle with tofu I can never seem to cook it right!!

I have a fav restaurant and it does tofu crisp and flavoursome in outside and soft and gooey on inside
I can never replicate it
Anyone got a good way of cooking tofu?
Having veg chilli tonight
For lunch in have just had butter beans .....cooked wirh garlic, chopped onion and cavolo Nero and miso paste ......on toast...its a Bosch recipe
I would also recommend a you tube channel Earthy Goodness Kitchen . A vegan chef , he has lots of lovely simple ...and more complicated for special occasions...on his channel.

The best thing for tofu has been to drain, weight down, toss in cornflour and a tiny bit of oil and then air fry. I can’t get the amazing crispness though, I’m suspecting deep fat fryers!

If you buy Tofoo brand of tofu you don't need to press it. Baking it in the oven helps rather than frying (I don't have an air fryer).

A bit of French mustard sounds good!

I had baked beans and sliced tomatoes on toast for lunch. Simple and filling

Tofu, I like the Saisburys own extra firm brand. I never weigh it down because I'm just a bit too lazy tbh. I batter and then deep fry as 'nuggets' and I LOVE tofu schnitzel. Because I don't use egg in the crumbing process I ofte smear with vegan mayo and that makes the crumbs stick, or sometimes I smear it in Bramley apple sauce / maple syrup then breadcrumb. It works really well, IMO.

We are having lentil patties again but I have a block of tofu for tomorrow night. Also a pack of chilli noodles so likely to be stir fry I think.

@NoHangoversToday do you keep the chickpeas whole or do you mash them a bit?

I keep them whole if used as a salad but I do mash them a little bit if it's going into a sandwich.

I have also just triggered a craving for them in myself by writing about it!

I've not tried cornflour before. I think I will give that a go as well. My tofu never really has the crunchy outside and soft inside texture I love though.

I was in a thai place in London and they did something with a silken tofu (I think). It had a crispy outside but the texture of custard inside. I was at a conference and went back daily for lunch for the entire week eating the same thing.

Sounds amazing. I need to practice more, I’ve had some brilliant meals out where tofu is used.

👋 been watching this thread but not sure what to add. We have been trying over the last 12 months to make better choices. We have been dairy free for as long as I can remember. Definitely not vegan as I have a few leather goods purchased decades ago. What I find difficult is most plant based options are upf. How do you limit upf with a full plant based diet?

You are talking about pre bought ready meals etc, processed meat substitutes. I would never buy vegan or non vegan processed food
Eat naturally....make a veg chilli, delicious soup, cauliflower steak with all the trimmings, organic tofu. Curries, Buddha bowls etc etc . It's very simple ...just don't pick up any processed food meat or non meat. Stick to natural ingredients. Hope that helps

When I first went vegan i went a little crazy on buying the meat substitutes. The Aldi plant kitchen range was really good IMO. But I think I must have overdone it because after a bit of an extended binge I started to feel really sick. I'll use them in a pinch, but like @Snowyowl99 I tend to stick to whole foods, loads of beans, rice, soups lentils etc. I really feel like my taste buds have changed as I used to make a vegan red lentil dal which I quite liked but now I have that at least once a week. For this coming Christmas I expect we will just have a bi plate of roasted vegetables. DH doesn't like any of the meat analogues but can eat vegetables all day long really.

I've never tried the vegan deli meats you can get, they look awful to me. Has anyone tried them? Also the vegan cheeses- I have tried the violife singles so would be interested if people have recommendations.

Yes that it how I've been shopping. It gets boring having the same on repeat, and it is almost impossible to eat out due to the oils etc. It's just i see items on here mentioned for recipes and they are upf. Are people making their own vegan mayo etc?

I am definitely not making my own vegan mayo!!

I think I am just incrementally doing so much better that Im not worried about things like vegan mayo. Or vegan gravy granules. (Or white rice- I know it's not UPF but I just cannot get to grips with brown rice.)

My facebook algorithms show me lots of vegan cooking reels which I enjoy watching. I'm not at that level of cooking sophistication yet for alot of it (things like red lentil bread, possibly vegan mayo etc) but maybe that day will come.

I have a couple of vegan cookbooks that focus on ethnic foods that are already vegan. Vegan Italian food comes to mind. And I used to make a vegan mushroom stroganoff for years as part of 'Meatless Monday', using alpro cream.