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

Fauxmagerie makes nut based cheese...its fabulous
Also Kinda cheese nut based too
I usually order one or the other at Xmas.
At Xmas I usually make seitan as the main. With vegan gravy and vegan pigs in blankets and all the usual veg
I love trifle so buy Morrison's vegan one and have vegan Xmas pudding too.

Morning all.

I am also loving the thread. It feels so – well- nourishing. No pun intended !
Filo pastry is a good shout @RampantIvy, thanks! Oooh! Maybe I will make a spanakopita this week. I’ve never used filo so I should try it out before Christmas.

I think I have to try Fauxmagerie. Ive just had look around their website- they look scarily like dairy cheese!

I'm out for lunch today. The menu says they have a vegan mushroom arancini starter and their soups of the day tend to be vegan. It's okay, but a bit yawn. So I am planning a tofu breakfast burrito for this morning. I ended up not having dinner because I had lunch at 3 pm so probably ready for some food this morning!

I really wish I was a better cook ..I literally went vegan for the animals ,no thought to health ..I buy expensive vitamins and try hard to make sure adult DC I'm feeding get in all food groups ..but I admit my diet is not fantastic.
It's difficult as I have 4 people to cook for ,and I often am making various meals 3 times a day ..it's exhausting,plus they don't .like anything new ..
But I'm still glad we are vegan and doing our bit

If my DH gets up to drive us ( bought a new automatic car not ready till Wednesday and I don't drive the manual) we are going to a plant based market today in the next town .. hopefully some nice vegan goodies to be found

Would you be interested if we put up our go-to recipes @Springswallow ?

One of my standbys is a red lentil dhal which I make alot.

I just dice onion, celery, and carrots in very small dices. Sautee in olive oil. I use that pureed garlic you get in a tube from Aldi and add a dollop of that. Plus a teaspoon of minced ginger (from a jar- but not the jars that use vinegar to store them, that makes a horrible taste I think). Cook down, add a couple of cups of red lentils, hot water to cover, a veg stock cube and a tablespoon of medium curry powder. Then let it cook down into a mush. You have to stir it every 5 minutes or so though and add more water if it starts to stick.

It takes maybe 30 minutes? But as always it is better the next day. Sometimes if I need a change I will put frozen spinach cubes in as well. But not that often. It's a real favourite here for us even in meat-eating days. And probably the earliest totally vegan recipe I ever did other than minestrone.

I can have ago ..make maybe a small amount and let people do a taste test..they might like it you never know ..might even save me money in food bill

The Green Roasting Tin recipe book might suit you @Springswallow
There are vegetarian and vegan recipes, but many vegetarian ones can be made vegan.

The Roasting Tin series of books got me out of a cooking rut, and the recipes are so simple. you basically put all your prepared ingredients into a roasting tin and bung it into the oven. They are creative and very tasty and very, very easy to put together. It is more of an assembly job than actual cooking.

We have quite a few vegan cookery books, but they are for people who love cooking as they involve more steps and require more time. I really rate the Bosh one but the recipes are more involved.

Re cheese. The coconut based ones are really awful IMO, but I really like the nut based ones. I find the Violife cheese Vile Life has a particularly unpleasant aftertaste. I used to like Tyne Chease but they have closed down, but other nut based "cheeses" are much nicer than the coconut based ones. They seem to have a much more "umami" taste and depth of flavour that is lacking in the coconut based cheeses.

Oh, and I want to say that cashew cream is a game changer. You just soak some cashew nuts in water then blitz them until smooth. Absolutely fantastic in a korma.

I love making daal. I just use onion and garlic though, no other vegetables. It’s so easy and keeps well.

Our almost daily diet is some type of daal or bean dish. This may sound monotonoous. It's not. It's like eating bread or meat daily. Because there are so many ways to cook lentils and beans. We eat them as curries, fritters, pancakes, dumplings, garnishes, snacks ( to use Western terms).

If I remember I will take a photo of our sabich dinner. I'm not using egg, obviously, so it's roasted aubergine, chopped salad, parsley and tahini. You are supposed to use potatos as well which I had not planned to, but I think we will need the heft, tbh I might do some roasted potatos with herbs.
Hmmm..... off to start it now. My insomnia the past couple of days has caught up with me (but hopefully the cause of it is more or less sorted out). I rather fancy an early dinner and early night with the electric blanket, DH and the cat.

@friedaklein if it works though. I make lasagna, pasta dishes, curry, no one likes stews or casseroles so I avoid those. Sometimes like a Buddha bowl but I really want to get some go to recipes for them.
i have just ordered a few preprepped ready meals for when I am too late home to cook for me (if anyone has tried Grubby?)

I can make lasagne, cottage pie, stir-fry, meatballs and pasta , spaghetti Bolognese,I can make pizza on a base .I found a vegan curry sauce so have made that with tofu and rice .I make scrambled egg with tofu ,I've done breakfast burritos and enchiladas both with tofu .I do a macaroni cheese,
Done a chilli with rice and on nachos...I made a sausage and cranberry plat last Christmas and I make a chicken pie a meat and potato pie and always do home made roast potatoes.i can make banana bread and cakes ,and I have made lots of different birthday cakes plus cookies
Plus I can make apple pie and apple crumble
And everything I make is liked by a few people in the family ..
It's difficult because there's not one dish there that all of the family will eat ,so I'm usually making a minimum of two dishes per evening meal .
I just have to have easy to put together meals because I'm always cooking two at the same time

That sounds like really hard work @Springswallow; how many are you cooking for? And did you say they were all adults?

I'm used to it ,I have the meals down to a T so I know exactly what I'm doing .
I'm a carer ..so it's difficult getting them to change or accept a meal they don't like ..better this than lots of wasted food

Vegan mayo is really easy to make - I don’t buy it ( it’s v expensive)

125ml soya milk ( oat doesn’t work)
250ml oil - I use rapeseed
1tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2tsp apple cider vinegar

Ensure all at room temperature
Put it all in a jug/jar and mix with a stick blender

Super easy

Ive been getting a meal delivery kit from Planthood every 4 weeks. You can cancel or pause any time.
Its a good way to try different recipes you wouldn't otherwise think of. Tonight we had High Protein Creamy Garlic Bucatini With Chestnut Mushrooms, Crispy Tempeh 'Pancetta' & Fresh Parsley
All in a meal kit and fun to cook. I get three meals each time

I also love daal as some of you do. I like to make pasta sauces and have them in freezer for convenience...tomato and Basil, roasted Mediterranean vegetables, cashew Creamy pasta sauce with greens are some of ones I make

Btw I got these Vive bars delivered. They are fab, high protein and as these things go quite healthy🙂
Loving this thread.

(Whispers) I made the best matar paneer for dinner today, but it can so easily be made with tofu.

I make my own garam masala using Madur Jaffrey's recipe and it was so delicious and fresh tasting.

How long does it keep for in fridge.? Thanks for the recipe

Only a coupe of days sadly. It starts to split.

Its tasty though so I either make a smaller amount or use it liberally 😁

I'll give it a try..thank you

I will too! That sounds very good.

This is a (not very good) photo of dinner. It's much better as a snack or a lunch really as it was very light. I toasted the pitta bread (a thick souvlaki type bread would be better and more traditional I believe). Smeared it with a hefty serving of tahini paste, added aubergine I had fried in some chilli spices and added a chopped salad of cucumbers, tomatos, red peppers, raw onion, loads of parsley dressed with a bit of olive oil and lemon. It was VERY tasty but not enough for dinner. I did think about having two, but I was so tired last night (and up again early, sigh).

I have a question - what foods do you really dislike? For me it’s mushrooms - I have to pick them out of everything and never add them for me.
also lychees, bananas (tolerate for health reasons) and tempeh.

i had an amazing vegan carbonara in Spain and still think about it. Mushroom free 🤣

Just had a great hangover breakfast of 1 dairylee dunker(75p in heron foods) 2 poppadums, salsa, hummus, one slice of aldi vegan cheese and a plate of seitan. Whether It's worked remains to be seen!

Vegan since 2001 vegetariansince 1993.. On my own though. Im single and childless. None of my wider family are vegan or vegetarian, they all think I'm nuts.

Hope it has worked!
Yes I feel quite isolated being vegan at times. Eating out with friends, I'm sure they think its weird. But its all about compassion, once you know the abuse that goes on you can never go back