8.14.2010

I'm not ready to be vegan, but I may be open to substituting a few things...

Simple meal ideas...

Breakfast 

  • Oatmeal or cold cereal with fruit and nondairy milk (I use almond, rice, soy or coconut milk)
  • Toast, bagel, or English muffin with fruit spread and peanut butter or vegan cream cheese (I use Tofutti, and it is great!)
  • Fruit smoothie made with nondairy milk or soy yogurt
  • Pancakes or waffles (many brands of prepared mixes and a variety of Van's frozen waffles are vegan)
  • Tofu scramble with hash browns and veggie sausage (I have used veggie sausages in recipes and have eaten them off the grill in a bun, they are very tasty.)

Lunch

  • Veggie burger or dog with fries (I love the brands Gardenburger and Boca.  Boca vegan patties taste surprisingly like hamburger. Gardenburger's Chipotle Black Bean Burgers are not trying to be hamburger, they are something else entirely - but they are SO good. I also like the Boca Spicy Chik'n Meatless Patties. I cut the black bean chipotle burgers into strips and place them in a hot dog bun and top with avocado, red onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper tossed with olive oil and seasoning.  Ridiculously good.)
 

  • Faux lunchmeat sandwich with chips
  • Veggie pizza (I ordered one from the Whole Foods store the other day and posted a picture of it on a previous blog... It was the best pizza I've had, hands down.)

  • Bean burrito or a taco with beans instead of meat (You can even grab one at Taco Bell, just request it!)

  • Falafel pita sandwich with hummus
  • Peanut butter and jelly

Dinner

  • Pasta with faux meat sauce, or just regular pasta sauce.  Most of the red sauces do not have meat in them anyway.  Check the ingredients label.
  • Faux meat tacos, burritos, or enchiladas (I substitute refried beans or pinto beans for the meat, and it is incredibly good.  I have posted pics of it in a previous blog.)
  • Veggie chili (I've been told this is really good, although I have not made it yet! I'll have to get on that.)
  • Stir-fry with tofu, tempeh, or faux meat

Snacks or Dessert

  • Nondairy ice cream or pudding (The almond milk ice cream is SO good.)
  • Vegan cookies, pie, or cake (Usually pretty easy to convert a regular recipe into a vegan friendly recipe.  If you can't, you can just do a google search and I guarantee you will find something that looks amazing.)
  • Fresh or dried fruit
  • Nuts or seeds
  • Trail mix
  • Pretzels or popcorn
  • Chips and salsa

These ideas were taken from Guide To Cruelty Free Eating I just added some thoughts.

My own substitutes are:

Butter - I use Earth Balance buttery spread.
Milk - Almond, Soy, Coconut or Rice milk.
Hot Dogs - I've tried several brands and it took a few guesses to get one that everyone agreed on.  I've also found that they taste noticeably better when prepared on the grill or in a skillet on the stove.  They taste a little odd out of the microwave.  Although everything I've read recently about microwaves has me preparing less and less food in them anyway.  I'm thinking of getting rid of it altogether.
Hamburgers - Gardenburger brand vegan patties, and the chipotle black bean burgers.  Really... try them.  So good. Mmmm.
Cheese & Pepperoni - I HAVE had a pizza made with vegan cheese and vegan pepperoni and not only was it good, my Mom actually ate it.  She doesn't usually like pepperoni because it tastes slimey and greasy to her.  She loved the vegan pepperoni.
Cream cheese - Tofutti Cream Cheese! I'm a fan.
Yogurt - I have tried a few different kinds of soy and rice yogurts and they are good, but I'm a big fan of coconut milk yogurt.
Eggs - It depends on what you're doing, but you can scramble tofu as if it were an egg.  You can also use silken tofu to replace eggs when baking.  I've done this with cookie dough, and the reason I'm mentioning the cookies in particular is because my favorite part is the cookie dough.  I'd rather eat cookie dough than eat the baked cookies.  The same holds true for my children.  I never used to let them eat the dough because it contained raw eggs... no longer a problem! :)



Do you really need a recipe?
It's fun to find a new recipe and add it to your regular favorites.  But if you don't have time for a recipe, try the "meat, potatoes and vegetable: approach to a meal, and sauce it up.  Simply pick one or more of each of the following:

Protein source: Beans, seitan, tempeh, tofu, TVP, faux meat

Carbohydrate source: Potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, tortillas, unusual grains such as quinoa or amaranth

Vegetables: Countless options! Go nuts. :)

Sauce: There are many canned and bottled sauces available at most supermarkets, from the mundane (basic tomato or barbecue sauce, for example) to the exotic (such as chili salsa or Thai sesame-lime marinade).  I like to visit spanish, asian and other types of stores to grab new things that I do not come across at a more traditional grocery store.

Also, you find neat things like rambutan.





It's a fruit.  We stumbled across it at an asian market.  My daughter thought it was pretty neat.  I like watching her try new things.  I'm glad she has an open mind.  I hope she never loses that.  Between her open mind, and strong will - she will end up doing great things, as long as she's given support and direction.  I can't wait to see who she is.  I learn more about her every day, and I'm so thankful she is mine.

3 comments:

  1. that fruit that B has is scary looking. lol! looks like some kind of sea animal thing. whats it taste like?

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  2. It actually tastes similar to ... maybe a cherry, or something. It has a different texture, so it's kind of hard to compare it. It's good though, it's sweet.

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  3. hmm. My HUGE prob with food,is that i dont like many texture's.it sucks

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