Any Vegan/Vegetarians Out There?

:)sure, no problem!
 
Made some vegan mac & "Cheese" this evening. It was actually pretty good. In fact, everyone in the family liked it. They did mention that it doesn't have a good cheese flavor, but as a substitute, it's was good. They had rated the recipe with 4 out of 5 stars.
 
Here's the vegan mac & "cheese" recipe I used.


Macaroni & “Cheese”
Taken from Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond
Serves 4

8 oz whole wheat pasta 1T olive oil
½ C chopped yellow onion 2 large garlic cloves, minced
12 oz soft silken Tofu 1 ½ C soy milk
1T fresh lemon juice 1 T mellow light miso
½ t Dijon mustard ¼ - ½ t turmeric
¼ t nutmeg ¼ t cayenne
Salt Paprika
1/3 C toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook macaroni normally until al dente’ drain and set aside in a large bowl.

Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes, add garlic. Cook 1 minutes longer, then remove from heat. Add tofu, milk lemon juice, miso, mustard, turmeric, nutmeg and cayenne. Whip with a wire whisk until creamy. Salt to taste. Pour over pasta, stir well.

Transfer mixture to a lightly oiled 1 ½ qt baking dish. Cover with foil, bake 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, garnish with paprika and nuts. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.



**I could not find mellow light miso, so I used mellow white miso. I also forgot to toast my almonds.
 
Woohoo! 5,000 posts on this thread! I wasn't even expecting it to be that popular :) awesome to know theres more of us :)
 
Kristina, that looks really good - the vegan mac and cheese. I've had the general idea but never thought of adding the toasted almonds - I wanna try that!
 
I am going on advice of some people I have PM'd and also posts on FB. I am taking a package of xtra firm tofu, draining and pressing, then I will slice into 5 slices. I will put 4 back into the fridge in fresh water in a Tupperware container and have 1 slice each night, that will be marinated. The family will have their meat and I will have the tofu. Will try it this week and see how much it adds to my cooking.
 
*notes to self -
1. You need to marinate extra firm tofu for longer than 1 hour.
2. Cook it at a lower heat. Think it's like pork, low and slow.
3. Don't use brown sugar in the marinade.
That's all for now*
 
Never really checked out the Lifestyle/Health/Fitness threads so I'm only just discovering this one :) Proud vegetarian since the age of 6 (yes, it was my decision, and no, none of my family were vegetarians) and now going vegan. Nice to see so many others here!
:h5:
 
dogmom said:
:hmm: Kristina, what about an almond butter sandwich? if you're trying to do something "PB&J"-like....

or a eggless egg salad <tofu-based "egg salad"> sandwich - I honestly haven't actually made one but I've had them at my local health food co-op - the ones I've had were vegan <vegenaisse -sp- for mayo> and if you have a Whole Foods you can get to, you may very well come across one there, or you could look online for how to make one at home.

you could also use any of the soy-based meat sub.'s and even add some almond or soy cheese imitate a traditional sandwich of that combo.

or something with tomato, avocados, cheese sub.

walnut pate sandwich <another thing I've had at my co-op but not physically made>

you could also sub whole grain wraps for commercial bread, or sprouted bread for "regular" bread <lower-glycemic than typical bread>, or make something with lettuce wraps.
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I love almond butter and cashew butter but it cost sooo much money now! I was going to buy a bottle and it was $ 9.00 !
 
KristinaB said:
I am going on advice of some people I have PM'd and also posts on FB. I am taking a package of xtra firm tofu, draining and pressing, then I will slice into 5 slices. I will put 4 back into the fridge in fresh water in a Tupperware container and have 1 slice each night, that will be marinated. The family will have their meat and I will have the tofu. Will try it this week and see how much it adds to my cooking.
Click to expand...

Update to this. First night, not so good, after that, I keep forgetting to remove a slice of the tofu to marinate for that evening's dinner. Get to trash it now.
 
dogmom said:
:hmm: Kristina, what about an almond butter sandwich? if you're trying to do something "PB&J"-like....

or a eggless egg salad <tofu-based "egg salad"> sandwich - I honestly haven't actually made one but I've had them at my local health food co-op - the ones I've had were vegan <vegenaisse -sp- for mayo> and if you have a Whole Foods you can get to, you may very well come across one there, or you could look online for how to make one at home.

you could also use any of the soy-based meat sub.'s and even add some almond or soy cheese imitate a traditional sandwich of that combo.

or something with tomato, avocados, cheese sub.

walnut pate sandwich <another thing I've had at my co-op but not physically made>

you could also sub whole grain wraps for commercial bread, or sprouted bread for "regular" bread <lower-glycemic than typical bread>, or make something with lettuce wraps.
Click to expand...

Though I'd let you know what I'm gonna try. Really excited and I hope it's worth it. I have a poppy seed kaiser roll that has no dairy. On it, I will have, hummus, red leaf lettuce, tomato slice or two, sliced avocado, alfalfa sprouts and bean sprouts. I may put some tofutti sour cream with all the sprouts so they stay in place. I have a seasoning packet to mix with the sour cream that I can have.
 
:wave: ooh, good luck, be curious how it goes:)
I think your idea looks very good!
 
dogmom said:
:wave: ooh, good luck, be curious how it goes:)
I think your idea looks very good!
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Sandwich was very good. I made 2 of them. Good thing too. Quite a few people were looking at it and asking what it was. After I told them, they asked it they could try it. I cut one up into about 8 little pieces and everyone loved it.
 
I love that there's so many vegetarians here! I've been a veg for almost two years now and I'll never look back. My health is great and I feel really good about knowing I'm not harming any animals just so I can have a meal. There's just so much delicious food out there to try that most people miss out on because they're stuck with the whole "meat and potatoes" mentality.

I don't know if it's been mentioned here, but the main concern of most doctors for vegetarians is a B-12 vitamin deficit. Apparently, its mainly found in animal based products so you have to take a supplement. I got hit with the deficit when I developed these cracks in the corners of my mouth. It's a symptom but once I started taking a b-12 tablet every morning, they went away.
 
My doctor's main concern was protein. Luckily, I get my blood checked once a month for another reason, and he checks for any deficiencies due to going vegetarian/vegan. He was concerned since I had to go dairy free.
 
KristinaB said:
My doctor's main concern was protein. Luckily, I get my blood checked once a month for another reason, and he checks for any deficiencies due to going vegetarian/vegan. He was concerned since I had to go dairy free.
Click to expand...

Protein is a big one, but what drives me nuts is that a lot of people seem to think you can only get it from animals and animal based products. There's more than enough protein in vegetable based foods- all kinds of beans, chickpeas, spinach, kale, and other leafy greens, avocados, different types of nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I can't think of anything else now, but I have to say, I was quite surprised by a lot of what I discovered when I educated myself in the nutritional contents of foods.
 
I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian in 1989. At that time,I was living in SE Florida.

Quite a few Jamaicans were vegetarian but few of my fellow Afro-Americans were vegetarian.

Many of the AAs thought it would make me sick,weak,emaciated,etc.

Others saw it as a "white" thing and thought I'd really "Tommed" out. One guy at a party once said, "We's n****rs here and we eat pork!" I felt like slapping him but didn't. That really bothered me because I am a civil rights
veteran having integrated (with 15-20 others) a previously all-white junior high in NE Florida.

On the plus side,being veg has given me very high HDL,kept my weight in check,and improved my endurance.

On the endurance side,when I did my 1st marathon at 22 years of age,I hit the wall at mile 17. (Meat eater) At my 2nd marathon,when I was 35 and vegetarian,I hit the wall at mile 22. (Same level of weekly mileage.)

One thing I've been looking for are vegetarian fish sticks/fishburgers. I really
liked them as a meat eater. Anyone know any good brands or if they even exist?
 
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