Help with vegan foods????

Question

ok my children and I have been vegetarians for about 2 months now, and it was easy tocut out meat and eggs. but now after watching a video, i think I want to give up milk and all dairy products as well. but i am having such a hard time thinking of stuff to make.... even noondles and rice need butter, and butter contians milk and eggs. all i can think of is plain rice with veggies, pasta with maranara sauce and veggies??? but i am stuck at that??? can someone give me a few ideas even if i only knew how to make 10 dishes that would be enough? please help...

Answer 1

they make vegan "butter" and alot of margerines are made without dairy too, just read ingrediants. theres tons of vegan alternatives out there.

Answer 2

Try vegweb.com.

They have lots of vegan recipes, even recipes like mac & cheese, lasagna, brownies, cake, and lots of ideas for things to do with veggies. =]

All vegan!

Answer 3

There's vegan margarine (Earth Balance), and soymilk for when you need it in sauces, cereal, etc.

Remember you & your kids will  need a source of vitamin B12.

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm

Here's a few meal ideas:

Stir fried veggies & tofu on brown rice, with black bean sauce.

Shake & baked veggies & tofu/seitan: chop veggies (potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, celery, peppers, carrots, etc.) & protein. Mix a bowl of cornmeal/crushed cornflakes/breadcrumbs, add pepper and garlic. Mosten veggies with a little oil, shake in the cornmeal. Bake in an oven dish for 90 mins at 350-375.

Pasta with scratch sauce: saute some finely chopped onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, tofu etc. in a saucepan, add tomato sauce til hot. Pour on top of pasta.

Fajitas: grill or pan-fry some strips of firm tofu or seitan, some bell peppers, mushrooms, beans. Add some salsa, wrap in tortilla bread.

Some good links for you:

http://www.pamf.org/teen/health/nutritio...

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/teennutriti...

http://www.cok.net/lit/recipes/

http://urbanvegan.blogspot.com/2007/11/a...

Answer 4

I feel bad for your kids.. Let them eat chicken mcnuggets occasionly and make their own choice about that when theyre smart enough.

Answer 5

I've been a vegetarian for 16 years and was a vegan for a year. There are a lot of dairy free alternatives; butter [Pure], milk [Soya or Rice], cheese [a range of alternatives but I never really liked any of them].

Some meal ideas:

Vegetable stir fries with sauce, could also include Tofu. Serve with rice or rice noodles.

Pasta [any dried pasta is vegan it only contains durham wheat semolina], with a tomato sauce plus veggies. Be aware of sauces that might contain cream.

Aubergine [eggplant] bake, layer slices with tomato sauce and add fake cheese on top.

Potato dishes either jacket potatoes or mash with soya milk / butter. Serve with baked beans or put mash on top of veggies.

I used to eat something called Beanfeast, which is an alternative to mince. You could use it to make shepherd's pie, lasagna, chili 'non' carne and spaghetti bolognaise.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas, the main thing is to check the ingredients carefully. Here are some of the things to look out for:

Obvious ingredients: Milk, eggs, cheese, cream, butter etc

Not so obvious: milk proteins, milk powder, whey powder [made from milk], lecithin unless it is soya [this comes from eggs].