For health reasons, I have decided to transition to a vegan diet. For now I have committed to eating this way at home and not worrying so much about dinners out (which are rare anyway.)
I’ve been going at this a few weeks, and overall I feel pretty great. But the work it takes to prepare vegan meals has just about doubled. If I were to continue eating processed foods and replaced my deli meat with tofurkey or whatever, it wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m doing this to eat more vegetables and clean foods. In the last three weeks I’ve made a lot of soups and a lot of salads, which I don’t mind, but they are pretty labor intensive. All the other recipes, like ‘‘vegan mac and cheese’’ or whatever just sound like the same old unhealthy patterns I don’t want to repeat.
So I am requesting easy vegan recipes or snack ideas… the sort of thing you more experienced folk now do without thinking about it. On your worst, ‘‘I don’t feel like cooking but I gotta eat something’’ day, what do you make? What tips and tricks helped you survive YOUR transition?
Oh, and one final complication - my husband is allergic to both soy and wheat. I cook for him when I make main dishes, so the use of tofu/seitan or whatever is right out.
I appreciate any guidance you can provide. Sometimes I feel like I’m on an impossible mission.
I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes on my fiftieth birthday. The following year, I decided to try a vegan diet based on a study by pcrm http://www.pcrm.org/
(and yes, yes, I know that anything by pcrm has to be taken with a grain of salt substitute)
I did lose weight, and I did lower BP and cholesterol, and gained better control of my blood sugar.
I also became fascinated with heirloom beans, and in my research I ran across a website “Vegetarians in Paradise.” www.vegparadise.com
You’ll find a wealth of information there. And if you look hard enough, you’ll find a column I used to do called “Using Your Bean.” (shameless plug–but my job was volunteer)
I’m an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but I do find vegan cooking interesting as well. I have cookbooks to recommend.
Veganomicon - a nice intro to vegan cooking. Lots of info on stocking your pantry, cooking basic foods (how to cook grains, beans, veggies), etc., plus delicious recipes. (They also have vegan dessert cookbooks on cookies and cupcakes, like “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.”)
Appetite for Reduction - healthy vegan recipes, from all kinds of cuisines and inspirations. Focuses on cutting calories and fat, without cutting flavor. By one of the authors of the Veganomicon.
One caution about the above two cookbooks - you may find yourself needing to up the spices/herbs/other flavorings a bit in these recipes at times. I wonder if one of the authors has a fairly bland and/or subtle palate. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out for yourself, though. And IIRC, both do keep soy/gluten in mind and thus don’t slap them in everything.
I would have recommended Ruth Tal’s cookbook reFresh except for limitations like lots of soy/wheat included, half the recipes are for a juicer, lots of sodium content, etc. Nice cookbook but not suitable for you.
One of my favorite “god, I have no time/desire to really cook” recipes is black beans, salsa, and pasta. Either get a gluten-free pasta, or use rice instead. Use a salsa that you can tolerate in a fair amount, like a lightly-sauced pasta sauce. Heat them all up, stir together. You can pre-cook and freeze rice in portions for situations like this (handy tutorial); the texture is a little more mushy than you’d have otherwise, but brown rice will help counteract that.
My favorite go-to for something quick, easy, and no-cook (especially for lunches) is garbanzo beans. Sometimes I buy organic canned, sometimes I buy them dry and cook at home, but either way there are usually some on-hand in the house.
I make Indian dishes most often if I’m doing some serious cooking. I find Indian recipes to be very vegetarian/vegan friendly, and quite suitable for those who need to stay away from wheat or soy, too.
I keep a small bottle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a drawer at work. Grab a can of garbanzos, drain and add the vinegar and oilve oil for lunch. If I have time/feel like preparing something more salad-like, I’ll make something the night before or in the morning. You can add pretty much anything to the bean-vinegar-oil base; tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, peas, you name it. Often I just add one thing for simplicity’s sake. Pack in a container to take to work if you don’t end up eating it for breakfast.
Of course, YMMV, but I love those damn garbanzos. My gut handles them fine (unlike, say, kidney beans), they’re filling, and a much better grab than a bag of potato chips. There are some other recipes that are easy to look up involving toasting the beans with different seasonings, sometimes in a pan and sometimes in the oven, which makes them crunchy, but I’ve been too lazy to try them. For that satisfaction, I buy curried cashews from Whole Foods - yum!
Almost forgot - apples cut up and added to the garbanzos/olive oil/vinegar are also delicious, satisfying, and a sweet treat!
The Moosewood cookbooks seem to be pretty highly regarded - they’re vegetarian cookbooks, but they might have a vegan one out by now. (I did look on Amazon, and they have one that specifically mentions vegan, along with vegetarian, on the cover.)
My mom has one - the first one, maybe? - and the recipes she’s made out of it have been delicious.
Popcorn! It’s kind of cheesy, like shakey parmesan, so it’s great on pasta too.
I just wanted to recommend Bean-o. I don’t know about you but if I eat a lot of beans and hummus and raw veggies, well, let’s just say that Bean-o really does help.
There are some Indian food packets that are vegan, I think TastyBite channa masala is vegan, They are tasty, shelf stable, inexpensive, and so handy. A few of the dishes marked “vegetarian” contain dairy, but many of them don’t. It’s clearly listed if they do.
Packaged hummus with veggies for scooping it up is a quick snack idea.
I think if you have a diet plan that relies entirely on nutritionally balanced homemmade vegan foods 3 meals a day, yet you also work and/or have children, you’re being pretty unrealistic. It’s a lot of work, as you’re noticing. A few processed foods are fine and IMHO help you suceed in changing habits permanently if that what you want to do.
A few of the recipes in the cookbooks I recommended ask for it, I think. You should be able to stir it into savory sauces. Most vegans seem to be fine with fortified cereals (check the label) or supplements.
For recipes that are good, but not satisfying, I find that adding a couple of tablespoons of roasted pine nuts or sunflowers seeds gives it that boost I needed.
For recipes that are satisfying, but not good, I find the lack is generally in the acid - a splash of basalmic vinegar almost always fixes it.
You will quickly become sensitive to the umami lack in vegan foods. I find that a single drop of dark sesame oil hits the spot.
Functional advice:
Make a weekly batch of rice and lentils in the slow cooker. You can vary the flavor base a thousand different ways, but two of my favorites are Cheap Reisling + caramelized onions, and Apple Cider + celery and garlic. Vary the texture by using different rices. This base can then be combined with anything you have on hand.
So, the basic formula is: A green veg, a yellow veg, a nut, an aromatic* and an acid. Saute together and serve on the base of the week.
*Aromatics are Onions, garlic, fennel, celery, etc.
Aha! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I tried your idea for lunch today with some leftover quinoa pasta and it really hit the spot (I had to use pinto beans, but it worked fine.)
This website has been keeping me going these last couple of weeks. Thing is, I registered to use all their functions (recipe box, grocery list, etc.) over a week ago and my registration still has not been approved.
The name is part of the reason I bought it, frankly. I might’ve passed it over except I love saying, “I have to consult… the Veganomicon.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very useful and interesting cookbook, but I’m not a vegan, so that was the extra something to make the sale for me.
I’ve received multiple recommendations for the Veganomicon, so I just purchased it on Amazon. I’m craving a ham and cheese sandwich right now but I’m determined to get through this! :o
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very useful and interesting cookbook, but I’m not a vegan, so that was the extra something to make the sale for me.