Looking for everyone's favorite vegan recipes.

[Bjorn Against]

I have been a vegetarian for several years now, but dairy has always been a big part of my diet. I have long considered going vegan, but like many I have found it very difficult to give up my dairy products. I recently started dating someone who is allergic to dairy though, and now I have decided it is time that I start making the shift over to a vegan lifestyle.

I am looking for all of your favorite vegan recipes, so if you could all give me some suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[flamingyouth]

1. If you're looking to replace cheese in recipes, I have some good substitutes.

That was the hardest thing for me to give up, honestly, but I'm so glad I did. Just that alone dropped my cholesterol.

What kind of food do you like, ie - Italian, Chinese, casseroles, etc.? :hi:

[Bjorn Against]

2. Yes, cheese will be hardest for me too...

if you have good cheese substitutes I would like to hear about them. I was trying not to be too specific because I wanted people to give me their favorites without having to limit themselves but I really enjoy Mexican and Italian foods. I like foods that are a little bit spicy, but not too overwhelming. Honestly just let me know your favorites, and I will consider them.

[CrispyQ]

3. First, congrats for trying to go vegan!

Dairy was the hardest for me to get rid of. I was never a meat eater, but I have eaten tons of cheese in my life & it is a bit of a comfort food for me. I will warn you -- most cheeze substitutes are not exactly like cheese. There are some that are more similar than others, but nothing is quite like the real thing. If you take the time & patience, though, your tastebuds will adjust & you will come to love some of the substitutions. And your body will respond nicely by getting dairy out of your diet.

I got this recipe off of VegWeb. They have an incredible selection of recipes. It's a dry cheeze sauce that stores beautifully in the fridge. When you want some cheeze sauce, you mix it with water over heat.

Dragonfly's Uncheeze Powder

3 cups of raw organic cashews
2 cups of Red Star nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of seasoning salt (I never add this)
3 tablespoons of garlic powder (no salt)
3 tablespoons of onion powder (no salt)
6 tablespoons of arrowroot powder (you can use corn starch, but arrowroot is sticky & stringy, more like melted cheese.)


Put all of the above ingredients in a very dry food processor & whir until it's a very fine powder. Store in the fridge. She says to use within two weeks, but I've stored it for months & it's been fine.

To make cheeze sauce: Add a heaping 1/2 cup measure of cheeze powder into 1 cup of water & whisk over medium high heat till thick & cheezy. For really thick cheeze sauce, use more cheeze powder. If you have used arrowroot, which I prefer, be sure not to boil as boiling will break down the elastic nature of the arrowroot.

We love this stuff. It's great over pasta or baked spuds. For a really rich sauce, I'll mix in a batch of pesto after I've taken the sauce off the heat. We use this as topping on pizza instead of tomato sauce. For Italian dishes that use ricotta, I crumble tofu till it resembles ricotta & then mix in a batch of the cheeze sauce mix & some herbs. For cheeze enchiladas I mix the cheeze sauce into crumbled tofu & add Mexican spices. Top the enchiladas with more cheeze sauce mixed with green chiles. ~slurp. This is making me hungry!
===

And now, the absolutely best vegan green chile sauce ever! It's moderatley spicy. Sorry, but I only cook in huge batches, so modify as you need.

The Best Vegan Green Chile Ever

1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
olive oil for sauteing
28 ounce can of green chiles, cut into long strips
3 16 ounce cans of diced tomatoes w/liquid
1 7 ounce can of chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
4 cups of veggie broth
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 teaspoon cumin

Saute the onion & garlic in the olive oil until tender. Add the green chiles, two of the three cans of tomatoes, veggie broth, & potatoes to the onion/garlic mix.

Take one can of tomatoes & put in a blender or food processor along with the can of chipoltes. Process till smooth. Now, depending on how hot you like your Mexican food, add some of the tomatoe/chipolte mixture to the sauce. I add about half & freeze the remainder for the next time. Bring all this to a boil & add the potatoes. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are tender. Add the cumin & simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

We love this! We serve over all types of Mexican food, mostly bean burritos. But I also like it over brown rice & topped with garbanzo beans. A dallop of Tofutti sour supreme goes very well with this spicy sauce!

And when you have mastered your own vegan recipes, please share them with us!

Good luck on your adventure & keep us posted!

:hi:

[flamingyouth]

4. Mmmm, both of those sound really good!

What is it about cashews that makes fake cheese so delicious, anyway?

There's an awesome recipe in Veganomicon for Cashew Ricotta. We've used it in a baked ziti and just the other night in a fantastic lasagna that would fool ANYONE, and it's super easy to make:

CASHEW RICOTTA:

1/2 c raw cashew pieces (approx. 4 oz.)
1/4 fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves fresh or roasted garlic
1 lb. firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1-1/2 tsp. dried basil
1-1/2 tsp. salt

In a food processor, blend together the cashews, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic until a thick & creamy paste forms. Add the crumbled tofu to the food processor, working in two or more batches if necessary, until the mixture is thick and well blended. Blend in basil and salt. Makes 2 cups.

Its flavor is a bit like that creamy cheese I used to love spreading on crackers. In fact, I think if you added sun-dried tomatoes to this, you could probably do that. At any rate, this is a great fake cheese for Italian dishes, especially this time of year when we crave comfort foods the most. :)

[CrispyQ]

5. This sounds great & looks easy to make!

I'm printing it out now & thinking how to use this for New Year's Eve. :9

[Beaverhausen]

6. There is a big recipe thread pinned to the top of this forum

most of those are vegan, I think. Lots of great recipes there.

[CountAllVotes]

7. Vegan split pea soup with vegan cornbread

It is a winner! I would suggest using all organic ingredients as it can be made inexpensively.

1 lb. of green split peas with 3 quarts of water and 1 tsp. of salt. Cook for 1 hour and be sure to skim off the foam after bringing the peas to a boil. Do this a few times.

After this saute together for 10 mins.:
1 onion
2-3 carrots
1/2 c. celery
1 small diced yam/sweet potato

Add 1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. ground marjoram
3/4 tsp. cumin
2 cloves of finely diced garlic

Saute another 5 mins. and add to the cooked split pea mixture. Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hr.

After it is cooked, take 1/2 of the mixture and puree in a blender until nice and thick.

Add the pureed mixture back into the remaining soup. Stir and season with pepper and adjust salt if needed.

I'd suggest serving with cornbread.

I have an accidental vegan (sugar free/dairy free) recipe here:

1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. brown rice cream
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. of salt

Add to this:

1 c. organic rice dream (regular/plain flavor)
1/3 c. sunflower oil (or any other oil you like - I prefer a light oil with this recipe).

Bake in an oiled pan in a 400 degree oven for abt. 25 minutes.

You get a very solid cornbread from this recipe that has no dairy nor sugar added. :thumbsup:

The rice cream causes the cornbread to stick together nicely (this was my accidental mistake!). However, it was the mistake that caused this cornbread recipe to work! :)

Enjoy!

[defendandprotect]

8. OK -- everyone like soup on a cold snowy day --- ???

You probably all know that you can "cream" any soup by using 2 russet potatoes ---

So --- here's a GREAT butternut squash soup -- really elegant --- made it for today/NY Year's Day!


EVO
Butternut Squash
Sweet Potato
Russet Potato
Leeks
Sweet Onion

Season with:
Thyme
Black Pepper
Cinnamon

I add ...
a bit of thyme as I saute the veggies --

The soup should be fairly thick ---
however, you should adjust it by adding more water if you wish as you CREAM it ---

AFTER the soup is creamed . . .
add a bit of freshly ground black pepper

and I add Cinnamon --- fairly generously, but add a bit at a time so you can be sure
you don't over do it ---


AND REMEMBER. . . YOU CAN CREAM ANY SOUP BY JUST ADDING TWO RUSSET POTATOES !!!

You don't need dairy products!!

and Cinnamon ---





Find some butternut squash cut up if you can cause it's tough to cut ---

Or about a 3 1/2 # butternut squash ---

Put some EVO in your soup pot and the squash ---

and I always use a large sweet potato to sweeten -- using NJ sweet potatoes right now --
garnets are also great --- organic if you can!

And in this case just one medium sized russet cause you have the sweet potato ---

If you have a LOT of squash --- and I often make more than one pot so it lasts --
then increase sweet potato and russet by a bit --

I like to go heavy on the LEEK --- so I usually use two --
take off green area --- slice down middle --- clean really well ---

Large Vidalia Onion --

SAUTE all of this in a large pot until it starts to soften up --
and then put just enough water over it to mostly cover the vegetables --

Let it come to a boil --- and then put it on SIMMER for 15 minutes or so --
if your veggies are cut up into 1" pieces it will cook very quickly --
If your veggies are cut up into larger bits it will take a bit longer ---

Then all you have to do is run it thru your blender

[CountAllVotes]

9. what is "EVO"

am I missing something here? What quantities do you use?

Please let us know as it sounds very good!

Thanks! :)