Going vegan......old style?!

Doom_and_Gloom · 4 February 2009 at 2:55AM

Shepherd's pie - serves 4

Mashed potato:
600g potato
150ml soya milk
1 table spoon of pure marg (optional)
Salt to taste

Filling:
1 table spoon veg oil
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots thinly sliced
2 parsnips (peeled) thinly sliced
100g red lentils
800ml water
2 table spoons soya sauce
200g sweetcorn
200g peas
Salt and black pepper to taste

Prepare the mashed potatoes - In a saucepan put in potatoes and enough water to submerge them all and heat for around 15 min so that the potatoes are tender. Mash the potatoes with the soya milk, pure marge and salt to taste untill smooth.

Filling - Saute the onion in a saucepan with the oil for around 5 min then add the garlic, carrots, parnips, red lentils and water. Cook untill the lentils have soaked up most of the water and the carrots and parsnips are tender. Then add the peas, sweetcon and soya sauce about 5 min before you take it off the heat.

Transfer the flling into a cooking/baking dish and cover with the mashed potato. Bake for 20 min on 190 degrees C or untill potatoes are a light golden brown.

This should cost around £2-2.50 for 4 servings (50-63p/serving). Each serving contains around 3 portions of veg. Freezes well if you don't intend to eat it 4 days in a row :rotfl: .

Recipe adapted from the book "Student's go vegan cookbook" by Carole Raymond. Very good book but do have to do alot of converting of measurements and temps as it is an American book.

redmandarin · 4 February 2009 at 5:09AM

Hi twinkle_star, My warmest congratulations to you for going vegan!
I think it is one of the best things that you can ever do for yourself, for the planet and for all of the poor innocent animals (listed in no order of preference)!

I tried going vegan. My partner and I have been vegetarian (no flesh or fowl, etc.,) for 25/13 yrs respectively. Veganism was my idea, but the lack of variety in food made us really depressed and only lasted three months!

I know that I'm really bad for not being vegan and I really want to be able to join you. So best of luck with it - you have right and justice on your side!

PS. If any posters/vegans would like to offer their wisdom/assistance with respect to my trying to become vegan again, I would be happy to receive their PM's!

dawkins · 4 February 2009 at 10:13AM

Ah yummy vegan food: it's tasty stuff. I'd second the recommendations for the Isa Chandra Moscowitz books, and the Moosewood restaurant books also have a lot of vegan-friendly recipes. Bryanna Clark Grogan is great too: http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/579094.htm

Just a word of caution on the B12 issue - seaweed and spirulina are not sources of B12, but of B12 analog:
http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/b12/
"In over 60 years of vegan experimentation only B12 fortified foods and B12 supplements have proven themselves as reliable sources of B12, capable of supporting optimal health."

It's very important to make sure you eat enough fortified foods to cover your needs, or take a sublingual B12 supplement (Solgar do a good one, or the Vegan society do a good and cheap vegan vit/mineral supplement). As you have a store of it in your body, it can take a while to develop a deficiency but lack of B12 can increase your risk of heart problems by raising homocysteine levels. Hope that doesn't come across as a lecture, I just feel strongly that anyone becoming a vegan should have all the info they need to make the most of their very healthy dietary choice.

I'd really recommend this excellent book sold by the Vegan society for the full info on B12 and other nutritional issues:
http://www.vegansociety.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=153
Also the Becoming Vegan/Vegetarian books by Vesanto Melina and colleague. A lot of their info is summarised here, with a very useful food pyramid/menu planning guide: http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_5105_ENU_HTML.htm

My experience when I was vegan was that getting enough zinc and some of the B vitamins was tricky (without taking a multi vit) - eating lots of wheatgerm, pumpkin seeds and nutritional yeast helped. I used to use the free SparkPeople site to tot up my nutrition for the day - time consuming, but a good way to start out if you want to make sure you're getting enough of everything.

The only other thing I know of that might need considering, is that if you have an underactive thyroid, some doctors (only some) think you should limit your consumption of foods that contain 'goitrogens' (substances that affect thyroid function), which includes soya, flaxseeds and millet.

Doom_and_Gloom · 4 February 2009 at 11:00AM

dawkins wrote: »

Just a word of caution on the B12 issue - seaweed and spirulina are not sources of B12, but of B12 analog:
http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/b12/
"In over 60 years of vegan experimentation only B12 fortified foods and B12 supplements have proven themselves as reliable sources of B12, capable of supporting optimal health."

I did say "both unfortunately are under dispute for if they can be absorbed by humans and used" and then went on to say other ways of obtaining B12 such as fortified foods

. I am a strong believer in not taking supplements in tablet form unless you HAVE to for some reason (while ill or if you have a lasting condition would come under this). As it is B12 is a bacteria so the only reason it is in animal products at all naturally is IF the animal eats some kind of food with it in it. It should be in the soil but levels of any kind can not be significantly proven due to the high levels of factory farming and pesticides which I do find rather ironic as it was seen as the way forward for generations to come when introduced years ago. Even organic fruit and vegetables can not be relied on for B12 due to the depletion of B12 in the soil due to humans.

As to the other B vitamins as well as zinc IF you eat a varied healthy vegan diet you should have little if any problems with vitamin and mineral contents. Quinoa has B1, B2, B6, B9 (folate), vitamin E, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc on rather high RDA percentages per 100g (uncooked) it also contains many other vitimins and minerals also. As well as being a complete protein (14g of protein per 100g of uncooked quinoa). The Incas called this “the mother of all grains” for a reason. It’s nearly a balanced meal on it’s own.

columbine75 · 4 February 2009 at 11:43AM

Make sure you go for the soy milk with added calcium - a friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with early onset osteoporosis (at 33) due, in no small part, to not replacing her missing dairy products with calcium enhanced products (she is underweight too, which doesn't help), but with adding the extra calcium in the calcium enhanced soy milk and taking a supplement, her specialist thinks she will be able to reverse this (fingers crossed)

twinkle_star wrote: »

So, in conclusion rice milk is a hideous thing never to darken my kitchen door again but either soya milk or oat milk is fine. Soya milk seems to be cheaper and much more widely available (my local cornershop stocks it and Mr.A & Mr. T even do value versions for 60p/litre) but for those allergic or avoiding soya the oat milk is your friend!

Doom_and_Gloom · 4 February 2009 at 12:11PM

columbine75 wrote: »

Make sure you go for the soy milk with added calcium - a friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with early onset osteoporosis (at 33) due, in no small part, to not replacing her missing dairy products with calcium enhanced products (she is underweight too, which doesn't help), but with adding the extra calcium in the calcium enhanced soy milk and taking a supplement, her specialist thinks she will be able to reverse this (fingers crossed)

Osteoporosis can be caused by dairy by the way. As there is so much animal protein in dairy it can actually leach calcium from your bones. This is because it raises acidity in your body and the body compensates by using calcium it has in its bones to neutralise it. More westerners that consume a lot of animal proteins have osteoporosis compared to those in the east that consume less or none.
Remember vitamins B, D and K are needed in the absorption of calcium.

Yes it is a good idea to use fortified vegan milks however these are not necessarily needed if you look carefully in other places.

Being underweight doesn’t help as it increases the risk of osteoporosis as does fizzy drinks, alcohol, smoking, salt, sugary foods, animal proteins (as stated before) etc. It’s best not to eat your calcium foods with these kinds of foods or while indulging in your ‘bad’ habit as they will inhibit absorption and can also cause leaching of calcium.

twinkle_star_2 · 5 February 2009 at 11:57AM

Hello all!
Glad to see the discussion has been ongoing in my absence. Apologies for that - starting a thread and then disappearing is tres naughty but I've been rather 'snowed under' with work and weather (apologies for my terrible pun). Well, on the calcium debate I think I will be taking a general vitamin and mineral supplement as a backup measure. Although I am focusing a lot more on what goes into my body nowadays I've never been great at keeping up with the calcium (even before I was vegan) and I don't have the strongest constitution anyway so I've always taken a general vitamin and mineral supplement.
Yesterday I made a yummy vegan dinner and was totally impressed with it because quiche was not something I expected to be able to eat when I gave up eggs and milk! However, I was looking for somthing to do with a packet of silken tofu and someone suggested blending it with soy milk and herbs to make a filling like the egg mixture used in quiche. Well, I do love a challenge and its these kind of recipes that make me happy when I'm having the 'I'm so sick of not being able to eat anything' feeling (which is getting less frequent but still happens. Also redmandarin it might be good if you're feeling restricted by veganism. So anyway....

Vegan Quiche
Make a batch of pastry (I did about 250g flour & 115g vegatble fat) and put in fridge to chill for about half an hour. When nice and cold it is easier to roll. Roll out to rectangle, fold in half then roll again. Repeat about 4 times then roll to the correct shape of your dish. Line the dish then bake blind.
Whilst pastry is baking saute your chosen veg in a little vegan red wine (I did onion, garlic, broccoli and mushrooms).
Put your tofu, soy milk a little tumeric, 1/2 tsp marmite and some mixed herbs in a blender and wizz til smoth but still relatively thick (i totally did this by eye - you don't want so much soy milk that the mix is so thin it won't set but equally not so thick its just scrambled jelly).
Put veg into pastry case then pour over tofu mixture. Place in oven at Gas 4/5 for about 30 minutes or until set and beginning to go golden. Slice and enjoy!

I found this totally delicious and will be making it many times in the future. Even my OH the non-vegan really liked it and has requested a caramelised onion and vege sausage version. Though the mixture didn't taste like egg it was creamy enough to be pleasant and without that fatty over-indulged feeling you get from too much quiche. Yummyious!

Murrell · 5 February 2009 at 12:35PM

redmandarin wrote: »

I tried going vegan. My partner and I have been vegetarian (no flesh or fowl, etc.,) for 25/13 yrs respectively. Veganism was my idea, but the lack of variety in food made us really depressed and only lasted three months!

I have the opposite problem. With all the recipes I pick up from this site and all the vegan sites out there as well as all the recipe books I have, I am spoilt for choice!

I like to try new recipes every week. This week the new recipes I have tried are mushroom and hazelnut pate, sweet potato and green lentil burgers, walnut and lentil burgers, unfired raw walnut burgers. I have also cooked old favourites like vegetable stew made with frozen vegemince, scrambled tofu and hummous. I always cook enough for another day and freezing so that I don’t have to cook everyday, so today is my day off for trying new recipes, just need to do the vegetables/salad etc. Tomorrow I plan to try carrot burgers. On a bit of a burger thing at the moment!

I can certainly recommend Plant Based Nutrition and Health by Stephen Walsh. This covers all the pitfalls, so you start doing things like having orange juice with your oatmeal (vitamin c food with an iron rich food to help absorb the iron), crushed flax seed with your vegetables (helps to absorb the fat soluble vitamins in vegetables), can of course pop some marg (such as pure) on your veggies also. Making sure to use flax oil rather than the omega 3 and 6 mixes because a vegan can easily get two much omega 6 otherwise and you need more 3 than 6 or something like that (please note that all this is from memory as to why I do these things, but I think I am right in what I am saying) Easy to get too much omega 6 if you eat processed foods as sunflower oil is used a lot. Eating 2 brazil nuts a day to get your selenium. Long post so will be back with some food ideas later.
Sandra

Murrell · 5 February 2009 at 4:25PM

As promised vegan food ideas:
(not all OS!)

Breakfasts

Scrambled tofu with leftover potatoes sauted (or birds eye or iceland potato waffles) with baked beans and vegan sausages if desired.
Oats with mixed spice and dried fruit
Cereal/Muesli/Granola and soya milk
Pancakes with fruit/jam
Toast with nut butter or jam

Murrell · 5 February 2009 at 4:26PM

Lunch
Salad with a homemade burger (there is so much choice, based on lentils, nuts, rice etc)
Falafels, houmous and tabouli salad
Soups homemade or bought
Sandwiches- there is so much choice (will post a separate post for these ideas later) and weezls lentil pate is fantastic. Boots also sell a couple of vegan sandwiches including houmous, carrot and watercress sandwich if you find you need to buy one. There are also lots of vegan slices and cheeses available if you want to copy the traditional fillings.
Stuffed pepper with couscous
Jacket potatoes and salad with fillings such as baked beans, ratatouille, houmous, puy lentils and mushrooms with tomato, cauliflower and broad beans, mushrooms, spicy chickpeas, spinach and silken tofu with coriander, silken tofu with dill and lemon, roasted red peppers and olives, roasted vegetable in fresh tomato salsa, carrots and parsnips with tofu and walnuts, hazelnut salad with vegan mayo, sliced cherry tomatos with sun dried tomato vinegrette.
‘On Toast’ meals, toppings same as for jacket potatoes
Left over scramble, not just bubble and squeak– today I fried several shallots, a clove garlic, bit red pepper, a grated carrot, some ketchup and orange juice to moisten with two left over homemade burgers broken up, once cooked together scramble style I served on toast.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Going vegan......old style?!

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free