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

kim_ley · 16 February 2009 at 4:10PM

Good luck anna! x

twinkle_star_2 · 16 February 2009 at 4:49PM

Joyful - the tofu was pretty soft after baking although a bit chewy. Maybe just cook it for slightly less time to keep it softer. I'd feinitely recommend dipping it in soemthing with a bit of flavour before baking as it was really bland!

annaangeluk - lots of good luck to you! I hope you'll enjoy your vegan challenge. I'd advise you to do some reading on nutrition and just generally stuff yourself with fruit and veggies.

I think one of the best things about going vegan is that rather than constantly thinking I shouldn't eat this or that because its fatty or sugary or in some way unhealthy when I used think about food I now find myself thinking 'I must eat more of this...'. Its such a wonderful change of mindset and takes all the guilt away from food. Obviosuly there are vegan junk foods (biscuits, doughnuts, etc) but the majority fo the diet tends to be so healthy that I no longer consider such treats much of an issue. Yay!:T

ceridwen · 16 February 2009 at 7:30PM

Well - thanks Twinkle for that recipe - looks good - I'll have to have a go at that.

Welcome both Twinkle and Murrell to Blogland - YAY! The Brits are blogging..:D

Am I allowed to make a teensy suggestion - which do feel free to totally "ditch" - but I was wondering Twinkle about that background colour you've picked for your blog. I can see why you picked black - its just that I'm finding it hard a bit to read - possibly down to the way some peeps pc'S are/possibly down to my "older" eyes? Just wondering whether maybe a pale grey background fer instance might "convey the same message" but be easier to read? But do feel free to ignore me.....:D

Murrell · 16 February 2009 at 7:49PM

Hi,

Just a reminder that the vegan society have a site which you can check for vegan goods.

www.animalfreeshopper.com

Unfortunately Tesco, Iceland and Lidl don't do a vegan list currently. Apparently you can ring the tesco customer services to ask about ingredients, but i haven't tried this and I think there is a limit to how many products you can ask about. Tried to ask the bakery about doughnuts once, as I know these seem to have changed ingredients several times over the last 10 years, but they were not helpful. If they have gone back to vegan thats good. I don't like to risk things that I can't read the ingredients on personally, especially as i know they are always changing things. I have seem packs of 10 frozen doughnuts in farmfoods, but have never bought them, so don't know what there like.
You are all doing so well, i am proud of you. I have been vegan for over 15 years and have been living in England for 12 of those, so I am always here to help. Must go and work on my blog, don't like to publish until there is some content!

Sandra
x

suep · 16 February 2009 at 9:23PM

Is there a way of making vegan lasagne ? When I was veggie I used to make a roasted vegatable lasagne and everyone loved it. I would like to keep the roasted veg filling but need ideas for a cheese sauce, also the lasagne sheets I have are made with egg, I was wondering if the green ones are vegan or do you have to buy special ones ?

Thanks again for all the great tips and recipes.

Nearly forgot, Good luck Anna, let us know how you get on.

twinkle_star_2 · 16 February 2009 at 9:51PM

I haven't actually tried this but i think you could probably make the cheese sauce by making a white sauce and adding some grated vegan 'cheese' or maybe some nutritional yeast flakes. My OH thinks the Tofutti mozzerella style would be good. For lasagne sheets - i think the cheapo dried ones (rather than soft fresh ones) tend to have no egg. Hope that helps.

Doom_and_Gloom · 16 February 2009 at 9:52PM

suep wrote: »

Is there a way of making vegan lasagne ? When I was veggie I used to make a roasted vegatable lasagne and everyone loved it. I would like to keep the roasted veg filling but need ideas for a cheese sauce, also the lasagne sheets I have are made with egg, I was wondering if the green ones are vegan or do you have to buy special ones ?

Thanks again for all the great tips and recipes.

Nearly forgot, Good luck Anna, let us know how you get on.

White sauce:
Ingredients
2 oz vegan margarine
1½ oz plain flour
425ml soya milk For cheesey flavour use 1 to 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes.
Method
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and whisk over the heat until cooked. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Easy!

I know you can get dried vegan lasagne sheets. I usually buy mine from Sainsbury. As long as they say only Durum Wheat Semolina for the ingredients they are vegan, lol. Although you can get coloured ones like the green ones that have spinach powder to make them green.

clouds21 · 16 February 2009 at 10:16PM

Hiya everyone

Fascinating stuff on here!

Quick before I forget cos I already typed all this and then it wouldn't post my reply!!!

Re. coconut milk: I have bought Dunne's River from the ethnic section at Asda which is considerably cheaper than Bart's or Blue Dragon.

Here a few smoothies:

High-energy smoothie
1/2 avocado, stoned & peeled
small handful of fresh watercress
5cm fresh ginger, grated
2-3 spricgs of mint
100ml water
100ml dry apple juice
Juice 1/2 lemon
150ml low fat yoghurt (use soya if you prefer)

Blend all veg, herbs water & juices together. Stir in yog. ENJOY

Fruit smoothie
80g berries (fresh or frozen)
1 apple or pear, peeled and cored (or 1/2 each)
2 tb no-fat soft cheese (I use quark, not sure whether this work for vegans but you could try soya yoghurt instead, I've done it with yog)
75ml nut or soy milk
Squeeze of lemon juice
Pinch of cinnamon

Put all ingredients into blender & blitz until smooth. If mix is too thick add a little water.

Vitamin juice
100ml mixed veg juice
100ml carrot juice (Lidl do very good & reasonable mixed veg & carrot juices)
4-5 good sprigs fresh watercress
Juice of 1/2 orange (I've used orange juice if no oranges in the hoose)
Juice 1/2 lemon

Put all ingred in a blender & blitz till watercress is finely chopped). If you make mix in advance only add watercress fresh each day.

To add flavour try adding the following, either individually or in any combination:
Grated ginger (good for digestion)
Fennel or caraway seeds (as above)
Celery seeds (good for blood cleansing) - haven't found any yet in the shops!!!
Ground cinnamon (good for insulin function)
Cayenne pepper (digestion)

I could go on but don't want to bore. Hope you enjoy.

Clouds21

greenbee · 16 February 2009 at 10:32PM

suep wrote: »

Is there a way of making vegan lasagne ? When I was veggie I used to make a roasted vegatable lasagne and everyone loved it.

I make mine with a spinach & vegetable filling, and then layer this with the past and a tomato and tofu sauce. I don't feel it necessary to have a white sauce, and find that this is much lighter (which is one of the things I really enjoy about vegan food... I find it easier to digest!)

Having said that, I'm not a vegan, I eat everything, but my diet is mainly vegetables. I think this probably gives me an advantage in feeding vegan food to visitors... they know I eat everything, so they assume that I'm feeding them whatever the are eating because it is delicious, not because it is vegan first and delicious second! And I do try to remember to buy the odd pint of milk if I'm expecting someone over who might want tea or coffee... it means they don't notice the wierd stuff :rolleyes:

kim_ley · 17 February 2009 at 12:33AM

Hi guys I'm nearly 100% vegan now! lol I know I said I was going to wait till i'd finished breastfeeding but everytime i look at things that have animal products in i cant bring myself to put it in the trolley lol so I only buy vegan products now and other than that the only non-vegan things i am using are the ones still hanging around my house as i think its worse to throw them away and be wasted.

I'm just setting up a blog hehe!

I have a tip for anyone like me... now I love veggies and fruit but i'm not so keen on most green ones (brussels, broccoli etc), and to make sure i have a balanced diet i have started blending them and having shots of them lol washed down with water! I find it easier and quicker so that i dont have to sit there almost gagging.

RE HOT CROSS BUNS,
I noticed in tesco today some Hovis best of both hot cross buns and a quick look at the ingredients i think they are vegan! Didn't see egg MILK or E numbers?!?!

Organix found on the babyfood aisle...
no junk Orange cookie bites, no junk gingerbread, no junk cocoa cookie bites,
Goodies saucy tomato noughts and crosses,carrot stix, spicey stars,
Goodies animal biscuits alphabet biscuits etc etc
Goodies bars which my son (and me haha) have been enjoying for ages are also vegan and I especially love the carrot cake ones or and cocoa and rasin
Perhaps other things so look out for them (they are for kids but i think i will eat them too lol)

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