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

Ooh betty (doing my best Frank Spencer impersonation, although it was unintentional, just realised after I typed!) I must try making those cookies, they sound good!

Murrell, really liking the blog, the fact you have the photos as well, fab!

Last night I had a botched together sweet and sour veg (cobbled a sauce together as I didn't have the 'proper' ingredients, so kinda made it up, but it worked ok) and rice, followed by leftover apple crumble and "home made" custard (made with Birds custard powder, which is basically cornstarch, salt, flavourings and colour (annatto), so as far as I can tell is vegan, made up with soya milk)

Today will be similar as yesterday - cereal, soya milk and banana for breakfast

Lentil pate sandwich and fruit for lunch

Not sure about dinner yet - depends when I get home and what I can be bothered to make.

Hello all,
That's fab to give people ideas on what to eat, some days it gets me down and all I need is just a little bit of inspiration. I'm going to do yesterdays eats:

Breakfast:
Kellogs coco pops with hazelnut and almond milk

Lunch:
vege toasted wrap
made with one wrap and in the middle put two falafels cut in half (I make mine from a mixture called Telma usually found in the kosher section)2/3 tbl spoonfuls of cous cous, 1 tbl spoon vegan guacamole (sainsbury be good to yourself or yarden which is found in the kosher section) 1 tbl sp of humous, some chillies and some fresh corriander and sprinkle some lemon juice, then wrap in to a square and dry fry on both sides on a griddle.

Tea:
Plain rice
Lentil dhall
poppadoms
chilli pickle and mango chutney

all yummy

betty1 wrote: »

Ingredients
3½ oz vegan margarine
2½ oz demerara sugar
pinch of salt
2 oz self raising flour
4 oz oats
1 bar vegan chocolate
Method
Cream the margarine and demerara sugar. Kneed in the salt, flour and oats.
Put heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray and press them down into a biscuit shape. Cook at gas mark 4 til just about to go brown (about 7 mins).
Cool the biscuits on a wire tray, then cover them with melted vegan chocolate. Leave the coated biscuits for an hour or so until the chocolate has set.

Made these today - delicious! So light and crispy. I did have to cook them for quite a bit longer than 7 minutes though. I also didn't bother putting any chocolate, on as I was using the choc I had to put on some flapjacks, but I can honestly say they are scrumptious as they are.

Hey, hey, hey long time, no been on here :mad:

Hope all are well. Lots of vegan-tastic things to talk about :cool: , but I thought in true forum style I'd kick off with a few staple and frugal recipes people might find useful...doubtful I'll be on here long as have very annoying husband hanging around asking me to look for things on ebay...am looking forward to reading through all recent posts and will hopefully get around to the excellent idea of daily diet diaries
(today: toast for brekkie
banana/strawberries for snack
weird mushroom soup thing in wrap with salad leaves for lunch
Doves Farm cereal bar for snack (they're currently on offer in Sainsbury's), Linda M's sausages, brocolli and jacket p for dinner, and Ogran animal bisuits for treat)

Am reaching the six-month landmark of being vegan (same as Twinkle star I think?). Have craved all sorts - most recently fish - but still managing not to eat it, even having just been on holiday where temptation is all around.

NEWSFLASH - sorry if it's mentioned on here already, but Walker's Salt and Vinegar is no longer vegan, as milk used in the 'seasoning'. Bah humbug, that was my choice of crisp!

Cottage cheese (ideal for sandwiches, wraps, jacket ps)
1 block tofu (depending on amount you want to make)
Half pot natural yoghurt
Juice of half a lemon
Salt an pepper

Mash tofu, add yoghurt, lemon, s & P - eat - yum!

Egg mayo (similar to above)
Mashed tofu
salad cream (Sainsbury's healthy eating salad cream, currently my new obsession now the weather's warmer and I keep eating salads)
mayo (small amount only, not essential but nice addition)
s & P
mash tofu and salad cream and mayo - eat - yum!

Puff pastry pizza
sheet of Jus-Rol Puff pastry
Tomato puree
Italian herbs (oregano/basil)
Oliver oil
Toppings e.g mushrooms, onion, sundried toms, olives, sweetcorn, peppers
soya cheese

Put pastry on tray, mix tom puree with herbs and s&p. pread over pastry, add grated cheese and toppings. Cook until golden and puffy (I've found 180 degrees in a fan oven for 15 mins is about right).

Cheese and onion pasties (mega comfort food)
Puff pastry sheet
Mashed potato (one potato is more than enough, or Smash)
finely chopped onion
cheeze
marmite (small smidge for Martmite haters like me!)

Fry onions and cook mash, then combine, add Marmite, s&p and cheeze. When cooled (I do mine day before to make for next day's dinner) add to pastry, either in form of rolling like sausage rolls or or cut in circle for full-on pastie action. Bake in oven until golden (see above for temp and time).

So, have just been to Portugal with friends. My Vegan Friend came along, which did make life easier, as did being in a villa so you can make your own food.

Generally speaking, I found it easy to eat there. I took some Alpro soya milk, but the little corner shop not only stocked it, but the cream AND the Alpro chocolate drinks. We bought cereal and bread to have as brekkie, plenty of pasta and rice, and I took some soya mince, lentils, and Tesco veg curry in the microwave packs as we really didn't know how much we'd be eating in or out.

At one Brit-run restaurant, I enjoyed a breakfast of toast, mushrooms, beans and tomotoes for a few Euros - I never eat cooked breakfast, but it made a change, shame they didn't have has browns.

A diner nearby made pizza without cheese on request, and I just chose toppings to pop on it. I had pasta and tom sauce at one restaurant.

Eating out
Being a money-saving bunch, I'm not sure if this is the top of our list, but I'm hoping to help with this list for times when vegans have to eat out (birthdays, celebrations etc.)

- Frankie and Benny's, I had a tomato soup, mixed veg and olives at Gatwick. There was also a pasta option, and jacket potato, but generally not great choice.

- Yates chains. Sadly their spicy veg enchildas come with cheese on top (I love finding out how ready meal-orientated eateries are!!), so I was resigned to jacket p and beans, although they do have bean burgers on the menu.

- Beefeater, on Friday I had a really yum (albeit small) Med tomatoe risotto, and just asked that they hold the cheese. They also have dipping bread as a starter which me and hubby shared, with him having the cheese bread.

- Miller and Carter - just ask for the pasta with the tomato sauce, or a jacket potato with grilled veg.

Blimey, have just noticed the time. Time to go, but hope to be back soon :j

I just wanted to recommend a cookbook, The Single Vegan by Leah Leneman (republished as Vegan Cooking for One). It's divided up into a week's cooking with a shopping list but you don't have to cook that way, I just choose recipes at random to try and they've all been good so far. I have been doubling the recipes and it usually makes enough OH and me to have a big serving then leftovers for one for the next day so the portion sizes are actually pretty generous.

The thing that's good about it is the recipes are mostly quick and easy, and most of the ingredients are available in the supermarket. You would probably just need to make a trip to a health food store every 2-3 weeks for a few unusual ingredients.

PS: lots of cheap second-hand copies on Amazon!