I'm looking for vegan recipes, I am not a vegan myself, but have family and friends who are and would like more ideas. Soups and pasta dishes are easy, desserts and snacks are more of a challlenge. Could you folks help me out? Thanks in advance,

-- Chamoisee (chamoisee@yahoo.com), February 11, 2002

Answers

Do you live in an area with a food co-op? Healthfood store? I have had luck there. They have free brochures about tofu,whol grains,wheat gluten(seitan), and tempah. In the brochures thay have recipes for main dishes and desserts. Most co-ops have free information on how to use these products and they usually have someone in charge of public education, and offer classes. Your library may also ahve some recipe books.

Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), February 12, 2002.

My kids have a couple friends who are vegan. I dont cook for em. When they go places they know they to bring their own food, cuz they run into people like me most of the time. If they want to try to subsist on a bizarre, totally unnatural diet like the vegan one, they shouldnt expect other people to go out of their way to accomodate them, and have to share the yukky meal as well. Just my take......have a nice day!

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

We are definitely not vegan, but I have a friend who can't have meat because of her tummy troubles. Beans and taters, cornbread, greens, veggie lasagna, veggie spaghetti, lentil soup, tater soup, tomato soup, veggie soup, Boy, those are good stuff. It doesn't have to be nasty tasting to be vegan. If I invite someone to my house I try to accommodate their needs. Now if they just drop in, it would be potluck.:~) Most likely have to get the peanut butter and jelly out then! heehee! We are a meat and taters family! There are lots and lots of vegan recipe sites. I remember looking for them for the friend who can't eat meat. Taco bean soup is a favorite of ours! You can make it minus the meat. It has a browned onion with chopped garlic, a can of chopped tomatoes, a can of creamed corn and a can of regular corn, a can of pintos, a can of navy beans, a can of kidney beans, and a package of taco seasoning, and a package of ranch dressing mix. If you buy your seasonings in bulk like I do, I just add to taste. I don't use the canned beans, I use leftovers that I chunk in the freezer when we have a serving left of beans. This soup is also good with chopped carrots and celery added. We normally put hamburger meat in it...but of course it is easy to leave out to make it vegan. I simmer it a while and serve with homemade bread.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 12, 2002.

Yeah, I occassionally cook for their vegetarian friends, but VEGAN is no animal products whatsoever. No dairy (cheese, sour cream, cream, milk, butter...), no honey, no eggs.......its very very difficult to get any flavor, not to mention nutrition from this limited scenario. Those baked beans dont taste like much without the ham or bacon, that cornbread doesnt hold together well without the eggs, those greens arent nearly as nummy w/o butter or grease of some kind, that lasagna has NO CHEESE (tasted tofu cheese? haha...unbelievable.), and your ranch salad dressing aint too tasty when it excludes the dairy. Try it; I have, lots of times. But, to each their own.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

No honey! No eggs! No butter! No milk! Oh....Earthmama, I stand corrected! Why would they eat sugar and not eat honey? I understand now about the animal biproducts. I thought that it was only no meat or eggs. How do they feed their babies? Do they not nurse them? Milk is definitely an animal biproduct....we are animals!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 12, 2002.

Here's a chocolate cake recipe that is wonderful. You'd never guess it had no butter or eggs. I love it because it can be made even when we are short on food supplies. Wacky cocoa cake

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat for 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour into a greased and floured 13 X 9 X 2 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35- 40 minutes.

-- Chamoisee (chamoisee@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

Hate to tell ya, Nan, but your Taco Bean soup recipe is not vegan. :o) The ranch dressing mix has milk based ingredients in it. Creamed corn usually has some sort of diary and the taco seasoning might have animal products, too especially if it lists "natural flavors" as an ingredient. It's vegetarian but not vegan. Like Earthmama said, vegan is no animal products whatsoever.

Chamoissee, John Robbins' book May All Be Fed is a follow up to his first book Diet for a New America and one half of it is a vegan cookbook. Have you tried a ggogle serch on "vegan recipes"? I bet you'll find a lot that way. Good luck!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), February 12, 2002.

Nan, oops, you posted while I was typing my response! I love your question about nursing babies!! Hadn't heard that one before! :)

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), February 12, 2002.

Chamoisse, I've made the Wacky Cake recipe before and it IS good!! I have a recipe for a fruit jell (not Jello) made with agar agar flakes. I'll try to post it later if you're interested.

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), February 12, 2002.

Good question, Nan! They won't eat honey cuz they think it upsets the bees! The only life-long vegans I know on a personal basis both have structural problems. One of em is going through terrible painful surgeries on her jaws right now , cuz her face is deformed, which is not uncommon. Weston Price wrote a whole book on it decades ago, mostly talking about the repercussions of poor diets, and replacing whole animal foods with modern 'foods' and how it affected bone structure, and he concentrated on DENTAL ARCHES, so I have had a real life example of it right in my own life. They eat lots of soy, which is a whole nother story entirely......and new stuff coming out all the time about feeding lots of soy, especially to children, especially to female children. Soy EATS UP NUTRIENTS, rather than adding them to your body, unless its fermented first. And they take lots of supplements, which is essential to thrive at all, cuz you aint gonna get enough nutrients to survive, much less thrive, without them. Very unnatural.........never made any sense to me whatsoever.

-- Earthmama48 (earthmama48@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

Well, my hubby is right! I don't get out enough! heehee! I don't know anyone that eats like that! Most everyone that I know of that is a vegetarian is not a Vegan. My neighbor will not eat meat because of her religious beliefs, but when she has dropped by during dinner time she just eats the homemade bread, spuds, and veggies and not the meat. She will eat milk, cheese, eggs, etc...though. I forget that she is a vegetarian. You can make a tasty pea soup with split peas, carrots, onions, and lots of herbs. It is high in iron, which I would assume that they are very low in if they don't take supplements or eat meat. What about rice and beans? I get this stuff called Tony Checheres(sp?) seasoning. IT is good in lots of things...would that be vegan? Chilli powder can be substituted for taco seasoning. I know because that is what I use instead of the taco mix. YOu would not have to use the creamed corn(although if you cream your own and can it you are just scraping the cob and adding salt). YOu can just leave out the ranch dressing mix altogether. You're right Earthmama....the absence of ranch dressing would be a loss of taste! ;~)! So basically what you are left with is a veggie bean soup with spices. Not bad. Maybe add some noodles and you can make a minestroni.(sp?) Shewy! I will look at my recipes and see if I can come up with anything else!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 12, 2002.

Fruit salad. Cut up apples, bananas, oranges, and drained pineapple reserving juice. Thicken the juice with sugar and cornstarch and cook on low until thickened. Chill the mixture and then mix into the fruit. Also......my friend makes a good french bread recipe. For two loaves of bread you use 2 cups of warm water, 2 Tbs. yeast, 2 Tbs. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 2 Tbs. oil and 6 cups of flour. Any combo of flours is good! Make sure that there is enough gluten to make a good dough. My sister in law has a vegetarian lasagna, but it has cheese in it. Bummer! It is very good! I will keep looking later on. Best be doing some more chores around here:~)!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 12, 2002.

Chamoisee -- For a vegan snack, or even a light meal if you also have some kind of salad, you might want to try hummus. Drain a couple cans of garbanzo beans (or cook the dried ones, if you're doing this in advance). Put them in the blender, along with 1/4 cup or so of olive oil, a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a few garlic cloves. (I like quite a few, but tastes differ....) Blend until smooth, pour into a bowl and put it into the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavor set. Cut a batch of flour tortillas (the kind made with vegetable shortening is easy to find these days) into triangles, set the bowl in the center of a larger plate, surround it with the cut tortillas and, just before serving, sprinkle the hummus with parsley.

If you find out at the last minute that one of your guests is vegan, an even easier snack is celery stuffed with peanut butter. Just make more than you think you'll need, because I find that kids usually snarf these up as soon as they hit the table!

As for dessert...I'd second the fruit-salad idea, and maybe throw in a bowl of pecans, either candied or plain, for some extra oomph.

Happy cooking --

-- Christine (cytrowbridge@zianet.com), February 12, 2002.

OOPs! In the recipe for taco bean soup above...add a small can(or in my case a handful of chopped frozen ones from last summer) of anaheim chilies or what they call chopped green chilies in the store.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 12, 2002.

I am vegetarian, not vegan, however I often eat vegan meals. Contrary to popular opinion, a vegan diet is very healthy. Though it is not for me, many are very healthy and satisfied with eating vegan. There are some very nice desserts that are vegan, I also love the chocolate cake that was mentioned. Delicious puddings can be made with tapioca and fruit juice or by cooking tapioca in water or juice and stirring in some fruit jam. My Mom used to make Raspberry Tapioca Pudding by cooking tapioca in water and then stirring in homemade raspberry jam, we loved it and that was in a meat and potatoes home. Baked apples, poached pears, pie (apple, peach, berry, rhubarb, cherry, pear,etc.), and fruit ices. You can substitute soy or rice milk for dairy milk in many things and they also come in flavors, usually chocolate and vanilla. Enjoy!!

-- nancy (stoneground@catskill.net), February 14, 2002.

Lebanese food - get a cookbook, or check them out in a library. Tabbouleh, hummous, falafel, more. Also find a shop which sells Lebanese food: pickled wild gherkins/cucumbers, pickled small turnips, basil, pine nuts, pesto. Much more.

Simple cooking. Plain pasta with a teaspoon of oil in the cooking water, then strain and stir a teaspoon of oil with some freshly ground black pepper through the pasta. Mushrooms cooked with sliced onion. A dip (or mashed vegetable) made from boiled brown or green lentils, cooked the last few minutes with finely chopped onions, then coarsely mashed - or not. I'll say this a lot - where I don't say it, assume it - add a dash of lemon juice - or lime juice for variety. Small boiled jacket potatoes with a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and mint (or just vinegar and mint). Leek and potato soup. Baby green peas with mint sauce. Green beans with lemon juice. Zuccinis with - yeah. Mature but not dried beans, shelled like peas and then cooked. Simple steamed green vegetables, not overcooked so there is still a little texture to them: lemon juice drizzled over them helps a lot - moves them from staple vegetables to interesting. English spinach. Swiss chard, Chinese greens. Cabbage with lemon juice and caraway or possibly celery seeds. Beetroot - peel roots, slice coarsely, steam or nuke in microwave, add coursely chopped beet tops (leaves and stalks) for the last few minutes, serve with - you've got it - lemon juice drizzled over.

Crackers, cookies.

Korean: quite a few. Kimchi - my favourite. Koreans are enthusiastic about chili and garlic - suits me! Many pickles and seaweed dishes. Frozen broad beans. Frozen green soy beans (a different variety - bred to be eaten green).

Garden salad (lettuce leaves, fine sliced celery, carrot disks, chopped capsicum or sweet peppers, tomato, chopped onions (possibly spring onions - chopped leaves and all), a few olives, your choice of what else or more or less) with lime juice or lemon juice or vinegar and sesame seed oil and maybe chopped chilis.

Bean salad with lemon juice.

Boiled brown rice (or long-grain rice, or any rice, or even barley) cold as a salad with chopped greens, onions, capsicum and tomatoes; and a lemon juice dressing. This is actually getting fairly close to the tabbouleh mentioned above, except that the large amount of parsley is not mandatory.

Hot boiled grains as above, with boiled brown or green lentils or chick-peas (garbanzos), chopped onion, mushrooms, peppers, whatever, as a hot dish.

In short, vegan food is a great accompaniment to a steak - or even a satisfactory substitute for it a few days a week. And note this - it's more economical - that helps us get where we want to go, doesn't it? I'm just loving saving significant amounts of money for the first time in my life.

I agree that tapioca or sago (with - guess? Lemon juice! and in this case maybe lemon zest as well) makes an acceptable dessert. However, I hardly ever do desserts, so I'm not an expert. Fresh fruit simmered in a syrup of honey and - you guessed it (although I actually prefer lime juice if available)! and then allowed to steep for a while in the syrup with added Grand Marnier or Cointreau or even plain brandy is good. Or agar with your choice of fruit to make a Vegan jelly.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 15, 2002.

Oh , great suggestions, Don. Kimchee with rice and Miso soup with seaweed, yum. Spring rolls and veg. sushi. Soft tofu marinated in ginger, vanilla, or almond syrup with mandarin oranges. Stewed dried fruit...figs in ginger syrup for example. Potatoes cut in cubes and tossed in olive oil and herbs and then roasted with (you should like this Don) lemon juice squeezed over. Caponata with homemade foccacia. Sesame eggplant. Grilled portobello mushrooms. Polenta with greens sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Oh, I could go on...

-- nancy (stoneground@catskill.net), February 15, 2002.

Hi Nan. Your recipe for humus is similar to what I've made, however, I use tahini. Question 1. How long can tahini be stored in the fridge? I've had mine for months and it still seems to smell okay. Question 2. Any one have a really good and easy recipe for veggie burgers using chic peas? Please include the seasonings and cooking process. Thanks. Stef.

-- Stef (sbrogers@csonline.net), February 26, 2002.