DH made this last weekend - so good!
http://www.theppk.com/2008/10/acorn-squash-pear-and-aduki-soup-with-sauteed-shiitakes/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indian food is often vegan.

Not true. A lot of it has yogurt or cream. Most all of it has ghee.

Indian food comprises many regional cuisines, so it's diffcult to generalize. What you see offered at most restaurants is usually Punjabi cuisine or some kind of variation, and it's true that many of those dishes use cream and/or paneer, but many do not. And of course most any dish cooked with ghee can be cooked with oil (but the flavor may well change.) Another thing: many paneer dishes also use a nut-based gravy (usually cashews or almonds) which would work for vegans (without the paneer, obviously!).

South Indian vegetarian cuisine veers toward more plant-based, dairy free dishes: idli, dosa, sambar, vada and many curry dishes use no dairy ingredients, and are usually cooked with oil, not ghee. Yogurt is a staple of South Indian cuisine, but obviously one could avoid this.

I'm South Indian and cook Indian food often, and rarely do I prepare foods with ghee or pour cream into the dish. Last night we had rice, three vegetable curries (all vegan) dal and yogurt. A vegan disner could eat anything on the table except the yogurt.

There's a cookbook on Amazon by Anupy Singla called Vegan Indian Cooking -- I haven't used any of the recipes but maybe it's worth checking out.

Vegan things that we eat a lot:

Red beans and rice (creole style, with veggies added to the beans and sometimes quinoa instead of rice)
Black beans and rice (veggies added, usually seasoned with cumin, sage, a splash of orange juice, spice and salt)
pasta with veggies
tofu stirfry or curry
I also love this during the winter: http://www.vanilla-and-spice.com/2012/08/vegan-posole.html


It sounds to me like you could replace your egg consumption with more bean consumption (think chickpeas, black beans and kidney beans).

For breakfast on the weekends, I make tofu scramble like this: http://www.theppk.com/2009/10/tof-u-and-tof-me-scrambled-tofu-revisited/. Usually season with some combination of turmeric and red pepper flakes, plus salt and pepper. Veggies preferred by my family are onions, carrots and bell peppers, but you can pretty much put whatever in it.

Thug Kitchen Roasted Chickpea Burrito. The blog has lots of curse words but the food is delicious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's really no reason to reduce your egg or dairy consumption. In moderation, they are fine as Parton a healthy diet.

Is that why her boobs are so big? I'll sign up for that diet.

LOL!

(10:43 again)- these are 2 of my favorite websites for recipes (I'm not a cookbook person):

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/

http://ohsheglows.com/

Someone already mentioned Veganomicon, but I would add that the Post Punk Kitchen has some great recipes. And she (the woman who authored Veganomicon and runs the website) just put out a book made for quick, weeknight dinners (Isa Does It). I've made a few recipes and they were all tasty.

I love quinoa. Right now I am eating this (with vegan basil pesto). I also use tofu skin (yuba, or bean curd) in place of regular tofu, just a personal preference:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/heathers-quinoa-recipe.html

Anonymous wrote:There's really no reason to reduce your egg or dairy consumption. In moderation, they are fine as Parton a healthy diet.

Is that why her boobs are so big? I'll sign up for that diet.

Anonymous wrote:There's really no reason to reduce your egg or dairy consumption. In moderation, they are fine as Parton a healthy diet.

I am cutting back because I have done it before an felt healthier and more energized, but. I tend to go back because I get bored with the dishes I know how to make. I am looking to expand my vegan repertoire so that I can do this more long term.

There's really no reason to reduce your egg or dairy consumption. In moderation, they are fine as Parton a healthy diet.

I went vegan about a year ago (I'm in my 40s) and feel like I've never eaten so well. Staples are veggie stews and wraps, avocado, nuts, seitan, lentils, all kinds of beans cooked with olive oil, marinated tofu, various cooked whole grains. I like Veganomicon, also Robin Robertson's cookbooks. Indian food is great for vegans - most restaurants do use ghee (but often not in all dishes - you can ask), but you can very easily substitute coconut or olive oil at home.

red beans with coconut milk:

http://www.food.com/recipe/maharagwe-spiced-red-beans-in-coconut-milk-455752

Coconut oil will be your friend. And you can puree cashews to make a creamy sauce.

Nutritional yeast. Yum, seriously.

Avocados, beans, lentils, chick peas. Make hummus with lots of olive oil.

Avoid processed fake meats and other pretend food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a vegan and can give you tons of recipes. Let me know which vegetables, grains, etc you like and I'll give recipes.

Thanks! I eat a lot of salads already, but other than that I am a fan of butternut squash, eggplant, brussels sprouts, asparagus--most veggies.

As for the grains, I don't really know. I have started doing auinoa as an alternate source of protein, but i know there are a ton more, but a lot of the recipes seem intimidating--lots of different ingredients or specialty ingredients. I don't even know how to cook lentils in a basic sense, and a lot of the recipes I see online are so complicated.

I'd love to hear some of your weeknight standby meals.

Asparagus:
Recipe 1: Wash asparagus sticks and cut off the stems. Thinner the asparagus sticks, tender they will taste.
In a pan keep water for boiling and add salt to it. Then add asparagus - you can cut them into medium sized pieces or keep them long. Depends on how your pan accommodates them length-wise. Keep boiling for a few minutes and do not over boil. Remove the asparagus and immediately wash with cold water. This will retain the color and crispiness. Then in a second pan, heat olive oil and saute the asparagus for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper!

Recipe 2: Pre-heat oven to about 400 F. Grease asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle some garlic salt. Bake asparagus for 10-15 min depending on how thick they are. Then squeeze some lemon juice

Eggplant:
Chinese recipe: Take about 4 Chinese eggplants (purple slender and elongated ones) and chop them longitudinally. Each piece should be about 1 inch in length. In about 3 tbsp of vegetable (or any other) oil, cook the eggplant until tender. Add minced garlic (2 tsp), finely chopped 4-5 green chillies (or 1 tsp red pepper flakes) and a cup of water. Simmer it for a few minutes. Separately, take about 1/4 cup of water, dissolve 1 tsp of corn flour or all purpose flour and 1 tbsp of light soy sauce. Add 3 tsp sugar to this. Add this mixture to the simmering eggplant. Keep simmering until flour is cooked well. Add salt of course.
Adjust chilly as per your taste. I like spicy gravy.

Lentils are easy to cook too. Rich in protein and zinc. Very good for vegans.
If you go to Indian stores, you will see a variety of lentils. You can also buy a pressure cooker since that cooks lentils in 10-15 minutes.