One of my favorite vegan recipes (developed while D3 dated vegan boyfriends :)) is black bean soup.
2 cans black beans, rinsed
1 can refried black beans
32 oz vegetarian broth
1 onion chopped
2-3 gloves garlic crushed
1-2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
8 ounces sliced baby portabello mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
Saute onion in oil for 7-8 minutes, add garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 7-8 minutes. Add broth, beans, and spices and simmer for 15-20 minutes. It’s really good and filling.
Jorsansmom, you are a saint. No way I would ever cook a special vegan meal for kiddos’ BF! They could tough it out with salads and beets. Thankfully, neither kid dated a vegan, but all of their dates discovered that they liked beets.
I was going to recommend the same cookbook from Amazon.
We have a history of vegetarianism in our family going back to my wife’s grandfather. One of my kids now eats a bit of fish and the other recently gave up being after over a decade. I have done a vegan diet off and on and found I had two issues. First was protein and the second was more beans than I could regularly handle and a worry that I was eating too much soy. I found it easy to decorate salads with beans and cooked rice and/or nuts. I have a thing for potatoes with curry (and tamarind is great) because so much Indian food is vegetarian and you only need to sub out the ghee. I love to simmer cubes of tofu in tamari and Chinese black vinegar (which is sweetish). And I’m lucky to have Asian markets around and be able to buy vegan Ma Pa Tofu packages, rice noodles, etc. I think one virtue of vegetarian/vegan living is the way it can be used to expand your tastes and repertoire. I love eggplant and Chinese eggplant in particular is easy to peel and slice and put in a pan. And of course mushrooms, particularly beyond buttons.
One thing I find important: don’t buy stuff that pretends to taste like meat or cheese. It needs to taste like itself because that is not inferior to the taste of meat or cheese (faked or not).
I have been vegan for about a year and I love it. Never thought I’d give up cheese but I started to get interested in it after two of my doctors adopted a vegan diet. It’s a myth that people need animal flesh to obtain sufficient protein. Since we are not allowed to link to blogs I’ll just recommend some cookbooks: Forks Over Knives is a good start and well known, but Amazon has a huge selection.
As to calcium, you don’t need a supplement. Fresh spinach in salads and using almond milk on cereal (which has more calcium than cow’s milk) are examples of better ways to go.
My daughter was a vegetarian in the 7th grade…for a day. Actually from lunch time until dinner time. We told her we would support her, but there was no way Dad and the boys would be happy without meat. Once she smelled the steak coming off the BBQ, she cried into her plate of rice and beans. So, that was a bust. Fast forward to now, and she eats far less red meat, lots of fresh fruits and veggies. It seems to work for her.
Another good reference book and cookbook is Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It has a section that is alphabetical in case you run into bargains at the farmer’s market. I found it very handy when I had a CSA box. Lots of excellent recipes.
I often use 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 2 Tbsp water instead of an egg for my allergic friend. Also I have EnerG Egg Replacer.
Admit that I have not read every post. Veggie 35 years, sometime during then Vegan. This is back when I lived in the Midwest and had to cut the mildow off the of the Tempheh just to eat it.
But! was heathly and controling your food at this age is not dumb. There is so little that you understand and so little that you have control of at this time of your life.
I lived in the country without a phone and was Vegan. I made Vegan cheese with
Baker’s yeast and mustard and felt great!!
Now eat some meats as H needs to but both of us prefer vegie/vegan.
I do think that Vegan’s, as many loving parent’s, need to understand the need for B12-- which a solid Vegan diet does not offer.
I take B12 daily and it is not because of my diet but my genetics. That said, a responsible Vegan must keep their info about their levels at least 2 times a year.
Super important if she is PG! Low B12 is not OK during PG!
I will share with her all your book and recipes suggestions. It is very overwhelming trying to do google search, hence come to all you nice folks for ideas.
This vegan transition is just so new to my household, but I begin to embrace it a bit more each day. I must admit, watching how and what she eats, makes me realize her “diet” is SO MUCH healthier. She DOES NOT eat processed food at all.
It is also nice that because she goes vegan and I have so much to learn about the subject, my DD and I have more conversations in the last few days and it feels good, she is the quiet type and not usually likes to open up and talk.
@emeraldkity4, good question about the blender, almond is very hard. We have an old fashioned blender and a cheap food processor at home, don’t think they will make it. She makes her smoothies in the blender, she used to have a nutribullet, but it broke.
@oregon101, dumb question, what is PG? I talked to her more about B12, she agrees to take supplements.
My husband is a vegan. This is a great, easy cookbook, Vegan Meals under 30 Minutes. The tortilla soup is amazing.
Also, if you or your daughter are on pinterest, there are 1000’s of recipes for free. If she’s going to be strict, she’ll need to find lists of surprising food that contain some animal products. I agree with others stay away from the processed fake foods as much as possible.
When DS went vegan I broke down and bought a powerful blender. Until then, I’d been making his daily smoothies with an immersion blender. I bought a Blendtec through Costco online. Even with the additional charge for not being a member, it was the least expensive source.
I love the Blendtec. It is really powerful and pulverizes everything, including things like hemp hearts, pepitas, flaxmeal, that I add for protein.
I am planning to make almond milk in it but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
PG=pregnant.
When I was vegan I also would not buy leather products. Now that would be easy enough.
There are so many interesting foods available now. It is nice that you are on board with her.
When I started eating meat 5 years ago I was surprised at how much longer it takes to cook a vegan or veggie meal.
Still, the food is so much more complex and we still have non meat meals often.
Tofu
equal amounts of:
sesame seed oil (Trader Joes is less $)
Oil
Soy Sauce (can us low sodium)
add garlic, a dash of crushed red pepper
marinade
grill or bake
You don’t make almond milk in a blender. I mean I guess you could, but no one does that. You buy it in a carton in the dairy case. There are many brands.
D started drinking almond milk a year ago, we usually buy Silk brand, sometimes Almond Breeze. One can make almond milk in a blender (I just googled a few sites), but probably not worth the effort and end up costing a bit more than buying a carton.
I mentioned that my D loves smoothies, main ingredient is always bananas. The other day she just blended frozen bananas into a smooth texture in a small food processor and ate it like frozen yogurt.
@oregon101, my DH loves to cook tofu on the grill, similar to your recipe. We like it, unfortunately now my D won’t eat tofu.
@BrownParent, the Lentil Minestrone soup sounds great, maybe we will make it this long weekend, a couple of days ago D had mentioned about making some kind of tomato vegetable stew, she is off tomorrow so we can plan some vegan dishes for next week!!! I want to enjoy our time together cooking vegan before she heads back to college at the end of August.
Try to get some mushroom soy sauce at a store with good selection of Asian staples for the soup, it really adds some depth of flavor. Also it calls for french lentils which I love they are tinier and firmer but you can use regular, just try not to overcook. This is a great soup.
