So here I am again, in front of the empty page. There's actually quite a lot going on here, for now I'm going to put off writing about something at the forefront of my attention, and instead focus on some other stuff. At least for a few more days.
I hear more and more people saying they want to eat healthier, live a better quality of life, but don't know where to start. Often people turn to me with questions about food substitutions, which I will do my best to answer without overwhelming someone with information. Things really seem to ramp up over the holiday season with food and over indulging. I would like to take a moment to write here and offer a few suggestions on veganizing things. It can be confusing when you're planning a dinner party, a gathering, or whatever, and you know someone has an allergy or special food concern. The word "vegan" often paralyzes cooks & bakers for reasons I just don't understand, but don't beat yourself up over this. Even almost all restaurants seem to grapple with these issues and cooking/baking is their livelihood. With the vast resources on the internet, I am constantly on line researching new ideas, looking at recipes, and coming up with ideas. You can too. In the interim, here's some tips.
If you want to bake something vegan, you can substitute exact measurements of dairy milk with soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, or almost any other non-dairy milk. If you need "buttermilk" in a recipe, measure out your non-dairy milk, then add about 1.5 teaspoons of lemon juice per cup, set aside for a couple minutes to curdle, and presto veganized "buttermilk." You can substitute butter with a product called "Earth Balance" soy margarine. It comes whipped in tubs, organic, conventional, and in sticks, just like butter. The measurements are exactly the same for baking purposes. To substitute eggs in baking, you have a few options. My favorite way of "faking eggs" in baking is to mix 1 tablespoon of ground organic golden flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. This equals 1 egg for baking purposes. No, you cannot scramble it, fry it, or otherwise "egg" it, but for baking, it is ideal. Sometimes people have concerns eating seeds (like in diverticulitis) so when I have that concern to deal with, I use a product called "egg replacer" by "Ener-G." I believe it is a potato starch. The box has the directions for use. Its a powder that you mix with water. You can buy this at places like health food stores and Whole Foods. Skip the Crisco, instead buy organic shortening from Spectrum organics.
Another substitution for eggs is using either applesauce or mashed bananas. I do not use those substitutions as I find the final product is too dense living on the water as I do. But, they're possibilities for you perhaps.
Tofutti brand makes soy based sour cream and soy based cream cheese that can be substituted measurement for measurement when veganizing a conventional recipe. Be careful with the Tofutti to make sure you buy the cream cheese that is non-hydrogenated, as they have 2 versions, one hydrogenated, one not. I'm not sure why that is.
With these substitutions you can convert almost any recipe. For a thickener, I use organic arrowroot, never cornstarch (personal preference, I believe corn starch is almost evil). Gluten free vegan baking is a whole different world, I will not spend too much time on it as I'm still working on perfecting that myself. As I've written in the past, I live on the ocean, and its very difficult to get gluten free baking just right, at least for me. I like to work with gluten free flours like sorghum, coconut, rice and almond, and often will make my own "base" combination of flours. However, "Bob's" makes a decent line of gluten free flours, baking mixes and other products, which you can bet you'll find sitting in my pantry too. When baking vegan gluten free, I find that it's imperative to never over mix gluten free recipes, to bake them for the least amount of time possible, and as soon as its out of the oven, you take it out of the pan so it doesn't continue to bake in the pan. Gluten free vegan baking in my world can get gummy or chewy, so be extra diligent.
Suppose you're going to have a holiday gathering. Hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, finger foods, desserts. You've got someone vegan who'll be there.... what to do? I know I'd be thrilled to walk in and find a nice assortment of fresh cut veggies tucked around a hummus plate, maybe some tabbouleh (you can buy that pre-made, same as the hummus, if pressed for time). You can put out some nice organic tortilla chips, or toasted pita points too. Maybe some fresh salsa (you can buy organic already made too), and serve your beverages of choice. Always make sure you have something non-alcoholic available for guests. I think cranberry juice with seltzer looks nice & festive, you can dress it up with nice garnish. Dessert? Simply take your favorite chocolate chip recipe and veganize with the above tips. How about buying some nice fresh strawberries, and dipping them in organic melted (vegan) dark chocolate. Place in fridge to set up and voila, instant tastiness. If you'd like to serve a hot food choice, you can boil some pasta (make it whole wheat), mix with some sauteed dark greens, garlic, chopped tomatoes and white beans. Season to taste. Delicious, trust me. One thing, make sure you don't sprinkle it with cheese when its ready to serve. That is definitely NOT vegan, and would ruin all your enlightened efforts. Instead, you can feel free to sprinkle your food with nutritional yeast if you want a "cheesy" taste. Or, leave as is, because it will be so delicious you don't need to add anything else.
Vegan isn't scary. Vegan is good. Vegan is kind. Vegan is enlightened. Vegan is healthier. Vegan is easy once you drop the mindset that its complicated. It's not complicated. We all eat vegan often, we just don't call it vegan. Salads, pastas, rice, fruits, veggies, beans, and many "mainstream" items are accidentally vegan (for example, regular Ritz crackers are vegan, so are regular Oreos!) Read labels, care about what you eat. Reduce your consumption of animal products. Every vegan meal you eat is a victory for you, animals, our planet, and our future. Our bodies are miraculous. Take care of yourself, and reap the rewards. Happy veganizing!
I hear more and more people saying they want to eat healthier, live a better quality of life, but don't know where to start. Often people turn to me with questions about food substitutions, which I will do my best to answer without overwhelming someone with information. Things really seem to ramp up over the holiday season with food and over indulging. I would like to take a moment to write here and offer a few suggestions on veganizing things. It can be confusing when you're planning a dinner party, a gathering, or whatever, and you know someone has an allergy or special food concern. The word "vegan" often paralyzes cooks & bakers for reasons I just don't understand, but don't beat yourself up over this. Even almost all restaurants seem to grapple with these issues and cooking/baking is their livelihood. With the vast resources on the internet, I am constantly on line researching new ideas, looking at recipes, and coming up with ideas. You can too. In the interim, here's some tips.
If you want to bake something vegan, you can substitute exact measurements of dairy milk with soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, or almost any other non-dairy milk. If you need "buttermilk" in a recipe, measure out your non-dairy milk, then add about 1.5 teaspoons of lemon juice per cup, set aside for a couple minutes to curdle, and presto veganized "buttermilk." You can substitute butter with a product called "Earth Balance" soy margarine. It comes whipped in tubs, organic, conventional, and in sticks, just like butter. The measurements are exactly the same for baking purposes. To substitute eggs in baking, you have a few options. My favorite way of "faking eggs" in baking is to mix 1 tablespoon of ground organic golden flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. This equals 1 egg for baking purposes. No, you cannot scramble it, fry it, or otherwise "egg" it, but for baking, it is ideal. Sometimes people have concerns eating seeds (like in diverticulitis) so when I have that concern to deal with, I use a product called "egg replacer" by "Ener-G." I believe it is a potato starch. The box has the directions for use. Its a powder that you mix with water. You can buy this at places like health food stores and Whole Foods. Skip the Crisco, instead buy organic shortening from Spectrum organics.
Another substitution for eggs is using either applesauce or mashed bananas. I do not use those substitutions as I find the final product is too dense living on the water as I do. But, they're possibilities for you perhaps.
Tofutti brand makes soy based sour cream and soy based cream cheese that can be substituted measurement for measurement when veganizing a conventional recipe. Be careful with the Tofutti to make sure you buy the cream cheese that is non-hydrogenated, as they have 2 versions, one hydrogenated, one not. I'm not sure why that is.
With these substitutions you can convert almost any recipe. For a thickener, I use organic arrowroot, never cornstarch (personal preference, I believe corn starch is almost evil). Gluten free vegan baking is a whole different world, I will not spend too much time on it as I'm still working on perfecting that myself. As I've written in the past, I live on the ocean, and its very difficult to get gluten free baking just right, at least for me. I like to work with gluten free flours like sorghum, coconut, rice and almond, and often will make my own "base" combination of flours. However, "Bob's" makes a decent line of gluten free flours, baking mixes and other products, which you can bet you'll find sitting in my pantry too. When baking vegan gluten free, I find that it's imperative to never over mix gluten free recipes, to bake them for the least amount of time possible, and as soon as its out of the oven, you take it out of the pan so it doesn't continue to bake in the pan. Gluten free vegan baking in my world can get gummy or chewy, so be extra diligent.
Suppose you're going to have a holiday gathering. Hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, finger foods, desserts. You've got someone vegan who'll be there.... what to do? I know I'd be thrilled to walk in and find a nice assortment of fresh cut veggies tucked around a hummus plate, maybe some tabbouleh (you can buy that pre-made, same as the hummus, if pressed for time). You can put out some nice organic tortilla chips, or toasted pita points too. Maybe some fresh salsa (you can buy organic already made too), and serve your beverages of choice. Always make sure you have something non-alcoholic available for guests. I think cranberry juice with seltzer looks nice & festive, you can dress it up with nice garnish. Dessert? Simply take your favorite chocolate chip recipe and veganize with the above tips. How about buying some nice fresh strawberries, and dipping them in organic melted (vegan) dark chocolate. Place in fridge to set up and voila, instant tastiness. If you'd like to serve a hot food choice, you can boil some pasta (make it whole wheat), mix with some sauteed dark greens, garlic, chopped tomatoes and white beans. Season to taste. Delicious, trust me. One thing, make sure you don't sprinkle it with cheese when its ready to serve. That is definitely NOT vegan, and would ruin all your enlightened efforts. Instead, you can feel free to sprinkle your food with nutritional yeast if you want a "cheesy" taste. Or, leave as is, because it will be so delicious you don't need to add anything else.
Vegan isn't scary. Vegan is good. Vegan is kind. Vegan is enlightened. Vegan is healthier. Vegan is easy once you drop the mindset that its complicated. It's not complicated. We all eat vegan often, we just don't call it vegan. Salads, pastas, rice, fruits, veggies, beans, and many "mainstream" items are accidentally vegan (for example, regular Ritz crackers are vegan, so are regular Oreos!) Read labels, care about what you eat. Reduce your consumption of animal products. Every vegan meal you eat is a victory for you, animals, our planet, and our future. Our bodies are miraculous. Take care of yourself, and reap the rewards. Happy veganizing!
No comments:
Post a Comment