Vegan Cooking & Cookbooks discussion

Today, Lee and I were giving some suggestions to a mutual friend for what vegan ingredients to substitute, for milk and especially for eggs, in something she normally has made not vegan.

If you have some favorite dishes that aren't vegan and would like to get some member suggestions of how to "veganize" them, please post in this thread.

They can be favorites from your childhood, relatively new favorites, holiday dishes, grandma's famous (insert specific food here), or any dish that you've had that contains animal ingredients.

Feel free to also post regarding any vegan substitution questions.

We'll try to help out each other so we can eat vegan without giving up any of our favorite foods.

Edit: Note: The ingredients can be ANY animal products: honey, eggs, cheese, milk, etc. dairy products, and all varieties of flesh foods.

By the way, a book I've found incredibly helpful is The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions: 200 Foolproof Food Substitutions for Everything from Milk and Meat to Sugar and Soy-Includes Recipes.

I love how, for instance, it gives eggs substitutes depending on the purpose of the egg(s) in particular recipes.

Others here are more experienced cooks than I am so I'll resort to what I find online, in books, etc. but we have quite a few members here with practical experience, and I have some of that too.

Thanks for starting this thread Lisa. It should be a fun challenge to help people veganize their favourite foods.

Thank you for starting this thread, Lisa! I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm not sure if I have any recipes off the top of my head, but if I think of one...! ;-)

Chandra, I'm sure you can continue to use the mix. Any non-dairy milk can sub for the cow's milk; soy might work best. I'll let members who've made cornbread or similar breads to chime in about what may be some of the best vegan egg subs to use when making cornbread.

Other members, Ideas?!

I like egg replacers that bring extra nutrition to the food, my favourite egg replacer is chickpea flour, it works really well for replacing eggs in recipes that call for a lot of them, even omelettes and quiches. I even wrote an article about how great it is: http://www.veganbaking.net/vegan-reci...

I also like chia seed or ground flax seed egg replacers in some biscuits (cookies), especially these oat and cinnamon ones I make a lot.

Hilda wrote: "even omelettes

Thanks, Hilda. Yes, chickpea flour with tofu and other ingredients, makes for great omelets.

Yes, I have "veganized" the jiffy mix ... 4 years ago (April 2007), I was visiting my sister in Baltimore, and she had the mix in her cupboard ... I was cooking for her family that week, and I made it with obvious substitutions like soy milk instead of cow's milk etc.

It was delicious! I think I may have also added a can of cream corn (which IS vegan), because that's how I like to make my cornbread.

BUT! I said "veganized" in quotes because I later found out that jiffy mix itself was not vegan. I think it had beef fat or butter or something ... I can't remember exactly what the ingredient was, but it was a very majorly non-vegan something.

And I'm sorry, I don't mean to yuck anyone out by saying that the cornbread, which I later found out was not vegan, was delicious. At the time I thought it was vegan, and I'm sure it wouldn't have tasted any different without that non-vegan ingredient that was in there.

[edit: Now that I know what the non-vegan ingredient was, I would say: it wouldn't taste any different if it had a vegan SUBSTITUTE for that ingredient.]

My point in saying that it was delicious was to say that you certainly can take a basic mix and use soy milk instead of cow's milk, etc, and it normally turns out fine.

And by the way, I'm the only vegan in my family ... so of course I would have been the only one perturbed by whatever non-vegan ingredient was in the jiffy mix.

Oh I found it! The non-vegan ingredient in the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix was: lard.

*sigh*

http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutriti...

INGREDIENTS:
Wheat flour, corn meal, sugar, lard, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), contains 2% or less of each of the following: salt, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid.

I'm surprised any manufacturer is still using lard in anything. It's been pretty much replaced by various vegetable shortenings. Yuck! Even when I ate as an omnivore, lard was unappealing to me.

I agree ; it's pretty yucky. Bums me out, that they would put lard in there; most people wouldn't think of questioning whether cornbread was vegetarian, know what I mean?

Rachel wrote: "I agree ; it's pretty yucky. Bums me out, that they would put lard in there; most people wouldn't think of questioning whether cornbread was vegetarian, know what I mean?"

Lard is disgusting, and honestly, it should be very prominently displayed on any ingredient list (I agree with Lisa, why is it even used at all anymore, vegetable shortenings are just as good, even better and they leave no aftertaste). And think about it, lard is also an absolute no-no for many people for religious reasons, so why is it still being used??

It is difficult, but not impossible, to find a vegan cornbread mix.

Arrowhead Mills has buttermilk in it, which would make it vegetarian at least, as opposed to the Jiffy Mix (which had lard) ...

http://www.arrowheadmills.com/product...

Krusteaz would be vegan except it has honey ....

http://www.krusteaz.com/cornbread-pro...

But Aha! Pamela's a have a truly vegan cornbread mix, and I bet it would turn out fine with some egg replacer, soy milk, and Earth Balance. In fact, the package looks very familiar, I probably did veganize it one time years ago.

http://www.godairyfree.org/Product-Re...


I'm pretty sure there are other vegan cornbread mixes out there, too.

Chandra, if you do want to make cornbread from scratch, here's a recipe from your quasi-namesake Isa Chandra Moskowitz:

http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/vegan-c...

Not too overwhelming, only 7 (very basic) ingredients! That recipe looks pretty good, I may try that myself ... that is, if I can get myself settled down enough to start baking again.

Good luck with the kiddo, hope she enjoys it when Mom experiments (just a little) and hopefully you'll find some cornbread that she likes!

On the topic of veganizing things ... does anyone know how to make a vegan version of fried green tomatoes? The recipes I am finding on line call for eggs in the batter. I found one vegan recipe that calls for ground flax seed, but "ground flax seed" is something that intimidates me, so I need another option.

Any ideas?

Or ... actually any fun vegan recipe using green tomatoes would be fine !

(I was staking my tomato plants today, and some of the branches with green tomatoes on them, got broken and fell off. I've never tried eating green tomatoes before, AT ALL .. so this is very new for me. Would welcome any suggestions ...)

Oh, I found a link to a recipe that does not call for ground flax seed ...

http://veganyumyum.com/2009/08/fried-...

That recipe looks great, but ... I wonder if there is something simpler I can do with green tomatoes? :) I actually only have 2 small green tomatoes to deal with right now so I don't want to embark on a big cooking project.

I wish I could help Rachel but I've never cooked with green tomatoes either.

And today I noticed there's a pretty easy looking recipe for corn bread in The Peaceful Palate: Fine Vegetarian Cuisine. Chandra, if you're interested I can pm it to you.

Okay, I'll get it for you. :-)

Rachel wrote: "Oh, I found a link to a recipe that does not call for ground flax seed ...

http://veganyumyum.com/2009/08/fried-...

That recipe looks great, but ... I wonder if there is something si..."

Rachel, did you want to fry them or are you open to other preps? I have a yummy green tomato chutney on my blog and I think I've shared another favorite green tomato recipe from there. It's a layered tortilla dish--southwestern comfort food. I'll send you the links or you can just go to www.thebloomingplatter.com and search "green tomatoes." I love their firmer texture, not to mention color and flavor.

Betsy wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Oh, I found a link to a recipe that does not call for ground flax seed ...

http://veganyumyum.com/2009/08/fried-...

That recipe looks great, but ... I wonder if there ..."

Rachel, I just read further up and saw that you wanted to fry them. Here's a recipe from my blog. Maybe it will fit the bill: http://www.thebloomingplatter.com/veg....

Chandra wrote: "Great idea! This got started because I was looking for a way to veganize corn bread. I have always just used jiffy mix. I wonder if there is a way to continue using the mix that calls for milk a..."

Chandra, being a former MS girl, I'm a huge fan of cornbread, especially my mother's "Double Corn Fingers," which are like individual servings of oh-so-moist cornbread. We used to eat a pan of them warm with milk and call it dinner when my father was out of town. My veganized version isn't made from a mix, but is so easy and quick, it might as well be. Enjoy! http://www.thebloomingplatter.com/veg...

Ooh, that fried green tomato recipe looks wonderful!
Thanks Betsy!
Am interested in other ways to prepare and eat green tomatoes so I'll look for the other recipes on your blog, too.

Rachel wrote: "Ooh, that fried green tomato recipe looks wonderful!
Thanks Betsy!
Am interested in other ways to prepare and eat green tomatoes so I'll look for the other recipes on your blog, too."

My pleasure, Rachel. And it's very quick and easy!

Does anyone know of a recipe for a vegan dirt pudding? Are regular Oreos vegan? And what is a good brand of cream cheese (vegan of course?)

Farrah wrote: "Does anyone know of a recipe for a vegan dirt pudding? Are regular Oreos vegan? And what is a good brand of cream cheese (vegan of course?)"

Vegan pudding recipes are pretty easy to find and make--yay ;-) My favorite simply involves almond milk, cocoa powder, flour, vanilla and agave.

I haven't come across any vegan Oreos but here is a recipe for something similar (you could just do vanilla for the filling)
http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/...

The only vegan cream cheese I've used is Tofutti. It's nowhere near as delicious as the real thing, but it is pretty good and the right consistency.

Good luck! :-)

Oh! I had heard that Oreos were vegan, and now I see that there is actually a bunch of debate about it!

http://current.com/groups/veganism/91...

Although I have a tremendous sweet tooth, for whatever strange reason, I've never really liked Oreos ... so I've never investigated this very thoroughly myself.

But if you read the blog, I found it interesting! They're talking about enzymes for leavening the dough, and the type of sugar used (is it bone-char or not), and they are talking about possible whey powder ... apparently the non-vegan-ness in Oreos is not listed on the ingredient label? Not sure but if you're an Oreo fan, might want to check this out.

Apparently PETA calls Oreos vegan while other people do not.

Farrah wrote: "Does anyone know of a recipe for a vegan dirt pudding? Are regular Oreos vegan? And what is a good brand of cream cheese (vegan of course?)"

Farrah, I don't have a recipe for Dirt Pudding, but as Kathryn suggested, vegan pudding recipes are easy to come by. Actually, regular Oreos are definitely vegan in the US! I think the confusion may lie in the fact that my research indicates they contain whey in the UK, Like Kathryn, the only vegan cream cheese that I can easily procure is Tofutti. It's been a long time since I tasted dairy cream cheese, but Tofutti does have a different taste from what I remember. Still, combined with other ingredients, it does the trick!

Yes, it's interesting, years ago I had heard that Oreos were "accidentally vegan," but ... hmm. I had no idea there was debate about it.

Here's the original blog with lots of people's comments.
http://my-face-is-on-fire.blogspot.co...

And here's Peta's philosophy on it.

http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian...

And here's the PETA Accidental Vegan list.

http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian...

I checked and "Nabisco Oreo Cookies" are still listed. So Farrah ... if oreos really are vegan, then that might make it easier for you to veganize the Dirt Pudding recipe. Sounds like a fun thing to do!!!

Rachel wrote: "Yes, it's interesting, years ago I had heard that Oreos were "accidentally vegan," but ... hmm. I had no idea there was debate about it.

Here's the original blog with lots of people's comments.
h..."

I know, Rachel. Me either! I can find nothing in the list of ingredients from Nabisco's site, nor the package, to suggest that US Oreo's are not vegan. Soy lecithin is vegan (though some lecithins are animal derived), as is calcium phosphate. No company that I know of, including Nabisco, indicates whether there sugar is filtered with bone char (though there may be some). And I don't see any other products that would be questionable. So, I really think it goes back to the US vs UK distinction with whey being used in the latter.

Thanks everyone! My mother used to always make dirt pudding with crushed oreos and it is such a wonderful treat! I will play around with some different pudding recipes and see if I can come up with a good blend and I will post it. Although I usually eat mine sans gummy worms..yick!

I would love to try a vegan version of Dirt Pudding! My thing about Oreos is that they always seemed too crispy to be any fun for just regular eating. I prefer soft and chewy cookies. BUT ... I used to enjoy Oreo "cookies and cream" ice cream, and I used to like Oreos that had gone stale and become soft.

So I'm pretty sure I would like to try me some dirt pudding. Farrah, let us know how it comes out. Would there be a way for you to post a picture on here, of the completed product? Hmm ...

As far as I know, Newman's Own creme filled cookies are vegan, and they're like Oreo's, the chocolate with vanilla filling ones; they actually make many flavors. Thanks, Rachel, for those links. I was under the impression that Oreo's were vegan and didn't know there was all that commotion about it. I prefer soft cookies to hard cookies so it's been years since I had Oreo's.

I've never had any type of dirt pudding but it sounds like a lot of fun. You could post the results on your profile for us. Or give us a link to the photo in your blog. I want to see what it looks like!

Back to corn bread for a sec: This recipe from Carol J. Adams's blog looks really interesting, especially for those who enjoy pecans: http://caroljadams.blogspot.com/2011/...

The Gluten-Free Vegan: 150 Delicious Ways to Cook Allergy-Free-Without Dairy, Wheat or Meat, which I am currently reading, has a recipe for cornbread, and it looks easy. (Gluten-free and healthy ingredients, too!) I will try it and get back to you guys with the results. (Is it bad form for me to actually post the recipe here?)

Rachel, we don't want to infringe on copyright by posting published recipes without permission. But we'd definitely love to hear the results if you make the cornbread. I can't remember if we have a thread going for that particular cookbook but we can start one easily enough!

Rachel, Unfortunately, the author is not a Goodreads' member, but you could try to reach her. She might have a blog or facebook page, or other website, or she may be able to be reached via her publisher. You could ask for permission to post her recipe here. And while you're at it you can invite her to join Goodreads as a Goodreads' author member and you can invite her to join this group. ;-)

That would be great Lisa, I will see if I can contact her.

Rachel wrote: "That would be great Lisa, I will see if I can contact her."

I hope you're successful.

We can post recipes from copyrighted books if we get permission of author and/or publisher.

SUCCESS! I e-mailed Susan O'Brien last night, and she e-mailed back at 9:30 this morning. She said she had not known about Goodreads and was so excited to learn about it. She said she joined Goodreads and became an author this morning. (I checked and sure enough, YES, she is a GR author now.) She said she is about to leave for a business trip and would be back in a week or so to participate more. I hope she will become active in our vegan cooking group, and maybe she will even share that cornbread recipe with us. :)

Thanks for the idea, Lisa. Ms. O'Brien was truly appreciative to learn about goodreads!

And I agree, goodreads is a fantastic resource. There are such thoughtful people on here. If I were an author, it seems like it would be a wonderful place to get feedback about the books.

That's fantastic news Rachel! I hope she does join us. Thanks for reaching out to her!

Rachel, Fabulous news!!! I hope she joins this group.

She's not a Goodreads' author yet. Make sure she follows the instructions to become one. Even then it generally takes a few days for Goodreads to approve it, which they will.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/program

From this page she can also click on author guidelines and author program how to links.

I actually did send her that very same link when I first contacted her. When I looked at her Goodreads page, it was very different from how it looked the night before, so it looked like she had already done it.

She doesn't have the (Goodreads author) after her name yet, at least not when I checked.

Post link to her profile page please??? Thanks!

I am chiming in a little late to this discussion, but I bake all the time and find the best substitute for cow milk is plain, unsweetened soy milk, and for eggs I always just use En-r-G (or however you spell it) egg replacer powder. I've found, however, that I have such a ridiculous collection of vegan baking books that I don't need to substitute anymore because I have a vegan recipe for just about everything. Collen Patrick-Goudreau uses that egg replacer a lot in her baking.

From a way up there, re the vegan cornbread, my friend Bobbi got back to me. She's an amazingly awesome cook. She says: "Vegan cornbread doesn't really need any form of egg substitute. I use Jennifer Raymond's recipe from The Peaceful Palate." Just FYI.