Cheese

I'm finding it hard living without cheese, on vegan days.  So today I researched some alternatives.

Looking at recipes, it seems like nutritional yeast flakes are used in vegan cheese sauces, so I ordered some of them from VeganStore.co.uk.  I also got a rice milk chocolate bar (apart from the P&P and the hassle of ordering them online, they're pretty competitively priced) and some vegan marshmallows.  I have a Plan, involving those last two items, some kebab sticks, a microwave, and some strawberries.

When I get the yeast flakes, I'm going to try a form of vegan macaroni cheese.  Most of the recipes are similar, so I won't post a specific one until I do it.

A few days ago, I made a vegan Sunday lunch.  Slices of seitan with gravy (made from granules, which are vegan, I checked), and mashed potato with salt and soy margarine.  Next time, I'll include some steamed vegetables, and maybe, if I can be bothered, make some vegan yorkshire puddings.  We'll see.  It was good, anyway.


Most of my meals don't include vegetables.  I wasn't raised that way, so I'm having to train myself into the habit.  I'm aiming to have some form of vegetable with every meal, and slowly increase the amount.  So, for breakfast, I had oatmeal with soy milk, golden syrup, and chopped strawberries.  Now, I'm snacking on a seitan sandwich with baby spinach leaves and an apple.  I really want to perfect tempura.  I've never liked corn before, but those baby corns were absolutely delicious.  I'll try some steamed, but I really want them deep fried in batter.

I find myself eating a lot of carbs.  I'm not putting on weight, because my diet is normally like that, but I'd like to change it.  So we'll see how the veggies go.  I've also found that most bread doesn't have eggs or milk products, so I've found myself snacking on that, a lot.

Apparently, the Canadian guidelines indicate that adults should enjoy 6-7 portions of fruit and veg a day, 5-6 portions of grain, 1-2 portions of milk or milk substitutes, and 1-2 portions of meat and meat substitutes (if I recall correctly).  I'd like to aim for that.

I'm also trying to drink a lot more water.  I have very dry skin, so it will help with that, too.

I want some vegan mozzarella.  I want to make vegan ziti.  My version will involve baking cooked pasta in sauce (probably tesco's own brand sauce), and covering it in some form of mozzarella.  In a pinch, I can use the macaroni sauce.  I'm also thinking of putting slices of seitan on a hot-dog bun and covering it with the cheese sauce.  I can also use that sauce as lasagne sauce.

I've found that there's a vegan food store on Allison Street, in Digbeth (Birmingham).  I've got a suspicion that it's in the same building as the Warehouse Cafe (which serves vegan and vegetarian food).  I'll take a look when I've got some spare time.

Well, I say that, but I still haven't found time to check out Holland and Barrett.

I also heard about a restaurant called Jyoti, which serves vegetarian food, caters generously to vegans, and is based around Gujerati food.  My father's family are from Gujerat, so I confess to having some interest in checking it out for that reason alone.

Most recipes out there are US-centric.  I found a recipe for vegan mozarella, and one ingredient that lots of people seem to have trouble finding is MimicCreme.  Apparently, you can make a substitute using cashew nuts and water.  Might be worth a try, if I can get my blender to pound them properly.  Apparently, sainsburys is quite good for stocking tofu.  I'm not sure about agar flakes, but I can get rice vinegar from tesco.  I could probably do with getting a new bottle of garlic powder, mine is pretty old.