*grins* Well, if all I can manage is brown gack, that's what she's going to get, unfortunately.

Thanks for the reference.

Ooh, speaking of whole grains, Maybe I'll start making porridge on a regular basis. I *think* that's vegan. . . I'll have to check on that.

Vegan. What fun :)

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AHHHH....well porridge could be vegan if you didn't do it with milk...I think a passable porridge could be made from silk soy...but I haven't tried it...

remember you can use soy for your cooking needs instead of milk. And there are some passable soy meats that cook up pretty good for things like tacos and burritos...ummm the soy cheese I don't particularly like..but hey try it and find out. Remeber soy is a vegans friend.

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Soy milk tends to cause problems with the way I make pancakes. I've eaten pancakes like this for so long that I can taste the difference between pancakes made with soy and ones made with milk.

And it's weird on cereal.

Soy cheese melts funny :) If it melts at all. I want my substitutes to act like the "Real Thing".

It's the same with butter substitutes. They just don't act right.

I just had soy tacos two nights ago. They taste just as bad as real tacos, so I guess in some places, they're the same :) Actually, they might be better, because I was amused by the rubbery texture that it had, and I've never been amused by a taco before.

On an amusing side-note, though, I ended up with what I'm now calling "Tofu Poisoning" on last Friday night/Saturday morning. How do people eat that stuff? :)

However, honestly, I'm not that opposed to using soy substitutes, and I've actually been doing that for over a year. I just reserve my right to point out that they're just that: substitutes. And they're far below my standards. :)

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oh beleive me..i understand...and I do agree with..i just know about these because a few of my roomates of the past few years...have played with being vegan and/or can not eat anything to do with lactose...so I have actually tried these. Just thought I would give you some pointers that is all...

I do hope that you can find some things that taste good to your palate...grin..

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Haha. We'll probably do what we've done since she became vegetarian: agree to disagree and cook two meals :)

People say you can live off veggies, I disagree :)

I need cow. Or pig. Or sheep.

Mmmm. . . Sheep. . .

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mutton.....mmmmmm ....with mint sauce..and yorkshire pudding.....mmmmmm

tis too early to be speaking of such things...you evil man...

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*laughs* I'm sorry. It's nearly lunch time for me :)

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ahhh i seee....tis only 9 am here...

*yawn*

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If soy milk in porridge is anything like soy milk in oatmeal, I'd skip it & just use water. Water's cheaper & the resulting taste is the same.

I love oatmeal but when I was dog-sitting I found out that my milk was a bit too old so I tried the vegan roommate's soy milk. Even a liberal amount of brown sugar, cinnimon & raisens coudln't hide the fact that it was very much not milk. Yuck.

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If you haven't been there before, take Tina to Benevolence Cafe for lunch sometime. (http://www.benevolencecafe.com/) I'm going there for lunch today -- their Benevolence Salad and house dressing is to die for. Yum yum!!

Also, check out the Benevolence Natural Foods Cooking School at http://www.delsbread.com/page4.html

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If they're anything like Whole World, will I be paying $8 for a postage-stamp of grilled cheese with no sides and weird "sprouts" offered to go with it?

On a side note, I do not eat salad. I find it generally disgusting, though I can occasionally stomach it without dressing and with lots of cheese.

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...will I be paying $8 for a postage-stamp of grilled cheese with no sides and weird "sprouts" offered to go with it?

I pigged out... had a huge Benevolence salad (yes, it has sprouts, but lots of other goodies, including cheese and eggs, btw), a bowl of black bean & peanut soup and a thick slice of "grains of the goddess" bread (half of which I had to wrap up and bring with me) for $8.95. I also picked up a half loaf of gog bread to go. If there's any left by Sunday's meeting, I'll bring you some. (nyah)

DEEEEEEE-licious!

Oh, and for the record, you can't really live on veggies alone, though the combination of rice and beans is a complete protein. (That was dinner last night... yummmmm.)

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Have you tried my salad?

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Gods, I hate dogma. Vegan dogma, Christian dogma, Pagan dogma... I wonder what it is about humans that makes them decide that some particular point of View is corerect enough to completely change their life.

I understand eating more veggies, even being vegitarian, but vegan has always seemed to me, to be completely irrational.

Oh well... "To Each Their Own", said the old lady as she kissed the cow (or the carrot as the case may be).


Toskie

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What about anti-vegan dogma? Do you hate that too?
How about anti-cannibalism dogma?

Nobody said you should be vegan. People make choices for themselves. You can continue eating whatever you want.

Anyway, many vegans do have rational reasons for their choice. You don't have to see it or agree with it, but that doesn't make it any less rational.

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I've always had an awful time making rice, for some reason, which is why I've got the rice cooker. I heart my rice cooker :). You can also steam vegetables in it.

How do you bake without eggs, btw?

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They do make egg substitutes, and I've heard that they're pretty good, but they're also very hard to find in a smaller town like I live in, so I don't know much more than that they simply exist somewhere, heh heh.

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I make mistakes all the time. Usually loudly and in public.

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I am friends with life long vegans...one is an MD as well. I will have her give me a few recipies which I will share for ya :-)

When we go out for sushi...she eats the veggie rolls whilst I dine on yummy fish :-)

Many restaurants cater to the Vegan croud....just have to know what to ask for :-)...

Middle Eastern Fair has all Veggy dishes, Asian cuisine (ala tofu), Heck eat at mongolian BBQ...make sure you tell them your vegan...they will use special cooking tools and all for you ;-)

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Unfortunately, the cheese substitutes are all plasticy, just like cheap 'American' cheese slices. Rice cheese, soy cheese, it doesn't matter. :X I don't like most tofu meats either, they're just not right... however there's a product called "Tofu Crumbles" which is excellent in terms of taste and texture. I use it in chilli, stuffed peppers, and other dishes with some sort of sauce in them. I don't like them for burgers, though.

As far as milks go, I have issues with lactose. I prefer lactaid to anything else, but then again I'm not doing the Vegan thing. Rice Dream is spiffy; I like the vanilla more than the other flavours. And Silk brand chocolate soy milk is brilliant.

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I'm vegetarian, not vegan; I like cheese and eggs too much and haven't found good substitutes. But I understand and respect the choice to be vegan.

I have a book on cooking with rice, "Quick and Natural Rice Dishes", published by East/West Natural Health (no named author). Mostly I've just used the descriptions and cooking instructions, including this cooking chart on page 8:

Type of Rice	Pressure Cooking	Pot-Boiling
Long grain white	do not pressure cook	1 cup rice 2 cups water 15-20 minutes
Short grain brown	1 cup rice 1 1/2 cups water 50 minutes	1 cup rice 2 cups water 50 minutes
Medium grain brown	1 cup rice 1 1/2 cups water 45 minutes	1 cup rice 2 cups water 50 minutes
Long grain brown	1 cup rice 1 1/2 cups water 45 minutes	1 cup rice 2 cups water 45 minutes
Sweet brown	1 cup rice 1 1/2 cups water 45 minutes	1 cup rice 2 cups water 50 minutes
Partially milled	1 cup rice 1 3/4 cups water 15-20 minutes	1 cup rice 2 cups water 20 minutes
White aromatic	do not pressure cook	cup rice 2 cups water 15-20 minutes
Brown aromatic	1 cup rice 2 1/4 cups water 45 minutes	1 cup rice 2 1/2 cups water 45 minutes

I like long-grain brown and brown basmati rice best, but since that takes 45+ minutes to cook I often cheat and use a box of Quick Brown Rice, which takes more like 12 minutes.

My favorite forms of tofu are smoked and baked, in that order, though smoked is harder to find. (The big white blocks are scary.) Smoked or baked tofu can take the place of meat as long as you take it on its own terms rather than expecting a replication of the meat experience. Tempeh can be used similarly; I use both instead of meat in my otherwise traditional (not vegan) lasagna.

The only meat that I ever really miss is pepperoni, and since that's ultimately just spices and texture it's easy to find a good vegetarian version.

The Clintonville Community Market (which I miss quite a bit) is both a good source of vegan (and non-vegan) food, and also a good source of useful books for vegan eating. One book I believe you can find there (it's locally published) is "Creating Peaceful Meals", by Karen Deibel. I've found lots of vegan/vegetarian books at Half-Price Books, too.

The Vegetarian Resource Group is a good resource for vegetarians and vegans, and among other resources for vegans publishes "The Vegan Handbook", which you might find useful.

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