Hi friends!
I’m interested in transitioning to a plant based diet, and coincidentally my timeline of after the Christmas leftovers lines up with Veganuary! Anyone care to join?
I’ve no idea what the official rules are, and I’m a bit loose on the whole structure thing but how about
Vegans and not vegans are welcome
Trying hard is welcome
Giving yourself gentle rules and grace is good
Lend a hand, give grace, avoid judgement
Mistakesnshmistakes love anyway
I know veganuary is big in the UK but I still find this the most unpronounceable word 
Anyway I am vegan so I am in. Folks can feel free to ask me if you need help converting something to vegan cheaply, I used to be a vegetarian kitchen manager and conference cook.
My intro
I’m 37, pregnant and have been vegetarian mostly since I was 18. I ate fish for a while when I was handling some medical stuff
As of yesterday the only ways I was eating animal products were - super processed cheese, butter, ice cream, and cream in drive throughs. Eggs in baked goods. So it made absolutely no sense to keep eating them
My challenge point is that I have gluten issues, and need to be prepared for finding or packing vegan options because vegan gf can be tricky for eating out. I think it’s totally solvable!
Want to come here and change all my sunflowers into cheez? My obstacle is that sitting is good 
There is little to no chance I’ll manage to do full vegan this month, but I do really want to inch my food into a more plant-based direction.
I already probably have too many goals for January, so I’m going to be very gentle with my goals.
Make only one meal per day non-vegan. If that seems to hard, replace one non-vegan item you would normally eat with a vegan item.
So today, I’m going to toast my bagel instead of frying it in butter, and the toppings will all be plants. I’ll probably replace my mocha with a smoothie. That will make my breakfast vegan.
Yay vegan breakfast!!!
I’m just following for meal ideas and cheering. Yay plants! Tasty plants.
Had my breakfast sandwich today with Just Egg, which is a plant based egg replacement. I actually love it! It’s a little pricey but given I need like 3-4 yolks to get an acceptable amount of egg on my sandwich (now that I can’t eat whites) so I think it evens out.
I love just egg! Way too expensive, yet I just ordered more for Monday groceries?
If you’re doing daily breakfast sandwiches there are some good tofu egg recipes
Yeah, it’s like $5/bottle, but eggs are currently kinda pricey too, and at least this way I’m not wasting half of each egg that I can’t eat.
I’ve done tofu as a sub for a bit but it lacks that eggy flavor for me. Adding nutritional yeast helps a bit but isn’t quite there, so I may look up more recipes. I wonder if I could soak/mix tofu with just egg?
I only have the folded just egg.
But I’ve seen a lot of different tofu egg marinades. And some reviewers add Kali mirch (black salt) to just egg for more sulfur
Try to find some kala namak (black salt). It’s got a sulfurousness that will help with the eggy flavor. Any Indian/Pakistani grocery should have it.
I am so far pleased with my gentle lean toward plant-based.
Today I have eaten a potato, a pile of brussels sprouts, about three cups of fruit (smoothie), and a bunch of refried beans in a tortilla. Usually my plant-based foods are like… bread/rice and coffee and that’s it.
Smoothies are quickly becoming a staple. We also recently got for xmas a toaster oven that doubles as a dehydrator and air fryer, and have been experimenting with dried fruits because I like snacks.
I am at a stumbling block. Two different grocery services failed to send me corn tortillas. I defrosted non vegan gf bread. Without covid I’d cook around the issue. But this is not the week for that
Anyone have go-to vegan dinners they like? I’m looking for more ideas…
Roasted tofu, rice and veggies!
Cube tofu, put in roasting dish with water, oil, sauces and spices. Roast until it releases water, reabsorbs, but isn’t quite bone dry
Tandoori tofu, rice and veggies!
Marinate tofu with tandoori masala and lemon juice (oil optional) bake until delicious
These are my favorite because they are so easy
Daal & rice.
Lentils, spices, mashed garlic and ginger from a jar. Cook spices for a moment in oil first, then add lentils and vegetable stock, ~2 cups liquid to 1 cup lentils. Simmer until soft.
Cook rice as normal.
Nom nom nom.
Add vegetables as desired, e.g. onion, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, pumpkin…
Also pasta, sauce from jar, nutritional yeast. Hemo seeds if I want protein. You didn’t specify easy, so sauce from scratch is better
Chili (off my menu due to aversions)
Curry fake meat (off my menu die to aversions)
Palak (can sub tofu for paneer, or just do palak, or stir in a canned dhal close to the end)
Sauteed mushrooms and mashed potatoes and gravy (add lentils to gravy if you need protein)
Lentil mushroom shepherds pie
Bean tacos
Bean nachos
Vegan fries supreme (sunflower seed cream cheese or something processed like daiya is best here)
Baked beans and toast or chips (off menu due to aversions)
If you are doing faux stuff, I am very into just egg breakfast sandwiches/tacos. I used to be very into veggie hot dogs and nuggets. If you live near an IKEA the plant balls are very fake and I somety eat them there but absolutely love the veggie balls which are very real food
This helps a lot… I was just drawing a blank lately, recently my brain has not been able to fathom how to prepare a plant based meal without tomatoes of some sort. I mean I love tomatoes but I needed to switch things up
This was an amazing recipe! @Elle mentioned shepherds pie and this was SO GOOD.
Any ideas on how to use black/pinto beans?
I don’t want to do just burrito bowls or soups which is my go to.
Thoughts: curry, burgers, stir fry.
Black beans seem way more versatile than pinto and I don’t know why.