In a vegan or vegetarian diet, it may take time to explore new foods and develop some form of routine to it. There are many different products on the market today for vegans and vegetarians to choose from - keep experimenting to find your or your families personal preferences and tastes.
You should be-able to find quite a good amount of vegetarian and vegan products at supermarkets, natural health food stores and co-ops.
When baking, you can use substitutes like egg replacers, cornstarch or bananas to replace eggs.
Soy, rice and nut milks are great replacements for cow's milk. Plus there are many other dairy alternatives around like: vegan cheese, yoghurts, frozen non-dairy ice creams, and cream cheeses. These are all easily sourced through health stores or supermarkets worldwide.
If you are stuck for ideas on some quick easy menu ideas, here are some sample meal menu items for you to consider:
** Breakfast
- Pancakes
- Soy Yoghurts
- Fruit Smoothies
- Wholemeal Toast or Cereals
** Lunch/Dinner
- Veggie Mock Meat and salad sandwich
- Veggie Sausages or hot dogs
- Veggie or Soy Burger
- Simple Prepared Salads
- Tofu Kebabs or Wraps
- Veggie Fried Rice
- Tomato & Pasta Bake
- Soup or Curry Vegetables
- Veggie Stir fry with Tofu, tempeh, or seitan
- Baked Vegetables with Rosemary & Garlic Herbs
** Snacks /Dessert
- Cookies
- Cake
- Non-Dairy Ice Cream
- Dried Fruits & Nuts
- Fresh Fruits
- Chickpeas
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Soy or Veggie Crisps or Chips
- Vegan Pies
So as you can see there are an abundance of tasty foods on offer for vegetarians of all kinds, the tastes and wonders of one's food choices is only limited by one's own imagination.
If have you ever wondered how vegetarians, vegans or people just wishing to avoid dairy products make delicious tasting and looking cakes and sweets without much effort at all?
Unless you are a vegetarian or 100% animal free cooker, chances are that you have never cooked without animal ingredients like eggs and dairy. In fact, if you don't know any vegetarians personally you might not even be aware that you can cook without any animal by-products like, eggs and dairy.
Vegetarians are able to maintain a very healthy diet eating any number of traditional meals or sweets minus animal by-products.
And you don't have to be a vegetarian to benefit from such things, even if you'd just like to cut down on animal by-products for the many health benefits involved or if you are lactose intolerant, have vegetarian friends you'd like to cook for or are trying to avoid cholesterol . . . you don't have to feel you will miss out on all those wonderful sweets and treats you feel you can't live without. Because cooking minus animal by-products is so simple and easy you won't believe it until you experience it for yourself.
So I urge you to try the below recipe for yourself and then decide if vegetarians just eat rabbit food or not. You might be surprised. And you might even be shocked that you won't even notice these muffins are not cooked using any eggs or diary.
** Dairy Free Choc Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup coconut
1 and 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 190C.
2. Mix first 6 ingredients in a bowl until blended through.
3. Sift the remaining ingredients and blend in bowl until just combined.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Servings: 6 large muffins or 12 smaller muffins
If you are not a vegetarian but are considering becoming one don't let the fear of eating egg or diary free stop you. If you already are a vegetarian or don't eat dairy or eggs for other reasons, and have not tried cooking sweets, you might want to try it. It's so simple and easy if you know how and have access to proven recipes.