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What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I think for me it has to be UHT coconut cream, which when whipped actually tastes like proper cream, and is much cheaper than the coconut milk method. Even the omnis were impressed and said it tasted like proper cream.
Also, JusRol puff and filo pastry is vegan so it was nice to be able to still make nice puddings.
Finding a really amazing Italian site with vegan cheeses that are easy and cheap to make.
Sainsbury's digestives, so am going to try making a tofu cheesecake one of these days.
Haven't had much luck with the 'meat' side of things. I do like seitan but need to work on that a bit more. I've been trying out seitan escalopes which have turned out quite well.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Just finding out there are alternatives to omni foods. And they taste delicious. I wasn't expecting the delicious part.
I found some yummy vegan garlic and chive cream cheese for bagels. I've had it on whole wheat toast so far and it's quite tasty like that. But I so want it with bagels. Must buy some when shopping this weekend.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Daiya. I don't buy it often, because it is processed and loaded with fat and sodium; however, it's a nice treat since I'm soy-free and all other vegan "cheeses" available around here are soy based.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
nutritional yeast - I love using it for homemade vegan "cheese" (I also add it to Daiya cheese before cooking, because I like it more that way).
I really want to start experimenting more with making nut cheeses. I had some amazing nut cheese at a raw restaurant in Miami a few years ago. I don't really remember the details, but there were 3 different kinds and I loved them. I wish I had the recipes, however, I do know how to make feta from almonds, which is pretty good (but doesn't call for nutritional yeast)
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Celtic chocolate caramels
Tempeh (I hated it at first but love it now)
Jus Rol Croissants
Nakd Bars
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Am I allowed to say 'everthing'? Food has just become more exciting for me since I went vegan! It's a mixture of the novelty value of finding vegan things and also learning to cook and discovering so many wonderful things. I never tried peanut butter or Marmite until I went vegan!
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
that it is quite self empowering to be able to easily abstain from things because of my conscience, now i feel like i can do anything, I even quit smoking very easily after a 27 year habit, I think my whole life has changed, my outlook, my health, my sanity, my attitude....
and these http://rawified.blogspot.co.uk/2012/...aimo-bars.html the greatest thing to ever pass my lips, deliciously fattening!
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
My most exciting find was Swedish Glace ice cream. Must have had more than 100 tubs of it down the years. Then I recently found out that since January 2013, Unilever has added it to its portfolio.....as I disagree vehemently with all forms of animal testing, I refuse to buy anything from that company.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
The most exiting thing is that my menstruation just last 2 days and a half and is not abundant, whereas before was about 5-6 days and it was pleintiful!
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
tickled onion
that it is quite self empowering to be able to easily abstain from things because of my conscience, now i feel like i can do anything, I even quit smoking very easily after a 27 year habit, I think my whole life has changed, my outlook, my health, my sanity, my attitude....
and these
http://rawified.blogspot.co.uk/2012/...aimo-bars.html the greatest thing to ever pass my lips, deliciously fattening!
Congratulations on giving up smoking. I gave up a year and a half ago, best feeling ever.
Before I was vegan, I was very materialistic and vain. I relied on material things to make me happy, I was an emotional eater, I used way too many chemicals. I used to love spending a lot on cosmetics and skin treatments. Now I'm happy with some bicarb and ACV lol
Since turning vegan I realise I can live on a lot less and still be happy, and I believe that humans convince themselves that they 'need' so much when we really don't. Its like when I started to practice Mindfulness I realise that letting go of things does make you happy.
I have a new attitude to food. Food is medicine. I appreciate everything I eat and try to know where it comes from. I don't overeat or eat for the wrong reasons.
And like you, I have pride in myself that I've managed to stick to something that I believe in, and it is empowering. I did a lot of research into nutrition and I feel so much healthier and lighter.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I really love the blackfriars vegan flapjacks, mostly the cherry and coconut one
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Cupid Stunt
My mind.
Your mind :thumbsup:
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Mixing chocolate almondmilk with coconut milk and coconut water.
Try it!
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
My taste buds! I have tried so many new foods and flavors. My health has improved because I have cut out so much processed foods. I feel proud of my commitment to animals, the environment, my health. I absolutely love being vegan. :heart:
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
new one... a vegan certified dark chocolate peanut butter. OMG I am in heaven. I think I could live on that stuff.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Eileen Dover
Your mind :thumbsup:
Awwwww, thanks Mum :o
(Can you post more of that kind of stuff for me, though? I want people to think that I actualy have a girlfreind ...)
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Tabbycat
new one... a vegan certified dark chocolate peanut butter. OMG I am in heaven. I think I could live on that stuff.
Would that be Dark Chocolate Dreams from the Peanut Butter Co? My fave is their White Chocolate Wonderful.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
the possibility of religion been a scientific method of finding some truths
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Quote:
stupefy!
the possibility of religion been a scientific method of finding some truths
Has that much to do with veganism?
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Cooking different and exciting things. Getting more adventurous.
I made seitan the other day, and it is amazing. And easy.
I plan to make vegan sausages next week.
And finding great forums like this, which has been really helpful.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I found out apparently oreo's in my country are Australian. The only thing debatable is the process of sugar. I love oreos.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I tried The Vegg last night and it was pretty good, although still a bit liquid like even after I blended it and added a little starch. I added spinach and nutritional yeast to it and cooked it all together and it was tasty and filling.
Agar flakes is another great find. And canned coconut milk. And believe it or not in all the years I was an omnivore I never ate an avocado or mango. Mango is my favorite fruit now. I have tried about every imaginable fruit and vegetable, and have used ground nuts and seeds and even beans/legumes for baking, lasagnas, casseroles, bars etc. So much healthier and interesting than loading everything with butter and eggs and milk and sugar. As a vegan I was introduced to high speed blenders and bought a blentec in 2011. I LOVE that machine!!! As others have pointed out, my diet is far more varied than it was before. As an omnivore I ate yogurt and oatmeal every day for breakfast with occasional pancakes or omelettes on weekends. Now I vary my breakfasts....chickpea flour omelettes; beans on toast; crockpot hot millet with apples; bulgur wheat and berries; countless varieties of green and vegetable and fruit smoothies; sauteed tempeh and leafy greens and toast; fresh fruit and walnuts; the list goes on.
And hemp socks. Just as warm in winter here in Northern Minnesota as wool. Wicks moisture too.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Robin, before I turned vegan I never ate breakfast, I couldn't stomach it. Now I have soy yogurt, blueberries and flaxseed every morning. I much prefer soy yogurt to dairy yogurt.
I still haven't tried tempeh. What do you do with it? Do you make it yourself?
May give bulgar wheat for breakfast a go! I really like it for dinner. What do you do with it?
I've tried more grains, I'm a big fan of pearl barley now. Also grew to like lentils after avoiding them for years.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Reide
I found out apparently oreo's in my country are Australian. The only thing debatable is the process of sugar. I love oreos.
No... In Australia? Are you sure?
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
misosoup
Robin, before I turned vegan I never ate breakfast, I couldn't stomach it. Now I have soy yogurt, blueberries and flaxseed every morning. I much prefer soy yogurt to dairy yogurt.
I still haven't tried tempeh. What do you do with it? Do you make it yourself?
May give bulgar wheat for breakfast a go! I really like it for dinner. What do you do with it?
I've tried more grains, I'm a big fan of pearl barley now. Also grew to like lentils after avoiding them for years.
I am just discovering how versatile bulgur wheat is! I made a sloppy joe mixture with it a few weeks ago and my omnivore husband raved over it. You can also add it to chili to make it thicker and give it texture. Another time I added it to homemade spaghetti sauce along with red lentils, tomato sauce, and fresh tomato and it really jazzed up my sauce and made the whole wheat spaghetti very filling. The breakfast cereal. I make a big batch of bulgur wheat and then store it in the refrigerator for a week. At breakfast I scoop a cup out, add cinammon, a little stevia (I grow my own stevia herb in the summer), and fresh or frozen berries and pop it in the microwave for a minute or two and viola, breakfast. I find that bulgur is not quite as heavy as oatmeal and I like that because I workout intensively for an hour before work in the mornings and I do not want to have a full stomach, but need enough to fuel my workouts. Bulgur is quite nutritious. I have always been faithful to eating breakfast, unless on some very rare fast. I don't eat huge breakfasts, but I have to have something. I love coconut milk based yogurts sometimes for breakfast with fruit and flax. I like the soy yogurts too but I have to watch my soy intake due to being on thyroid meds and too much soy drives up my TSH. If I have it a few times a week, such as the tempeh, it doesnt bother me but everyday and I start to feel run down and then I have my thyroid levels checked and sure enough they are off again. Also I take my thyroid meds in the early morning so anything soy or heavy in calcium I take later in the day to avoid problems with absorption, which is the main problem with thyroid meds and soy.
The tempeh...I buy it in a package where it looks like a square block, and cube it up, marinade it, and add it to stir fried or sauteed vegetables over rice or millet. Or I might make sandwiches using tempeh, sauerkraut, onion, and some sort of dressing or leave it as is and add leafy greens. Or I just crumble it and simmer it in a little water with leafy greens (kale, collards, whatever) and spices such as cumin or garlic etc. I have found cinammon to be very good with steamed leafy greens. I once crumbled up the tempeh and added taco seasoning and put it in hard shell organic corn tacos with vegetables and salsa.
I am a big grain person, always have been. Not flours or breads, but whole grains. I love millet, bulgur, steel cut oats (in the crockpot with apples is awesome, and millet also makes a nice hot cereal in the crockpot!), raw soaked buckwheat groats (goes nicely into a crunchy granola or reminds me of grape nuts when soaked and eaten raw at breakfast with fresh fruit but is more earthy), quinoa, couscous, wild rice...I have had pearled barley a few times but it just doesnt appeal to me as much. And lentils! Even as an omnivore I loved them. It was one of my first staples when I went vegan. I only knew about brown lentils until I went vegan. Now I use red ones a lot, and yellow split peas as well as green ones in split pea soup and for dahls. Lentils are awesome in soups, veggie burgers, even baked into ginger bread (red lentils). I am still continually amazed at the versatility of some of these foods. I love to cook and experiment, rarely ever eat out. I am also discovering what you can do with seitan. I avoided it for my first two years as a vegan, I guess because it is associated with the "fake" meats. I also avoided the commercial vegan cheeses the first two years, and for that matter most processed stuff. But I have come to the point of relaxing a little more with food and trying things here and there. I buy vital wheat gluten and make batches of seitan (I use the recipe from Post Punk Kitchen website to make it) and use it in various casseroles. I made a mock stroganoff once for my husband with it, and I add it to steamed brocoli and homemade brown sauce and onion over rice sometimes. It is a very strong protein source if you can handle gluten. I could go on and on but I better stop for now. lol.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I was really put off seitan as I once bought 'mock duck' in a can, and even thinking about it now makes me dry heave lol.
But I bought wheat gluten and have made some nice things with it, mainly Asian cooking.
I also avoided vegan cheese, but found an amazing Italian website that had vegan cheeses that were so simple and cheap to make.
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Quote:
misosoup
I was really put off seitan as I once bought 'mock duck' in a can, and even thinking about it now makes me dry heave lol.
I've never had tinned mock duck, I'm working up the courage to try it! I have also seen tinned mock chicken and pork, I assume that they are not too different! One odd thing I did see recently in konyaku prawns... I am also still working up the courage to try those! :)
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I really like that tinned mock duck!
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Barry
I really like that tinned mock duck!
I do too, though the fake goose-pimples aren't its best feature :p
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
LOL oh god, the goose pimples! I would probably give mock pork a go.
I first had seitan from a Chinese takeaway, it was 'vegetarian chicken' so I gave it a go. I was so impressed as I'd never had anything like that before and I was desperate to find out what it was, as it was much nicer than Quorn (I was just veggie back then)
The only meat I liked before i turned veggie when I was 10, was beef and bacon. I never would have eaten duck back then anyways. Bacon is the one meat I really miss and can remember how good it tastes.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
I'm ashamed to say I have a love for mayo. I hang my head in shame :sad: ... LOL. So needless to say, my most exciting find is Vegenaise :thumbsup:
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Robinwomb
I tried The Vegg last night and it was pretty good, although still a bit liquid like even after I blended it and added a little starch. I added spinach and nutritional yeast to it and cooked it all together and it was tasty and filling.
I was mucking about with The Vegg last night too!
Tried the scramble vegg (crumbled tofu, Vegg, seasoning, little pieces of 'shell' made from a broken lighbulb) but couldn't get the texture to be quite right after cooking it. Wasn't too bad, mind.
Gonna try and 'Frittata-ise' the leftover mix later on :)
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Food wise: Vegusto melty cheese and Co-Yo coconut yoghurt (vegan pro-biotics, yay!)...
Cosmetic/clothing wise: Lush solid Gorilla perfume (Tuca Tuca) and Vaute Couture (I'm gonna flutter me eyelashes at hubby for one of their coats)...
Emotionally/mentally: I'm MUCH more self-assured. I used to be very easily lead, and my opinions were often quite easy to manipulate, because I worried what people thought of me. Now I truly don't care nearly as much about others' opinions on me, because I'm okay with me regardless.
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Quote:
Peabrain
Vegusto melty cheese
I've tried the piquant Vegusto and love it. I haven't tried the melty one, is that the one that comes in the tube? :)
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Quote:
Cupid Stunt
little pieces of 'shell' made from a broken lighbulb
A couple of my lightbulbs exploded recently due to an electrical surge, might be a good way to be eco-friendly and use the remains ;)
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
The most exiting thing for me has been cooking in general. Before going vegan I was just buying packaged foods mostly and now I actually know what I am eating.
The other exiting thing for me is the 20 lbs I dropped in a week. I've been over weight most of my life and always used the excuse that I enjoy food too much to eat properly. But I am enjoying food much more eating properly, I feel fantastic and not so tired all the time.
Plus I discovered I must have had some sort of food allergy to the stuff I was eating as I used to be constantly congested and now I am not. Go figure.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Dan Swatik
The most exiting thing for me has been cooking in general.
Thats a really good one, I now make 90% of the food I eat and love cooking
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Firestorm
Thats a really good one, I now make 90% of the food I eat and love cooking
Yeah, what I like about that is now I know what I am eating. Before going vegan god only knows what was in the stuff I ate. Things I couldn't even pronounce.
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Re: What's been your most exciting find since turning vegan?
Quote:
Blueberries
I've tried the piquant Vegusto and love it. I haven't tried the melty one, is that the one that comes in the tube? :)
Yep! It's strong flavoured so you don't need a lot, it's good on pizza, but it's also good cold and used like a spread. I usually use a vegetable peeler to slice it as it's too soft under a spreading knife...
I get a pizza base and passata, then top it with vegan pesto and the melty cheese (I also give my teen son some Realeat chicken style pieces which have been smothered in a combo of the vegusto cheese sauce, pesto and a bit of tomato puree on his pizza)... Om nom nom!