You CAN cook vegan at home!

l get these questions all the time:  How do I cook vegan?  How do I do this?  I have children – they want their cheese and ice cream.  What can I do?  These and similar questions abound.

Luckily, the answers are easy!  We are in the age of EASY VEGANISM, meaning there are so many tasty easy vegan options out there, that switching to a vegan lifestyle is a snap!  Granted, perhaps ten or twenty years ago, things weren’t as easy, but all that has changed now.  Stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Fairway abound with vegan choices and options.  Even the more mainstream stores such as Waldbaums, Stop and Shop, and Key Food are carrying vegan options.

So let’s start with the basics.  Most people always have milk and butter in the house.  There are tons of non-dairy “milk” and “butters” to choose from now.  With respect to milk, there is soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, and rice milk.  The same can be said for yogurts.  There are also now cream cheese substitutes made from tofu or soy, as well as ricotta cheese and sour cream substitutes.  There are also numerous vegan mayonnaise brands such as Veganaise, Just Mayo, Fabanaise, and Nasoya. There are also a multitude of vegan ice cream companies selling delicious treats. Not only are these yummy and delicious, but they are far better for you nutritionally, as they do not contain the health-damaging, artery-clogging fat, and cholesterol of dairy products.

Cheese is generally a hard food for people to give up.  Well, at least it used to be.  Vegan cheese products have truly come a long way.  Brands like Miyoko’s Creamery, Treeline, Follow Your Heart, Daiya, and Chao makes extraordinary vegan cheeses that can totally hold a candle to their dairy counterparts. Miyoko’s cheeses are cashew based and are produced and aged the same way artisanal dairy cheese is made.

Plant-based meats have also improved leaps and bounds in the last decade.  You can substitute ground beef crumbles, Italian sausage, chicken filets, bacon, fish filets, crab cakes, you name it. There are many quality, tasty vegan option for which you can use as substitutes. There are even vegan turkey substitutes for Thanksgiving! And you can get plant-based deli meats  as well, such as sliced turkey from Tofurkey.

Top plant-based meat brands: Gardein, Beyond Meat, Field Roast, Tofurkey, Lightlife, and Yves Veggie Cuisine.

With respect to cooking at home, you can “veganize” any recipe by simply substituting a vegan version of any non-vegan item.  Here is a recipe I’m going to use as an example —

Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, taken from AllRecipes.com.

  • 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into cubes — Here, instead of meat chicken, substitute “Beyond Meat Chicken Strips”, or “Gardein Chic’n Cutlets”.
  • 6 tablespoons butter, divided –Here, you can substitute Smart Balance, Earth Balance, or any margarine.
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 pound fettuccini pasta
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 (8 ounces) package sliced mushrooms
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 3 cups milk — Here, use any plant-based milk product.  I have found that for a recipe such as this, soy works best.
  • 1 cup half-and-half — Here, try Silk Soy Original Coffee Creamer; it’s rich, creamy, and dreamy, and works as a great substitute for half-and-half.
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese — For parmesan cheese, you nutritional yeast flakes.  You won’t believe cheesy they taste, and they are loaded with nutrients.
  • 8 ounces shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese — There are awesome cheese substitutes available today.  For this, try Daiya shreds or wedges.
  • 3 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 cup sour cream — For sour cream, try Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream.

Happy Cooking!!

DONATE