Vegan Diet Advisor

Joe Stepaniak’s “Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook” was among the first cookbooks I bought after deciding to adopt a vegan diet 3 years ago. For those not familiar with the term “uncheese”,  Stepaniak uses it to describe rich-tasting spreads, dips, sauces and blocks produced with dairy-free whole foods (primarily beans, nuts, or grains).

Cheese lovers be forewarned: you may be in for some disappointment if you’re expecting tofu to taste like Feta cheese or chickpeas like Havarti. The book’s introduction even acknowledges that “uncheeses are not going to be like dairy cheeses, so please adjust your expectations accordingly. ”

Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Unfortunately I skipped Stepaniak’s well-intentioned introduction and plowed in to the recipes, attempting  Tofu Ricotta, Chick Cheez, Swizz Cheez, Buffalo Mostarella, Brie, Betta Feta, White Bean Boursin, Monterey Jack and Port Wine uncheeses.  And while all were tasty (my favorite is the sharp Chick Cheez spread–made from Garbanzo Beans) they left me somewhat disillusioned and wondering whether I could actually live without real cheese.

As a result of my initial experience, “The Uncheese Cookbook” sat dormant on my shelf for some time. Little did I realize that I would come back to Stepaniak’s book later (many times), finding it had improved with age.  Its most valuable lesson is that it introduces unfamiliar ingredients, and uses them as well as more commonplace items–including raw nuts–in groundbreaking fashion.

For example, I had never heard of nutritional yeast, an ingredient employed in many of the book’s recipes. Nutritional yeast is a rich source of vitamins and minerals that has a pungent cheesy taste, too. I later learned that Stepaniak is considered an aficionado on the subject, having authored “The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook.”

Among other new ingredients (and somewhat challenging to obtain) were agar and kuzu (both plant-based thickening agents used in place of gelatin), and umeboshi  plum paste, used for adding saltiness. Chickpea flour (a.k.a. Chana Besan) while common in Indian cuisine, is also employed in many uncheese dishes.

The introduction to Uncheese Cookbook provides a detailed and useful reference to all the aforementioned ingredients as well as others. It also contains a well-documented background of how the dairy industry has influenced the evolution of the American diet (echoing T. Scott Campbell’s “The China Study”), and provides detailed nutritional data on the benefits of  non-dairy sources of calcium, protein, fat, and carbohydrates vs. dairy products.

Moving on to the recipes, I found many of the “Uncheese Dishes” to be superb. Among my favorites are:

• Chocolate Almond Cheeze Cake (p170*) with Granola Nut Crust–Everyone who’s tasted it are astounded it tastes more delicious than real cheesecake, without using eggs or dairy products (maple syrup is the secret).

• “Besto Pesto” (which imperceptibly substitutes cheese with miso)–How can a vegan diet be considered sacrifice when you can still enjoy a dish of linguine with Genevose pesto sauce?

• Chickpea Flour Pizza (p128), eaten alongside vegetable curries–It takes all of about 5 minutes to prepare, so it’s very convenient, too!

• Beannaise (p150)–Used as mayonnaise substitute within other recipes, and also by itself, as a dip for vegetables or salad dressing.

*Note: page numbers refer to the 10th edition of the book.

Other recipes I would recommend include: Parmezano Sprinkles (p50), Eggplant Parmagiano Stew (p80), Spinach-Tofu Manicotti (p117), and Zucchini Chedda Soup (p77).

Upon re-perusing “The Uncheese Cookbook”, there are still many dishes I plan to sample, including: Classic Quiche (p102), Lemon Teasecake (p169)-the “Key Lime” variation, Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce (p63), Hot Spinach-Artichoke Dip (p49), and Curried Cauliflower Cheez Soup (p76).

Other features of the book I liked are the charts of nutritional values for each of the recipes, and the listings of food allergens (gluten, soy, nuts, corn). On the other hand, the book contains only 4 pages of photographs, and certainly could benefit from more.

If you already own “The Uncheese Cookbook” but haven’t picked it up for a while, I suggest it’s worth another look. If you don’t, please get a hold of a copy and try its innovative and healthy recipes based on plant-based ingredients. Just remember to put aside your expectations of dairy-cheese taste, and you won’t be disappointed.

Being away from home can make business travel and vacation challenging and stressful for anyone who’s trying to eat healthily. This is particularly so for new vegans who are still trying to adjust to a diet without animal products but may have fewer alternatives than usual.

However, given the fact that business travel is often necessary for our jobs, and most people enjoy going somewhere new for vacation–at least occasionally–how does the vegan or aspiring vegan deal with eating away from home?

Below are some tips for business and vacation situations:

1. Business travel–Eat as much healthy (whole-grain, low-fat and minimal refined sugar) vegan foods you can at those meals where you have the most control over the venue. For me that’s breakfast, because lunch and dinner are often spent with colleagues or clients, and you’re less likely to have a say over the restaurant chosen or the menu.

Breakfast buffets at hotels are quite vegan-friendly, and as a result they are probably the safest places to eat while away from home (provided you don’t give in to temptation to eat 80 percent of the food that is non-vegan!).

For example:

a. Most salad bars have an enormous variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Just remember to stick with oil and vinegar dressing (did you realize that there are 120 calories per tablespoon of oil?).

b. Asian dishes (tofu, vegetable stir fry, rice/noodles, vegetable curry, porridge)
c. Whole-grain cereal (hot or cold) prepared with soy milk. Note that oatmeal is usually prepared using dairy milk, if you don’t specify otherwise.
d. Whole-grain breads (check to see whether they contain butter or eggs first)

If you have any doubts whether something is prepared with animal products, just check with the wait staff.  And don’t forget (or feel embarassed) to take a few pieces of whole fruit (banana, apple, etc) from the salad bar to eat for snacks later in the day.  This will enable you to fend off hunger until you can find another healthy vegan meal.

If you are unfortunate enough to have to spend all of your meals with non-vegan co-workers during a business trip, be sure to let them know your vegan diet preferences, and suggest restaurants that are likely to have foods you will want to eat, too. The longer the trip, the earlier you should inform them, as you may find it difficult to return to your vegan diet if you fall off the vegan wagon during your trip.

2. Leisure travel–Culinary travel takes on a whole new twist if you’re trying to stick to your vegan diet. It used to be that going somewhere foreign, you’d probably eat out 3 meals a day. And, if you’re staying in a conventional hotel, often you have no choice.  Rather than being at the mercy of the restaurants or room service, I highly recommend finding a room equipped with a kitchenette, so you’ll have the ability to prepare some of your own meals if you cannot find vegan-friendly restaurants.

A refrigerator in your hotel room is also essential for you to store and eat fresh fruits/vegetables. Ask the concierge at the hotel for directions to a nearby market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and try to carve out room for them among the mini-bar items. Again, the longer your trip, the more important it is to follow this  advice.

If you don’t like the idea of cooking for yourself while on vacation, by all means do your research ahead of time so you are prepared to have a vacation that is both enjoyable and healthy. For example, London has a great variety of vegan restaurants, as well as 100s of Indian restaurants that are typically vegan-friendly. Whereas other countries, such as Spain, have more meat-centric diets (you may have guessed when every restaurant in Madrid is ornamented with cow’s shank in the window and/or hanging from the ceiling). Still, this shouldn’t necessarily stop you if you’re dreaming to visit Madrid for a look at Picasso’s Guernica.

3. What about times when you’re not traveling far from home, but just have no time to cook healthy? It’s difficult enough for one person, let alone two, to grocery shop, cook, and  align their schedules perfectly to eat together on weekdays. Therefore, be sure have a list of vegan-friendly restaurants that are convenient to wherever you and whoever you’re dining with may be. Decide how far you are willing to go out of your way to eat healthy, and plan ahead.

It would be great to eat at home all the time, especially when becoming vegan, but as busy people we often don’t have control over the timing or even the location of travel. That’s why it helps to get used to cooking and eating healthy at every opportunity. Then, when you’re away from home, maintain consistency in your diet. You won’t feel like eating just anything, but will be more motivated to make an effort to seek out and plan healthy meals.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has made a liar out of me. Not long ago, I wrote that Moskowitz’ “Veganomicon” was the last cookbook you needed to buy, and now she comes out with “Vegan Brunch”. Blame it on her vegan Italian Feast Sausage recipe.

You see, growing up in an Italian-American family, I was used to eating pasta with tomato-meat sauce for Sunday dinners and other special occasions. Meat usually included meatballs, spareribs, and sausages. Living on myown as an adult, special dinners had always consisted of meat of some sort, if not cheese, and more likely both! As a result, it seemed Sunday dinners would never be the same after becoming vegan. Now, 3 years later, I’ve discovered there are hundreds of other delectable and healthy meals worthy of Sunday and any other day. But when I’m feeling nostalgic, pasta with a “meaty” tomato sauce is the ultimate comfort food.

You may ask, why bother making your own vegan sausages, when there are already meatless sausages appearing on the shelves in major grocery stores? I think that’s great news, and without a doubt, vegan sausages are preferable to meat sausages, but reading the ingredients and the nutritional data, I’m not sure all meatless sausages are actually healthy, or good for your diet. If you like to know what’s in your food, like me, why not try making your own vegan sausages?

Homemade Vegan Sausages!

Although I won’t divulge Moskowitz’ recipe, Vegan Brunch’s vegan sausage recipes (3 different varieties!) consist primarily of navy beans, wheat gluten, and seasonings. My tastebuds may have changed since becoming vegan, but the vegan sausages tasted fantastic–as good as meat sausages–piled on top of my plate of pasta. Preparing these yourself, you realize it’s herbs and spices (not animal products) that make most dishes taste delicious, anyway. The wheat gluten makes them chewy on the inside, and fried, they become crispy on the outside just like meat sausage. But they’re so much healthier and humane. And, did I mention that vegan sausages are fun to make, too?

On second thought, perhaps it wasn’t the vegan sausage recipe, but the Pumpkin French Toast, or the Tempeh Bacon Revamped recipe that made me order Vegan Brunch the minute it hit the virtual bookstore shelves? As someone who became vegan late in life, it’s truly exciting to discover that many foods you thought were off limits are now literally back on the table!

One more noteworthy point about the Vegan Brunch book itself, especially for those who wished “Veganomicon” had more photos, is that “Vegan Brunch” is filled with photos that will inspire your vegan cooking to new heights.

If you’re someone who still believes vegan diet equates with “sacrifice” (I admit I felt that way, at first), I urge you to pick up “Veganonomicon” or “Vegan Brunch” and learn for yourself how good it feels to prepare and eat healthy and mouth-watering dishes.

tofu chana besan omelet with okra

I’ve blogged numerous times about how The China Study was the single biggest motivating factor in my adopting a vegan diet. However, at least equally important is “Veganomicon,” the book that has sustained me through the transition and has become a fixture in my kitchen.

Veganomicon, which bills itself (rightly so) as the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, is the product of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, who also wrote “Vegan with a Vengeance” and “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”. The pair also created the PostPunkKitchen (theppk.com) vegan recipe website, where you can find some teaser recipes from the Veganomicon book.

My partner and I have tried about 40 of the dishes in Veganomicon, some several times, and our copy of Veganomicon (covered with numerous post-it notes and splatters of various sauces) is never far from our sides or minds.

One of my goals was to attempt all of the 250 recipes in the book. However, we’ve enjoyed the recipes we’ve tried so much (our favorite being “Baja-Style Grilled Tempeh Tacos”), it’s difficult to find reasons to try new ones.

Among our many other favorite recipes are:

• Chickpea Cutlets (p133)
• Escarole with Beans (p107)
• Spicy Tempeh with Brocolli and Rotelle (p191)
• Spicy Peanut and Eggplant Soup (p147)
• Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream (p164)

And for those of you with a sweet tooth:

• Almond-Anise Biscotti (p240)
• Fig Smushed-Anise-Almond Cookies (P235)
• Banana-Date Scones (p224)

True to the authors’ claim, many of the recipes in the book can be prepared with ingredients in your pantry or found at the local grocery store. There are also main dishes and deserts that are more elaborate and time-consuming but well worth the trouble, as you and your non-vegan family/friends will not feel they’re missing anything.

Fortunately for me, I discovered Veganomicon shortly after finishing The China Study, or I may have died from malnutrition, if not boredom, first. I believe both books are required reading for anyone interested in giving up their animal-based diet for one based on plants. It sounds trite to say, but Veganomicon may really be the last cookbook you’ll ever buy!

Since many of the special occasions in our lives are closely associated with eating particular foods, the older we are, the harder it is to contemplate adopting a vegan diet, out of concern it will no longer be possible to celebrate holidays and other significant events with family and friends.

In my case (growing up in an Italian-American family), Easter was always associated with ham; Thanksgiving, Turkey (with sausage stuffing); Christmas Eve, a variety of seafoods; Christmas Day, pasta dishes (containing  ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and parmegiano cheeses); New Years meant pork roast, etc; Not to mention countless extended family Sunday dinners of macaroni and meat sauce, chicken, roast beef, racks of lamb, etc.

On these special occasions, there were often antipasto or hors d’ouevres consisting of cheeses and dried meats, such as pepperoni. For dessert, cheesecake, layer cake, or ice cream served with whipped cream.  More recently, living on my own, I also  enjoyed preparing many foods outside my own ethnic background, such as Greek dishes like moussaka (containing bechamel sauce), or spanakopita (containing feta cheese).

Looking back, beginning a vegan diet at 43, I felt a tangible sense of loss at the thought of celebrating holidays without meat, fish, or dairy products. I realize now that I was so discouraged at the thought of denying myself these foods that I barely acknowledged the celebrations for the first couple years. Day-to-day eating was difficult enough, but holidays always seemed to call for excess, and it just didn’t feel the same without animal products.

Perhaps these feelings are unavoidable, at first, but before long (if you choose to follow through), you will come to understand it is possible to separate the special occasion from the food served, and that after all what is most important is sharing special moments with loved ones, not what you eat or how much you eat, isn’t it?

The second thing is, you also realize there are plenty of tasty foods that you can begin to build new associations with special occasions. While there is no direct replacement for a ham or a turkey (although some may like Tofurky), cheese and eggs used in eggplant and lasagna and other pasta dishes can be substituted with tofu and other ingredients.

For help making vegan versions of your favorite holiday foods,  just try searching Google with the name of the holiday, i.e. “vegan Thanksgiving” or “meatless Thanksgiving recipes”, or alternatively search with the name of the dish you want to eat, i.e. “vegan Moussaka”.  There are links to many excellent vegan recipes sites here (in the sidebar to this blog), or on the “Easy Healthy Vegan Recipes” page, too.

With the right mental attitude and adequate preparation, you can enjoy sharing holidays with your family, and take pleasure in eating new foods, too!

Before becoming vegan, I used my my gas barbeque grill year-round. At least once a week (regardless of weather) you would find me barbequeing chicken with garlic and herbs, and on other days lamb, pork, steak, fish or other seafood as well. Often I would barbeque vegetables (i.e corn on the cob or potatoes) alongside the meat main course, but after becoming vegan, I almost thought about getting rid of my grill.  It was as though it was not worth firing up the grill just for barbequeing vegetables. Or perhaps it was out of fear that I might be tempted to barbeque meat again?

Fortunately, I kept my grill around as it’s perfectly suited for roasting large quantities of bell peppers needed in roast pepper salad antipasto.  During my transition period from meat-eating, it took me over 2 years to use up one tank of gas (so long between refills, in fact, my LP gas company had gone out of business!).

Now, however, in my 3rd year of following a vegan diet, I enjoy eating barbequed vegetables as much as I ever did any expensive cut of meat, fish or chicken. Although you can eat a lot more vegetables barbequed than raw, you’ll still find vegetables are much cheaper than meat in comparison.

Last weekend,  I enjoyed one of the best barbeques, if not one of the best meals in my life, period. We feasted on barbequed corn, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin squash, mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, tofu, and Italian bread. Although my hosts are not vegans, and could easily have cooked some meat for themselves, none of them seemed to miss meat.

There was practically no preparation, and no fancy marinades were needed: just slice the vegetables (not too thin, to avoid drying them out) and brush lightly with olive oil to prevent them from sticking to the grill (or use a non-stick grill pan).   And, as it is with indoor vegan cooking, cleaning up afterward is much easier than for meat.

So, if you are a BBQ lover, don’t fear that becoming vegan means the end of barbeque parties. It may take a while (as long as 3-4 years if you’re in your 40’s like me) to change your habits before you can accept vegetables, rather than meat,  as the main dish. But, if you stick with a vegan diet, you will surely be able to find the same enjoyment eating BBQed veggies as you formerly did eating steaks, burgers, chops and chicken.