Forums: March 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy
Created on: 03/09/10 08:35 AM Views: 1562 Replies: 7
DawnK31 Joined: 03/09/10 Posts: 1	Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 8:35 AM Hi Everyone, I have two questions regading the 21-day Jumpstart. First, I am struggling a bit to complete kick dairy out of my food repetoire. We have switched to vegan "butter", almond milk, but it's the cheese that still gets me. I'm using the Cabot cheese's which are lactose free but last night I made cheesy rice and at the last minute through in some parmesan. I guess I need some recommendation on vegan cheeses that taste as close to the real thing as possibe. Second question is about dinner. My husband and son, who are doing their best to hang in there with me on this change to our diet, don't really eat any vegetables. My son's eats carrots, brocoli, cauliflower, and potatoes (although I'm not supposed to eat a lot of night shade vege's with my Fibromyalgia) but those are it. My husband doesn't eat any. I can't cook whole wheat pasta every night but I need to make sure they are getting something healthy. Any suggestions here would be wonderful.
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babalonia Joined: 01/04/10 Posts: 60	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 11:28 AM You need to get yourself a couple of good vegan and vegetarian cook books, or you need to look for recipes on-line. Whole Foods has great recipes on its web site. There are tons of great vegan recipes. If you find them and try them, you won't get bored and won't get tempted to use dairy products. One thing you could try it Nutritional Yeast. It has a cheesy flavor, but it's not dairy. One very easy dish that we do, especially when we're in a hurry, is baked potatoes with chili and steamed vegetables on top. My husband is not a vegetarian, so he'll put Wendy's chili on his and I'll put Amy's Medium Chili on mine. Then, we'll both put on the veggies and my husband will top his with shredded cheese. It's very tasty and you can modify it for the non-vegans in your life.
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TexGal Joined: 02/25/10 Location: Texas Posts: 111	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 4:53 PM I realize that everyone is different and this may not work for anyone else, but what is working best for me is NOT to try to substitute non-dairy cheese, non-meat "meat", etc in my standard recipes. Instead I am trying totally new things, and really enjoying it. That way instead of thinking "I sure like this better with real cheese, real meat, etc" I think "Hey, this is interesting/delicious/etc" or maybe "I don't really like this, I won't do it again," but I feel like I am having a culinary adventure instead of making old favorites that don't really taste the same. As I said, this may not work for anyone else, but so far it is working for me.
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essie Joined: 02/26/10 Posts: 163	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 5:14 PM Those are both really good suggestions. When we switched, I got several cookbooks and just looked for exciting new things. I encouraged my husband to pick some things too--turns out he really likes casseroles. You can find lots of popular vegan and vegetarian cookbooks in libraries and often used in bookstores. Or swap with a friend for a while. Blogs are also great...and free. When you first transition, none of the "substitute foods" is really going to live up to your former favorites. But after your tastes change and you get used to a few new things, expanding your palette, trying new grains and stuff, then that veggie burger or soy cheese might wow you, or it might not seem so necessary. Hope you find stuff you like. The favorite cookbook and favorite vegan blog have tons of great links and titles. Last Kickstart people were going nuts for the Hearty Chili Mac recipe. A lot of people said their husbands and kids enjoyed it. http://www.nutritionmd.org/recipes/view.html?recipe_id=75
	Edited 03/09/10 5:15 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom
txgirl Joined: 01/04/10 Location: Pasadena, TX Posts: 82	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 5:21 PM I think I'm with TexGal on that one. When I first went lacto-ovo 20 years ago, my mom felt some need to buy me fake meats. I never liked any of them and was shocked years later to try spaghetti with TVP. I don't know if fake meats got better, or my taste buds changed. After that I went on a huge nostalgic comfort-foods with TVP kick for a while. Now that I'm working on this vegan thing, I haven't even bothered with the vegan cheeses yet. I think I need to put some time between me and my last cheese pizza before I can go there. I've seen mixed reactions, though, from other online folks. Some say the fake cheeses and un-cheese recipes hit the spot for them and others claim the fakes are hideous. To each his own.
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TexGal Joined: 02/25/10 Location: Texas Posts: 111	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 5:29 PM Yeah, for me it's just worked much better to focus on all the NEW stuff I am eating and cooking, and less on what I am "giving up." I know it is probably different for someone who has to cook for kids (or spouses!) who don't like to try new foods, and in those cases you might need to give them the substitutes for a transition.
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Mariberry Joined: 01/02/10 Posts: 297	RE: Two questions: Dinner and Dairy Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 8:10 PM Hi Dawn - when I read that your hubby doesn't eat any veggies the first thing that popped into my mind was the book my daughter uses to get veggies into her two-year daughter. She uses recipes from Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook "Deceptively Delicious - Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables!" Yes, she's Jerry Seinfeld's wife, and yes, it's a cookbook to encourage children, but what the heck! It will work and he won't know!! Check out her website: http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/ It's not vegan, but you can modify the recipes to suit your menu. I picked up the book for my daughter at Costco for approx. $8. Might be worth a shot... All we are saying is "Give Peas a Chance"
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aleta Joined: 01/07/10 Location: Claremont, CA Posts: 153	RE: Cook Books Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 10:01 PM For the ones that were looking for cook books. I lost the thread so am adding this. "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook" "Vegan Meals for one or two" "The Complete Began Cookbook" "This Crazy Vegan Life" "Becoming Vegan" And for the best baking every, "The Joy of Vegan Baking" ( the best, I think anyway) I've tried others but these are my favs and I like that most are pretty easy. Hope this helps. aleta email
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