A vegan is someone who does not use any animal products. Vegans give up both meat and dairy, which can make the switch from vegetarian to full vegan a difficult one. However, with a few staple ingredients, you can make healthy and tasty meals without sacrificing flavor or nutritional value.
Egg Replacements
Just because you've gone vegan doesn't mean you have to give up baked goods. Ener-G Egg Replacer is an inexpensive powder substitute that you mix with water and add to baking recipes. It is sold at health food stores and some grocery stores. If you want to bake cakes, cookies or bread and have no egg replacer powder, Vegcooking.com recommends mixing 2 tbsp. water, 1 tbsp. oil and 2 tsp. of baking powder for each egg the recipe calls for.
For recipes like custard, pumpkin pie and quiche, in which eggs provide the bulk and much of the flavor, silken tofu is a reliable substitute. The tofu must be pureed first to provide the right texture, then blended with the other ingredients.
Cheese Replacements
Vegan "cheese" is available in health food stores and some grocery stores. Usually made from almond, soy or rice milk, these cheeses come in blocks, slices and crumbles. However, they can be expensive and tend not to melt as well as dairy cheese. A substitute many vegans enjoy is nutritional yeast. These golden yellow flakes are grown on molasses and are sold in jars and the bulk sections of natural foods stores. You can create a rich cheese-like sauce by making a roux out of soy margarine and flour, then slowly mixing in warmed non-dairy milk and nutritional yeast flakes. This sauce has a nutty, buttery flavor and works well poured over pasta or vegetables.
Meat Replacements
Many of the commercially available meat replacements sold in grocery stores contain egg whites, which keeps them from being vegan. Fortunately, there are tofu and texturized vegetable protein, or TVP. TVP is sold as dried crumbles which can be reconstituted with water. It replaces meat in chili, tacos and spaghetti sauce, to name a few dishes. The crumbles by themselves are flavorless, but they take on the flavor of the sauce, marinade or spices with which they are cooked. TVP and extra-firm tofu are high in soy protein and impart a satisfying chewiness to recipes in which you would otherwise use meat.
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