Vegan Talk Forums

Black Phase · Posted: Dec 18, 2007 12:35 am Post subject: Help Please, on vegan menu

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me set up a one day vegan menu. BigBecka had suggested that I try a vegan day for myself some time and I thought that it was a pretty cool idea.
I am not even vegetarian at all, so I am not sure where to even begin with this.
Please, NO soy. I cannot eat it for health reasons. Thanks.
So here I go to give it a go.

BigBecka · Animal defender Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 415

Hey, Black Phase! Here's the sort of thing I eat in a day:

Breakfast, with fruit juice and some really nice black filter coffee:

- Wholegrain toast with sunflower spread and marmite (yeast extract),
- or porridge (made with water) with a spoonful of golden syrup.
- If you eat a cooked breakfast, you could have baked beans on toast (the perennial veggie favourite!) or a veggie full english: toast or potato cakes with baked beans, veggie burger (you can get some soy-free mixes) and fried or grilled mushrooms, onions and tomatoes.
- I know people who will have a fruit smoothie, with rice or oat milk, and perhaps some protein powder (you can get trial sachets of hemp protein from www.nutiva.com)

Lunch: Most vegans seem to go a bit crazy about hummous, so it's definitely worth trying if you haven't already! Usually it's eaten with warm pitta bread (and maybe salad), or used as a dip. If there's anywhere selling falafel near you, I'ld recommend trying that for lunch.

I'm not very imaginative for evening meals! Hopefully someone else has a good idea!

I tend to cook vegan versions of non-vegan food, with chunky vegetables and/or beans or lentils (or tofu / soy mince) instead of the meat. You can indulge in a good splash of healthful oil, and some salt, since a vegan diet is low in these things

. In summer, I'll make salads with rice, buckwheat or quinoa stirred in.

Between meals I'll eat a few pieces of fruit or nuts, or I might make some vegan flapjacks or cookies. Some brands of potato crisps (chips?) are vegan.

Here's quite a good link on the sort of things you need to eat in a day if you're vegan. It's a little prescriptive, and emphasises using fortified foods (I don't tend to use them if I'm eating well, although I do take B12 supplements) You won't need to worry too much for just the day, though

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/vegetarian_and_vegan/veganproteins.shtml
And a concise introduction to nutrition here: http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/

Black Phase · Posted: Dec 21, 2007 3:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks, BigBecka. I am going to give it a whirl.

Yes, I've had hummus. The stuff is incredible. I first tasted it about a year ago, and was hooked instantly (my friend loved it too).

None of this stuff looks odd to me (I do not eat ANY processed food, only natural. I shop the perimeters of the stores, but avoid the bread section. I get my bread homemade 100 % whole grain with quite the variety of grain in it). I just didn't know how to put it together.

I am going to check out the sites,
I think that I Am to aim for a vegan day next week.
I will let you know how it goes.

BigBecka · Animal defender Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 415

I love homemade bread too - my boyfriend calls it lemnas or dwarf bread because I put way too many seeds and stuff in there... It's a bit dense...

I ought to add my usual disclaimer, that I'm not a nutritional expert or anything! These are just few ideas intended to be start...

Black Phase · Posted: Dec 21, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject:

I love dense breads. What do you put in there for seeds?

Ever taste real pumpernickel? It's like a brick! lol

BigBecka · Animal defender Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 415

At the moment I have hemp seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds

I'm out of poppy seeds and sesame seeds

I have some recipes for "rustic" bread, where you add some oats and golden syrup to the mix - that comes out very dense! I'm also experimenting with some of the flours the shops have started stocking, like spelt, buckwheat and rye flour.

I just rediscovered pumpernickel over the last year

Before then, I hadn't seen it since I was little! You can lightly fry it and use it to make reubens and warm sandwiches

They are very addictive - I'm going to have to limit my intake

ChrisCrossCMP · Posted: Dec 27, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject:

hey BigBecka, where'd you get those hemp seeds?
There's some in my granola but I'd like to find them separate...
and is there a such thing as "hemp butter"? I thought I saw it
somewhere. Hemp is amazing

_________________
Peace & Love.
-Lauren

Sergio · Vegan Talk Veteran Joined: 24 May 2001 Posts: 224

BigBecka, are you making your bread with bread machine or manually?

BigBecka · Animal defender Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 415

Sergio · Vegan Talk Veteran Joined: 24 May 2001 Posts: 224

I'm interested in bread machine, although they are not in my soon to buy list.

By the way, here you might be able to order hemp seeds from Canada:

http://www.hempseed.ca/hemp-seed.ihtml

BigBecka · Animal defender Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 415

I'm also quite interested in what everyone else eats in a typical day

My new years' resolution (well, one of them...) is to cut down on the comfort food and see if I can be a bit more healthy