NEW VEGAN LEARNING TO COOK - PLEASE HELP AND SHARE YOUR FAV!

[milochka]

Dear fellow Vegans!

I am a newly selfmade vegan and am attempting to learn how to cook (double challenge here!). the problem is, i'm planning to go back to school in the near future and my time is fairly limited these days. so the question is (drum roll please), what can i make, that's tasty, relatively low fat, good protein/carb ratio, and does not include the following:

wheat, cocoa (allergies), soy (don't like at all!), and rice (had too much sushi lately), preferably low GI.

Thanks so much!

p.s. oh, and not too expensive either

[CollegeB]

I read you are not in favor of rice, but when I was in your position I ate a lot of brown rice and beans, with frozen veggies. Also bananas and oranges. And actually I eat about the same stuff now. i also eat tofu, but if you dont like it you dont. Maybe a raw diet would work out well for you. No cooking! and it doesnt seem to incorporate foods you disagree with.

[milochka]

Dear CollegeB:

Thanks for your input. It's not that I don't like brown rice, I like it oh very much indeed. The problem is that its about the only grain I eat these days because homemade sushi is about the only thing I can cook As far as beans go, do you have any special tips for cooking? Mine always turn out to be so plain, even though I follow the instructions

Raw wouldn't work out because where I go to school its tres cold and I would have to eat soup in winter (I'm about 50-70% raw these days anyway, but the challenge is the other 50-30% hehe

Cheers!

[pelicanAndrew]

Raw is a little tough at school unless you have your own place to sprout things or to keep a juicer/dehydrator for a bunch of recipes. I hope to go way more raw next year when i have my own apartment.

 

I like beans plain but there's another thread that has a bunch of vegan chili recipes. Also i highly suggest rinsing canned beans off because they're so damn salty.

 

I usually just take beans, mix some rice with them and put them in a corn tortilla. If you want to get fancy you can add some avocado/guacamole.

[oregonisaac]

When I eat beans and that sort of food I often use:

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili

1 clove garlic

pinch of black and cayenne pepper

 

as kind of a base spice then add whatever I have like:

green/red/yellow peppers

onions

parsley/cillantro

tomatos (or paste)

 

and by the way, the chocolate chilli in that other thread is REALLY good!

[Kathryn]

Browse www.amazon.com for their vegan cookbooks, and read the reviews by users to pick one that has fast and easy (and tastey!) recipes. I remember seeing one recently (but I don't know where?) that was particularly geared towards students. Maybe Peta sells it?

 

My go-to quick meal is a wrap. I use a sprouted whole grain tortilla (you can also use big lettuce leaves or chard), fill it with a spread (see below) and various sliced, chopped and/or grated veggies.

 

Some combos:

Homemade hummus: dice onions and garlic, add a rinsed and drained can of garbanzos and blend (works fast and easy with a food processor: you can even get a reasonably-priced, manual food processor at www.qvc.com that would work well) and add your favorite seasonings (celtic sea salt brings out some flavor, nutritional yeast makes it taste 'eggy' ---at least to me, who hasn't had eggs for at least 15 years!---poultry seasoning makes it taste more like mock-chicken salad). Wrap with lettuce, shredded carrot,sliced cucumber.

 

Homemade black bean dip: Mix onions, garlic, tomatoes (soaked dried tomatoes work well, as they keep it thick rather than making it runny, otherwise, chop and drain other tomatoes before adding to the rest---if you don't like waste, save the drained tomato water to drink), mexican spices. Wrap with spinach (though not now, because of the ecoli thing!), sliced red peppers.

 

You can pretty much just use your imagination. And making a nice wrap takes a bit of trial and error, but you learn fast (at least I did: my first one was bulging at the seams and a bit messy, but the second one was already better. I found that using a sushi mat to roll them (with some plastic wrap on top, to wrap it in) works well.

 

If you have a microwave, or are patient, yams are a nice snack or small meal. Only 6 minutes or so to microwave.

[CollegeB]

vegweb.com has recipes, but there are plenty of sites for you to get ideas from. just search around for about an hour and you will have so many sites to look at you'll probably be sick of bean recipes. Isaac's suggestion was good. If you can find some vegit seasoning at a grocery store, then buy some, lots of herbs in that stuff, but also i've done tomato sauce, vinegarette, just play around with flavors you like.

[milochka]

Thanks for great suggestions, everyone! I can already smell fire in the kitchen !

[K-oz]

Hey milochka,

 

if you are into raw food you can also check this out:

"Instant Raw Sensation" If you have a blender, it is very easy and fast to make and doesn't containe rice, soy or wheat (of course).

 

I just started to make the recipes from this book and I like them very much so far.