So how do we do that? I had hundreds of dishes that I was "famous" for...recipes like green chili (with pork), chicken and dumplings, and spaghetti that I adapted from my mother and other recipes that I discovered and adapted over the years...things like chicken piccata and arroz con pollo. See the theme here? Meat, eggs, cheese all over the menu. So even though I relished becoming vegetarian and then vegan, I had a few things I was sad to let go. But no fear. Really. I am slowly adapting every last one of my recipes and changing them to vegan. And you know what? They taste just as good to me.
Take my green chili, for instance. I thought I could never (and would never) eat it again. But my husband said he was really missing it, so one day I thought to myself, "Why not just make it? Just leave out the pork." And you know what? It was freaking awesome!!! I'll admit I did increase the amount of anaheims I used to use and I added a little bit of jalapeno, but other than that, it was the same recipe. I did something different then with chicken and dumplings (because my daughter was complaining that she missed them) and arroz con pollo. I bought some Boca Chik'n Nuggets and substituted them for chicken. I don't think the chicken and dumplings will ever be the same (but they weren't bad!), but the arroz con pollo was perfect.
Those dishes are fairly simple to adapt, in my opinion. My fear was baking. And I kept telling myself that I'm vegan now. I shouldn't have a bunch of baked stuff. But you know what? I can and I will. Don't worry--I'm still getting lots of raw, nutritious foods (I eat plenty of raw fruits and veggies every day as snacks!), but why can't I have baked goods on occasion? There's no good reason not to. So now I'm starting to slowly adapt those recipes. Take my cornbread, for instance (there's a picture early in the blog, after the Week One menu). It used to use milk and eggs, and it was slathered with butter after it was cooked. It was full of animal protein and fat. Well, why not change that? I did. I simply removed the eggs, so it was a little heavier than the original version, but I'm okay with that. It makes it feel heavier and more filling. And I used soy milk instead of regular milk. Then I topped it with vegan margarine instead of butter. And I was happy!
So...the lesson here? If you have chosen to become vegan like I have, go for it. Don't worry about missing old favorites. You'll figure out how to adapt them at some point, and you'll be glad you did. Happy eating!
Do you have any posts on small changes that you can make to become a Vegan? My husband is a meat and potatoes type, so I know it will be difficult for him to make a change. I want to slowly introduce it. (And I'm not a good cook to begin with....)
ReplyDeleteHi, Aleta! My first suggestion is adding as many veggies as you can, and then substitute what you can when you can. Is there anyway, for example, you could swap Earth Balance margarine for butter on occasion? I think any time you can substitute with little resistance, that's a great way to start. And sometimes if you can flat-out find something that is vegan to begin with that the whole family loves, just make it (and don't make a big deal out of it if you can help it). If you can, I recommend reading "Living Vegan for Dummies" by Alexandra Jamieson. She has a lot of suggestions for how to ease into being vegan, whether slowly or "tofurky," as she puts it. My hubby is very meat and potatoes, too, but when I became a vegetarian (and then a vegan), I simply stopped cooking meat. I suppose you have a better way of doing it...diplomatically!
ReplyDeleteFollow up as I realize I didn't fully answer the question...next week I'll try to come up with more ideas about how to slowly introduce vegan foods!
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