My Favorite Vegan "Dairy" Products

I read somewhere once that becoming vegan is a process, and I have learned this to be definitely true.  It is hardly an overnight achievement that you decide one night as you fall sleep—to wake up and be completely vegan.  It is more like a series of stages and challenges to be completed one at a time. And when you have nothing left to change, well...then you are vegan!

One of the toughest challenges for me was giving up dairy.  I think this is where a lot of people may have trouble.  We are so used to having milk, eggs and cheese in everything that it can become overwhelming trying to learn how to shop, cook and eat without them.  When I first started shopping vegan, I spent hours in the store reading the labels just trying to find a product that did not contain dairy, and it was not easy! One can so easily become frustrated and just give up.

Dairy substitutes can help make things easier.  Being able to substitute your dairy products for a great vegan option can help to ease the transition.   The trouble is knowing which products are good and which are just a waste of money.  So I have listed a few of my favorite products that I think are worth trying.  I hope you enjoy them!

Coffee Creamer

One of the most important things I needed to ensure for me was a good way to still have my morning coffee and keep it vegan. I just do not like the way the powder non-dairy creamers taste in my coffee.  I'm a big coffee drinker and I love to have it with a bit of flavor. Silk's creamer does the trick.  It is smooth and creamy and comes in Regular, Hazelnut and French Vanilla.

Soy Milk

If you were a big milk drinker (as was I), it can be quite difficult adjusting to the flavor of diary-free milks. But don't get worried about your morning cereal, there are quite a few good options that with time, you will enjoy much better than cow's milk.  My favorite is Silk Soy Milk. After a while, you will wonder why you even drank cow's milk.  It comes in regular, chocolate and vanilla.  The best is vanilla...trust me, even my teenagers now request it!

Sandwich Spread

Looking to make a great potato salad or have a yummy veggie sandwich?  When looking for a dairy-free mayo, I found Nayonaise and loved it! I have not even tried another product. I hear that Veganaise is good too, but I am happy with Nayonaise.  From what I have read, it is the Miracle Whip and Veganaise is the mayo. I suppose this is why I like it so much, I always did prefer Miracle Whip to mayo.

Soy Yogurt

I love this Silk Vanilla Soy Yogurt! This is one of my favorite vegan finds.  It comes in a pint size container so it's great for making smoothies, parfaits, or just eating right out of the container.  I use it to make my morning parfait with frozen blueberries, strawberries and maple granola...so good for breakfast or for just a snack. Even if you're not vegan, you will love this yogurt.

Single Serving Soy Yogurt

If you're looking for a great single serving soy yogurt, O'Soy is a great choice.  It comes in a pack of six—three peach and three strawberry. Both flavors taste really good! These are perfect for taking on the go. I usually pack one in my lunch for work and I bring a little granola to put on top. I was worried at first that I just wasn't going to like the taste of soy yogurt, but I really do enjoy this one!

Vegan Cheese

It is not easy (at least not for me) to find vegan cheese in the grocery stores.  I have only found it at Whole Food's and I have not found too many different choices. I have tried just a few and I can say there really is no reason to try any other than Daiya! I have used this to make pizza, quesadillas and pasta dishes and it works great. It melts really good and tastes yummy. My husband actually likes this better on the pizza than regular cheese..so it must be good!

Buttery Spread

After going vegan, I wondered what was I going to put on my toast now! Luckily I came across Earth Balance and I am so glad I did. It is so good and you really can not tell that it is not dairy.  It spreads easy and works well in cooking and baking. It's more expensive than butter or margarine, but it is definitely worth it!

Tofu Scramble Saved Our Sundays

Since before we were married, my husband and I have always enjoyed having breakfast together.  Whether we went out to a restaurant or cooked at home, breakfast has always been sort of a time when we can sit down together and connect for just a little while before the stress of the day begins.  Sometimes we might not even speak much to each other.  We may just eat our food and read a magazine or a newspaper and still feel so connected for a little while.  Before we were married, we used to meet often in the mornings at a local Cuban restaurant before going to work.  It became sort of a tradition with us.  He would call me and ask me if I would I like to have breakfast, and I of course would say yes and we just knew where to go.  If we got there at the right time, we would have an hour before having to leave to go to work. It was a great way to start the day.

After we were married, life became very busy and it became harder to find many mornings for a relaxing sit down breakfast.  So we tried to at least have Sundays.  If we could get up early, we would have time to ourselves to have a Sunday breakfast before all the children woke up and the craziness of the day began.  Breakfast then was usually scrambled eggs with onions, green peppers, mushrooms and cheese.  That would be accompanied by either steak, pork or sausage and a side of toast with butter.  And let's not forget the latte! I think my husband lived all week just waiting for that Sunday breakfast knowing that it would be so tasty and filling.  It was our favorite time of the week...and then we became vegan!

Becoming vegan changed our lives in many ways and always for the better.  However, I was having trouble trying to find a way to still have those great Sunday breakfasts and sticking to a vegan menu.  For a while, we would just have toast, cereal with soy milk, or oatmeal.  Don't get me wrong, I love all these things for breakfast and during the week, this is what I will usually have.  But I wanted Sundays to be different, to be the breakfast that we fell in love with together and to continue our tradition. 

So I began to search and discovered a recipe for Tofu Scramble.  I was't sure how good tofu would be as a substitute for scrambled eggs and I thought my husband will not like this.  Then shortly after, I saw someone prepare it on a morning talk show and I thought to myslef, I have to try this...and so I did.  After serving it to my husband, I was completely prepared to hear him tell me that he didn't like it, but instead, I was surprised to hear him say, "this is really good!" I couldn't believe it, he loved it!  I also like it and now Tofu Scramble is a regular part of our Sunday breakfast.  I usually serve it with whole wheat toast with Earth Balance Spread, soy sausage links, soy milk and coffee.  It's like having our old Sunday morning meals again! 

For the recipie for Tofu Scramble, click here. 

Our Tofu Scramble Sunday Morning Breakfast

Project: Food Budget Week 8

Week: May 22-May 28
Budget: $ 120
Spent: $ 189

This has been another busy week for me.  I am posting this a few days late, but I guess it's better late than never.  This week I went way over budget!  However, it was expected since last week I didn't do any shopping at all.  I needed to restock just about everything since I had to use everything in the pantry just to get through last week.  So if you consider that I should have spent $120 last week and $120 this week, I'm really under budget after all. 

I started this week's shopping at Whole Foods.  I am only buying things there that I can not get at my local grocery store.  I try for a budget of $30-$40 for each trip.  This week I spent around $50, but I bought some extra stuff that I had been looking for.  And I also had lunch from the salad bar while I was there, not on the list, but it was good!

From Whole Foods, I went on to my local grocery store and completed my shopping there.  Unlike other weeks, I was not prepared with my weekly coupons (another reason I blew the budget).  I usually keep them in my bag, but I had removed them and forgot to put them back.  Oh well, I guess you can't always be prepared.  I spent a long time in the store trying to get all that we needed without going too much over budget.  That wasn't easy!!

This week's lesson learned: skipping shopping trips will only lead to a very long trip for the next visit and always try to be prepared. 

On This Week's Menu:
Veggie Tacos
Sloppy Joes
Tofu Scramble
Homemade Pizza
Veggie Picadillo
Southern Greens with Beans

This Week's Participating Blogs:

•Emily Levenson
•Veggie Converter
•Dairy-Free Cooking
•Motor City Girl In the Steel City
•Veggie Burgher
•The Happy Cactus
•Test Kitchen Tuesday
•Newly Vegan
•Veggie on the Cheap
•MeloMeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day
•Caroline Cain Holistic Health
•Going Veggie
•Under The Apple Tree
•Be the Change

The Best Meat-Free Burger

Ever since we decided to leave meat off our plates, I have been looking for a good meat-free burger. If there was one meal I knew my family would miss, it was burgers!  So in my quest to find a veggie option for all my family's favorite meals, I was on the hunt for a great burger.

I wasn't sure at first what kind my family would like.  There are so many varieties out there, like veggie burgers, meat-free burgers and black bean burgers, just to mention a few. Not knowing how to make a meat-free burger, I tried the frozen meat-free patties, and they seemed to work well for us.  They are not exactly like a burger, but I figured with ketchup, lettuce and mustard, who would know the difference?  The kids seemed to like them, or maybe they just ate them and pretended.  But that wasn't enough for me. I still wanted to find something that was yummy and savory and felt like that big juicy burger we were used to getting at BBQ. 

So then I tried black bean burgers.  I tested this on my husband first, and it was a good thing I did! They weren't bad, but they were not at all a substitute for a burger. The texture just isn't the same and they sort of feel a bit uncooked inside. I knew my kids were not going to like them so I will not even attempt to serve them the black bean burgers.

Then recently, at a trip to Whole Foods, I came across Gimme Lean by Lightlife. There are two varieties, ground beef style and ground sausage style.  I have used the ground sausage style before in lasagna and it was good, so I picked up the ground beef style,originally thinking I would make "meatballs".  But then later I thought that if it could make "meatballs", then it just might make a good burger.

So I formed patties out of the mixture, seasoned them with a little salt and pepper, and then I rubbed them with a bit of Worcestershire Sauce.  I have this notion that everything tastes meatier with Worcestershire Sauce (you can find a vegan one at Whole Foods). It's what I use when I want people to think they are eating meat (I also add it to my soup to make it taste more like beef vegetable).  I cooked them in a pan with a little oil, just a few minutes on each side and topped them with sauted oinons.  Then I put them on a toasted burger bun with Nayonaise and lettuce and served them with homemade baked french fries.  They were yummy! My husband loved it, as did I. 

Finally I had that savory and juciy flavor that was just lacking in all the other burgers I had tried.  I haven't made these for my kids yet, but I am going to. I'm sure they will love them too.  I know that there is probably a better meat-free burger out there, but until I find it, this is mine!

Project Food Budget: Week 7

Project Food Budget: Week 7


Week: May 15- May 21
Budget: $120
Spent: $0




This week, once again, I skipped my scheduled shopping trip. This was a busy week for me and I just could not find one day where I had the energy (or motivation) to go shopping. So thanks to enough left over food to make and a few days of take out, we made it through the week without having to visit the grocery store. Even though I put $0 for the amount spent for the week, we did spend on take out and maybe picking up a few things here and there. But I didn' keep count so I can't tell you how much we spent.