Post Punk Kitchen Forum

There are several recipes in there, that, old as they are, they are favorites. The Spaghetti for Peanuts is one I can think of right off. I have not dared try making it with Daiya Cheddar Flavor yet. Anyone try to veganize any of these?

I've never tried to veganize anything from Diet For A Small Planet, but I would absolutely love to see someone do Recipes For A Small Planet! That might be a great mofo project ... *hint, hint*

Ooh, there are several recipes in RFASP that I would like to veganize. I will start with the Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread. I figure that one can use molasses instead of the honey, and soured soy, almond or coconut milk or soy yogurt instead of the buttermilk or yogurt. The thing I can't decide on is what to substitute for the egg. (the original recipe calls for one egg) I was thinking maybe ¼ cup of applesauce, but I'm not so sure. Of course, I could use Ener-g Egg Replacer or ground flax seeds. What do you think?

I was also wondering about the DFASP Spaghetti for Peanuts. If I made cashew "cheez", would it make the flavor too nutty? I think I might veganize that tonight at home, and see how Daiya works in it.

I don't know what the recipe looks like so I can't say anything about that specifically, but I have often found that eggs don't need replacing. In lots of recipes you can just leave them out. Sometimes, of course, you do need to replace them with something, but don't assume that you must simply because a recipe calls for eggs. Also I often lower oil in recipes simply by reducing the amount (adding more liquid if needed). I never ever have applesauce on hand so it never occurred to me to use that as oil replacement before I started reading vegan cookbooks and blogs. I still don't use it.

When it comes to just one egg in a recipe, I usually don't worry too much about it. It's been my experience that a single egg generally doesn't do much. If there is sufficient baking powder/soda already in the recipe, I just omit the egg and increase the liquid slightly. One egg = a quarter cup liquid. Traditional Irish soda bread doesn't contain eggs anyway!

For the spaghetti recipe, Daiya would probably be the easiest alternative. I don't have my book handy, but I assume it uses cheddar? A good option might be the Gee Whiz Spread in The Uncheese Cookbook (and The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook). That stuff is fabulous! It uses white beans as the base and is super-quick to make in the blender.

Spaghetti for Peanuts (DFaSP) has copious amounts of shredded cheese. So far, I am not all that impressed with Daiya, and I have not heard of other brands that are any better about melting.

http://patriciasjoberg.blogspot.com/2011/11/spaghetti-for-peanuts-veganized.html I finally did it. Pleased with the results (although, now that I think of it, I'd really like more sauce and onions as well)

there's a bean and rice casserole that my mom used to make all the time when we were kids and she recently veganized it with tofu ricotta and it came out really good.

Carrot and onion soup is the bestest best best!! Just sub soy milk for dairy milk. You won't be sorry!

Now the Roman Rice and Beans is easy to make, but it only calls for parmesan (I like the parmesan-style toppings that are vegan). I can't recall which recipe would call for a ricotta of some sort. Speaking of ricotta, I wonder if processed cashews and tofu would work?

I forgot this one! And I always liked it, too! Gotta try this for dinner this evening. (Will have to stop by the farmer's market & grab some more carrots, though)

She just used blended tofu with herbs. no cashews. I think it might be called rice con queso or something. She just left out the shredded cheese, but I think daiya would probably work well in this.

Lappe wrote that book and the recipes when she still believed complimenting amino acids was necessary at every single meal. She added eggs or dairy to some recipes only to complement the amino acids, not to make a dish work in a culinary sense.

Yes, I know. I have the book.

I've looked at the recipes, and cooked quite a few of them back in the day. Though some just have eggs or dairy just for the protein, there are quite a few of them in which eggs or dairy are central to the recipe. That doesn't mean they can't be made vegan; it just takes a bit of work.

I just went through all of Diet for a Small Planet to see how many of the recipes are already vegan. I'd say about anywhere from a third to half are already vegan, or can be made vegan just by substituting one ingredient. However, there are so many that use copious amounts of eggs and dairy. Veganizing these will be quite a challenge.