The key to plant powered food preparation is to know your substitutes! Here are some basics that will help you turn any one of your favorite recipes VEGAN in an instant!
Cheese
Daiya is by far the best – there are currently three flavors to choose from – Mozzarella, Cheddar, and Pepper Jack. If you can’t get Daiya the next best is Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet. Both melt and everything! You can also make homemade cheeses.
Parmesan Cheese
I’ve only found one that I like so far and it’s by Galaxy Foods. It’s called Vegan Grated Parmesan Flavor
Sour Cream and Cream Cheese
Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream or Follow Your Heart brand are both really good sour creams. Choose the Tofutti brand in the blue container to avoid hydrogenated oils. Both brands have a great cream cheese as well. Tofutti has several flavors, and also offers a non-hydrogenated version (yellow container).
Butter
Earth Balance Buttery Spread! No contest! Spread, sauté, fry, bake, or cook – works PERFECTLY. We tend to use the Soy Free version since it has less fat and tastes just as fantastic. It is also great for those with soy allergies.
Milk
There are many healthier alternatives to choose from such as almond milk, rice milk, hemp milk, soy milk, hazelnut milk and more. Three regulars in our home are: Rice Dream
Heavy Cream
Cashew Cream (see recipe for Cashew Cream) is the best for anything requiring cream. You can make it as thick or thin as you like, add seasonings, flavors, use it in soups, create sauces, make cheeses, and so much more! If you can’t use cashew cream, you can purchase soy creamer in the dairy section at most health food grocery stores and many commercial grocers as well. Organic Valley is one brand that I know carries one.
Eggs
Most recipes you can just eliminate egg – but there are times when an egg substitute is needed. I use Mila (ground chia seeds) mixed with water. You can also use ground flax with water. Just mix it in a little bowl and set it aside. It will start to turn the consistency of egg white. Works perfectly in all my recipes.
Mayonnaise
Vegenaise by Follow Your Heart is our favorite. They have several versions. We like the Reduced Fat that’s made with Flaxseed and Olive Oils. Tastes fantastic!
Animals (“meat”)
There are many meat substitutes. You can try them and you’re bound to find some you enjoy more than others. Here are some that helped make my transition easier – Gardein brand has several different meat substitutes that are really great since they really mimic the taste and texture of meat very well. This can be really helpful during a transition to a plant based diet for someone who is used to eating a lot of meat.
- St Ives Bologna (sandwich meat)
- Smart Dogs
Coconut milk (not light) is a great sub for heavy cream, too- you can even whip it into “whipped cream”
Awesome! Thanks for the advice, Jen. Love, light & aliveness. 🙂
Oh, and Nutritional Yeast is a good cheese sub- I just used it in a “cheesy” broccoli rice bake- we are not vegan but I have a daughter who can’t do milk. I made a mac and “cheese” with it the other day that was pretty good.
Yummy!
awwwwwwwsome
Awesome to see the substitutes, where do we find or purchase these from.
Thanks…Kiwi.
Kiwi, most of these products can be found at a mainstream grocery store. If you can’t find them there, you may have to visit your local health food store. Here in San Diego, we shop mainly at Jimbo’s (the local health food market). Nationwide, most of these products can be purchased at Whole Foods. AND these days with the amazing power of the internet, one can even order some of these online… just Google it! MUCH LOVE! <3
[…] I put this stuff on everything!) Toffuti brand “Better than Cream Cheese” (see: Know Your Substitutes) Organic tomato slices small handful of Organic […]
I can’t find your recipe for Cashew Cream, but you mentioned it above with the creamer substitute.
Sorry Kimmie! I guess I need to add this one. It’s simple – fill your vitamix or blender with raw cashews, if you’re using a regular blender, you will probably need to soak the nuts first, the vitamix is so powerful you don’t need to. Fill the blender with water, just over the nuts, and blend. Add more or less water depending on how think you want the cream. THERE YOU GO! Simple as that! <3
Also, making your own nut/hemp milk is SOOOO easy and saves you a bundle if you use them regularly. And tastes better. I prefer almond but you can use any nut or seed. Soak a handful overnight, the next day blend then nuts with 3X the amount of water and strain through a nut bag or cheescloth.
I keep mine in a mason jar in the fridge for about a week, and the left-over “almond-pulp” can be used for baking or ground into a flour.
[…] Spelt or Wheat flour tortillas Daiya cheese-shredded Chicken-less strips from Trader Joe’s or the brand Gardein Garlic-chopped […]
[…] Coat the parchment paper with a nonstick cooking spray or a non-butter product like Earth Balance […]
All of these products are regulars in my fridge/cupboard in some version or another. When I was making my vegan transition at the beginning of this year I thought living without cheese would be the most difficult thing I’d ever have to do, but I’m not truly living without cheese– I’m simply living without animal product based cheese. My body vibrates at a much happier wavelength as a result. The Daiya cheeses are great, as is the Tofutti cream cheese. The Daiya tastes fantastic, and can be used to make such melty favorites as grilled cheese, pizzas, etc. Follow Your Heart is also a good brand, but I personally prefer the Daiya. As far as oils, I use Earth Balance as butter and coconut oil for light frying of foods such as tofu. Oh, and I’ve tried practically every Tofurky brand meat substitute and LOVE me some Tofurky, but there are many other excellent meat substitutes, such as the Gardein brand pictured above. Being vegan tastes and feels great!
Heath and happiness,
Creeping Jenny
Great suggestions Krista. Thank you so much!
Krista–thank you so much!!! This is EXTREMELY helpful! I’m going to the store tomorrow–my journey begins on Wednesday!!! (Aug. 01)
PS–Also, thanks for posting pictures of the products. I know that will make it so much easier for me to find what I am looking for since this is new to me.
You’re welcome Karla! 🙂