With so many people opting for a vegan diet, more and more food choices and recipes are available to accommodate the change. In fact, there are many traditional foods that can actually be transformed into vegan-friendly dishes. If you are just starting your vegan journey, here are some cool vegan-friendly meal ideas and tips to help you out.
Vegan Options
Nowadays, not only are many restaurants offering vegan meal options, but grocery stores are also doing the same. You can now find plenty of vegan baking mixes as well as vegan-friendly meat substitutes at most supermarkets. Seitan is one of the best alternatives to meat when you desire the correct texture and flavor in your recipe. Lentils, while not quite as spot-on in texture or flavor, can still be a great way to satisfy a meat craving while keeping the meal totally vegan.
Vegan Alternatives
While there are many vegan recipes to choose from, some of them require lots of ingredients that you may not have immediately available. For example, an American favorite such as macaroni and cheese uses ingredients like grated potato and nutritional yeast to add that cheese-like texture. However, natural yeast may not be something that everyone has in their pantry. You can make pancakes vegan-friendly by using a non-dairy mix, and instead of butter, try coconut oil. Coconut oil is something that can be used for many different recipes, and you won’t have any trouble finding it on short notice.
Final Tips
With the Christmas holidays coming up, you may be working on great dinner plans but frantically trying to figure out what to cook that is vegan-friendly. Don’t stress. Although most people love a good turkey during the holiday season, cakes and pies are definitely staples that go with Christmas dinner. Many baking ingredients can be easily substituted to make delicious cakes and pies for vegans. If a recipe calls for egg, vegetable oil can be used as a binder instead, and virtually every store has non-dairy milk that you can use as an alternative when baking. Be careful not to make too much, as overeating is considered harmful during the Christmas season.
In order to make your holiday meal a success, try starting with the list of dishes you would like to serve. Then, see if you can find vegan versions of your favorite recipes. If you cannot find a vegan version of a certain dish, it is perfectly okay to swap out ingredients for non-dairy alternatives. Your dishes will still taste great, maybe even better!
After a vegan Christmas dinner, you’ll want to have a yummy vegan dessert. Read our article on vegan dessert recipes to find the perfect way to end your Christmas dinner!
