The Ultimate Veg Thread | Page 4 | INFJ Forum

The Ultimate Veg Thread

neko said:
Oh my godddd, your food looks delicious!
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Aww, thank you, sweets! I try to make my food look as good as it tastes. Cooking is an art that can appeal to several of the senses, if done well. I must be developing my inf-Se. :laughing:
 
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Wyote said:
Just gonna drop this here for people who don't know about it
https://www.imperfectproduce.com/
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Thanks for sharing this, Wyote! It's a helpful link! France has a campaign for selling "ugly produce". It is awesome. It always bugged me that (at least in the US) "ugly" produce is cast away.
In my old city there was a market where we could go to buy ugly and overly ripe produce for really, really cheap. (Not a good place to buy bananas, but otherwise everything was worth the trek.)
 
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I splurged on Easter goodies from Vegan Treats. It cost a FORTUNE. I've never bothered before because of the cost. I've had Vegan Treats cupcakes before and they're really good, especially the peanut butter bomb, but my SO refuses to eat them because he claims mine are better. This isn't exactly humble bragging – more straight up bragging/ informing that I used to make desserts professionally and know my way around a kitchen, so I'm not a bad vegan "pastry chef" by any stretch. Vegan Treats does some things better than I do, and I do some things better than they do. I didn't feel like making my own goodies this year. It takes a full day of prep and now that we live outside the city I don't have a gaggle of friends rushing to my house to devour the treats, which was more than half the fun of making treats! (In the past I have made Easter cookies and cupcakes with grass, flowers, bunnies, ladybugs, etc, made out of frosting and homemade vegan fondant, topped with homemade vegan jelly beans and more homemade chocolate bunnies.)

So, the Vegan Treats packaging is so festive and adorable, which makes it really fun. I bought one extra thing to try now, though, and I'm not impressed. I hope this is not foreshadowing that the fortune I spent isn't worth it. I bought the Twix to try now. It takes like a chocolate covered pretzel with caramel. The caramel tastes a bit "burnt". So, so far I'm not that impressed. :( (Sorry Vegan Treats, I still love you and will be back for peanut butter bomb cupcakes!)

You could make a similar treat at home by melting chocolate in a double boiler and dipping pretzel sticks in, then drizzling a darker chocolate or other candy over the sticks to make them prettier. The caramel would be missing, but the overall flavor would be similar. If you don't have a double boiler use a small sauce pan with a pyrex bowl over it.
 
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harperwhite said:
I've been trying to convert to veganism not so long time ago and still don't have any strict diet, but GOD, how I love Cocoa Butter Dark Chocolate. If vegan diet was of it, I'd be the happiest person.
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cocoa butter is vegan as long as it isn't cut with dairy. A lot of better chocolates and cocoas are vegan.
 
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@soulareclipse - I can't believe I didn't see your maki rolls until now! Amazing! I need to start making vegan maki again.


As I prepare my kitchen for cooking I wanted to go over something about cooking. Whether you are plant-based or omni learning the basics of cooking. If you have basic knowledge about acids, fats, seasoning, different cooking techniques, etc, it is very easy to wing it in the kitchen and you don't need a cook book. New vegans ask me what cookbooks I use and while I do have many vegan cookbooks, I use just as many non-vegan cookbooks. I grew up cooking a lot of the food I still make, but now I just substitute vegan products for non-veg because I know the framework about how ingredients work together and how to substitute. A lot of speciality diet cookbooks call for long lists of speciality ingredients and that is not practical or economical long-term. Save those recipes for once or twice a week (like a weekend dinner with family or your SO) and learn to make variations of your favorites for every day. Keep the basic staples you need in your kitchen to make the majority of your food.

Learning about ingredients and the "science" of food helps a lot in the kitchen and you'll be able to make anything with whatever you have in your kitchen, you won't break the bank, and you'll be able to sustain the diet of your choice more easily.
 
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Asa said:
@soulareclipse - I can't believe I didn't see your maki rolls until now! Amazing! I need to start making vegan maki again.
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Lol, thank you Asa. I loooove Japanese food so much...if I go 2 weeks without maki or chirashi or tamago gohan I'm like "I haven't had Japanese in forever" lol.

Asa said:
Whether you are plant-based or omni learning the basics of cooking. If you have basic knowledge about acids, fats, seasoning, different cooking techniques, etc, it is very easy to wing it in the kitchen and you don't need a cook book. New vegans ask me what cookbooks I use and while I do have many vegan cookbooks, I use just as many non-vegan cookbooks. I grew up cooking a lot of the food I still make, but now I just substitute vegan products for non-veg because I know the framework about how ingredients work together and how to substitute.
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Asa said:
Learning about ingredients and the "science" of food helps a lot in the kitchen and you'll be able to make anything with whatever you have in your kitchen, you won't break the bank, and you'll be able to sustain the diet of your choice more easily.
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So so true. One of the signs of a good cook is being able to make anything taste delicious, with or without a recipe as a guide. In fact, that's exactly how I use recipes - only as a guide. There are too many shitty recipes all over the internet lol! You've gotta know when you see something that doesn't look or sound right in terms of measurements, etc and be able to make adjustments accordingly. That's what I love about cooking - it really is a tasty blend of art and science. I actually feel like a Chemist with Creativity in the kitchen. :relaxed:
 
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soulareclipse said:
Lol, thank you Asa. I loooove Japanese food so much...if I go 2 weeks without maki or chirashi or tamago gohan I'm like "I haven't had Japanese in forever" lol.
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I love Japanese food, too. Vietnamese is my favorite. You've inspired me to make maki rolls again. I haven't made them in a while.

soulareclipse said:
So so true. One of the signs of a good cook is being able to make anything taste delicious, with or without a recipe as a guide. In fact, that's exactly how I use recipes - only as a guide. There are too many shitty recipes all over the internet lol! You've gotta know when you see something that doesn't look or sound right in terms of measurements, etc and be able to make adjustments accordingly. That's what I love about cooking - it really is a tasty blend of art and science. I actually feel like a Chemist with Creativity in the kitchen.
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I value my time working for kitchens alongside a few friends and acquaintances who are now chefs and with people who were respected chefs then.

With baking I follow the directions precisely until I know the recipe well enough to make my own. When I give a recipe to a friend and it doesn't come out I ask if they followed the directions and they always say yes, but they inevitably improvised. I set a timer if the directions say blend for two minutes. I worked as a dessert maker and have a lot of experience, so I can improvise, but I write what works down and follow it exactly... I even stick to the brand of chocolate or coconut oil I used.

With daily cooking (dinner) I hardly go by recipes at all. Right now it is gardening season, so whatever I have in the garden dictates what I make.

I have a lot of trouble cooking for guests, though. I never know what to make omnis who prefer traditional American foods. A lot of what I make is spicy, and I make a lot of Asian foods and a lot of spicy bean dishes. I like heat.
 
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Asa said:
I love Japanese food, too. Vietnamese is my favorite. You've inspired me to make maki rolls again. I haven't made them in a while.
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Tonight, I'm planning on making teriyaki nasu (eggplant) and tamagoyaki uramaki with sliced avocado on top. If it doesn't turn out terrible, I'll try to post a pic here. I've never made a roll with egg and eggplant before so we'll see lol. I don't know if I've ever had Vietnamese cuisine. I'm guessing it's pretty veg-friendly?

Oh, also, just a quick PSA - <begin pedantic remark> "maki" means "roll" in Japanese so you can replace "maki roll" with just "maki". <end pedantic remark> :grin:

Asa said:
I value my time working for kitchens alongside a few friends and acquaintances who are now chefs and with people who were respected chefs then.

With baking I follow the directions precisely until I know the recipe well enough to make my own. When I give a recipe to a friend and it doesn't come out I ask if they followed the directions and they always say yes, but they inevitably improvised. I set a timer if the directions say blend for two minutes. I worked as a dessert maker and have a lot of experience, so I can improvise, but I write what works down and follow it exactly... I even stick to the brand of chocolate or coconut oil I used.
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I'd follow a recipe from someone I trust knows what they're doing lol. Come to think of it, there are a couple of bloggers whose recipes I follow to the letter, so I suppose it was inaccurate for me to say I only use them as a guide. I've tried a few though from other sources (i.e., Pinterest) where I knew something wasn't right and I adjusted based on what I know about seasonings and techniques. For example, just recently I found a recipe for Japanese garlic fried rice that called for 10 cloves of garlic for just 2.5 cups of cooked rice. I was like "hmm...10 cloves for 2.5 cups of uncooked rice maybe, but no". I went with 5 cloves and it was amazing!

That's so awesome that you get to work so closely with chefs. I'm sure I'd learn a lot from them lol! Maybe I should try a Vietnamese recipe of yours sometime - I'd trust your recipes. :wink:
 
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soulareclipse said:
maki" means "roll" in Japanese so you can replace "maki roll" with just "maki"
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Hahahaha, yeah, I know. I'm sorry. :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:

The chocolate cookie recipe I posted above has oddball measurements. I changed those (rounded up). The cookies are amazing, but some of those measurements are so strange.
 
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Asa said:
Totally. That's how I roll roll.
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I just now "got" this. :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::sweatsmile: Puns don't usually get past me, but yours was just so slick.

Okay, let me try:

They see me rollin'. They hatin'.:

readytoroll.jpg

The avocado's on a roll:

avocadoonaroll.jpg

Roll out the chopsticks:

nopunatall.jpg

Sorry, not sorry. :tearsofjoy:

The teriyaki nasu to tamagoyaki uramaki turned out to be tasty af. It's not vegan-friendly because of the egg, but I know there are egg alternatives that I'm sure would be just as delicious. Yum-yum!
 
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Nice chopsticks @soulareclipse


I'm the master of the roll rollin around here
 
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Wyote said:
Nice chopsticks @soulareclipse


I'm the master of the roll rollin around here
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Wyyyyooooteeeeeeeee!!!! I've missed your wit. Indeed, sir, you most indubitably are. :wink:

Thank you! I have several pairs, but those are my favorite. :grin:
 
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soulareclipse said:
Wyyyyooooteeeeeeeee!!!! I've missed your wit. Indeed, sir, you most indubitably are. :wink:

Thank you! I have several pairs, but those are my favorite. :grin:
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I'm back baby :sunglasses:
 
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@soulareclipse – oh, that fud looks so tasty and the presentation is on point!
There are some interesting vegan egg alternative that are tasty but strange. I think they'd work in maki because they need something else to help balance the flavor and texture.

LOL puns are punny.

@Wyote and @soulareclipse – any tips on reverse maki would be appreciated. I haven't yet mastered it.
 
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