[brokenenglish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belowen I made a really nice mushroom & gruyère tart for dinner tonight - I can post the recipe if anyone is interested

That sounds lovely. I would love it if you could post the recipe.

Though I did have a rather embarrassing outcome when attempting to make the mushroom recipe you posted a while back. The recipe called for red wine and somehow I got in my mind red wine VINEGAR. Regardless to say the dish came out terrible and my house stunk like vinegar for days.

Someone with any cooking experience would have realized no recipe calls for that much vinegar but I am clueless.

[eliaino]

The grocery store by my house sells vegan ice cream. One flavor is called "Chocolate peanut butter swirl." It's absolutely delectable. I'm trying to learn how to make it myself.

[tullepen]

Wow making vegan ice cream must be labor intensive!
My friend gave me a really cool silk screen vegan badge, it's in a metallic blue of a hand in a V and the letter e g a n next to it,on a mossy green background. Going to sew it on a shirt today.

[Belowen]

Okay guys, here is the Mushroom & Gruyère Tart recipe... I made the crust from scratch, so if you need the crust/base recipe let me know. Otherwise a pre-made store bought crust should be fine.

1 large egg lightly beaten (if making crust from scratch)
1 garlic bulb unpeeled
115g (4oz) ricotta cheese
60ml (4 tbsp) creme fraiche or sour cream
2 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
675g (1 1/2 lb) mixed mushrooms (such as oyster, chanterelle, shiitake and portobello)
115g (4oz) grated gruyere
28g (1oz) pine nuts
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius (400F). Roll out the pastry dough and transfer to a 23cm tart tin. Blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, prick with a fork and brush the surface with lightly beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Boil the garlic bulb in a saucepan filled with water for 15 minutes then drain. When cool enough to handle, pop the cloves out of their skins and mash in a bowl with the ricotta and creme fraiche until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and saute the mushrooms for 10 to 15 minutes until they are tender and any liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble, spread the ricotta and garlic mixture alon the base of the cooled tart shell. Layer half of the mushroom mixture, then half of the gruyere. Repeat the mushroom and gruyere layers and sprinkle the pine nuts over the cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until the filling is hot and the pine nuts are golden brown. Refridgerate any remaining pie for up to 3 days.

[cloudyshambles]

i was a pescetarian for a few months and 2 weeks ago i decided to avoid eating fish as well. so far i'm really happy with my decision to cut out meat and don't really miss it at all i'm going to university and live on my own, so it's not really difficult to stick to it, BUT when i'm going home and eat with my family... in my family we've always eaten meat almost every day and also fish once or twice a week. during the semester i don't go home that often and the last times i tried to eat less meat or fish, but i don't want to do that anymore! i really want to put my foot down and do not eat meat at all and not just less meat! how did that go in your families? do your parents accept that or do you simply cook your own food and not eat with them anymore? please share your experiences, i would appreciate it

[hautechild]

^ My parents were really good about it - when we have family meals they would either be vegetarian or they would cook meat separately and add it to their meals. And when I was living at home with them I would cook the family meal sometimes too.

[Ashcottmanor]

My mother is supportive although she still eats meat. My father, sister, brother in law and his daughter are not. When they come over for dinner they always ask me in a snarky way "so what are you eating for dinner tonight? Vegetables?" Or they look at me funny when I eat my food. Even their daughter is getting in on it. I was eating baby carrots one time and she came up and said "evil carrots." Ya, she's kind of a bratty kid but look at her parents! They eat awful and have fast food almost everyday. I have tried to get my sister to eat better since she is pregnant now but she doesn't listen to me. I feel bad for the baby, it's probably already on a sugar high since she drinks like 3 sodas a day. My dad doesn't say too much but he does talk about how much he loves steaks and pork chops and all that stuff. Sometimes he stares at me when he says those things.
I was raised on meat but never liked it, so I am used to it. My parents still BBQ and cook prime rib for special occasions. It doesn't bother me that they still eat that, but it does when they comment negatively on what I eat.

[Ashcottmanor]

Wow, I just made a salad or as I would call it "everything in the produce drawer." It has steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, raisins, currants, mango, banana, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, walnuts, apples, bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, roasted golden beets (I roasted them myself) with fresh lemon and grapefruit juice squeezed over top. And a sprinkle of dried basil, black pepper and Cinnamon. It was really good!

[EXOskeleton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Persephone G. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but the book Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook is fantastic. My ex is a Vegan (I'm a vegetarian) and the recipes in the above mentioned book are delicious. More Vegan recipes: http://cookeasyvegan.blogspot.com http://seitanismymotor.com

i own the book, and can't say i've used it a great deal. a lot of the recipes are quite fiddly/have lengthy ingredient lists. good for inspiration though.

vegan blogs i often frequent:
http://havecakewilltravel.com/
http://sweetbeetandgreenbean.net/
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/

[cestmagique]

Has anyone ever tried Gardein products? They make an amazing variety of faux meat products from amaranth, quinoa, and other natural ingredients. So far I've tried the crispy tenders, which are amazing and seriously hit the spot , and I have some bbq pulled shreds in the fridge now that I can't wait to try out... I'm really impressed with the quality of this stuff and it's all vegan too.

[Eurasian Mélange]

It's probably a stupid question, but I read that vegetarianism/veganism leads to shorter periods for women and would like to know if it is true or not? I don't know any female vegetarians/vegans and I'm not one myself. Logically, I can't see how this could affect menstruation, but I'm curious to know if switching to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle actually affected the length of your period in any way or if this book I'm reading is indeed a load of rubbish!

[cath85]

I don't think it affected mine in any way

[cestmagique]

The length of mine is the same, but being vegan has definitely made them easier on me. I wonder if some women have messed up cycles for whatever reason that are corrected by being vegetarian or vegan... that's the only way I can think of that shorter periods would make sense. Otherwise it's probably just wishful thinking.

[hautechild]

I don't really have anything to compare it to, since I've been a vegetarian before I started having periods, but mine are short. Probably coincidence though...

[Ashcottmanor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eurasian Mélange It's probably a stupid question, but I read that vegetarianism/veganism leads to shorter periods for women and would like to know if it is true or not? I don't know any female vegetarians/vegans and I'm not one myself. Logically, I can't see how this could affect menstruation, but I'm curious to know if switching to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle actually affected the length of your period in any way or if this book I'm reading is indeed a load of rubbish!

Your period can be effected by how many calories/protein you're getting out of your diet. So if you're not eating enough calories and/or proteins (this might mean you're anemic) then your period will stop or become erratic. Now if you're become vegnan or vegitarian you can always get enough calories and proteins from different sources other than animal products so you should be ok, but if you're aren't getting enough calories and protein to sustain a normal diet then your periods could become shorter or stop completely. Hope this helps!