Making Old Favorites Minus the Milk, Eggs or Meat

Recently I've been doing a lot of reading about food allergies and food intolerances. I also found myself craving some childhood favorites: rice porridge (mine) and sloppy joes (my sister's). But I've been trying to amp up my vegetarianism, including eating vegan foods half the time, so the childhood faves were going to require some creativity. Between all the researching diet restrictions and my own choice to avoid certain foods, it feels like "ingredient substitutes" has become the theme of the past week.  

If there are foods you are avoiding because of a medical condition or for personal reasons, or if you've ever tried to throw a party where some of the guests follow special diets, you know what I'm talking about. Just because there are certain foods you (or a friend or family member) aren't eating, doesn't mean you want to give up on some of your favorite dishes. 

When I was little my grandmother would make me Harina de Arroz, which just means rice flour in Spanish but in our household it specifically referred to a hot cereal made from that flour. I hadn't eaten it in ages but for years I've been daydreaming about the smooth, fluffy, creamy, subtle sweetness of it. A couple days ago I decided I needed to finally get it out of my system. The recipe calls for butter and evaporated cow's milk. I knew that the unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my fridge would do just fine (my oatmeal tastes exactly the same regardless of the milk I use) but what would I do about the butter? I figured coconut oil would be a nice substitute given that it could probably give the porridge the same mild sweet flavor I was used to. It came out exactly as I remembered it and I sat over my bowl, eyes closed, making all sorts of strange mmms, oohs and ahhs.

The sloppy joes weren't such a success. I decided to use homemade seitan (aka wheat gluten or wheat meat) in place of the beef and I cooked it with a homemade barbecue sauce. I had cut the seitan into small chunks and the smooth sides felt nothing like ground beef in my mouth so the joes were a bit of a letdown. I have had amazing success with seitan tacos (top of page) and deconstructed seitan negimaki (below), deconstructed because I didn't roll them up. In those cases the secret was to use sliced strips of seitan, which have more of a meaty mouth-feel vs. squeaky smooth cubes. Homemade seitan is so unbelievably easy to make. The recipe I used for both the seitan and the negimaki comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Post Punk Kitchen, my go-to source for delicious, hearty, comfort food-y vegan dishes.

These days, figuring out which ingredients make good substitutes is as easy as a quick internet search. You may not always be blown away by the results but experimenting with alternative ingredients is so worth it when you find something you love (I'm craving seitan tacos right now).

 Try something new (in place of):

Plant based milks (milk). Almond (my favorite), soy, rice, coconut, hemp...the list goes on and on. They can all do a good job of replacing cow's milk in a recipe or as a beverage, depending on your taste preferences. If you are drinking plant milks regularly, check to make sure that there is no sweetener added but that they are fortified with vitamins A & D and calcium and/or that you are getting enough of these nutrients elsewhere in your diet, along with iron and protein.

Cashew cream (heavy cream). Cashew cream has been a major revelation of my experiments with vegan dishes like Kris Carr's Vegan Penne a la Vodka and Post Punk Kitchen's Chickpea and Rice Soup With A Little Kale. All you need are cashews (high in protein and iron) and water to make any dish rich and creamy! Isa Chandra explains how here.

Diced mushrooms (meat). My aunt recently used diced mushrooms in place of beef in her pastelón (plantain lasagna) and my carnivorous family was super impressed.

Ground flaxseed (egg). I've yet to try this one but I really want to. According to the May 2013 issue of Today's Dietitian (What's New in Flax? by Juliann Schaeffer), flaxseed (high in fiber, antioxidants and heart-healthy omega-3s) makes a great egg substitute when baking. Use 3 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed for each egg you are replacing.

Coconut oil (butter). Coconut oil is very high in saturated fat. While you may hear some folks claim that this plant-based saturated fat acts differently on our bodies than saturated fats from animal products, there is not enough evidence to recommend coconut oil for its perceived health benefits. That said, coconut oil can be a substitute for butter in vegan recipes, imparts a sweet flavor and works well in certain ethnic dishes. Use in moderation.

Seitan (meat). Seitan is made from the major protein in wheat so it's an excellent protein source. I'd use a store bought one for your first recipe or two so that you aren't upset you went out of your way to make homemade seitan if you end up not liking it.


Image credit: Instagram.com/PieceOCakeDJ

Recently I've been doing a lot of reading about food allergies and food intolerances. I also found myself craving some childhood favorites: rice porridge (mine) and sloppy joes (my sister's). But I've been trying to amp up my vegetarianism, including eating vegan foods half the time, so the childhood faves were going to require some creativity. Between all the researching diet restrictions and my own choice to avoid certain foods, it feels like "ingredient substitutes" has become the theme of the past week.  

If there are foods you are avoiding because of a medical condition or for personal reasons, or if you've ever tried to throw a party where some of the guests follow special diets, you know what I'm talking about. Just because there are certain foods you (or a friend or family member) aren't eating, doesn't mean you want to give up on some of your favorite dishes. 

When I was little my grandmother would make me Harina de Arroz, which just means rice flour in Spanish but in our household it specifically referred to a hot cereal made from that flour. I hadn't eaten it in ages but for years I've been daydreaming about the smooth, fluffy, creamy, subtle sweetness of it. A couple days ago I decided I needed to finally get it out of my system. The recipe calls for butter and evaporated cow's milk. I knew that the unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my fridge would do just fine (my oatmeal tastes exactly the same regardless of the milk I use) but what would I do about the butter? I figured coconut oil would be a nice substitute given that it could probably give the porridge the same mild sweet flavor I was used to. It came out exactly as I remembered it and I sat over my bowl, eyes closed, making all sorts of strange mmms, oohs and ahhs.

The sloppy joes weren't such a success. I decided to use homemade seitan (aka wheat gluten or wheat meat) in place of the beef and I cooked it with a homemade barbecue sauce. I had cut the seitan into small chunks and the smooth sides felt nothing like ground beef in my mouth so the joes were a bit of a letdown. I have had amazing success with seitan tacos (top of page) and deconstructed seitan negimaki (below), deconstructed because I didn't roll them up. In those cases the secret was to use sliced strips of seitan, which have more of a meaty mouth-feel vs. squeaky smooth cubes. Homemade seitan is so unbelievably easy to make. The recipe I used for both the seitan and the negimaki comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Post Punk Kitchen, my go-to source for delicious, hearty, comfort food-y vegan dishes.

These days, figuring out which ingredients make good substitutes is as easy as a quick internet search. You may not always be blown away by the results but experimenting with alternative ingredients is so worth it when you find something you love (I'm craving seitan tacos right now).

 Try something new (in place of):

Plant based milks (milk). Almond (my favorite), soy, rice, coconut, hemp...the list goes on and on. They can all do a good job of replacing cow's milk in a recipe or as a beverage, depending on your taste preferences. If you are drinking plant milks regularly, check to make sure that there is no sweetener added but that they are fortified with vitamins A & D and calcium and/or that you are getting enough of these nutrients elsewhere in your diet, along with iron and protein.

Cashew cream (heavy cream). Cashew cream has been a major revelation of my experiments with vegan dishes like Kris Carr's Vegan Penne a la Vodka and Post Punk Kitchen's Chickpea and Rice Soup With A Little Kale. All you need are cashews (high in protein and iron) and water to make any dish rich and creamy! Isa Chandra explains how here.

Diced mushrooms (meat). My aunt recently used diced mushrooms in place of beef in her pastelón (plantain lasagna) and my carnivorous family was super impressed.

Ground flaxseed (egg). I've yet to try this one but I really want to. According to the May 2013 issue of Today's Dietitian (What's New in Flax? by Juliann Schaeffer), flaxseed (high in fiber, antioxidants and heart-healthy omega-3s) makes a great egg substitute when baking. Use 3 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed for each egg you are replacing.

Coconut oil (butter). Coconut oil is very high in saturated fat. While you may hear some folks claim that this plant-based saturated fat acts differently on our bodies than saturated fats from animal products, there is not enough evidence to recommend coconut oil for its perceived health benefits. That said, coconut oil can be a substitute for butter in vegan recipes, imparts a sweet flavor and works well in certain ethnic dishes. Use in moderation.

Seitan (meat). Seitan is made from the major protein in wheat so it's an excellent protein source. I'd use a store bought one for your first recipe or two so that you aren't upset you went out of your way to make homemade seitan if you end up not liking it.


Image credit: Instagram.com/PieceOCakeDJ