Vegan food to cook for the Omni? | Animals Australia Unleashed

Deespark QLD • Posts: 328

1 3 Jun 2013

So I'm vegan and my boyfriend is not. Although he is very supportive of me, defends me when others attack me over my veganism, he never asks silly protein questions and he always wants to try my vegan food. He probably could go vego one day. I don't really tell him much about animal farming as of yet, though he was surprised when he found out dairy cows are impregnated every year and thought it was horrible that they basically spend their whole life being pregnant. I plan to educate him a bit more one day, but I'll wait until he's moved out of his parents and he's tried more vegan food. It's still quite early in the relationship.

I need to find things to make him for dinner and even lunches when he stays over, because I won't cook meat and don't want him cooking meat at my house (and he wouldn't anyway), and the guy needs to eat. I'm having trouble finding things to make him, and want to stop just going to takeaways every time. Spring rolls and vegetable stirfrys are ok, he doesn't mind them but he doesn't exactly love them either lol. He liked my nachos that I made, with mild salsa and refried beans, and a bit of notzarella. And when I made scrambled tofu for my own breakfast and he was having cereal, he tried the tofu and started picking it off my plate lol. But I think I need to slowly introduce tofu to him... And I made a vegetable curry with rice that he liked.
But I have no idea what to cook. I'm going to start making for sweet things like cakes to show him that vegan food can be good too, but that's not a healthy dinner...

Any idea of simple, easy to cook things that I should try for him? He's not a big fan of spicy food and curry (But if it's mild he might like it). He loves tomato saucy stuff. And he's a meat lover. Steaks, meat pies etc. He likes mexican, again, only mildly spicey.
He's fav meaty foods are chicken parmas, hot dogs, meat pies....

Ideas anybody? Needs to be somewhat easy. I usually mess up anything I try to make him, I'm the perfect cook for myself but as soon as I cook for him it all goes wrong D:

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Showbags QLD • Posts: 162

2 3 Jun 2013

Deespark said:

So I'm vegan and my boyfriend is not. Although he is very supportive of me, defends me when others attack me over my veganism, he never asks silly protein questions and he always wants to try my vegan food. He probably could go vego one day. I don't really tell him much about animal farming as of yet, though he was surprised when he found out dairy cows are impregnated every year and thought it was horrible that they basically spend their whole life being pregnant. I plan to educate him a bit more one day, but I'll wait until he's moved out of his parents and he's tried more vegan food. It's still quite early in the relationship.

I need to find things to make him for dinner and even lunches when he stays over, because I won't cook meat and don't want him cooking meat at my house (and he wouldn't anyway), and the guy needs to eat. I'm having trouble finding things to make him, and want to stop just going to takeaways every time. Spring rolls and vegetable stirfrys are ok, he doesn't mind them but he doesn't exactly love them either lol. He liked my nachos that I made, with mild salsa and refried beans, and a bit of notzarella. And when I made scrambled tofu for my own breakfast and he was having cereal, he tried the tofu and started picking it off my plate lol. But I think I need to slowly introduce tofu to him... And I made a vegetable curry with rice that he liked.
But I have no idea what to cook. I'm going to start making for sweet things like cakes to show him that vegan food can be good too, but that's not a healthy dinner...

Any idea of simple, easy to cook things that I should try for him? He's not a big fan of spicy food and curry (But if it's mild he might like it). He loves tomato saucy stuff. And he's a meat lover. Steaks, meat pies etc. He likes mexican, again, only mildly spicey.
He's fav meaty foods are chicken parmas, hot dogs, meat pies....

Ideas anybody? Needs to be somewhat easy. I usually mess up anything I try to make him, I'm the perfect cook for myself but as soon as I cook for him it all goes wrong D:

I'd try not to cook him any of the faux meat type of stuff. That just always leads to disappointment in my experience. People when first tasting it will expect it to taste like the real thing.

You probably aren't going to convert him through food so I wouldn't panic too much if he turns his nose up at something now. I know I would of probably gagged on half the stuff I love eating now before I went Vegan.

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Jesse VIC • Posts: 1117

3 11 Jun 2013

There are plenty of recipes here: www.whyveg.com/recipes

Not surprisingly, I'm quite fond of my mum's lasagne: http://whyveg.com/recipes/make_this.php?recipe=8

But there are loads of other good recipes there too.

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Mik QLD • Posts: 23

4 27 Jun 2013

Meat pies, you can do a real good pie by using TVP, mushrooms and onion gravy powder. Or substitute TVP with rice. Add a little salt and pepper to taste for some bite. Check labels on pastry or make it yourself. Otherwise do them in a ramiken, just tell its classy but manly.
Guess what ive decided to cook for tomorrow happy

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CUPCAKES! VIC • Posts: 177

5 28 Jun 2013

I'm having this problem too with my boyfriend. He's kind of picky as well in the way that he won't eat many vegetables and isn't very adventurous to try things.
So far he's had some of my lasagna and liked it. And he likes my a lot of the baking that I do.

But I'm having trouble finding other "simple", "normal" foods that are vegan.

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Mik QLD • Posts: 23

6 29 Jun 2013

Hi cupcakes,
This has worked for me. I 1st met my wife and all she would eat was Meatlovers Pizza, Maccas, KFC, butcher bought ready marinated steaks, parmas etc. She would not eat veg or fruit. At this time I caught my own seafood and disposed of it fast and humanley. So what I did was replicate the dishes she liked but chopped them so small and with garlic, chillis, ginger and pepper, I could mask the taste of veg quite well. Findout what he likes and replicate it. There is so much stuff out there nowadays. Don't push the issue as he will be ready when it is his time. Or maybe never. Then you will need to reassess your own morals on whether you want to kiss an omni or move to a different partner with similar views.

Personally my wife and I have a deal going, that unless she watches Earthlngs, there will be no meat brought into or cooked in our home. As she refuses to watch it. The deal stands. She does eat bacon rolls at work and when I smell in on her then there is no affection from me for a few days as it repulses me. This is my issue though and oneday i will need to have a sitdown and reassess what is truly important to me.

Try your boyfriend a little by little at 1st. Make a vege pizza with cheese, then try it with half cheese, savoury yeast and Notarella. Then brake it down again. Patience and being able to cook 5 fantastic meals rather than 10 mediocre ones will work in your favour.

Hope to hear good news from your cooking exploits in the future!

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Schagne ACT • Posts: 8

7 28 Feb 2015

I had this at a friend's house and couldn't tell it was not meat. She served it with a salsa sauce. You could use this in any kind of dish where you would normally use "mince". Just be sure to get the texture right. For many meat eaters the texture of the fake meat stuff is the biggest issue. I'll send you some more recipes if you want, I'm used to cooking vegan for omnis. Quorn vegan "meat" is the closest to real meat in texture. It's a bit bland on its own but with sauces and spices it works well. Their sausage rolls are yummy though.

Walnut & Tofu "Mince"

2 cups bread, torn into small pieces
3⁄4cup walnuts, chopped
1⁄2cup oats, quick-cooking
1⁄2cup diced onion
1⁄2teaspoon garlic powder
1teaspoon onion powder
1⁄2teaspoon salt
1teaspoon italian seasoning
2teaspoons vegan chicken seasoning (Chicknish, Butler's Chick-Style, or other)
16ounces extra firm tofu
1⁄2cup water (if needed)
2tablespoons soy sauce
DIRECTIONS
Mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.
Add seasonings and mix until combined.
Drain tofu and crumble with hands into the meatball mixture, mix.
Add soy sauce and mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
With clean hands, roll about a tablespoon's worth of mixture into a ball. If it is too dry to stick together, up to 1/2 cup water can be added. (I don't ever have to add water.).
Continue to roll mixture into balls, and place onto a greased baking sheet, an inch or two apart. I use a cookie dough scoop to get mine a uniform size.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes (depending on size), until nicely browned.
Cool and transfer to container or bag for freezing, or serve hot as desired.
(These work well as appetizers, or as part of a main dish with barbecue sauce, brown gravy, vegan stroganoff sauce, or Asian sauces.).

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reddapanda ACT • Posts: 381

8 28 Feb 2015

Good topic.

I'd recommend bean tacos. Make a spread of chopped tomatoes, avocado, grated carrot, chopped lettuce, and either refried beans or kidney beans with onions, spices and tomato, and some chilli sauce (hot or sweet chilli depending on your taste buds). You can also get some chopped olives and/or jalapenos, etc. happy

Does he like tofu or tempeh? Thankfully when I went vegan my boyfriend likes tofu and tempeh so we could switch out e.g. green thai chicken curry for the same but with tofu. And he likes tempeh so that's good in stirfries we find.

One of the things that he eats a lot more than I do are "Funky pies" it's a brand made in Australia and some of them (e.g. the mexican one) are really tasty. I just don't eat them because all the pastry makes me feel yuck. But he's bean-pole skinny and eats them plenty. So that's a good stand-by idea for the freezer.

dance

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Spacepeanut QLD • Posts: 120

9 4 Apr 2015

I know this thread is a few months old, but I thought I may as well give my two-cents. happy

Whilst Google (and forums such as this) offer endless recipe possibilities, you should try and round up a few cookbooks. Op shops are treasure troves for them. In fact, I've found quite a few vegan ones like Skinny Bitch, et al. In saying that, you're more likely to find Vegetarian, Indian, Mediterranean, and Middle-Eastern books, most of which contain some kick-ass, and more so easy and relatively quick options. Obviously many contain meat dishes, but it's so easy to swap those ingredients for tempeh, tofu, or even good ol' mushies.
Dhal (lentil soup) with basmati rice is one of my staples, as is a hearty chickpea masala.
Yeah, you might have to hit an Asian grocery store to stock up on weird and wonderful spices, but trust me, its worth it, and it also works out a way cheaper in the end.
Getting back to the net, if you're not aware of it already, check out the blog, 'Oh She Glows'. There are loads more out there, but of most I've visited, that is one of the best. happy

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