Vegan for a Week

This week we decided to give our Menu Board a theme.  VEGAN!!!!

Menu Board for week of March 15th

A vegan diet, if you are not familiar, omits all animal products and byproducts from their diets.  This includes dairy (cheese, milk, cream, yogurt etc.), eggs and often honey (which is an insect animal byproduct).  Often times veganism extends to consumerism where vegans will eschew leather products, furs, feathers, beeswax, film and other products including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.  This week I am going to just stick to food.

Selection of Vegan Cookbooks

I was always familiar with the term veganism, but couldn’t really admit that I had cooked anything vegan intentionally.  It wasn’t until I learned I had a food allergy to dairy and eggs that I thought I might want to learn more about substitutions for those things I could no longer have.   I started by heading to our local Chapters so I could check out my favourite, the cookbook section.  I felt a little overwhelmed by ingredients in some cookbooks that seemed so foreign and felt resigned to eating a lot of boxed pasta and never going for brunch again.  A lovely sales clerk came over and suggested a few cookbooks for me to try.  I haven’t looked back since.

We have a vegan meal here or there in our diet, but I can’t say that we have ever dedicated an entire week to eating vegan.   I am excited to see how my body will respond to really truly not eating the things I am not supposed to (I cheat, a little too much) and also not eating meat.  If you also want to undertake eating vegan there are lots of options out there.  You can try a cookbook like I did, you can read blogs (like Oh She Glows!), you can even check out Dieticians of Canada who provide a food guide for vegans.

Today I thought I would share with you a simple recipe that I have adapted to make it vegan, to show you how easy substitutions can be – French Onion Soup. I have included the non-vegan ingredients in brackets so you an see how the substitutions are made)

Vegan French Onion Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp olive oil or vegan margarine (this is typically butter)

  

  Vegan French Onion Soup

• 4 whole Large (or 6 Medium) Yellow Onions, Halved Root To Tip, And Sliced Thin
• 1 cup (generous) Dry White Wine
• 8 cups Veggie Broth (this is typically 4 cups beef and 4 cups chicken broth)
• 2 cloves Minced Garlic
• Worcestershire Sauce (you would need to find a vegan version as Worcestershire often included anchovies in its ingredients)
• Several Thick Slices Of French Bread Or Baguette
• 5 ounces, weight (to 7 Ounces) Vegan Cheese, Grated, I use Daiya Smoked Gouda (this is typically grated gruyere)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Place soup pot into the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown. Allow onions to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking process so onions won’t stick and burn.
• Remove pot from oven and place back on stovetop over medium heat. Stir, scraping off all the brown, flavorful bits. Turn off heat and pour in wine. Turn heat back to medium. Cook wine for five minutes, allowing it to reduce. Add broths, Worcestershire Sauce and minced garlic and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Brush one side of the bread slices with olive oil and broil over low heat, allowing bread to brown and become crispy.
• When soup is ready, ladle into bowl or ramekin. Place crispy bread on top, and then sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Broil in oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.
• Serve immediately.