Being vegan takes discipline when you're away at school, but what can be even more discouraging is going home to holiday dinners that are inevitably either meat around cheese or cheese around meat. And even harder to resist are the desserts: pies, cakes and cookies that you can be sure don't cater to the environmentally conscious eater. But it's time to put down the sad side salad and put on your loosest pants because you can make just about any holiday dish vegan with just a few tricks.
1. Egg replacement
Vegan recipes will often make you feel like you have to scavenge the woods for the exact seed or oat to make the meal work. But egg replacement can be found at almost every grocery store for a low price, and it's made of ingredients as simple as potato starch or ground flax seeds. But you can substitute it into that weird Pinterest recipe, and when it goes wrong I promise it won't be because it doesn't have egg.
2. Dark chocolate
Even if a dessert recipe doesn't call for chocolate chips, I think they are always kind of implied. In everything. Vegan dark chocolate chips are easy to find, just make sure they don't contain milk or milk fat. If you want to melt them and add them into a recipe, you can add some coconut oil to sweeten them more.
3. Almond milk
This may seem obvious, but almond milk has all the range of dairy milk. Use unsweetened non-vanilla in your mashed potatoes. More stores also now carry almond milk based eggnog, which I think is the best Christmas gift anyone could give me.
4. Tofu
Tofu gets its fair share of bullying, but it can work some Christmas magic in a dessert or main dish. Tofu in a food processor or blender along with some spices and you have a ricotta cheese to make lasagna or her messier cousin, ziti. Tofu can also be used to make a rich cheesecake that will make defending veganism to every family member worth it.
5. Chickpea pasta
Pasta is a staple around the holidays. Most boxed pasta is vegan-friendly. But as fun as it would be to just eat carbohydrates, making a conscious effort to include more protein can make being vegan healthier and more sustainable. Noodles made from chickpeas, lentils or beans are more filling and can make any pasta dish into a balanced meal.
Being vegan doesn't mean restricting yourself. Instead, it gives you the opportunity to make and think about food in a different way. Not realizing that you can have all your favorite foods while vegan holds a lot of people back from making the switch, or even eating more vegan meals. And making your own food means you don't have to read the ingredient list and check it twice.
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