A friend sent me this link to a recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on the PETA website. They look and sound scrummy, but as I scanned the list of ingredients I found it included vegan cream cheese.
Well vegan cream cheese may be lining the streets in New York and San Fransisco, but good luck finding it within a 10km radius of my home! Now I know that I can make these muffins and improvise on the topping and they will still be delicious. But it is times like this that I feel a little vegan envy.
I know I should be grateful for the stacks of vegan convenience foods that are available in most shops now. In fact, really I should just be more than grateful for 3 square meals a day. But sometimes, like when I see a recipe for Vegan 4 cheeses pizza, I feel a little envious of the big city vegans who have such a great range of vegan products available and many more options to eat out.
At times like these I remind myself to focus on the yummy food I can eat rather than feeling envious of the animal-ridden food that I am trying to avoid. Rather than thinking "boo hoo, no pizza or cream cakes today", I try to think "hooray, cherry ripe cookies and vegan sausage rolls."
I admit it doesn't always work, and I still occasionally buy something from the evil, tempting, corrupting bakery down the street. (Note to self: do NOT go past the bakery when you are pre-menstrual!) But most of the time it does work and I very content with my (mostly) vegan diet.
I do feel very glad that I am veganizing at a time when so many vegan options are available. It must have been much harder work, and so much more restrictive, for people taking this journey 20 years ago. Now I don't even have to miss out on chocolate biscuits!
And of course it is going to get even easier. As more people make the move towards a vegan diet there will be more demand for vegan products including vegan choices in restaurants, and even, gasp, more vegan restaurants!
This rambling post has reminded me that I haven't shared my recipes for vegan sausage rolls yet. RecipeS is correct because I have more than one version already, and I have a few more variations in mind. You can hardly go wrong when you wrap just about any tasty filling in puff pastry.
I know exactly what you mean, when I'm feeling blah about the little hard things about being vegan I think about people doing it in the 60's/70's and how easy we have it by comparison.
ReplyDeleteI've found having quick & easy recipes can really help. If I'm grumbling about how I just want junk and have a look over my blog I can usually sooth myself with home made hummus, a smoothie or a nut and date ball.
It might be a good thing that you can see vegan junk food as a treat and really appreciate when you get to eat out.
You're right, it will always get easier, hang in there :)
p.s. I think those biscuits taste like weird tim tams.
I guess the good news of your scenario is, vegan cream cheese and all those specialty products are crap for you anyway. That's what I sometimes tell myself wandering past vending machines! :)
ReplyDeleteBut I hear ya, my city isn't exactly the vegan mecca. Not like Portland...holy crap. I ate so much. Heaven.
And it's folks like us who are turning the tides and making it easier for vegans of the future! :)
I found tofutti cream "cheese" really easily in Perth, but can't remember where. It was with the tofu in the fridge section of a supermarket - probably IGA in Leederville or FarmerJjacks in Subi as they were where I shopped most often.
ReplyDeleteAnd this tofu cream cheese looks pretty easy to make:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/tofucreamcheese.html
I guess you'd just leave out the pepper and salt if using it for muffins.
Thanks everyone.
ReplyDeleteClaire - you are so right, those biscuits do taste like weird tim-tams! But that hasn't stopped me having them occasionally :)
And thanks for the suggestion. Why haven't I made nut and date balls yet? Think I will make some today!
Allysia - so true, that fake vegan stuff is not good for us. One of these days I am going to challenge myself to go totally natural for a month (no preservatives etc). Okay, maybe I will try it for a week first ;)
Sarah - thanks for the link to the tofu cream cheese recipe. Will have to give that a try. I think Subi IGA will probably have more stuff than the Morley/Maylands IGAs. Will check it out next time I am over that way.
xxx