How to prepare vegan substitutes for your diet (cheese, mayonnaise)

Food is delicious and of course necessary, but it is important to balance our diet in order to ensure we are eating all the necessary elements. However, either due to a lifestyle choice or restrictions due to illness, many of us are not receiving the necessary nutrients our bodies require, so it is important to consider other alternatives to foods that we love but can not eat as often.

If you find yourself in this dilemma, I want to tell you that there are many alternatives so that we do not miss out on certain pleasures and foods that we love. A vegan or vegetarian diet does not necessarily mean limited, boring or bland: on the contrary! There are so many flavours and combinations to rediscover which others have no idea about.

So today I am going to propose some options that can provide a delicious and often much lighter alternative than their original counterparts. This is great not only if you are on a vegan diet, but also for anyone who is interested in healthy eating or trying to reach their ideal weight.

Recipe for "Rawmesan" or Vegetarian Parmesan cheese:

Parmesan is perfect for dressing our salads, preparing sauces and serving with pasta, chicken or beef. This vegetarian version is very practical to make, much cheaper and of course: completely vegan.

The only disadvantage is that you can not melt it, but if you're looking for a good substitute for the flavour and texture of grated Parmesan, here is a great recipe:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Cashews or cashew nuts
• ½ cup Sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 4 tbsp. Beer yeast
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. Turmeric

Preparation:

1. Put all the ingredients in a processor and mix until you have a grainy texture and the ingredients are incorporated.

2. If you do not have a processor you can do it in a blender, but try to do it gently to avoid triturating too much or damaging the blender.

3. If you manage to get salted sunflower seeds, take out the extra salt in the recipe to avoid having an excess of salt.

4. Store in an airtight jar.

Vegan mayonnaise

There are several options for preparing vegan mayonnaise, which is, of course, a much lighter alternative with good fats that benefit us. They can be served as you would use egg-based mayonnaises and they also have no cholesterol.

Vegan Avocado Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 2 Avocados
• ½ cup Lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup Vegetable oil
• ½ tsp. Mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. Pepper

Preparation:

1. Halve the avocado and remove the seed with the help of a knife.

2. Remove the pulp of the avocado with a spoon and place it in a processor or blender.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until all ingredients are well incorporated.

4. Finally, taste it and add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice according to your own personal taste.

5. Store in an airtight jar and keep refrigerated – This will last for about 3 to 4 days.

Veganaise or Vegan Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of Soy milk
• 1 cup Canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. White vinegar
• Salt (sufficient amount)
• ½ tsp. White pepper
• 1 clove of garlic

Preparation:

1. Place the soy milk in a food processor and incorporate with the canola oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic clove.

2. Process very well until you have a thick, creamy texture.

3. Rectify the taste if necessary by adding more salt and pepper to your taste. Enjoy!

Other tips to substitute food for vegan options

If you like pastries and bread it can be complex to think of what we can replace the egg, milk and butter with. However, here is a small list you can use to replace these ingredients in baking.

Butter: This dairy product is almost essential to prepare cakes and biscuits, but to get a creamy texture you can substitute it with banana or even avocado. You can also substitute it with vegetable oil.

Milk: Milk can be easily replaced with any vegetable milk. Choose a milk that you like: If you are preparing biscuits or bread try to use vegetable milk without added sugar or additional flavours. However, if you are preparing cakes or sweets, you can use flavoured milk, for example vanilla flavour.

To replace sugar: A simple way to replace sugar is by using applesauce, which provides a sweet flavor and helps give texture to your recipes. You can also replace sugar with stevia.

Egg: You can substitute eggs with banana, soy yogurt or 1 tablespoon of chia seeds ground with 3 tablespoons of water.

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