First a moment of thanks for three rockin’ women and their super-powers of generosity : My dear Jumblefriend at Jumbleberry Jam, mon amie Vegyogini of Hugger Food and Tara our sweet Snowy Vegan*. Your lovely gifts have been received by Mammafish and I can’t thank you enough – all of you 60-Day Project participants are just amazing! I’ve said it before, but it’s so true – I can’t get over the thoughtfulness and detail that has gone into each and every package sent to my mum. I can’t believe it’s almost over!
Now, onto the business of the day. I have come to know Sophie, a very talented seamstress and devoted mother to three lovely girls in Australia. Sophie’s eldest daughter, who just turned 13, has decided to go Vegan (insert applause here). Sophie and her family are omni, but Sophie is a very loving and supportive mum and is trying her best to create healthy vegan meals for her daughter. Her frustration is that sometimes she’s creating separate meals and that’s a great deal of work! I offered to give her some links or some cookbook suggestions for family-approved vegan meals, but thought I would call on you, my dear Vegan readers, to help me out. Well, to help me help Sophie help her daughter. Can you feel the love?
What are we looking for here? Family-friendly vegan recipes (she’s also got a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old…I think. Sorry if I got that mixed around). She’s been making the obvious things like vegan lasagna, etc. but what I’d like is to provide her with some links and/or cookbook suggestions to make meal planning a little easier. My initial suggestion was Veganomicon because of it’s large variety (everything from appies to desserts) and because the ingredients aren’t too obscure or difficult to find.
Do you have any suggestions? Please comment your suggestions or email me and I’ll post a master list of URLs and cookbook suggestions for Sophie – who really is a rocking mum being so cool about her daughter’s decision.
And because I hate blogging without photos, here’s a random shot of the green smoothie action I’ve been getting here :
2 kiwis, a small apple, a hunk of cucumber (my precise measurements are indicative of my detail-oriented nature…), a bit of soy protein powder, some water and/or a little fruit juice and about 3 or 4 big handfuls of spinach. Oh yeah.
* Tara The Snowy Vegan is running her very first half-Marathon (Go Tara!!!) to raise money for the Alaska Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Stop by her site and give her a little support – monetary or moral – or both!
Musings From The Fishbowl 
I recommend Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. There are a lot of kid-friendly recipes in there.
Congratulations to Sophie’s daughter for going vegan and excellent job to Sophie for being so supportive! I think Dreena Burton’s three books are very omni-friendly and healthy choices. They are my best suggestion.
You’re welcome to Mammafish! It’s so cool she’s getting all this birthday love!
Thank you Shelly you are a wonderful and kind friend. I need to get busy with some menu plans and do my research. Sending big loves your way! xxxxx
How very awesome of you to be supporting Sophie that way! I have absolutely no suggestions, but I wanted to give you a round of applause for helping her out 🙂
Living with the omni HH, I have found that Dreena Burton’s recipes are usually very appealing to him. And I second (or third, or fourth) the blogs that have been mentioned already!
oh man, that’s so awesome that Sophie’s daughter has decided to become vegan – that rocks so hard! and you rock for helping Sophie out, Shelly! superw00t!
veganomicon is an excellent cookbook, indeed. dan & i also really love “eat, drink, & be vegan” (very family friendly, fo ‘sho!), “vegan planet”, and i hear that “how to cook everything vegetarian” is great & most of the recipes are pretty easy to veganize. oh yeah, and “becoming vegan” is an excellent book on vegan nutrition that really helped dan & i get started – made sure we were kinda “doing the vegan thing right”! i really highly recommend “becoming vegan” – heck, i will send Sophie my copy if she would like to borrow it. i really will! you just let me know where to send it and i will hook it up, Shelly!
as for online awesomeness: susan v’s fat-free vegan kitchen is most stellar (i’m right there with ya, Mandee), vegan dad’s site rocks, the ppk (post punk kitchen) site & forums are great resources, and i like whole foods whole family (very kid friendly & very healthy!) & veggie meal plans a lot as well. she can totally check out our blog for some easy recipes that might appeal to her family as well!
hooray for another one joining the vegan ranks! doublesuperw00t!
Also, I’d like to suggest meals that can go both ways. Meals like tacos, burritos, spaghetti, stir fry. They can be made vegan or else a vegan option can be presented alongside without feeling as though a separate meal has been made.
I love Sophie for doing that! What a good Mom. My book recommendations are:
Everything by Sarah Kramer
The Joy of Vegan Baking
Vegan With a Vengeance
The Vegan Source Book (not many recipes, but a lot of great nutritional info)
I may be going out on a limb suggesting a book I don’t own yet, but I’ll put it out there anyways: Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer’s How It All Vegan (I’d have it already if I wasn’t waiting for the 10th anniversary edition to come out in September!) – I’ve read somewhere that it includes vegan versions of familiar recipes, so it could be a good book for an omni family. Sarah Kramer’s La Dolce Vegan could be good, too, as most recipes in that book can apparently be prepared in 20 to 30 minutes.
Way to go, Sophie! And to her daughter: way to go too, and your mom rocks! Play in the kitchen with her, experiment, and have fun cooking: that will help your mom to keep supporting you, and you’ll gain skills that will be useful for the rest of your life. Who knows, your culinary creations may become family’s favorites! 🙂
Hmm… I left a comment but I don’t think it’s showing up, odd!
I think it’s great that you are helping out Sophie and her daughter. I checked her blog and I see she lives in Sydney (like me) and that’s great because there are lots of vegan options in Sydney. She could try http://www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au for vegan treats, faux meats/dairy and the like.
Here are a few blogs that I think have great vegan recipes that will appeal to omnis as well:
http://www.fatfreevegan.com/
http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/
http://zbveganrecipes.blogspot.com/
And there’s a great Aussie cookbook called Now Vegan by Lynda Stoner that she could check out. As well as a list of Aussie vegan bloggers in my side bar who all have great, tasty vegan meal ides 🙂 Let us know how she goes!
I really wish I had some good suggestions. DS (2 1/2) doesn’t eat “meals” with us. He’s a grazer, and if there are more then two ingredients mixed together, he won’t touch it. So, we’re mostly eating single food-snob meals here. Looking forward to seeing what others say! BTW, what a gorgeous smoothie!!
I think it’s great that you are helping Sophie and her daughter out. I checked out her blog and she’s in Sydney which means there are LOTS of vegan products around for her to try 🙂
Some good websites with recipes that will appeal to omnis as well are:
http://www.fatfreevegan.com/
http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/
http://zbveganrecipes.blogspot.com/
And we have some cookbooks available here written by Aussies, like Now Vegan by Lynda Stoner. Sophie could also check out http://www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au for vegan treats, faux meats/dairy products and the like!
There are lots of Aussie blogs listed in my side bar and they are all fantastic bloggers with great vegan meal ideas 🙂 Let us know how she goes!
Thanks for the smoothie recipe. I’m always looking for variety in making smoothies. As far as Sophie, I would recommend this website http://www.vegcooking.com/veganMenus-1.asp which has sample weekly menus that she could incorporate into their omni meals. Hope that helps.
http://www.consciouskitchen.net/
How nice you are to support this supportive mom. The only reason I would hesitate to recommend Veganomicon is that often the recipes take more time, and Sophie sounds busy. But the recipes are good.
I have not yet found a cookbook I feel like suggesting to new vegans. Some have hit-or-miss recipes, some are too complicated, and some do not give enough directions (my favorite cookbook is The Accidental Vegan, but it has serious drawbacks for beginners).
This is one reason I began my own blog, http://expandingcircle.wordpress.com/. My omni or newly veg friends were asking what I make, and this way I can provide the recipes either invented or from various cookbooks with better (IMHO) directions and also the adaptations I make. Plus they can see how I pull dishes together into a meal. And it comes in little daily bite-sized chunks.
Another resource your friend might like is this podcast which speaks to vegan teens and their parents: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/VegetarianFoodForThought/~5/w-PFmYMC8zQ/teen_vegetarians.mp3
I believe the podcast addresses the very issue of double meals.
When I became vegetarian, the first week I came home for vacation I waltzed in and basically said, “Hey, Mom, I’m vegetarian, what’re you making me for dinner?” which now makes me chuckle. She was a good sport, but after that I came prepared to do most of the cooking. As a bonus, my whole family was eating healthy vegetarian meals while I was around.
Now I’m vegan and just plan to cook wherever I go. Good thing I like it. So the best option might be to get Sophie’s daughter into the kitchen.