Substitutions: Diary

Making the transition to a vegan diet is sometimes difficult at first, particularly if you're like me and have additional dietary considerations. Not only am I working on incorporating more vegan meals into my diet, but I also try to avoid soy, gluten, refined grain products (like highly refined flours), and refined sugars. For me, maintaining this kind of diet is more of a journey, rather than a destinations, so to speak. I am not perfect at it, as you can see from the recipes I've already posted.

All this aside, I've come to find that there are some useful substitutions that make my own transition to my ideal diet easier. I've decided to write a series about helpful substitutions to help navigate the type of diet I would like to eat, ideally

Butter

One of the first ingredients I started substituting for in vegan cooking and baking was butter. There are multiple options, depending upon how you will be substituting. Measure by measure, in any application, you can always use Earth Balance. I use the soy-free version in the tub. I'm still waiting for them to make their baking sticks in a soy-free version as well. One note about using the Earth Balance in the tub for baking: it is already salted, so omit any additional salt in the recipe if you are baking.

In baking, butter usually holds space in the baked good until after the structure of the other ingredients has set up, and then the butter melts. Thus, the more solid the fat in a baked good, the more flaky or spongy the baked good will be. One of my favorite substitutions for butter in baking is coconut oil. I don't always use coconut oil in baking because it requires a few extra steps, but when I do use it, the results are phenomenal. For each tablespoon of butter that is called for, I measure a tablespoon of coconut into one well of a clean ice cube tray. One I have the correct amount measured into the appropriate number of wells, I refrigerate the ice cube tray until the coconut oil is totally solid. Then I use in baking recipes as called for. I've found this substitution works particularly well in pie crusts.

I haven't tried this substitution yet, but from what I hear, avocado is also a good substitution for butter, and it is totally unrefined. Without much fuss, it will hold the space in baked goods until they are set, and then the fat in the avocado will melt, resulting in light baked goods. Avocado has a lot of uses in substituting dairy because of it's high fat content. Avocado will appear later in this post for other substitutions as well.

Cheese:
One of the most common reasons I hear for people not thinking they could manage a vegan diet is because they like cheese too much to give it up. I am not unlike my fellow humans in the loving of cheese, so it's important to me to find good substitutes. I will admit that I have yet to find a vegan cheese that is as good as the real thing for eating out of hand, that is, without anything else. I have heard of a book that I'm eager to purchase called Artisan Vegan Cheese because it seems to have some promising recipes for vegan cheeses meant to be eaten out of hand.

Making cheese of any type, vegan or not, takes a lot of time and patience. If you don't have the time, you might try some products made by Daiya. Diaya is soy-free and totally vegan, made from tapioca. Personally, this is not my favorite substitute, but it is worth at least mentioning. It does melt, but I think the texture more is like a loose bread dough and less like melted cheese. The flavor is also fairly mild. I have been able to find this product in some forms even in the regular grocery store, however, Daiya makes a variety of vegan cheese products that are a little more difficult to find.

Nutritional yeast does not have a very appetizing name, but let me tell you, this stuff is good! It comes in the form of little flakes that remind me of fish food. I know, that's also not very appealing, but trust me, this stuff is worth trying. It can be used in a variety of ways, including making vegan macaroni and cheese, substituting for parmesan cheese when mixed with bread crumbs, and sprinkling on popcorn. You can add it to any creamy substance to add that tang and saltiness that dairy cheese also has. I'm not being super specific about the uses of nutritional yeast because the possibilities are endless.

When I'm really jonesing cream cheese, and it's a toss-up between real cream cheese and soy-based alternatives, the vegan choice is Better than Cream Cheese by Tofutti. They make a variety of flavors, including a non-hydrogenated option. I really can't tell the difference between the real thing and this vegan version. Tofutti does make other vegan products, but they are all made with soy tofu, so I only use them when I'm desperate for the real thing, but committed to eating vegan. My favorite application of this is spread onto a sandwich with cucumbers, red bell peppers, a little salt and pepper, and sprouts. Yum!

A comparable, but not perfect, alternative to cheese spreads is hummus. You could even mix in some nutritional yeast to give it that cheesy kick. Hummus is made out of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) with a few other ingredients like garlic, lemon juice, sesame paste, and olive oil. If you have a pressure cooker and a food processor, making hummus is extremely inexpensive, and very easy. It's great in a tortilla like a quesadilla, spread on a sandwich, or used as a creamy dip without the cream. Hummus is one of my all time favorite vegan foods. If you want some cheese, eat some hummus. It sure fulfills my cheese cravings.

One of most delicious things on the planet, as far as I'm concerned, is lasagne. But what is lasagne without ricotta? Well, I stumbled upon this substitution for ricotta sort of by accident. There is a recipe for Vegan Sour Cream in a cookbook titled Fresh From the Vegan Slow Cooker. I made this recipe according to the directions, using my blender to mix some soaked cashews, water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and salt. The texture was nothing like sour cream, as far as I was concerned, but it was exactly like ricotta! I would use less lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to make this into cashew ricotta, not sour cream.

(photo credit: Cruelty Free Recipes)

I would be remiss in not writing about how avocado can be used as a substitution for cheese. Yes, it looks nothing like cheese, but the texture and fat content often provide my mouth with what it's craving when I want something cheesy. I just add a little salt and something tangy like lemon juice, an voila, cheese craving satisfied. Instead of cheese on top of bean enchiladas, I add fresh cubed avocado at the table. I use mashed avocado as a sandwich spread with a little salt sprinkled on. One could combine avocado, vegan milk, and nutritional yeast for a creamy pasta sauce. There are many many things you can substitute avocado for if you consider it has a similar fat content and texture of some cheese.

As you can tell, the possibilities for cheese substitutions are endless, as are the types of cheese and the uses thereof. Feel free to tell us about your favorite cheese substitutions in the comments!

Milk
When talking about dairy substitutes, it's a no brainer to include vegan milk. Vegan milk can be made out of a variety of nuts, coconut, legumes, seeds, grains, and any variety thereof. The most common vegan milk is soy milk. Soy milk tends to have the highest protein content of any of the milks, as far as I've seen. If you're relying heavily on your milk for protein, that may be a good choice. I will warn that soy is commonly genetically modified, so if you are avoiding that, choose an organic brand: organic foods are not allowed to include GMOs.

Now, like you've maybe caught onto, I try to avoid soy unless it's been fermented a while. Therefore, I stick to other types of milk, particularly because I find I get enough protien simply from having a balanced diet. My favorite tasting milk is hazelnut milk. I eat it with cereal, and it's so rich and delicious. I have a difficult time finding organic hazelnut milk, however, so I usually go with almond milk. There isn't anything wrong with non-organic hazelnut milk, it's just a personal preference.

You might notice that vegan milks come in different flavors. I've seen original, unsweetened, vanilla, and chocolate. Chocoloate almond milk is to die for, but it's got a lot of sugar, just like chocolate cow's milk, so I get it as a treat every once in a while. I use milk for baking quite often, so I tend to get the original or unsweetened milks, because somtimes the vanilla flavored ones give baked goods an off flavor, expecially if it's a savory baked good.

  

It is also possible to make your own vegan milk. I've never done it because I haven't had the time to committ to experimenting. However, if you do have the time and right equipment, you are much more easily able to customize your milk based on your preferences. If I ever have the time, I'll try it out and let you all know how it goes.

Buttermilk
These days, buttermilk is only commonly used for baking, at least where I'm from. I would not recommend this substitution if you intend to drink it. That being said, this substitution works like a charm if you intend to bake with it. The two key properties of buttermilk are that it is acidic and very low in fat, contrary to the name. Acidity is important in baking because of the chemical interactions that happen in your baked goods. Therefore, this substitution, while simple, is important. Don't worry much about the low fat piece because most vegan milks already have a low fat content.

All you need to do when substituting for buttermilk is measure out the amount in vegan milk, less a tablespoon per cup. Then, add in a tablespoon of vinegar per cup of buttermilk called for, and stir rapidly. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Separation is normal and wont affect the final product. I use white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar would work just as well.

Heavy Cream
The difference between cream and milk, for all intents and purposes, is that cream has a much higher fat content than milk (and a lower sugar content although this makes less of a difference). Therefore, there are a variety of ways to substitute vegan options for cream. The first option is just to add oil or vegan butter to vegan milk. Cream is about 1/3 fat, so replace about 1/4 of the milk with oil/melted vegan butter as vegan milk does contain some fat already. This substitution has limited applications because it is difficult, if not impossible, to get the milk and oil to emulsify. That is, to mix them so they don't immediately separate. Thanks to the folks at America's Test Kitchen, I have learned that you can add some starch to help emulsify oil and water (which vegan milks usually have a high percentage of). Next time you need to use cream for baking, try adding 1/2 Tbsp. flour or starch from your recipe to each cup of the oil and milk mixture to keep it from separating so quickly. I would still only recommend using this technique in a pinch though.

The better substitute for cream, in my opinion, is coconut milk. There are different kinds of coconut milk that are not at all the same. The coconut milk that is a great substitue for cream comes in a can and is shelf stable. I will mention that it is likely the coconut milk will impart a faint coconut flavor, so keep that in mind when using. I put this in potato leek soup and was able to detect a slight coconut flavor, but my significant other had no idea there was coconut milk in it, and he ate a few bowls. Make sure the can is shaken well before opening to use in place of cream.

If you want to substitute a vegan option for cream, you can just use vegan milk. You will likely have more success with this if you do two things. First, select a milk with a higher fat content, like cashew. Second, try to reserve this substitution for cooking, rather than baking. Baking is actually a somewhat precise science with a variety of considerations, and the closer you can keep certain ratios the same, the better your results will be.

Whipped Cream
Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, the best substitute for whipped cream is also my favorite substitue for regular cream. The same coconut milk that comes in a can should be refrigerated and left to separate to use for whipped cream. It can take around 4 hours for the coconut milk to separate, so I just leave a couple cans in the fridge all the time so I have them on hand whenever the mood strikes.

To make whipped cream out of canned coconut milk, put the unopended can in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. Open the can to find the fats and liquid have separated. Scoop out all the fat into a medium mixing bowl, leaving behind the liquid. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of sugar or sugar substitute and mix on high with an electric mixer until semi-stiff peaks form. It's that simple. The liquid remaining can be used like regular milk, or added to whatever vegan milk you have on hand.

(Photo credit Kathy at Healthy, Happy, Life. Follow link for full directions for whipping vegan cream)

Ice Cream
What would life be without ice cream? When I realized I did not have to give up this scrumptious treat to be vegan I was elated. Even more exciting: there are multiple options for vegan ice cream. The most obvious option is that you can just buy vegan ice cream. There are vegan ice cream bars, ice cream sanwiches, gelato, and of course, regular ice cream. Those that you can buy in the store come in a variety of bases and flavors. There are so many delicious options to choose from, I can hardly make a recommendation, but if I am forced to choose, I would say my favorite is Coconut Bliss by Luna and Larry.

But wait, there's more. If you have an ice cream maker, the possibilities are really endless. I would personally recommend starting with a canned canned coconut milk base and adding whatever other sweeteners and flavors you prefer. You could even use recipies for cow's milk ice cream just using that simple substitute.

Last, but not least, you can make a delicious ice cream substitue with nothing other than bananas and avocados, and whatever else you want to add. Peel and chop 2 bananas into 1 inch chunks. Peel and chop 1 avocado into 1/2 in cubes. Put banana and avocado in a bowl and let freeze completely. Place frozen avocado and banana (and any sweetener you want to add) in food processor and blend until smooth. You could also add 1/3 cup cocoa powder with the banana and avocado if you would like chocolate ice cream. Once smooth, transfer to a bowl and stir in any other things you would like in your ice cream. This stuff is good, y'all. Try it out. I'll post pictures soon.