New Vegan & hypothyroid

[clarence2013]

Hi I'm doing the vegan for January challenge - does anyone have any recipe ideas as I've heard soya/tofu is not good for hypothyroid.

[Moggie]

It's bad enough being a veggie (over 25 years) and hypothyroid but to be a vegan would leave me eating thin air as I am going gluten free for 2014.

Your right about the soya - not a good idea when you have thyroid troubles plus it is all GM (genetically modified) and I am also trying to avoid all GM (the EU decided that supermarkets do not have to label GM food anymore so you could be eating bucket loads of the stuff and not realise).

Try a site called "mydish" as it is ordinary people posting their favourite dishes.

Good luck with it.

Moggie x

[Hidden in reply to Moggie]

Thanks for the info Moggie

[mstp]

This is a gorgeous nut loaf which is great cold or hot on its own, with a roast dinner or with a simple tomato sauce and new potatoes. Cashew nuts are the steak of vegans. I had a vegan friend who was known to be a bit precious about her eating style. When I did this loaf (mainly for her) as part of a buffet she took a small portion of it 'to try'. Then, finding it was so delicious, went back for more only to find the carnivores at the 'do' had scoffed the rest!!

1tbs oil

1sm onion chopped

2 cloves garlic (optional)

8oz cashew nuts

4oz breadcrumbs

1 egg

8 oz mushrooms (chopped)

3 mdm parsnips (cooked and mashed)

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

1tsp marmite

1/4 pt hot vegetable stock

salt and pepper

1oz butter

Fry onion and garlic in oil til soft.

Grind cashew nuts and mix with breadcrumbs.

Add beaten egg to cashew mix and mix in parsnips and herbs.

Add onion ensuring all juices are added.

Dissolve Marmite in stock and add to other ingredients. Season well.

Saute chopped mushrooms in butter til soft.

Grease two pound loaf tin and add half cashew mix.

Cover with mushrooms then add the rest of the nut mix.

Cover with foil and bake for one hour on 180 degrees C.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to mstp]

Vegans don't eat eggs or butter!

[frenchreikimaster]

try a site called maplespice.com lots of recipes there and also youngand raw.com.

[Glynisrose]

Plenty of pulses and beans!! I used to make a bean stew for my veggie friends but I don't know where the recipe is offhand. Just remember that quorn, although classed as a good substitute is made from a mushroom and has very little or no natural protein and is usually fortified, they also use egg white in its production. Chick peas are rich in protein and taste fantastic curried!! You can buy them tinned and they cook a lot faster.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Glynisrose]

Quorn as a product has around 14.5% protein (though I cannot readily find out how much is from the egg content). Further, some Quorn products are now egg-free (at least in the USA).

Quorn is made from a fungus, Fusarium venenatum, which would not normally be talked about as being a mushroom.

I like chick peas. I am not a vegan nor a vegetarian.

Rod

[Glynisrose in reply to helvella]

Quorn is fortified, it has no natural protein, no fungus or mushroom of any kind manufactures more than a trace of protein.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Glynisrose]

I believe this site to be reputable:

nutritiondata.self.com/

It says:

Mushrooms, white, raw - 2g of protein in a 70g portion.

There again, Quorn is not made from mushrooms.

Rod

[Glynisrose in reply to helvella]

Quorn is made from a fungus, first found growing along the Thames. Say what you want but on the authority of a taxonomist no fungus produces more than a trace of protein.

[jmd1157]

Try gluten-free-vegan-girl.com It's my favorite site. I've been mainly vegan for over a year now. This was due to my health i.e. very high cholesterol and weight gain due to the thyroxine being lowered. I've lost 20lb and my last cholesterol test was normal and that's without using statins. I don't have any thyroid so I'm fine with soya milk, but I find rice milk is the next best. I make all my own food now rather than trying to find vegan ready made so I know exactly what I eat and I make sure it's a balanced diet, to be truthful, I eat better now than I ever did. hth & good luck.

Also look at cheap-family-recipes.org.uk go to meal planner then option two. Some good cheap ideas here. s

[Hidden in reply to jmd1157]

Fab - thanks!

[jmd1157]

I forgot to say that if you search online for any of your favourite foods and place the word 'vegan' before it, then there's not much you can't make. I tend to cook in bulk and freeze the rest in portions especially healthy soup/stew for lunch (vegan girls lentil stew is very good) and chilli and curry etc. It just makes life so much easier.

Marmite is a vegans best friend for your B12

[Angel_of_the_North]

Been gluten free vegan for quite a while. Never eaten soya apart from Tamari and miso (which are fermented and so not goitrogens).

I eat mostly raw, with a cooked meal most evenings. Lots of web sites with diet plans. Don't go overboard on nuts. Just eat lots of fruit and veg, plus rice and lentils (quinoa, buckwheat and millet are gluten-free, if you fancy something that sticks to your ribs). Marigold/Engevita yeast flakes can help with B vitamins (goodnessdirect.co.uk do them, so will your local health food shop).

Coconut oil is good, so is flax oil (but you can't cook with it). Shop-bought nut roast is one of the most disgusting things on the planet and very hard to digest.

[Hidden in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Is millet OK? I'd read it should be avoided if you're hypothyroid? Clearly Angel if you've been using I guess it's been OK for you?

[Artemis]

This is one of my favourite recipes:

Vegetable Tagine with Apricots

Ingredients

1 medium onion – finely chopped1 clove garlic – crushed

1 small red pepper – sliced2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium aubergine – roughly chopped2 tsp ground cumin

1 medium courgette – roughly chopped1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon100g dried apricots

1 medium carrot – sliced1 jar passata

1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsedsalt and pepper

In a large saucepan, gently fry the onion in the olive oil until soft. Add the garlic, pepper, aubergine and courgette and fry for 2 minutes. Add the spices and stir well for 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients, stir well and cook until the apricots are soft and carrots are cooked.

Season to taste and serve with couscous.