QotD: Can't Do Without...

What food item would you miss the most if it were removed from your diet and recipes? 
Submitted by scorpion1116.  

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha...

::catches breath::

This year my "Big Plan" is to go VEGAN because of health reasons and, well... I don't think chickens and cows and pigs are treated right, but that's another story. Ask PETA and I'm sure they'll give you something to squirm about.

I'm not a big meat eater to start with. I used to be a fishatarian (I think they're really called Pescatarians, but it sounds too much like a religion for me to call myself one).

Somehow I got off track and started eating poultry and occasionally red meat, but mostly just chicken and bacon. Don't get me wrong, I eat my weight in tofu and veggie burgers and all other sorts of vegetarian meats all year round. But I'm such a lover of food it's hard to imagine me denying something delicious.

All the while I was a die hard fishatarian, I was secretly craving a nice, bloody steak. Ironically, that's the one thing I've denied myself this whole time. *sigh* But it's time to think about changing my life around. I'm turning 30 this year and I need to get healthy.

So I think I've been becoming lactose intolerant for some time now. I've tapered off on dairy... no milk, just Rice Dream in my fridge and Earth Balance on my toast. It's only with the change of the new year that I decided to try to go vegan. It's hard. So hard that on New years day I ate pizza. With cheese. And I eat fish still. Today I had fish n' chips. I'm totally off to a bad start, but that's the story of my life.

I'm really big into baking. I love to bake cookies, muffin, quick breads, cakes... it's been a dream for awhile to go into a pastry program at the Art Institute or Le Cordon Bleu. But now with my increasing problems with dairy, I have to seek alternatives. Really, who could trust a chef who doesn't use butter? Not me. Or so I thought.

Did you know you can bake a totally delicious, moist cakes using applesauce, bananas or ground flax seeds instead of eggs? Replace butter with canola oil, and make a perfectly flaky pie crust using vegan butter or shortening. Yeah. Vegan shortening. It does exist!

I started preparing myself for Vegan take-over 2008 by buying myself a Christmas present from Amazon.com.

Be hold: the Veganomicon.

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Isa Chandra Moskowitz

For those NOT in the Vegan-know, it's another great vegan cookbook by the same chick who wrote Vegan With A Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World.