Favorite Family Recipes Made Vegan
Creating family favorites with plant-based ingredients to demystify vegan food.
Reading time: About 6 minutes.
My husband Mike and I are making up for lost travel time. Last spring and summer, we ran off to Europe twice and took our families with us. In the spring, we whisked Mike’s mom, Lucy, off to Germany for a week-long vegan river cruise on the Danube with Vegan Cruises & Travel. Then, in the summer, we visited France with my dad, Anthony, and sister, Jessie, for another cruise with the same company. It was cold in the spring and hot in the summer, but boy, did we have a good time! We ate so much food that our bellies merrily wobbled when we walked.
With Vegan Cruises & Tours, everything from the croissants to the wiener schnitzel is plant-based. Neither Lucy, Anthony, nor Jessie are vegan, but you would never have known that during the trips. They jumped in with both feet, enjoying pastries and egg-like scrambles for breakfast, hearty soups and pasta for lunch, and several courses of delicious dishes for dinner. It was such peace of mind for Mike and me to roll out of bed each morning, knowing we didn’t have to think about the food. To see our family enjoying it as well lifted our hearts to the moon.
After returning home to Texas, my dad was approached by a friend who ribbed him about going on a vegan cruise. The friend couldn’t imagine how my dad had survived. He asked him what on earth he had eaten, and Dad simply replied, “Really good food!”
And that’s it. Dad had learned there was nothing mysterious about it. Vegan food is just food. (Thanks, Dad!)
Family Favorites Made Vegan
Vegan food is indeed just food, but I know from personal experience that it can be overwhelming to know what’s left when you remove animals from your diet. There is a fear that eating vegan means giving up favorite foods, flavors, and textures. Thanks to inventive vegans out there, these days, a person doesn’t have to give up much to enjoy those familiar foods, and no animals have to suffer for it.
To demonstrate that, I’d like to honor our intrepid family members by recreating two favorite family recipes using plant-based ingredients: Tater Tot Casserole and a dessert Mike’s family calls Chocolate Lust.
Tater Tot Casserole
This hearty dish should be familiar to just about anyone raised in the United States in the 70s and 80s. Both my mom and Mike’s mom made this when we were growing up. My dad and mother-in-law continue to make it to this day. Their recipes inspired my vegan version.
Take a look at the ingredients from their recipes listed below. I’d wager you’ll find the “feel” of the plant-based version very similar.
1 pound ground beef
1 can peas, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup
½ cup milk
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of frozen tater tots
According to my dad, the veggies and cheeses can be switched out for frozen veggies, other kinds of canned veggies, and other amounts and varieties of cheeses. The flexibility of this recipe is one of the reasons I decided to veganize it. People are already used to adjusting it to make it their own. A plant-based tweak is just another adjustment, and it’s super easy!
All you have to do to make Tater Tot Casserole vegan is substitute plant-based meat, milk, and cheeses one-to-one. The cream of mushroom soup gets a simple tweak using fresh, sliced mushrooms, some flour, and a little more milk. Easy peasy! Have a look, and then give it a try!
Click the image below to view a larger image of the recipe card.
(I’m experimenting here. Rather than lengthy text, I created a condensed recipe card with the idea that you can click the photo for a larger size. If this doesn’t work, I’ll send a second post with the recipes in this newsletter. Please bear with me as I test-run these ideas!)
*Worcestershire sauce is typically made with anchovies, so I look for brands such as O Organics or The Wizards Worcestershire sauce, which are both vegan. This ingredient adds a little depth of flavor to Tater Tot Casserole, but it doesn’t make or break it, so if you don’t have access to a vegan version, you can leave it out.
Vegan Chocolate Lust
A dessert by any other name would taste as sweet.
When my husband Mike was growing up, he didn’t want cake for his birthday. He wanted Chocolate Lust, the chocolatey, creamy icebox dessert his mom made. When I married into the family, I immediately recognized it, but my side of the family called it Chocolate Delight. My grandmother would have been scandalized to use the word “lust” for any kind of dessert, but I love that name and have adopted it.
No matter what you call it, this scrumptious pudding-pie dish tends to have a nutty crust with three layers: a rich cream cheese mixture, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. Not only is the name flexible, but the recipe itself has a lot of flexibility built in, just like the Tater Tot Casserole. Switch out the nut-based crust for graham crackers or pretzels, or use lemon or lime pudding instead of chocolate. Your imagination is the only limit to what’s possible with this dessert. And now you can make it vegan, too!
Click the recipe card below for a larger image. (Fingers crossed.)
When I was doing research for this post, I discovered that Chocolate Lust has quite a few aliases. Here are just a few: Chocolate Delight, Chocolate Lush, Slush Cake, Layered Lush, Mamma Mountain Mudslide, Girdle Buster, Chocolate Sin, Better Than Robert Redford, and Sex In a Pan.
What did your family call it?
Just the Beginning
Below is a small list of other recipes from my family’s collection that can be made vegan with just a few ingredient switcheroos.
Anthony’s Potato Soup
Edith’s Campfire Casserole (Also called Hobo Dinner Casserole)
Jessie’s Sausage Biscuit Balls
Lucy’s Pierogi
Mike’s Fish Tacos
Sherry’s Lazy Lasagna
Aunt Connie’s Lemon Coconut Macaroons
Edith’s Strawberry Pie
Jessie’s Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Grandma Mickey’s Fruit Cobbler
Grandma Ruth’s Cinnamon Rolls
These recipes only scratch the surface of family favorites that can be adjusted to incorporate plant-based ingredients. You don’t have to give up your favorite flavors to avoid eating animals.
You also don’t have to give up protein—nor should you. Many vegan alternatives are fortified with protein. In a future post, I’ll cover foods I eat that provide what I need nutritionally. If you’re not already subscribed, click the button below to sign up for more plant-based fun!
One thing before I go. The yoga teacher who led the mindful eating meditation in my Christmas newsletter is hosting a workshop starting in February that focuses on posture! For those of us who spend too much time at our desks or looking at our devices, this six-week workshop will focus on counterbalancing all that slouching and finding relief from painful necks and shoulders. Below is the flyer for the workshop, in case you’re interested in signing up. Use the QR code to link to more information, or click the flyer to go there directly.
Your recipe cards worked perfectly! I'm learning so much about veganism and all its possibilities!