Things You'll Need:
- steamer (or pan and steamer insert also called a colinder)
- saute pans
- a natural food store
- assortment of vegetables.
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Step 1
Vegans became vegans for specific reasons. Much of the vegan diet is because of their phylospohy of life. To put it simply, a Vegan believes that people can and should live harmoniously with all animals. Therefore, just as you wouldn't dream of eating your friends or stealing anything from their body, Vegans consider all living things their friends. Vegans do not eat any animal products at all. This means no meat, poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs.
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Step 2
Many vegans will take this one step further, and refuse to eat items that use animal products of any kind in their preparation. For example, many of your "vegetarian" items will use milk as a base for a sauce. In addition, there are some spice companies that use lard(animals fat) to allow their herbs to stick together.
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Step 3
Getting to the cooking itself. You can't go wrong with vegetables. There are some vegans who will eat only "organic" vegetables, but most will not ask when the plates are on the table. Organic means that the vegetables were not sprayed with any insectisides. The vegetables were grown in the dirt in the most natural way as possible. A great vegan dish is the steamed vegetable dish and optional soysauce. If you have a steamer, use more water than is asked. Steaming a lot fo vegetables takes a lot of water. If you are using a colinder and a pan, add enough water to just touch the bottom of the colleander. Put the vegetables on the colendar and cover. Put this on the stove at mdeium heat. The vegetables should be done in 10-15 minutes, or until they are warm all the way through, yet still have that vegetable snap. Steaming can be done with whatever assortment of vegetables you'd like to add. Place on a plate add garlic sat, lemon pepper, and soy sauce to taste.
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Step 4
Another easy vegan dish is the saute. Take a saute pan and add a quarter size of corn, olive, or vegetable oil. Look at the ingredits tomake sure there is no animal products. Put the pan with the oil in it on the stove on medium high heat. When the oil bubles and pops when a small amount of water hits it, it is ready to use. Use whater vegetables you'd like, and add them to the pan. Move the vegetables around often till they get soft. This will take about 5-8 minutes depending on the vegetables. Add sauce. Let the sauce cook witht he vegetables for a mere 30 seconds. Serve on a plate.
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Step 5
Another item that many non-vegans forget is protein. It is good to add some sort of protein into the meal or appetizer. Protein is an elusive item all Vegetarian type diets are looking for. Great sources of protein are peanuts, almonds, soy nuts, peanutbutter, french green beans, beans of all sorts, hummuss, and various other nuts and seeds. All of these can be sauted with a sauce, or along with the vegetables. These items should allow you to make a great Vegan meal that everyoen can enjoy.
