I’m considering becoming vegan. I don’t drink dairy milk so that’s pretty easy. I barely eat yoghurt anymore so that’s not an issue either. There are ways to replace eggs, although life without a poached egg isn’t truly ideal. The real problem, my friends, is cheese. Specifically: breaking up with haloumi.
I don’t eat any cheese which has rennet in it, but my favourite Cypriot cheese has non-animal rennet. I’d love to hear from anyone who was a cheese lover. And by lover I mean LOVER who has gone from vegetarian to vegan. The good the bad and the cheesy {sorry, couldn’t resist}.
While I’m contemplating breaking up with Haloumi, I am going to enjoy it in all of its happy cheese ways. Here’s one of my favourite salads. I’ve been making it for many years, my original a dog-eared, bare threaded worn paper recipe torn from a Madison magazine. So many years ago it was even before I was vegetarian. It’s easy, tasty and healthy.
Haloumi, lentil & green bean salad
What do I need?
- 200 g haloumi, broken into bite-sized pieces
- 200 g green beans, trimmed
- 3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 eschalot, finely chopped
- 400 g tin lentils, drained and rinsed
- 50 g baby spinach leaves
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Now what do I do with it?
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Pre-heat the oven to 240*C {460*F}. Place the broken haloumi and beans onto a lightly greased baking tray and cook for 10-12 minutes or until haloumi is golden.
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Meanwhile, place the oil, lemon juice, mustard and eschalot into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the lentils spinach, cooked haloumi and beans. Toss to coat in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
When a recipe is this good, you don’t mess with it!
bumpyroadtobubba 
I am a cheese lover turned vegan! I could not get enough of cheese – the only kind I could have in the fridge was grated tasty because I would just inhale anything else. Even then, I used to stand with the fridge door open munching on the grated stuff some days. My advice is to focus on finding lots of yummy new recipes, that way you tend to look at all the things you can eat, rather than focusing on what you can’t eat. There are plenty of recipes for imitation cheese (none that I’ve seen for haloumi though) so you can still indulge without feeling guilty. I found one for vegan parmesan that’s amazing, my husband and I both ate it on its own when I first made it because it was that good.
You haven’t got anything to lose by trying to be vegan, if it turns out you can’t do without cheese then you can add it back into your diet. You might just surprise yourself and not miss it at all!
Oh wow … is there anything else you really miss? How are you without eggs? I’d love the recipe for vegan parmesan if you’re happy to share. And any of your other favourite vegan recipes. I’ve got a board on Pinterest if you’re on there – would be happy to have you share things with me! https://www.pinterest.com/bumpyroad2bubba/becoming-vegan/
I was never a very big fan of eggs so I don’t miss them at all. I can’t think of anything else that I really miss – one of the big things for me has been knowing what foods I really enjoyed / craved and making sure I had substitutes for them. I have a massive sweet tooth so I made sure I found lots of vegan sweets recipes. I always keep home made chocolate and brownie balls in the fridge so I have something sweet to snack on and then make other things as I feel like them. Meal planning has also been key for me – if I know what I’m having for each meal, I find I’m less likely to get off track.
I got the vegan parmesan recipe from the Minimalist Baker website, they have some awesome and super easy recipes. Here’s the link: http://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/. Other websites that I love include Wholefood Simply (she makes the most divine sweets and is the loveliest person), Oh She Glows, Veggieful, Thug Kitchen and The Glowing Fridge (try her Rawnola, it is to die for).
I follow your vegan board on pinterest and have pinned a few things from it already! I have different boards for each meal so here is the link to my main page and hopefully you will be able to see the boards from there: https://www.pinterest.com/luciajames86/. Let me know if it doesn’t work and if you have any other questions, I’m happy to try and help!
That’s fabulous, thanks. I follow Wholefood Simply, Oh She Glows and The Glowing Fridge!
I’m a fan of moderation, so I’m thinking maybe you could be an almost-vegan and have some cheese and a poached egg once in a while. Is that a thing??
As a joke I googled that … 🙂
http://www.almostvegan.com/
GAH! It IS a thing!