BEEF: Perhaps the most common fake beef can be found in "veggie" burgers, made by a number of health food and organic companies. You can get anything from burgers that taste just like real burgers to veggie and garden burgers made from bits of vegetables and burgers made with black beans. There are even fake meat "crumbles" that can be used to replace ground beaf in many recipes. Many fake beef products contain eggs and cheese, though, so be sure to read the label. Vegan (fasting) burgers include the Boca Burger (Vegan Original) and the Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burger. Most veggie hot dogs are also dairy and egg-free.

EGGS: It is fairly simple to bake without eggs. Two teaspoons of corn starch, for example, can be mixed with two tablespoons of water to take the place of one egg in many cookie and cake recipes. Ener-G brand makes an egg replacement product that also works well, but speaking in terms of economy, it makes more sense to use the corn starch method, as it is virtually the same as Ener-G and is much cheaper. For a simulated scrambled egg meal, try scrambling firm tofu with different flavorings, like Tofu Scrambler brand flavor packets. Such flavor packets can be purchased at any health food store and many grocery stores (in the produce section).

MILK: Soy milk and rice milk are the most popular replacements for milk. You can almost always find these products in both health food stores and regular grocery stores. Most milk-replacement products do not taste much like cow's milk, but are edible with cereal and can replace milk in baked items cup-for-cup.

BUTTER: Obviously, margarine is the best replacement for butter, but depending on the brand, the quality of the margarine's thickness will vary. Also, there are very few purely vegan brands of margarine at conventional grocery stores, but most if not all health food stores carry vegan margarine.

CHEESE: There are few entirely dairy-free replacements for cheese on the market. Most soy/rice cheeses are NOT dairy-free (they have casein, a milk derivative), and most totally dairy-free cheeses are not only terribly over-priced but just plain terrible. There is an alternative recipe included in this page that works to replace cheese in lasagna and on homemade pizzas. This is a tofu cheese replacement and can be found in the recipes for vegan lasagna and vegan pizza in the recipe section. Although it certainly can't replace the rich, full flavor of cheese (and probably shouldn't, during the fast), it is dairy free and works well in most Italian dishes as a mozzarella or ricotta replacer (note: it does NOT melt).

BROTH: To easily make a vegetarian broth, there are a few products on the market to choose from. Many mainstream grocery stores and health food stores carry liquid vegetarian broths, boullion cubes and broth mixes.


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