I am recently working my way into vegan (some days are better than others) and have 50 or so pounds to lose as well. I know all vegans hate hearing this, but I'm having a hard time getting enough protein as far as the MFP settings are concerned.

I know this can be worrisome for a lot of new vegans. Personally I think the settings are high for protein. Have you tried adding seitan? I make my own and its pretty cheap. One bag of vwg will last me 3-4 weeks. Tvp is easily added to a lot of meals and is amazing as a sub for the expensive meat crumbles you buy frozen. If you eat pasta and rice try subbing for brown and quinoa. Quinoa can be expensive, but if you're the only one eating it then it should last awhile. Oh and nutritional yeast has protein in it and I add it to everything!!

It's not hard just time consuming. I use a recipe from post punk kitchen. All in all takes about an hour, but yields 4 days worth.

I've actually never had store bought seitan. They don't sell it around here.

You can also change the protein settings - that's what I did.

Mary

kitsune the fox goddess who loves to eat inari!

It's not hard just time consuming. I use a recipe from post punk kitchen. All in all takes about an hour, but yields 4 days worth.

I've actually never had store bought seitan. They don't sell it around here.

the best seitan/wheat gluten you can buy from a store usually comes from asian markets... in little blue cans. wu chung, wei chan, champion are the usual brands. it is called "mun chai ya" for the mock duck variety, and "chai pow yu" for the mock abalone.... of the two i prefer the latter because it works best in soups and satays and comes in this amazing tasting marinade... sometimes chinese restaunts serve it.... especially on the west coast... there was a place in sf chinatown called the lucky creation that served a variety plate of 5 types of gluten in different sauces for 3 dollars. I have made it many times though I must admit I can not get as varied results as what Ive seen in chinese restaurants.

some of the canned varieties have msg which doesnt bother me particularly, but the wu chan that is currently on my pantry shelf, is all quite natural... i know some american whole foods companies like white wave sell their own version...as seitan its much more expensive and has a different texture but it is sometimes nice too.

The best cookbook is by nina and michael shandler: how to make all the meat you eat out of wheat. (very detailed instructions and lots of good info on marinades etc)

there is also cooking with seitan by barbara and leonard jacobs but havent opened it in years.

martin stidham "the fragrant vegetable" is a chinese cookbook with a chapter on it.

louise hagler's farm cookbook has a few short but (informative )pages on it.

ive gathered from a regional chinese cookbook i was thumbing through in halfprice books one time that wheat gluten dishes are a specialty of the area around Shanghai.

a lady that ran a chinese buffet here once gave me their recipe on a napkin... im not sure where I have filed that but i never tried it because it seemed way too easy (almost no kneading) but the key ingredient was vital wheat gluten.

Since you mentioned post punk kitchen, I must admit I recall seeing it mentioned often in Terry Romeros book... I havent looked at her recipe but if its as thourough as her recipes for tamales or enchiladas then I would imagine shes very thorough.

I changed my settings to 80/10/10, per Dr. T. Colin Campbell. I admire him and trust his information. Love his book "Whole" and the "Forks Over Knives" DVD. I have the companion book and FOK cookbook. I use them all the time. I have quite a collection of vegan cookbooks (20+) but these are the two I keep coming back to.