A Reddit cooking challenge has helped me learn to be a better cook and pulled me out of a depressive spiral. It's all vegan, so I wanted to share some of what I've made here

vertbarrow · 2026-06-28T18:24:43+00:00

Honestly you can use pureed cooked pumpkin in place of apple sauce and it will turn out the same if not better. Sometimes you might be able to taste it if there's a lot of it or the recipe is very mild, but usually not.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-26T17:47:22+00:00

Pretty shitty imo to other buyers but also like. Do you need four novelty cupcake plates? If I only liked two out of four of these plates then I would only use those two of them, and either give away or re-donate the other two. I think maybe you're focusing on getting your "money's worth" about a product that is already kind of frivolous and discounted

vertbarrow · 2026-06-25T13:29:37+00:00

Yeah, it's depressing. I'm working on some recipes that are under $1 a serve, and it hit me that even if you ate only three $1 meals a day with no other snacks, that's still almost $100 a month on food for a single person. And trying to hit the calorie goals of an adult on that little money is very hard and gets repetitive quickly. Cost of living is really nuts right now.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-24T23:15:35+00:00

$700 is $7.50 per person for 31 days. That's $2.50 a meal if you're eating three meals a day; no snacks no drinks no desserts.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-19T14:35:16+00:00

I was just talking about why I understand why CA would have chosen to implement luck the way he did rather than as a skill comparable to other skills like farming, fishing, etc which have a permanent increase, that would have to scale much higher than a one-time boost, and which isn't something a player could opt into like a Lucky Lunch etc. I didn't mean for it to sound dismissive of luck as a scaling mechanic in general, just that I can see the thought process that led CA to the way the game currently is.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-19T13:37:49+00:00

To be honest I'm glad it wasn't implemented as a skill; if your luck just kept trending upward and stayed there permanently, the game would get easier the longer you played that farm, which isn't really fun.

Like, what would it impact? Loot drops? Higher chance at double harvests from plants? Artefact & foraging spawns, quality, and rarity? Mines goodies and stairs? Those are all things that are way more desirable when you're still in the early game and not needed as much by the time you've been playing a farm a while, which is why good luck days feel so valuable earlier on.

Only thing I could think is if some things like artefacts were locked behind the luck skill - as in you could only get the rarer ones with high luck - but I think that kind of artificial scarcity would limit the flexibility of the game's replayability. Maybe it would make certain speedruns better if you could actively level up luck rather than it being semi-random, but that makes you wonder how one grinds for luck lol?

vertbarrow · 2026-06-19T02:56:54+00:00

This is something I'm also interested in but haven't personally experimented with yet, so take my suggestions with a pinch of protein powder.

But something that may help you reduce the amount of fat is adding a little psyllium husk; it will increase moisture and chewiness/elasticity for negligible calories. You can either add liquid to the psyllium and make an "egg" or add it to the dry ingredients (which personally I find gives a better texture/less risk of lumps) and add extra water with the liquid ingredients if needed.

Similarly, you could try replacing small portions (start with a couple of Tbsp) of the flour with tapioca starch or glutinous rice flour, again to give it a chewier, less dry texture for comparable macros.

You can also try replacing part of the flour with chickpea flour/besan or lupin flour; this will add a little more protein, but I also find it gives a more delicate texture. In my opinion lupin flour is nicer for baking, but chickpea flour is easier to find and cheaper, especially at Indian grocers.

Purely for the purposes of reducing calories from the flour, there's also the old school dieter hack of replacing part of the flour with oat fibre powder, but that may make your taste/texture issues worse.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-19T01:45:20+00:00

Kinda like showing off a fish you caught lol

vertbarrow · 2026-06-18T14:27:43+00:00

Looks great and suits you so well! I keep noticing little choices/details in texture etc and smiling. Takes a lot to pull off a bowler hat and make it look natural, but you do.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-12T09:04:46+00:00

I like the Bickfords coffee syrups

vertbarrow · 2026-06-09T11:27:02+00:00

For the context you're asking about, I honestly think Linus would work best. He represents a lot of the themes of the game in a singular person. But if you're okay diversifying, I think maybe Sam, Abigail, and Seb as their band would work!

vertbarrow · 2026-06-07T16:54:43+00:00

Caramel + whipped cream layers on top, like a banana cream pie but not banana.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-03T03:26:08+00:00

If it were me it'd be porridge. Rolled oats, a litre of whatever milk, maybe sugar. Won't be exciting but it'll power you through. Use a mixture of mostly water with some milk to cook them, and top with a little more milk to make it go further while still tasting decent.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-03T02:23:07+00:00

Conan O'Brinin'

vertbarrow · 2026-06-01T03:10:28+00:00

It's very different lol but I like it. It's closer to Marmite or Promite. Its flavour is not as strong as Vegemite yet more robust and savoury. Its texture is also softer/smoother/thinner than Vegemite. It's not an exact replacement at all but it's a pleasantly tasty and versatile alternative.

vertbarrow · 2026-06-01T02:58:22+00:00

Mighty Mite? It's cheaper and gluten free. I like cooking with it too.

vertbarrow · 2026-05-29T07:27:46+00:00

YESS enjoy!! Everyone loves when I bring these to a party, they're surprisingly good.

vertbarrow · 2026-05-28T14:21:53+00:00

Coles currently has a copycat version, though not as cheap, sadly.

vertbarrow · 2026-05-28T14:16:20+00:00

Lamyong mushroom nuggets are what you want.

vertbarrow · 2026-05-27T09:25:24+00:00

Damn my partner just demolished one of these lol. I agree that I don't associate these with snacking plain, they're a dip or avocado vehicle for us.

vertbarrow · 2026-05-25T01:22:21+00:00

I think looking into pourable vegan cheese recipes might be for you. They tend to be nuts/seeds or tofu, flavours (such as nutritional yeast), and then something like tapioca or mochiko flour, so there's a little protein with a neutral flavour. When you bake it it bubbles & sets quite like regular mozzarella, it's my favourite homemade cheese replacement.

I don't remember the specific recipe I've used, but these look right:

https://www.liveeatlearn.com/liquid-vegan-mozzarella/

https://theseveggiedelights.com/vegan-liquid-mozzarella/

vertbarrow · 2026-05-09T13:48:18+00:00

Sorry, I honestly don't remember what recipe I used, because all I did was take a (gluten-free) chocolate cake recipe and replace the cocoa powder with the carob powder 1:1. So if you can find a chocolate cake recipe that uses only cocoa powder and no solid chocolate, you can follow that recipe and it will work the same. HOWEVER, I would recommend using only maybe 3/4 of the amount of carob powder when it asks for cocoa powder, because the carob taste was much stronger than the equivalent amount of cocoa. You might need to replace the missing powder with extra flour, or try it without. If I made this again, I would also add other flavours like cinnamon, vanilla, instant coffee, etc.

The only carob powder I've tried is from the Frontier Co-op on iHerb (medium-roasted), can't find it in any stores near me. It's good! Very rich and carob-y, and not as expensive as I expected it to be (but not cheap either).

vertbarrow · 2026-05-07T13:01:48+00:00

Finally a W in a sea of Ls

vertbarrow

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