I've long read that it's a vegan substitute for cheese and I find that weird because I hate the taste of cheese but really like that of nutritional yeast.
Marmite and vegemite tastes like a mixture of nooch and soy sauce to me
tofu scramble is a good replacement for scrambled eggs
vegan "cheese" has come a long way, violife original is a good cheddar replacement, it melts well and actually tastes decently cheesey
not particularly big on pretend meat myself, so i'm not much use therei've never made my own tofu myself, so i can't really help you there
it's pretty cheap where i live, big block for about the same price as 6 eggs
Oh, major suggestion, buy the Better Than Bouillon in "No Chicken Base" flavor.
That's the foundation of all of my soups, it's fantastic.
Really, it blows other bouillon out of the water. And don't get the Vegetable Broth one, go specifically for the No Chicken Base.
Soft silken tofu scrambled with some nutritional yeast, black salt, a little bit of onion and garlic powder is very eggy and tasty. Not super close, but close enough to scratch that itch. Really good particularly scrambled with some veggies and mushrooms.
Violife makes good cheeses, so does Follow Your Heart and Miyoko's.
Their mozzarella is scary close, but still not perfect. Still though, I haven't had anything that close to mozzarella since I used to eat it.
I've been doing the pan pizza recipe from Adam Ragusea since someone suggested it here, and violife's mozz and Miyoko's both work pretty well with it, but I find I enjoy it just as much without cheese. The sauce and toppings and bread are just :Care-Comrade:
The easiest meat substitute I've found is to just swap ground beef 1-for-1 with lentils, especially for something like sloppy Joe's or tacos. You're gonna have to go heavier on the seasoning since lentils are a little bland, but on the plus side a pound of dry lentils are a dollar where I live
i mentioned this elsewhere but almond ricotta is pretty good, easy to make, and i use it a lot for pasta dishes that need a lil cheese or on flatbread
carrot bacon (yes, seriously) is pretty tasty and provides a smoky, crunchy goodness with no fat! i'm a bit uninformed when it comes to soybeans though, sorry
it's pretty great! and in general i really like adding a bit of liquid smoke to all veggies when i roast them, it's magical stuff
my favorite way to sub tofu for ground meat is to freeze a "firm" block, let it thaw, squeeze out as much liquid as I can, and crumble it. A lot of the texture I didn't like of tofu was the moisture. It will be bland on its own- add some soy sauce and/or grilled onions.
The biggest change that lead to multi-year success as a vegan was not looking for replacements and learning new foods and new styles of cooking.
If you have access get a soyajoy. It is a combination blender and boiling device that you you can just put soy beans in, soak them in there, then the next day run it (it has a quick soak method too but I never did it). The soy milk is really great to cook and bake with that. It adds good protein content to breads and also makes really good tofu although its a pain in the ass. The soy milk doesn't really taste like store bought when you drink it. You'd need to sweeten it. You can't really get it to taste like store bought soy milk easily because they cheat and they add enzymes (amylase - naturally found in your saliva) to the product that breaks down some of the remaining starches in the soy milk into sugars and add some of that thicker texture. Because of the amounts and the reactive qualities of amylase (it isn't present in the final product) it doesn't need to be on the label.
