I love to cook and bake, I do it whenever I have the energy to. I cook only vegan food. I don't make a lot of money so I don't make the bougie youtuber recipes. I try to cook and eat fruit and vegetables as often as I can (cabbage my beloved), but I'm not very invested in low fat or low sugar recipes. Focusing on the postives, of eating healthy foods, is preferable to me than focusing on cutting out all the fun from your diet. (Please do not take health advice from me though). I am not very fond of following recipes to a T nor writing precise recipes but prefer lists of general ingredients and the steps that are taken, and thus my recipes will be written in this manner. I will explain generally what I do, and why I do it. Due to this and my general verbose nature, recipes may be a little wordy.
I'm not particularly impressed with the trend in vegan cuisine of attempting to exactly emulate animal products, I think the animal product should be considered in terms of what it provides for the recipes, such as a salty, savory flavor, or a creamy texture, and those elements should be considered when veganizing a recipe. In my opinion, when someone attempts to perfectly emulate an animal product, they are still abiding by carnist (the dominant ideology that animal are to be used by humans) values, by placing animal products as the ideal peak of taste and texture.
An example of looking at what an animal product provides to a recipe would be looking at a cheese sauce on pasta. The cheese sauce is creamy, savory, and salty. It may also be slightly sour, in that way cheese can be. An option for making a tasty pasta dish with these qualities could be using a tahini sauce with garlic and lemon juice. It won't taste like cheese, it isn't even trying to, but it is very delicious if you enjoy the taste of tahini. The tahini is creamy, the garlic is savory, and the lemon juice provides a stimulating tartness. Salt can simply be added to taste. Meat in a recipe can also be viewed under this perspective. Chicken soup has a flavorful, savory, and light broth, often with a layor of fat floating gently at the top. It also has chunks of chicken with an interesting texture and meaty, substantual feeling to it. The broth is easy to replace, most of the flavor of chicken soup is herbs and seasonings such as rosemary, sage, and garlic. Vegetable broth is already savory but you can add some nutritional yeast to produce more savory flavor while keeping it light. Some olive oil, or other oil, can be added to introduce some delicious fat which enhances flavor. For the experience of scooping out an element with an interesting texture, you can add cubed potato. For heartiness, you can add lentils or beans. Perhaps potato-lentil soup won't have you saying "I can't believe there's no chicken in this!", but that is not the point, it is just a comforting, tasty soup.
A mistake I see people make when they try to cook vegan food is that they simply remove the meat from a recipe, such as a soup, and don't replace it with any other source of protein. This results in an unfilling meal that leaves you hungry after an hour. The source of protein doesn't have to be a meat analogue, it can very easily be a can of beans and some grains (and it would be cheaper).
Heres a recipe I like to make that is Pasta with miso paste and spinach. It turns out savory and salty, as well as somewhat mushroomy despite the lack of mushrooms (though I imagine mushrooms would go excellently with the dish). First you cook pasta then drain it. While it is draining, allow the pot to completely dry on low-medium heat, then add a bit of cooking oil or vegan butter. When the oil is shimmering, add in a spoonful of miso paste. Miso paste is salty, so keep that in mind. Brown the miso paste, its okay if it sticks to the pan and burns a bit. Once it is browned, add in the spinach and stir. I rub the spinach against the stuck on bits of miso paste to lift the miso paste off. Add a just a little bit of water and scrape if the spinach doesn't work. Once the spinach is cooked down to your liking and the miso paste is no longer stuck, lower the heat as low as it will go and add the drained pasta and stir. At this stage, I also add some olive oil, a little bit of nutritional yeast, some garlic, and herbs.
I also like to cook some vegetables on top of rice . This is a pretty good, simple dish to cook for a group of people on a normal weekday, as it has rice as a filler, it has vegetables, and should be fairly satisifying. I use whatever vegetables I have on hand that sound good, which tend to be celery, carrots, cabbage, and onion. I also add in a source of protein, such as tofu and/or TVP. I use spices and sauces to flavor it. I have a vegetarian "oyster" sauce, which is made with mushrooms and it is absolutely delightful. I also have a mushroom seasoning, which has powdered mushroom along with other vegetables (although I wish it didn't have palm oil, as it is a powder it seems rather unnecessary anyway).
To start, I usually prepare a rice cooker with rice. While that is cooking, I cut up the vegetables, thinner cooks faster, and then take a medium-large pot and add some oil on low-medium heat. Set aside some of the vegetables, particularly cabbage, into a seperate bowl. These are to be added later so they cook a bit less than the other vegetables, adding some variety in texture and flavor to the dish. Once the oil is shimmering, add in most of the vegetables and stir ocasionally. You may add the vegetables in the order to wish to have them most cooked, for example, if you want the onions to be the softest part of the dish, add them first before carrots. After they wilt down and soften a bit, I add in soy sauce to speed this process up. The salt in the soy sauce draws out water in the vegetables, softening them faster. I also like to add sauces and seasonings at this stage. In addition to the previously mentioned, I also like to add garlic and ginger powder. If it gets too wet and you are using TVP, add a small handful and it will soak up the flavorful liquid. While this cooks down, cut up tofu into chunks. Keep in mind when you stir, the tofu will break down more, so don't be too concerned about cutting it uniformly or anything. Before you add it in, add the reserved vegetables and cook them down a little, then add the tofu. Stir and then taste a little, too strong is better than not strong enough, as it will be eaten with rice. Adjust to your liking. The dish is done at this point if the rice is ready. If not, keep it on low and stir occasionally until then.