90/10 Vegetarian Diet

Flyinbyfaith · November 2012

My DH and I fairly recently watched Forks Over Knives. We were blown away at all the info. This lead us to making the decision to eat less, if any meat, and make a valiant effort at having a plant based diet. We will, however, be putting this aside to enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays which are fast approaching.

Since this world of vegetarianism is more than new and unfamiliar, I'm wondering if any of you have any recipes or websites you use or follow and would recommend. I'm desperately needing to build up my vegetarian menu.

Thanks

amb04006 · November 2012

I'm mostly a vegetarian...I eat chicken every now and then. I don't have any fancy recipes or anything. I usually just make a recipe minus whatever meat it calls for. You can usually use some form of beans in place of the meat so you still get protein. Other than that, I eat lots of whole grain pasta, cheese, and...of course...veggies. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but this is what I've grown up doing and what works for me so I thought it might help.

Flyinbyfaith · November 2012

amb04006:
I'm mostly a vegetarian...I eat chicken every now and then. I don't have any fancy recipes or anything. I usually just make a recipe minus whatever meat it calls for. You can usually use some form of beans in place of the meat so you still get protein. Other than that, I eat lots of whole grain pasta, cheese, and...of course...veggies. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but this is what I've grown up doing and what works for me so I thought it might help.

No this is actually helpful. Thank you. I made black bean chili for the first time Wednesday. The recipe called for meat. I just doubled the beans.

I'm still eating eggs. I love scrambled eggs. And as I said, come these next 2 holidays, it's going down! But just for those 2 days. Smile

AshasaurusRex · November 2012

I could have written this same post. DH and I watched Forks over Knives and then Food Matters (that's an awesome one too) and kind of gave us the extra push to go vegan/vegetarian. We'd been wanting to for a while now, we've been eating mostly plant based for about 3 weeks now and it's been really great. A friend recommended Veganomicon (a vegan cookbook) to me and I'll be ordering it soon, the girl who wrote it also has a blog. I also have a bunch of recipes pinned on pinterest if you want to check that out (the stuffed shells recipe is one of my favorites, soooo good) https://pinterest.com/Ashasaurus/vegan-vegetarian/.

AshasaurusRex · November 2012

A couple of tips...

If you want a butter substitute Earth Balance is my favorite and easy to find (it's vegan and there is a soy free version). You can substitute it for butter in pretty much any recipe, I use it in cakes, cookies, gravies, etc all the time.

Ground flax seeds and chia seeds mixed with water makes a great vegan egg substitute, I just made my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe with the earth balance and ground chia "egg" and they turned out just like the original version.

Nutritional yeast flakes are AWESOME, super nutrition packed and really do mimic the taste of cheese, try it on some popcorn for a great delicious vitamin boost.

I know you said vegetarian not vegan but these may come in handy anyway:).

JenBee74 · November 2012

Congrats on going veg!

Read the China Study, it cemented my decision to go veg. Good cook books to look at are; Everyday Happy Herbivore and Viva Vegan. Tasty recipes that won't leave you missing meat.n

livefreelovetrue · November 2012

I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, since it was far less than popular, and since then things have come a remarkably long way. In your chili, you can add TVP (texturized vegetable protein), which is like 3 dollars/lb at Whole Foods and weighs little more than air so it's extremely affordable. Quinoa is a complete protein and is very versatile. Also, you can use gluten to make vegetarian meat substitutes. Many of the substitutes that you can buy at the store are made of gluten or a combination of gluten and soy. You can buy gluten in bulk and my general (starting) recipe is 2 cups of gluten, 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, and whatever spices will complement what I want to use it for. Then you add water gradually until all dry gluten is absorbed. Don't worry too much about adding a little too much water because the gluten will become really doughy (lack of a better word) and you can pour off excess water. Then you can use it to make what you want. No matter what I am making, I bake it first to achieve the consistency that is desirable (45 min at 350 should work). You can sautee veggies in olive oil and then pour it over the uncooked gluten, poke it with a fork to ensure the flavors penetrate and then bake. You can cover it in peanut butter and separate into veggie ribs and add bbq sauce (go to allrecipes.com and search vegetarian ribs, you will find the exact step by step recipe). Also, sometimes I bake it and then remove, bread and fry like a 'chicken' fried steak and serve with mashed potatoes etc. It is really great for hearty, holiday like meals.

I hope this helped, I'm just trying to mention what others have not already. Good luck!

CageyMack · November 2012

I was a vegetarian for a few years and I have to say that the best advice someone ever gave me was to quit trying to make meals the way everyone else did: to simply remove the meat. What that means is that you're making a meat-centered meal, minus the centerpiece!

I suggest subscribing to Vegetarian Times and go to the library. I completely changed the way I built my meals and they became deeply satisfying and nutritious. I suggest avoiding the "pasta and rice" trap. It is so easy to gain a ton of weight and get lots of starch calories if you base your meals around those things. Change your perspective and the rest will come into place.

Best of luck!

AFBTB · November 2012

Congrats on your decision to become a vegetarian! I've been a vegetarian for the last 13 years. I've got a couple vegetarian cookbooks that are great. I'm sure you can get them anywhere, any bookstore, or amazon. Also, Morningstar Farms, has a ton of veggie foods, like vegetarian chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and so forth. They even have fake beef crumbles and chicken that you can use in any recipe in place of the real meat. I use those all the time. Plus my DH is East Indian, so we eat a lot of Indian food, and most Indian food is vegetarian.

nomadgirl · November 2012

I'm a lifelong vegetarian though my husband is not and here are my suggestions:

1. Don't try and throw tofu into everything. I don't know why restaurants throw tempeh or tofu into pasta --- it doesn't work. There are many other protein substitutes other than tofu and tempeh. I use tofu and tempeh in Asian food and that's it. If I'm making Italian, then I use garbanzo beans and cannellini beans as protein subs (which makes sense, since that's what the Italians would use.) With Indian, I use lentils and so on. In my opinion, the fastest way to turn a burgeoning vegetarian away from vegetarianism is to use processed "fake meat." It doesn't taste good so don't use it.

2. There are lots and lots of great veggie websites and cookbooks but here are a few of my faves:

- 101 Cookbooks (website and cookbooks by Heidi Lawson) --- she leans toward using more unconventional ingredients like quinoa and amaranth flour but her recipes are great. I LOVE her garbanzo bean burger.

- Veggie Meals by Rachael Raw: This is simple, easy to make veggie food using ordinary ingredients you'd find in your grocery store. Easy and quick and great for new vegetarians or those trying to incorporate more veggie eating into their diet.

3. Eat what you like but experiment with new products. One of the great things about cooking vegetarian now versus 15 years ago is that there are so many more options for vegetarians in the United States. I love trying new substitutes: agave nectar instead of sugar or honey; white whole wheat flour instead of white or wheat flour; kale crisps instead of potato chips; and so on.

4. Have fun relearning how to cook!

Cailin+Deas+Rua · November 2012

https://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/25168

That is a list of super tasty holiday vegetarian dishes, and the website has meatless Monday recipes every week!

I've been vegetarian for years and Ezrapoundcake and loveandlemons.com are my go-to websites. Vegetarian Times also has a great magazine and website :-)

Flyinbyfaith · November 2012

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will look into all of the suggestions. I'm kind of excited to be doing this. DH, I have to admit is more committed than I am right now. I think it's the baby. I've been craving meat. Chicken. But forward march!!!

Smile

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