Any vegetarians out there?

[kashi]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

Interesting!!! Thank you!! I'll have to make a trip to the health food store sometime, when I am feeling brave enough to attempt seitan. Or, maybe you could just stop by, SeeAPenny, and teach me how to make it. haha.

I just read an article about eggs and the treatment of chickens in this month's Organic Style magazine...it made me ill. I will definitely be passing on mass-produced eggs from now on. I think I'll try to find out where the farmer's market guy lives, so I can get some eggs from him instead of buying them from the grocery store. They were so much better. I can't believe that the standard space for chickens is a 8"x11" cage. It makes me ill.

[Kittylover]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

At mambosprouts.com you can print coupons for vegetarian products and also sign up to receive coupons quarterly in the mail.Sometimes they have really good ones! Karen Also,for recipes you can try veganchef.com and vegsource.com!

[lvhocken]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

Hi Armywife!

I'm new to the forum, but I've been vegetarian since 1994. I recently developed an allergy to eggs (it's actually hereditary, my mom has the same problem). Since I can't eat eggs, it doesn't really make sense to eat dairy, so I've been working on veganism for approx. 1 month now. I stopped eating eggs 2-3 months ago.

I noticed that saving money was a major motivator for you in going veggie. You can save a lot of money eliminating animals from your diet. Be careful with meat substitutes as they can be costly. I use more beans, nuts, etc. than meat subs. I did, however, find the big restaurant sized Boca Burgers at Sam's club at a FANTASTIC price ... they're under $9 for 16 of the giant ones! Other than that, for the most part I use fake meat very sparingly and try to make my own substitutes whenever possible.

As for your family, you can try serving them meatless things that are already familiar like spaghetti with marinara sauce or marinara-and-mushroom-and-lentils or other beans sauce , "sloppy joes" and tacos made with lentils instead of meat (add some oil to make it more authentic), bean and rice burritos, pasta primavera ... your favorite pasta shape with steamed veggies and beans (optional) tossed with garlic and olive oil, rice-stuffed cabbages or peppers. Be creative. Also, check out online resources (Vegweb is a really good one) and cookbooks. As you get more used to cooking without meat, your dishes will look and smell so delicious that I'd be surprised if your family didn't want them.

Since it's getting toward summer, one of my favorite hot-weather meals is an asian "chicken" salad. I take mixed salad greens, add slices or cubed pieces of oriental flavor or chinese 5-spice seasoned tofu (I know, I just said I rarely use this), some orange segments (drained mandarin oranges works well if time's an issue), chopped scallions and cucumber. Then, I make dressing by combining the juice from one orange and 1/2 lime (lemon's ok, too), some soy sauce and oil ... add a few drops of toasted sesame oil if you have it, that makes it really authentic-tasting. This is fast and good. You can also serve it with some noodle soup by taking rice noodles or angel hair pasta and simmering them in some vegetable broth with nutritional yeast added. Toss in some shredded carrot and maybe some baby peas or chopped pea pods. Yummy Asian meal.

I hope this is helpful. Please e-mail me if I can help you more, or if you would like the recipes for any of my other "concoctions".

Leah

[BillsGirl]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

I love my meat, I am a carnivore and proud!! I didn't climb to the top of the food chain to eat mr. broccoli!

[kashi]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

BillsGirl, then obviously this is not the forum topic for you.

Armywife, haven't heard from you in a looooong time! How's the vegetarianism going?

[DivaJen]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

BillsGirl, then obviously this is not the forum topic for you.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[lvhocken]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

I've been too afraid of making my own seitan, but I used to go to a little cafe in Columbus when my sister was at Ohio State that made vegetarian gyros out of seitan and they were FANTASTIC! In fact, thinking about it makes me want to try and make them at home.

As for seitan -- by itself it is fairly bland (when I make it, I add onion and garlic powder and soy sauce for flavoring), but it readily absorbs whatever flavorings it's cooked with. Seitan's most interesting aspect is probably the very chewy, uncannily 'meat-like' texture it has -- so, it's a good sub for some of those old-style, 'comfort food'- type recipes many of us grew up with ('beef stew', 'sweet and sour', 'barbecued ribs', 'pot roast', etc). There's lots of info about seitan online -- here's a link that might explain further: http://www.ellenskitchen.com/recipebox/wheaties.html

[lvhocken]

Re: Any vegetarians out there?

BillsGirl, then obviously this is not the forum topic for you.

Armywife, haven't heard from you in a looooong time! How's the vegetarianism going?

I'm in total agreement with you.

Leah