Alex and I have decided to go vegetarian for the next month. I’m fine with it since I basically live on cheese anyway, but Alex loves meat and is anticipating rice-and-bean burnout. Any suggestions for delicious meals, my dears?
I read really much effective material above!
There are so many things you can do. Try cooking with whole grains and legumes. I just made a very simple Lentil dish:
Take a cup of lentils and put in a pot with 3 times the amount of water. Add a whole garlic glove and a quarter of an onion and a couple of sprigs of rosemary and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Bring to a simmer and cook for about ten minutes. I cook lentils like I cook pasta al dente. You need to keep an eye on them or they become mush. When they are done strain them and reserve the cooking liquid. Reduce the cooking liquid in a pan until almost syrupy.
Dice some red pepper, yellow pepper, kalamata olives, green olives and cherry tomatoes. Mix together in a bowl and drizzle with good quality olive oil. Add a teaspoon or so of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. You can also add fresh herbs such as basil or Italian parley.
When it’s time to eat:
Place spoonful of lentils in the middle of a white bowl. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with some of the reduced cooking liquid.
Top with the pepper and tomato mixture and for the finale garnish with crumbled goat cheese.
On a lark, I decided to go vegetarian 2 years ago during Lent. I wasn’t a big red meat eater, but I lived on chicken and turkey. The first week was difficult: I craved like crazy!! The second week got easy in terms of cravings, but was difficult to remind myself not to eat meat. After that, it was smooth sailing.
When Easter rolled around, I didn’t even care if I ate meat anymore, but I had a small piece of turkey breast. A couple hours later I was in terrible stomach pain for the rest of the night. I went without meat for another week, when I decided I wanted a chicken burrito from a health-mex restaurant. The texture of the meat in my teeth just totally freaked me out. I haven’t eaten meat since.
I always had the reservation: I’ll eat meat if I want to. But I have never wanted to go back.
Just make sure you compensate for protein, which can be found in plenty of nuts and soy-based foods. There’s millions of delicious things you can eat without meat!
:) Cari
p.s.
If you live near a Whole Foods, they sell a brand someone else mentioned called Quorn. It’s great fake meat (the fake Turkey loaf you cook in an oven and slice is deeeee-lish!). I use it as a holiday supplement and in sandwiches. Yummmmy!
vegetarian lasagne…spinach and cheese.!
yum!
make salad and soup.
and try indian food.
some curries.dal.with rice.
its really healthy and yum!
Oh Man! There’s soo much.
Get your hands on a Greek Cookery book.
Okra in Tomatoe sause is devine.
Grilled zuccini, augbergines and Bell peppers bruched with olive oil and salt. Add Feta cheese and capers.
Chickpeas, rosemary and chopped garlic heated in olive oil.
Roasted turnips, red beats and carrots. Drizzel with honey and oil.
Fry up some onions, add spinache.
Chuck it in a medium hot oven with wallnuts and Gorgonzola.
See if you can get some turkish black olive (with stones) They taste like raisins.
/Fredde
I’m into eating animals, so no suggestions, but I do love this photo!
good for you being a vegetarian is SO much better for you health. meat has so many hormones in it and it just clogs your body up. also considering going vegan because dairy is also so bad for you…the cholesterol alone is enough. good luck!
hummus pizza:
I used tomatoes, green pepper, and onions. Very tasty.
Oh, yay! I’ve been veg since I was 10 years old…more years ago than I care to count…and you’re lucky that it’s much, much easier now! I agree with lillie — Moosewood books are still by far my favorites, and I think it’s because they’ve been doing it longer (and better!) than anyone else.
Try not to overload on processed stuff, BUT Zen Burger on Lexington at 46th St. has some stuff that will amaze your meat-loving husband (I’ve been able to convert a couple of my office mates, albeit temporarily :-)
Good luck!!
http://veganyumyum.com/ is the place. I love her recipes!
http://www.theppk.com has amazing recipes, my favourite being the pumpkin, chickpea and banana curry!
Masala veggie burgers (from Trader Joes frozen section), a layer of hummus, tomato, spinach (raw or steamed, your preference) or arugula (yum), thinly sliced red onion, served on a toasted onion bagel or a toasted english muffin. Enjoy and you’re welcome!!!
Hi Joanna, going veggie for a month is a great idea.
Definitely the way to go. They’ve got a mean hummus recipe too.
MUSHROOMS AND BEANS!
i don’t eat red meat and poultry myself, and am in the process of phasing out seafood. i can’t eat red meat because it does really weird things to my tummy. poultry is okay, but i took it out anyway. i rarely eat fish too. but so far, shrimp has been the only animal item i’ve been eating.
i grew up purely vegetarian, as was most of my family, and did so ’til i was in high school. and my mom would often make veggie meat steaks (which are awesome!!!), portabella steaks, and boston baked beans…they are awesome! i can ask my mom for recipes and i can email them to you if you’d like :)
oh, and as for frozen stuff, morning star makes AWESOME veggie spare ribs and of course they have the usual veggie burgers and “chicken” patties.
personally, i’m just happy with fried rice, sauteed asparagus, and portabella mushrooms with olive oil. so yummy!
When my fiancé and I went vegetarian a few years ago it was really tough at first, we backslid twice the first week, but we haven’t had problems since. We used to rely on Garden Burgers and Tofu Scrambles a lot, but we’ve finally begun to appreciate vegetables, fruits, beans and tempeh quite a bit.
I suggest researching Indian food recipes, like IndianFoodForever.com; or trying the recipes on VeganYumYum.com, trust me, even though the recipes are vegan a lot of them are easy and delicious.
Oh, and VegCooking.com too.
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