Need some help from any vegetarians.

[2bfree]

For some reason the thought of eating meat is making me ill so I am going to limit myself to a mostly vegetarian diet (I will probably still eat seafood on occasion). So I am wanting help with what to fix. I love to cook and will still be cooking some meat for my family (ugh!). What cookbooks do you recomend? What do you eat on a daily basis? what are the mainstays of your diet? I'm not into fake meats either so that is out, I do like garden burgers since they don't taste or look like meat.

[DUreader]

1. B vitamin supplements are important for health

Spirulina prvides a complete protein and essential amino acids


I'm not veg. but eat alot of tofu cause I like it (flavor it in many ways)

[demnan]

2. Along with the vitamins

complete proteins are needed for optimum health. These are present in dairy products or a combination of grains and legumes. Beans and rice are a complete protein.

Learn to cook lentils and beans in a satisfying way. You can Google the rest.

[pistoff democrat]

3. Rice and beans

are always good. Add what you might like to flavor it as well. I actually put brocolli and onions into it - very tasty!

If you will continue to eat dairy products, that will help with some of the amino acids as well. (Never pass by an opportunity to rationalize eating ice cream!)

You probably already know this, but there are a lot of kinds of cereals, hot and cold, that are wonderful. If you are leaving the dairy products alone, soy milk is great - don't give up on it; after you're used to it, is is absolutely delicious!

All kinds of pasta, adding seafood for extra nutrition, is good.

As to cookbooks: they aren't my thing, but I would imagine there are good vegie as well as Asian ones that just might fit your bill.

[MojoKrunch]

4. Seafood doesn't have feelings, too?

Just kidding.
Will you be a "strict Vegge"?
Ie., no milk, eggs or cheese?
If so, that limits your choices somewhat for "easy fixin'" foods.

Head thee to the nearest natural food co-op/store in your area.
Or check out the local bookseller... there are *plenty* of vegge cookbooks... look for the Asian/Indian ones as well.
Whole Foods is in most states these days.

Double check any premade products for animal fats to be on the safe side.

Purusing Amazon might give you some ideas for what you might like.

The vegge's I know eat much tofu, bread, veggies and pasta.
Beans are big too.
You'll want to look into a multi-vitamin just to cover your health bases.

The Moosewood is the grand old marm of veggie cookbooks.
http://veggietable.allinfo-about.com/cb-vegetarian.html

Found these thru Google:
http://www.vrg.org/catalog/

www.sallys-place.com/food/book_reviews/vegitarian.htm

Good luck.

Mojo

[liberalmuse]

5. I happen to be one of those rare humans...

who actually loves vegetables (if I can go by a survey of the people around me who generally can't stand vegetables), so I try to make them the staple of my diet. A simple squash can make a good meal. I also eat a lot of nuts and alternate grains, meaning I try to limit wheat as much as I can. The Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks are very good, though they do contain a few seafood recipes. Just looking at pictures of meat or eggs makes me queasy.

If you cook a crockpot full of beans, you can create a lot of different meals throughout the week--refry them, curry them up, mix them with rice, tomatoes and onions and nuke them in a microwavable rice cooker, make burritos with either soft flour or corn tortillas, or mash them up, add some oats, grated carrot, etc. to form veggie patties, and fry them up--very good! Tofu, extra firm, cubed and rolled into a spiced up flour mix and then fried, with spicy peanut dip on the side is delicious. You can do stir fry. Hearty soups in the crockpot. Couscous with herbs and veggies of choice, topped with lightly toasted pinenuts. Pasta's with 'meaty' vegetables such as mushrooms, eggplant or zucchini. If you can stand even the slightest texture of a meatloaf (but you don't get the grease or smell of one at all)--you can make a nut and grain loaf and top it with a mushroom gravy with some veggies on the side. Baked potatoes piled with anything make a nice meal. I made a Thanksgiving casserole this week with brown rice, cashews, cubed deli-style pumpernickel bread, chopped celery and apple, a bit of dry sherry, and seasoned with sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram. It was very good. Just a few ideas.

[welshTerrier2]

6. bon appetit !!

The most common mistake new vegetarians seem to make is to lean too heavily on high fat proteins ... good nutrition is good nutrition whether you're eating a veggie diet or not ...

I've been on a "no red meat" diet for more than 25 years ... when i first decided to do this, i ate way too much dairy ... especially cheese ... that's just not a good way to go ...

some of the more popular veggie cookbooks are any of the Moosewood Restaurant books, Laurel's Kitchen (if it's still available), and many of the ethnic food cookbooks ...

there used to be a book called Diet for a Small Planet (and Recipes for a Small Planet) that taught about "protein complementarity" ... the idea is that a protein is made up of amino acids (16, i think) ... non-meat sources of protein often contain some, not all, of the amino acids needed to build a "complete protein" ... but by combining certain foods, e.g. bean and grains (red bean and rice), you can build a complete protein ... you don't need a chemistry set to be a vegetarian but learning a little about nutrition is probably a good idea ...

check out a good Indian, Mexican or Japanese restaurant ... their non-meat dishes are often a good place to start ...

bon appetit !!

[AnnabelLee]

7. You might try looking for back issues

of Vegetarian Times magazine at your library. If you experiment with different recipes, this will give you an idea of what types of non-animal foods you like best before you spend your money on a cookbook that has recipes for things you may not like.

There are lots of recipes here

http://cgi.fatfree.com/cgi-bin/fatfree/recipes.cgi

that you can look over. I like this site because I'm always looking for ways to remove the fat from everything.:D

Edited to fix link

[pippin]

8. here's a site

with world vegetarian cusines.

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/eastasia/buddhist-vegetarian.html

The recipes from the middle east are great. also if you like indian food there are tons of reicipes with no meat.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

9. Hey, I am a recently turned ovo-lacto vegetarian

Meaning I eat eggs and dairy- i also eat fish occasionally.

remember it is important to get protein from other sources since you are no longer eating meat... try nuts or peanut butter. Good Luck!!

Maggie

[amazona]

10. beans and rice were the mainstay

..and even though I'm no longer vegetarian, they are still an important part of my diet. There is more than the classic red beans and rice, there are black beans, lentils, pea soup beans, and more.

By the way, if you have developed a sudden aversion to meat (or any large food group) "for some reason," which I tentatively take to mean you don't exactly know the reason...get a check-up to be sure it isn't an early warning sign of anything.

[Ernesto]

11. Don't try Bocca Burger

Vegitarians hate Bocca Burger because it doesn't taste like card board. I know because I married into a vegi-cult family.

[MojoKrunch]

12. Mmmm Garlic Bocca Burgers.

Mojo

[Zorra]

20. Garlic Boca Deluxe Cheeseburgers w/breakfast strips

and fries and salad. Mmmmm.

Addiction.

[ronzo]

21. Boca rocks!

The faux smokies, brats, and Italian sausages are great.
Their burgers are the best out there, IMHO.

I know you said fake meats are not for you... hmmm. Will you eat eggs?

[RebelOne]

26. Yes, all their sausages are great, but can't stand Boca Burgers.

Morningstar burgers are delicious.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. Excellent suggestion from Annabel...

about Vegetarian Times.

I got their magazine for the first six years I was a vegetarian and found it invaluable. It was not only full of great veg recipes but chock full of health info importantt to those of us who don't eat meat. You can find them online if you don't want to subscribe.

I also look to cuisines that are naturally veg friendly, like Italian, Asian, and Mediterranean. Personally, I find too much rice and beads can cause my midsection to increase a bit, so I reply on soy shakes and bars to help with my protein intake.

A good multi-vitamin is essential, as is an essential fatty acid suppliment, especially if you are not doing a lot of fish.

[mr blur]

14. Definitely avoid fake meat

I mean, what's the point? We eat a lot of food from Indian recipies and not just curries. Been a vegetarian for 20 years and never missed meat once. Once you get past the cultural conditioing that a 'proper' meal involves a chunk of dead animal accompanied (almost as an afterthought) by a couple of boiled-to-pieces vegetables, then eating becomes a much more interesting and satisfying experience, I think.
Of course you have to find things like iron (once you're not sucking up all that blood) and keep an eye on the vitamins but then, really, everyone should do that. Trouble is, you're brought up to accept that if you eat meat then you don't have to worry about anything.
And no more junk food! Or, if you like fast food, it becomes an adventure trying to find fast food that's good for you - if that isn't a contradiction in terms!
Indian vegetarian cooking is wonderful. Lots of pulses, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices. And not difficult or time-consuming (especially when compared to cremating a whole turkey or something similar). I'd buy an Indian vegetarian cookbook.
Over here in the UK we have a vegetarian cookery writer called Sarah Browne. She does great recipe books but I don't know if they're available elsewhere.

[mr blur]

16. oh, and....

...wait until, after a while, you pass a butcher's shop or counter in a supermarket. You won't believe how disgusting they smell!

[corarose]

15. Go to the Library

They have tons of books and when you find one that you like you can purchase it at the book store.

[KittyWampus]

17. Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons Is A MUST HAVE

The Natural Gourmet by Annemarie Colbin is another ESSENTIAL

These two books are what brought me from Macrobiotics (Kushi style) into delicious gourmet food that EVERYONE loves.

To replace meat you've got:

Seitan (gluten cooked in tamari) which can be gound like meat
Portobello Mushrooms- marinate them and fry or grill
Mashed Lentils (with or without grains) made into patties
Tofu- crumbled (firm type) with tumeric to look like scrambled eggs
- sliced or cubed (firm type) and marinated for stir fry
- pureed (silken) into salad dressing
- pureed with fruit and honey for shakes
- pureed (soft) blended with grated onion and parsley for sandwich spread

[Crowdance]

18. The world opens up for you when you stop the meat-cenrtric diet

You'll fill that "gap" in your plate with a bounty of vegetables and grains you probably didn't know existed. My advice is to eat according to your body type, and to listen to how your diet choices are making you feel. I tend to overweight, so my diet has to consist of a vast majority of vegetables, some proteins, and small amounts of grain. If you're the thinner type, you can eat additional grains with no problem--as long as they make you feel good. The proteins I eat include: tofu, tempeh, seitan (yum!), beans of all types, and those meat substitutes (which taste just fine to me because I haven't eaten meat in 30 years so I don't know the difference.) I recently resumed eating eggs and cheeses, so those can be good protein sources as well.

The cookbook I'm referring to most in recent days is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. It has a tomato vinaigrette recipe that we just love.

Here's a popular recipe in our house: Seitan Stroganoff

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 package Seitan, chopped
large package mushrooms, sliced
sliced red peppers
1/2 TBSP. good natural soy sauce from the health food store
sour cream, soy sour cream or plain yogurt
white or red wine
egg noodles

Sautee onion in oil until soft. Add mushrooms and peppers. When slightly softened, add and saute seitan. Add soy sauce and sour cream or subtitute. Add a splash of wine to thin the sauce a bit. Serve over noodles. Even the kids like this one....

[kayell]

19. I don't see this link anywhere above

http://www.vegsource.com

The forums for veg beginners and recipes with Chef Deb always have lots of recipes and good advice.

Beans are great, I eat a lot of beans with rice and salsa. If you have a rice cooker, use canned beans and have salsa on hand, dinner can be ready in 20 minutes. (time for the rice to cook) Lentils cook quickly and can be made into dozens of good dishes. I also second the suggestion of Indian vegetarian food - very yummy, and very filling. Most Chinese and Thai dishes can be adapted to use tofu in place of meat, and many already use tofu.

The idea to check out cookbooks from the library first is great. That's how I have chosen most of mine. A lot of ethnic cookbooks have lots of veg recipes, in addition to regular veg cookbooks. Lots of mexican food, mideastern and asian foods are already veg.

If you give an idea of the kind of dishes you like to eat now, I could give you some suggestions for good veg cookbooks.

[Cleita]

22. For almost vegetarians this cookbook might help you.

"Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison.

The blurb by the author on the jacket of the book describes it best.

The 1,400 recipes in this book are those that I like to cook. If you're a committed vegetarian, you can prepare every recipe in this book. If you are a vegan, you can cook most of them. If you don't attach a title to your eating style, you can cook everything in this book and serve it with meat, fish or fowl.

I find it useful as she explains technique a lot and I like that.

[omshanti]

24. A couple of cookbook recommendations

Any of the Moosewood cookbooks by Molly Katzen:
The New Moosewood Cookbook
Enchanted Broccoli forest
Still Life with Menu
Also the Moosewood book of Desserts is fantastic.

Also, somebody already mentioned Deborah Madison's Vegetarian cooking for everyone - I LOVE that book.

Another one of my favorites is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, so you can get a taste of global vegetarian dishes.

Congrats on making the choice to go vegetarian, and good luck to you!

[2bfree]

23. Thanks!

These are some great ideas. Is anyone else a vegetarian who has to cook for meat-eating family? Any ideas?

[ArkDem]

25. The slaughter of innocent vegatables is not necessary try

http://www.fruitarian.com/ao/WhatIsFruitarianism.htm

with fruit no life is lost.