Where are all my vegetarians/vegans?!?

I'm a vegan too! I made a really good soup today with potato, vegan sausage, veggie broth, red pepper flakes and veggie broth. It is fantastic and spicy!

-I find that I feel better physically if I avoid faux meats for the most part...plus, that stuff is SO fattening! Have you tried making homemade vegan gnocchi? Mix with a good organic tomato sauce (or gorgonzola sauce, my fave) and garnish with a basil leaf.

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/italian/potato.html

-You can also make vegan potstickers...I like using tofu, cabbage and portobello mushrooms in mine, but the sky is the limit! Here's a good recipe:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Best-Vegetarian-Pot-Stickers-32783

-I'm a sucker for Italian cuisine, and I very much enjoy a good bruschetta. Dice up some tomatoes, shred basil, drizzle olive oil. Load on some slices of good, crusty italian bread and pop in the broiler for 5-ish minutes....heaven *drool*

I'm a pescetarian (eating seafood maybe 1-2 times/month) and I'm with rabbitapparatus - I try to avoid the fake meats as well, I'm finding that soy does not sit well with me. One of my new faves is a portobello mushroom stuffed with spinach, tomato slices, onions, green peppers and topped with cheese - bake for about 10 minutes and enjoy! I love it!

I began an affair with beans about 8 months ago and let go of alot of the fake meat stuff. I just made ww rotini with marinara and topped it with white beans. It was fantastic! And I know many people fear the gas from beans, but that didn't last long for me.

I tried to go vegan, but seemed to eat cheese unconsciously.:laugh: I don't know what to do without cheese.

My favorite quick easy meal is this:

Steamed broccoli, beans (depends on mod and whats on hand), sauteed onions and peppers, brown basmati rice, any other assorted veggies on hand, and toss in Zip sauce.

(Zip sauce is for steak and your supposed to mix it with butter or oil, but I just toss a little over my mixture right out of the bottle and enjoy)

I'm Vegan. I don't eat the fake meats too often, mostly because I don't miss meat all that much. (Cheese is another story altogether...) But I am also staying away from processed foods as much as possible

When I want "comfort food" from the meat loving days, I do find that a nice shepherds pie can be made using TVP rehydrated with No Chicken Broth - add spices and veggies of choice. Top with mashed potatoes (made with vegan margarine and almond milk). Bake at 350 for a half hour. Yum! Not super healthy, but better than the real thing.

Mostly I make soups. I LOVE soup. And I rarely use a recipe, though I have lots. I'm more of a "Hey, I have this, let's throw it in the pot and see what happens" type of soup maker. You'll find that just about anything works as a soup. Use lentils for protein, barley for whole grains, and you have yourself a totally nutritious, mighty tasty dinner. Or, as I do, I make one big pot on Sunday and eat it all week.

Nut meat? What does that taste like, is it good? I really do not like the taste of the imitation meats, is it similar in taste?

It's quite a bit like mince meat (I accidentally had some in my eggplant just now [made the restaurant take it back], so I can confirm the texture is similar) but the taste is a bit different. It comes in a can so you need to crumble it up a bit. I'd have to say it isn't a delicacy, but sometimes you just need something to sink your teach into, especially when you're new to being vegan. It also opens up a whole range of comfort foods from childhood. You could probably make lasagna, cottage pie (shepherd's pie?) or anything based on mince meat with it. Or you can use it for a burger patty, but there are better things available for that.

As for nutritional info, its quite good.
1 serve = 85g (about the size of a burger patty)
179 cals
18.6g protein
8.5g fat
5.9g carbs
310mg sodium
11% Iron

I find iron really hard to get, so its a bonus there, and the protein is good for after gym sessions (sometimes I use it to substitute for protein bars, which I don't like). If you're like me, you need a few higher calorie dense foods to reach your target, so this can be useful. But like I said, the taste itself isn't spectacular, it just tastes a lot like mince meat.

I don't usually eat substitute meats because I don't actually like the taste of meat any more and I prefer to eat mostly unprocessed whole foods. But I did see a vegan "lentil and potato curry pie" at the supermarket and bought it. I can't wait to pretend to watch the footy so I can eat it and feel like a real Aussie

I like fake meat too, but the truth is the more "pure" or unprocessed the food, the lower it will most likely be in fat, calories and sodium. Try getting a lowfat vegetarian cookbook. Moosewood lowfat favorites is a good one.

I eat so much TVP, its so easy to use, just remember to hydrate it properly and that you really need to cover it with a sauce or flavouring of some kind. I usually use either tamari, ginger and chili, or crushed tomato/pasta sauce.

Then just mix it with some veggies and meal done

Pretty much use it like you would fairly tasteless mince. Very quick and convienient.

Just make sure you don't go overboard on the soy, it can have some pretty crazy effects on your body and hormones, which can be annoying.,..

The best fake meat in the world is FriChik, Linketts, Saucettes, Nuteena, veggie scallops and Choplets and the only ones that are somewhat fattning is the Nuteena which is a peanut meat about 160 cal per slice.. These are Amazing meats there is no way you guys can dislike them!!!! I grew up eating meat at every meal and i love this stuff!! It was an easy convert for me. I just had two choplets for dinner tonight and it was only 90 calories! These are either worthington or loma linda brand if you guys havent tried them you must!!!!! kinda expensive but my husbands family is vegetarian so they buy through their church the seventh day adventist sells them i think thats pretty much the only place you can buy them we buy it all in cases.. Some things we do with them are


Linketts replace hotdogs
Saucettes replaces sausage
FriChik we use on all major holidays as our turkey/chicken meat so good breaded and fried (this will raise the fat content obviously)
Scallops you bread and cook and put over rice with cheese (done before i started dieting haha)
Choplets you also bread and fry but i dont use oil they cook just fine I also dice it and dice potatoes and dice cheese with seasonings and a watered down soy sause then make a homemade crust over the top its called pasty vegetarian style
Nuteena we use as a meat you just slice and cook we eat these with vegetarian mayo called veganaise and cheese sandwich YUMMY but fattening

There is also Veggie Burger in the can i use it for everything from shephards pie to taco's
We use vegetarian nalley chili to make hay stacks which are frito's layered with chili, lettuce, cheese and whatever toppings you want like tomatoes dressings, salsa ect.... super good
We also use morning star sausages alot i make an amazing lasagna with it in substitute for sausage and i use low fat mozzerella cheese and cottage cheese instead of Ricotta.

Another good meat is Big Franks you can use in substitute for hotdogs too whats really good (these are a bit more fattening) is slice them lenthwise put a bit of cheese in the split and pour barbeque sauce or hawaian sauce then layer in a baking dish with a little sauce underneath them then put in the oven until cheese is bubbly.. yummy appetizers.

All these things can be converted to lower fat by not using oil ect just have to use a nonstick pan.. since the meat themselves isnt all that fattening and with high protein.. good luck as you can tell i'm passionate about my veggie meat and i have many friends that are terrified to eat veggie meat but Love it when i cook it... take care

I'm a pescetarian (eating seafood maybe 1-2 times/month) and I'm with rabbitapparatus - I try to avoid the fake meats as well, I'm finding that soy does not sit well with me. One of my new faves is a portobello mushroom stuffed with spinach, tomato slices, onions, green peppers and topped with cheese - bake for about 10 minutes and enjoy! I love it!

LOVE the portobellos! I hollow mine out, sautee the insides with garlic, kale, onions, and a little celery in olive oil. Top with cheese and bake. It's AWESOME!! I will have to try your portobello stuffing out next week! Sounds great!