Vegetarians

Here's a repost from a similar topic I posted on a while ago.

I've been lacto-ovo veg for about 4 1/2 years and have found a nice balanced diet that seems to work well for my active lifestyle. Recipes would be way too crazy to post a bunch of here, but many awesome vegetarian and vegan blogs can be found with extensive recipe and nutrition information. Some of my favorites are:

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/
http://thriftyliving.net/
http://www.meettheshannons.net/p/betty-crocker-project.html
http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/

Eating vegetarian is not about restriction, it's about creativity. It's really, really easy to eat an unhealthy vegetarian diet. It really challenges you to be creative in substitutes and flavor enhancers that are still healthy. Some general pointers:

1) Fall in love the beans. Beans of all sorts are amazing lean protein, low calorie, high fiber, and super versatile. I throw a handful of frozen lima beans into my onions and mushrooms with omelettes or scrambled eggs. I soak and crockpot them into chili, spaghetti sauce, burrito filling, or pulse them with parsley, quinoa, and garlic for awesome burgers.

2) Frozen veggies are your friend. Many veggies are equally nutritious frozen as they are flash frozen at peak ripeness. Corn, peas, bell peppers, cauliflower, and green beans are ALWAYS in my freezer. They really reduce cooking prep time and for me, that's essential.

3) Be creative with sauces. Plain yogurt can serve as a base for a million sauces. From creamy garlic dill (just add dried dill and garlic powder), spicy chili lime (a little sriracha and lime juice), or even add garam masala for a cool Indian dip. Also things like fat-free sour cream, hot sauce, and vinegar are all low (or no) calorie flavor enhancers that are generally low in sodium.

4) Take risks with recipes. Buy a new vegetable and try something fun. Pick a grain you've never had and look up a traditional recipe. Cooking is so fun when you're not afraid of the outcome. What's the worst that can happen? You make something you don't want to eat again. My love of jicama, quinoa, polenta, turnips, and spaghetti squash are all attributed to this technique.

5) Avoid prepared meals whenever you can. That Lean Cuisine may only have 400 calories, but it is neither filling nor nutritious. Check out the nutrition on those things before buying. Any idea about the number of calories in zucchini, spinach, bell pepper, and basil? Negligible. And if you throw a teaspoon of low-sodium soy, a tablespoon of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of sriracha, and a quarter cup of water, you've just made delicious Thai-inspired veggies to throw on a grain of your choice or simply enjoy as is. Also, <500mg of sodium and probably 300-400 calories.

Most of all, enjoy how your body feels when you give it what it wants. We condition ourselves to "need" animal protein as if it somehow is necessary. We can get so much more from a vegetarian lifestyle while losing so much we don't want (depression, addiction, and 135lbs. for me so far). Embrace the simplicity and freedom that is your produce section

For those of you that have never tried tofu, it takes on literally WHATEVER FLAVOR you want! Get some whole grain rice (cooked with half water and half vegetable broth) and you can use that all week long with tofu. Cook tofu with barbecue sauce, sesame ginger sauce, garlic and onions, bell peppers, scrambled eggs, the list goes on! I prefer hard tofu because I feel like its not gonna crumble in my mouth lol but to each their own!

Love this thread....very helpful since I am seeing how I like a vegetarian diet....

I am currently a pescatarian, but eat mostly vegetarian meals with plenty of them being vegan. I make curries of all kinds. I love thai curry peanut soup semi inspired by Tom Kha Gai. The Asian market is your friend! I make tomato tofu quite often which is a blend of sour, tangy and spicy. Quite often we try new things, but I there are some staples that I love to make:

On weekends I will make:
Palak Paneer (with home-made paneer) yummy Asian dish, and yes it has cheese, but you don't eat that many pieces.
Curry Tofu with cauliflower and other vegetables.
Enchilasagne (layered enchiladas with spinach, black beans, and sweet potatoes so yummy!)
butternut squash soup
a healthy mac and cheese with broccoli.
vegetable stocks and broths to use during the week.
we have roasted brussel sprouts through out the week!
tomato tofu

During the week:
tofu fried brown rice (little actual frying)
a hearty tomato soup or minestrone
chili mac with crumbles and whole wheat pasta
burritos or taco salads with homemade refried beans (again, little oil used)
some sort of lentils
split pea soup (either curried or traditional)

Two of my favorite tips: if you want your vegetable broth to have a "chickeny" flavor sprinkle some nutritional yeast in, REALLY is a missing ingredient. liquid smoke can give the right amount of pizazz to most things. no need for bacon in carbonara, use liquid smoke!

I'm a pescetarian too, but my husband is a vegan so I eat mostly vegetarian. Feel free to friend me and snoop through my food diary. There's a wonderful vegan web site I use http://www.ivu.org/recipes/

We eat a lot of ethnic foods, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Italian, Mexican mostly

I find myself eating vegetables I never would have tried before. Kohlrabi. I make a great stew with that and sweet potatoes, fennel.

As for TVP, it's the only I use Morningside Farms grillers. I put it in chili and "beef" mushroom barley soup. I eat Morningside Farms maple flavored breakfast sausage, but other than those, I don't eat much other fake meat. I'm not a big fan of cooking with seitan or tempeh, but I have had some yummy things made with them.

I've found some good food ideas here from my friends diaries, and I've modified some recipes from some of the threads in the forum. Welcome!