Question for Vegans and Vegetarians regarding protein

as I use cheese, eggs and beans I guess i'm not much help LOL sorry. but i'm following for ideas

Seitan, tofu and tempeh are probably the best sources. Check out my diary if you want; might be some other stuff in there.

lizzie6580 wrote: »

Hello all, I am vegetarian working toward veganism... I eat vegan 100% at home, but have issues eating out... I am getting there. :-) Anyway, I have a question for both vegetarians and vegans... I am looking for high protein foods. I am one of those crazy people who sincerely hates beans. I don't like them in any form, all I taste is chalk. I saw a nutritionist and she couldn't understand why a vegetarian wouldn't like beans. So, I am looking for foods that you all use to increase your protein intake on a regular basis. I should say that I use nuts, nut butters, soy, cereals, and any/all vegetables with protein (I LOVE veggies), and I have found that I like lentils. I did find one spinach hummus at the whole foods market that I liked, but I generally don't like hummus either. Short of using supplements, what sorts of foods do you use?

I am not looking for an argument on the merits of being/not being vegan/vegetarian. Just looking for a friendly conversation.

But soy is a bean, so I'm confused. If there is some form of soy that you like (what are you talking about, soy milk? soy-based burgers and other faux meat products? soy grits or flour? soy protein powder?), maybe you could work from there, look for similar forms or other beans in that form? If you haven't tried soy milk, that could be a whole different texture for you to try. Have you tried edamame (the "shelly" stage of soy beans)? That seems like a different texture from beans at the dried stage.

Have you tried tofu or tempeh? Some people find the texture of tofu more acceptable if they press the water out (wrap in cheesecloth or a clean dish towel, place in colander or strainer, and put a plate or other weight on top), freeze it, bake it, or broil it.

As someone else said, you can do a lot with lentils. You can probably do pretty much anything with lentils that you do with beans. I used to eat lentil "chili" (a stew with onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, cumin, garlic, and chili powder) regularly as a financially limited grad student. In more recent years, I found a crunchy snack food made with what seem to be dehydrated cooked lentils, called Perfect Snaque.

Have you tried chick peas (aka garbanzo beans or ceci)? To me they have a somewhat different texture from most other beans.

Also, for canned beans, different brands (and different varieties of beans) may be more thoroughly cooked. Beans that are properly cooked should have an almost creamy texture. If you cook your own from dried beans, try to get them from a place that has a high turnover so they won't be old, and soak them until when you cut into one, it looks the same all the way through (that is, there isn't still a hard dry core that the water hasn't penetrated). Then cook thoroughly until they reach a texture you like.

Have you tried seitan (made from wheat gluten)?

Anyway, for a vegan, there aren't a lot of "high protein" foods other than bean products, if by high protein you mean a food that will give you 20 grams or more of protein in what most people would consider a single serving, without providing so many carb and fat grams along with it that you'll probably have problems staying within your calorie goal (assuming you're either trying to lose or maintain weight). There are non-bean vegan protein powders (e.g., pea, hemp, rice). If powders don't appeal, you're probably going to have to meet your protein goal by eating a lot of grains, veggies, and nut products. I'm not vegan, but I do have lots of days when I don't eat meat or eggs, and little or no dairy, and on those days I sometimes eat 400 calories or more of nuts and nut butter and find that without the fat from meat or dairy, nuts fit into my goals just fine.

Nutritional yeast and quinoa are good.

Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds. Green leafy vegetables like Swiss Chard and Spinach and Collards.
It's ok to live on lentils. Maybe experiment with different types of lentils:
http://ohmyveggies.com/a-comprehensive-guide-to-lentils/http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-brown-gre-111139

www.revmodo.com/organic-food/8-plant-foods-that-contain-complete-proteins-for-vegans/

Found this not too long ago because I'm still wrapping my head around food combining and reading tons of stuff. I don't see any beans here, unless you count soy...

hi there! My main sources of protein are soy yoghurt, soy milk, tofu (here in the UK my favorite one is dragonfly marinated tofu) and chia seeds. Good luck! Going vegan 2 years ago has truely turned my health around, even before I started losing lots of weight.

Seitan. It's amazing. and very high in protein.

Well, beans can be disguised in for instanse brownies or bread otherwise, whole wheat breads, nuts and seeds, tofu, soy-milk, soy-yoghurt, green veggies. Basically most of the good foods contain lots of proteins!

I have a few friends and family members that are vegan and they use a vegan protein shake. Not sure what the brand is - but I know there are several out there.
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