Cutting down on meat. Need help

I love to make curries using chick peas, and also marinated chick peas. I add marinated chick peas on top of salads and they fill me up. One can of rinsed chick peas, add juice of one lime, half a clove of garlic, minced, 1 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper. I also eat less meat and the stuff I do eat is humanely raised.

Mushroom quesadillas are the bomb! Sautee mushrooms with garlic, onions and little thyme. I like the ole xtreme wellness tortillas. Tortilla, provolone cheese, mushroom mixture, provolone, fold over tortilla. Cook in nonstick skillet with butter or I use olive oil spray. Deeeeelicious!

Also, stuffed peppers. Vegetarian chili. Stuffed zucchini. Soups (lentil, broccoli, zucchini, potato, tomato).

Vegetable skewers. Eggplant parm. I oven bake my eggplant instead of frying.

Cheese ravioli. Pasta with fresh tomato sauce.

Morning star makes some pretty descent vegetarian options also.

Few of my ideas. Lol.

This evening I had vegetable stew with a load of peanut butter stirred into it. I would have loved a thick slice of crusty bread with it, but I’m trying to lose weight not gain!

Chilli made with soya mince and beans, served with rice and cornbread is very filling (and the cornbread is sadly high in calories!). I’m a big fan of Mexican type food. Indian is also great, there are lots of filling dishes made with chickpeas or potatoes. You could also add paneer, and serve everything with rice and naan bread.

I don’t eat meat at all but I’ve always found it easy to gain weight. Losing it is a different matter 😁

I've made some decent tofu curries and stir fries. Add chickpeas or beans to a salad. I'll make a batch of black beans and eat it with brown rice and pico de gallo. Dab of Greek yogurt on top instead of sour cream and more protein.

I gave up meat 9 months ago and I use some meat substitutes, veggie burgers, etc.

I also make a lot of rice and beans and recently starting making more stews like sweet potato and black bean, African peanut, and Indian dishes as well.

I would recommend checking out some vegan or vegetarian cookbooks (Isa Chandra Moskowitz has done some good ones)...thing is, it's usually very easy to adapt those recipes to include stuff like (some) meat, eggs, dairy, etc., much easier than it would be to just use a traditional cookbook and try to "de-meat" all of the recipes. My husband eats a pescetarian diet and we honestly eat more vegan stuff than fish, at home. We often make "vegan" recipes but then add dairy cheese (for example).

I loved the ideas above especially the ones from NewMeSM75...but we eat a lot of beans, lentils, chickpeas, baked russet or sweet potatoes with nutritional yeast, chickpea stew, TVP seasoned like taco meat, extra firm tofu seared in a pan or in stir fries, edamame & hummus on a wrap with lots of veggies, etc.

Morningstar grillers veggie burgers on a bed of rice with a fried egg is one of my favorite meals especially with a bit of homemade brown gravy (using "no beef" broth)...it's like Loco Moco, but vegetarian. So good!

If you have an Aldi store near you, they have amazing vegetarian meatballs with Italian seasoning. Very good on a sandwich or in pasta with marinara.

Also, avocado is a nice source of calories & good fat if you're trying to gain (and if you like the taste of avocado).

While I'm not there yet myself, I applaud ethical vegetarians and vegans.

Thanks for the shout out! I went vegetarian when I was 9, vegan when I was 13, and now vegetarian again I am in it for ethical and health

I haven’t ever eaten plant based really but if you like Mexican food you can make some good stuff with no meat—things like beans(black or pinto), squash, rice, avocado, corn, tomatoes, peppers and onions are all good. Spices and salsas can give you a lot of flavor. You can use pretty much any of those to make tacos (potato tacos are amazing), burritos/burrito bowls (breakfast burritos are great all day), or enchiladas. Bean tostadas are great (I’ve never actually checked the calories or nutrition on them, but it’s a fried crispy corn tortilla so idk)

Other meatless meals I’ve eaten: baked potato/sweet potato, pb&j, veggie omelettes, chili, black bean burgers (texture is softer than meat but flavorful).

I have some vegetarian friends who love mushrooms, especially the big portabellos.

aokoye wrote: »

Also the Moosewood cookbooks by Mollie Katzen are great.

Yes, I have the original Moosewood, that my mom gave my grandfather in 1980. I make the "Best Ever Pea Soup" and apple crisp recipes yearly and the Spanikopita less often. Lots of other good recipes in there.

My library system has 12 different Moosewoods available.

The biggest difference in lowering meat for dinner and lunch is redefining what dinner "looks" like. If you always imagine dinner as a main protein with a veggie and a starch it might be hard to do, but a mixture of food like hearty salads soups and casseroles are much easier to imagine. A big salad with nuts and cheese and quinoa and beans is plenty of calories and protein. A hearty baked pasta dish, like a lasagne with a vegetable heavy sauce is great. Stirfry with tofu and vegetables. Quiche and fritatas are an easy place to start. Omelettes for dinner for example. tacos and burritos are easy as well.

I lowered meat intake unintentionally but very broadly. Do I want a 3 oz hamburger patty or a 6 oz Ahi Tuna filet. Hmmm. Let me see . . . . .

I feel like life has not enough evenings for all the vegan dinners I want to cook and eat. I can recommend a few cook books. Power Plates is my all time favourite followed by Vegan Food 52. Then Love and Lemons, The Fresh Vegan Kitchen, Vegan in 7, The First Mess and Veg Every Day River Cottage. And some that have a mix of recipes but are easily adapted to be vegan like Ceviche and Andina as well as Green Kitchen Stories and Green Kitchen Travels. There are also lots of free food blogs online, including on Instagram. Good luck!

Really good extra virgin olive oil. EVOO can add to almost anything and can have a lot of other benefits as well. Calorie dense and good for you.