Turning vegetarian-this should be simple right?

2

Replies

  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    You can do it.Theirs also tofu miso soups in my home state it’s next to soy sauces y fortune cookies 🥠. All sorts of things out there to try.
  • LenGray
    LenGray Posts: 841 Member
    I'd just recommend starting slow.

    Find two or three vegetarian meals that you like the sound of and start plugging meal combinations into MFP to see where your protein and other nutritional biggies are. Grab some insta-food and use those to up protein/make meals easier. Get a multivitamin and take that every day, if you aren't already.

    Most importantly decide what you like and what you don't and what you're willing to be flexible about. I knew from the start that I didn't care much for salads and that I'd need quick, portable meals. Luckily, I love bean-based soups with leafy greens, chickpea salad sandwiches, and casseroles. Breakfast enchiladas and skillet dinners have also been amazing ^_^
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,251 Member
    I like gardein meatless crumbles for tacos and spaghetti.
  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    Tmbg1 - meatless (hamburger like) crumbles I love them 😍! Their even good by themselves with veggies on the side,on salads, enchiladas with green sauce, on bread as a sandwich,in baked bell peppers.
    I just grab my frying pan cook it add it at the end or in something to bake. Bake some jalapeños cut it open at the end put some fried crumbles in y cream cheese bake a few more seconds as an added yum vegan bacon 🥓 wrap y pin it around it .
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,251 Member
    One more thing if you're in a hurry and need good frozen meals, Fat Rabbit meals are really good!
  • lalalacroix
    lalalacroix Posts: 834 Member
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    I had to learn to cook differently when I went plant based. I started replacing the meat with tempeh, sriram, or tofu, veggie meatballs etc in foods I already liked and knew how to make.

    Then I started following some vegan bloggers on YouTube and got new cookbooks. Now I make all kinds of things I never thought of before. I love Rachel AMA and Sweet Potato Soul. Pinterest is also amazing! You can do it!

    Rachel Ama is fantastic! I also love Avant Garde Vegan.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    I had to learn to cook differently when I went plant based. I started replacing the meat with tempeh, sriram, or tofu, veggie meatballs etc in foods I already liked and knew how to make.

    Then I started following some vegan bloggers on YouTube and got new cookbooks. Now I make all kinds of things I never thought of before. I love Rachel AMA and Sweet Potato Soul. Pinterest is also amazing! You can do it!

    Rachel Ama is fantastic! I also love Avant Garde Vegan.

    Yep I’m a Gaz Oakley fan too.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Appetite for Reduction is a vegan collection, but I recommend it whole heartedly.
  • therealmarceline
    therealmarceline Posts: 38 Member
    So many great comments here! I also really love tofu. Its wonderful in curry when pressed and sautéed a bit. I also enjoy doing the cauliflower "steaks" with spicy almond butter romanesco type sauce. Lentils, french lentils especially, are very "meaty" and delish. Blending raw cashews with a little water and baking seasoned vegetables in that can be a very tasty, "creamy" dinner. Good Luck!
  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    Am I the only one who finds some of my Vegan y Vegetarian cookbooks after the years call for ingredients I can’t find in my particular stores? I look or ask get order online or we don’t carry that or the usual what’s that??
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Am I the only one who finds some of my Vegan y Vegetarian cookbooks after the years call for ingredients I can’t find in my particular stores? I look or ask get order online or we don’t carry that or the usual what’s that??

    Occasionally I find this, only with vegan ingredients though (vital wheat gluten, xanthum gum, agar agar, liquid smoke spring to mind, although I’ve now sourced all but the xanthum gum). Never with vegetarian recipes - what ingredients are you struggling to find?
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 500 Member
    edited December 2019
    Tofu is like a sponge. You need to get creative. Cut it in long strips and sear/fry it really good. Then make a sauce/gravy with some vegetable stock and modified cornstarch (I prefer EZ-Gel brand, this stuff is awesome and doesn't break down when hot or cold) and braise/simmer the Tofu in the gravy/sauce.

    Another recipe i don't hear too much is Tofu Cacciatore.

    I am 100% carnivore and would never go vegetarian or vegan, but these are dishes i like making with Tofu that are vegetarian.

    .02
  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    I moved from a small town full of farmers markets to Vegan stores to a City with nothing! Whole Foods got bought up their was only 1 it changed a lot!
    Struggling to find herbs even to make pickles to other meals. Can’t find organic Dill in natural form not crushed or dried the actual plant to put in the jars! There’s some vegan meat substitutes but not all so a few newer recipes for toddlers I can’t find the vegan meat substitutes needed like plain Vegan chicken nuggets not BBQ ones. Xanthum gum to vegan condiments (theirs none). Vegan egg substitute none in our stores nearby! So have to use Vegetarian version organic free range eggs 🥚. Struggling to find products I have cooked with for years even here. Black cherries they only carry them 2 months a year. I wanted some veggies find few choices even for potatoes 🥔 only a few bags for a huge city area! So if key word if they have it poof* gone fast 💨.
    I wanted cauliflower they didn’t have any fresh pointed us to the freezer 🥶 section . Wanted Cactus to make fried cactus they didn’t have any. It’s aggravating because I’m the country I could get animal cruelty free items (One was a goat she never dried up after her baby still hasn’t thinks she’s a dog has a couch in the house 🏠 she roams in y out through a huge doggie door they had to make her...she barks lol 😂) to fruit straight off trees y vegetables gardens everywhere just trade or pay for what you need. In my own yard got a orange tree y planted mint y lavender plants so far. Can’t find mint here! Can’t find Rosemary or Rosemary oil for my hair. I can get Vegan Mayo online but not in store even. They don’t make cooking easy to make it from scratch more ingredients not in store waiting online orders to arrive.