I've been thinking about going vegetarian for a long time - literally years. I haven't been comfortable with eating meat since I was a kid, and I think I've only continued to do it out of laziness. I'm not sure what prompted it, but during Saturday night's sickness, I decided to stop. I'm still up in the air about a few things (I might eat meat from our CSA, and I'm undecided on fish), but no more guilty or mindless meat eating. It's now been published on the internet, so I'd better stick with it!
Are any of you vegetarians or vegans? Do you have any tips? Favorite recipes? Good recipe websites? I have to admit, for some reason I'm a little nervous. I'd love any advice!
41 comments:
I know this sounds crazy, but we're sort of vegan. I HATE cooking meat-it freaks me out and my fiance is lactose intolerant. So, we eat a lot of vegan meals. Definitely check out Vegan with a Vengeance or Vegan cupcakes take over the world, or even the Students Go Vegan book. The author of Students Go Vegan also wrote Students Go Vegetarian book but I haven't tried it.
good luck!
Oh my! I have thought about going vegan too... Meat scares me sometimes. Good Luck Alli!
Go for it - it's really not that scary! I've been a vegetarian from the age of nine - ever since I made the connection between animals and meat. I have also been trying to incorporate more vegan dishes into my repertoire recently (I highly recommend Veganomicon). When I'm hungry or tired, though, eggs and cheese are so temptingly quick to prepare! Ooh, I also really like all the Cranks cookbooks - especially their Fast Food one. Do you have any veggie restaurants near you? I find they can be a good source of inspiration (and, indeed, food!) when I'm stuck in a cookery rut. Good luck!
hi all! I'm not a vegetarian, but I did post about a kale chip recipe on my blog a few weeks ago and I could just about eat those everyday!!!! Also the quinoa recipe may inspire you too! :)
yay! i've been semi-veggie for years and have found the wonders of fresh beans! (make your own veggie burgers!)
also, i passed on a Lovely Blogger award to you!
http://missmakesalot.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-love-pixies-and-bears-and-ice-cream.html
I just plain think meat is yucky...have since childhood. My man thinks killing animals to eat is bad, bad. Our kid eats whatever, wherever. He is a teen and we are fine with him making his own food choices. I made the deal to not bring meat into the house when we got together almost 20 years ago. Every now and again a can of tuna sneaks in, but other wise only eggs and cheese. I used to drink cow's milk, but gave it up this year for the green planet thing. I often use fake eggs, but just can't part with my old friend cheese. They are so many soy products that seem like meat out there...check your produce section. One of my all time favorite vegetarian cookbooks is The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook by Dede Hall. We especially love the bean salad and olive tapenade recipes. Good luck with your plan. I don't miss meat a bit.
I'm not a vegetarian, but my husband is-- and in the past four years I've come to really appreciate how much fun it is to cook vegetarian. I'm with Michelle-- cooking meat has always freaked me out. These days, I eat meat only at restaurants (usually fish) and enjoy the relaxed feeling of not having to worry about under-cooking something. I've got lots of good vegetarian recipes at my blog, too!
Kristina
Sweetfern Handmade
Good luck Alli! it is something i'm seriously thinking of doing xx
I'm not a strict vegetarian, but I don't eat beef, and eat vegetarian meals a few times a week. A few standbys that are easy:
Spagetti, replacing the ground meat with black beans and red lentils (Cooked like pasta). Really hearty and satisfying.
Quiche, in a pastry shell with all veggie shortening. My favorite additives are roasted asparagus & Red peppers.
I live in a city with a lot of tasty vegetarian restaurants and one of them has a cookbook. It's called Re-Bar and if you can get your hands on one, I highly recommend it!
I've been a vegetarian practically forever, and would be vegan if my boyfriend wasn't a cheese-o-holic. Best recipe website, ever: http://www.vegweb.com! The recipes are vegan, but you can easily use non-vegan options if you like.
I second the Starving Students Vegetarian Cookbook suggestion. Also, run out and buy any cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Another good veggie cookbook is Vegetarian Express by Nava Atlas. It looks old and ridiculous, but you can get it for super cheap used on Amazon (mine came with notes like "yummy!" in the margins).
Good luck! I'll stop overflowing your comments, but let me know if you need any more suggestions. I'm a vegetarian cookbook collector!
(PS - if you start missing meat, run out and buy Quorn. You won't know the difference!)
Kristen:
Yeah, I scared my poor two-year-old daughter a couple weeks ago because I was cooking a pork shoulder. I had to rinse off a bunch of salt I put on it the night before, and I was standing over the sink, crying, "I'm so sorry piggy! I promise I will eat vegan after this!" Of course, I still eat meat, but I don't know....it freaks me out.
Good on you, go for it. I have been vegan for about 16 years now. I find it easy. Just read about the nutrition on sites such as the UK vegan society. There is a great book called Plant based nutrition and health by Stephen Walsh who is the chair of the UK Vegan society. There is a summary booklet in pdf format on there website, which is a great start. http://www.vegansociety.com/uploadedFiles/References_and_Resources/Downloads/PBN.pdf
My blog also has vegan recipes and all the other books and websites already mentioned are great.
We don't eat meat often in my house. Half of my diet is grains and dairy.
Remember, if you go vegetarian or vegan, you have to find replacements for the nutrients you would get with meat (mainly protein, iron, etc). Pescetarians (aka the only meat you eat is seafood) normally don't have a problem but have to watch out for magnesium and mercury doused fish. There are pros and cons no matter which diet you choose. I could never let go of my bacon, chicken breasts or ham so I'm better off an omnivore. It's better for me too as I struggle with anemia.
I eat fish sometimes and dairy fairly regularly, but I haven't eaten red meat or chicken/turkey in over 8 years, and I love it! My favorite protein source is black beans. I put them in everything. The cool thing is almost anything can be adapted to be meatless. Last week I used a recipe for Cajun Rice and Beans from Cooking Light and just left out the sausage and used quinoa instead of rice. It turned out really good.
I look at myrecipes.com and hopefully your local library has a decent veggie/vegan cookbook collection. And I agree with Drop Stitches Not Bombs: Veganomicon is great. I also read a handful of food blogs which are good inspiration for preparing healthy, meatless meals. Let me know if you'd like the links.
My go-to meals are pizza, veggie chili, soups, anything involving a tortilla, black beans, avocado,and salsa, and veggies with rice/quinoa/pasta. Have fun and experiment! I doubt you'll miss meat at all!
I'm not a veggie, but the Lovely is, and a strict one at that. Along with having a nut allergy, it often prompts people to ask us what we eat when we cook together, but to be honest pretty much everything can be done
A thing I would really recommend is to use vegetables instead of meat subsitutes (like quorn) wherever possible, as they just taste so much nicer.
Another good tip is get hold of a veggie cookbook aimed at students - because its designed for those who probably have limited cooking experience it covers all the basics that you might otherwise forget about
(plus we got the most killer recipe for bean burgers in one of ours)
I'll probably think of more things, but tbh it is no hardship to go from a mainly meat diet to one where its not your first thought - these days I often find myself looking at the veggie option when I eat out because I've got so used to food without meat!
x
I'm a vegetarian and find it pretty easy, not to mention less expensive. Other people seem to fuss about it more than I do. I've been veg for years and always manage to find something to eat at parties and restaurants.
One of my favourite recipes is, believe it or not, from Martha Stewart's Food mag: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/tortilla-soup-with-black-beans. It's really tasty and easy to make.
I also use the Moosewood cookbooks a lot. And there's this website too: http://vegweb.com/.
Hope you enjoy it!
Yeah, I've been vegetarian for 19 years and vegan for 14 of those years.
Mostly I just try to make a protein and a vegetable for dinner as my standy-by. Sometimes I'll whip out recipes.
I use the following cookbooks sometimes:
- Vegan with a Vengeance (the good thing is the ingredients are fairly common and most of the recipes are simple); I pull the marinated tofu recipe out of there a lot and used the make the fritatta and also the carrot raisin muffins all the time
- Veganomicon - I don't use the recipes but the front is really valuable for looking up how long to roast/steam (mostly I roast brussels, broccoli, greens/collards/kale) and also for water/grain ratios and cooking time (quinoa, couscous, rice, etc.)
The new issue of Body & Soul magazine has a whole article on newbie vegetarianism and their site (the Martha site) often has a lot of vegan and vegetarian recipies:
http://www.wholeliving.com/photogallery/vegetarian-recipes
http://www.wholeliving.com/photogallery/vegan-recipes
(And there is always the Vegetarian Times mag - I don't get it by my mother and a few friends do)
Then of course there's the fabulous archives of Vegan Lunchbox:
http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/
And the vegan bento pool on flickr.
Please feel free to ask me anything!
I've only been a vegetarian for 2 years (started trying at 14, finally did it at 21!), but this is my top tip - don't feel bad about buying a veggie ready meal or two. Because there are such great recipe sites out there, and being veggie often goes along with being mindful of other green issues like buying local etc., at the beginning I often felt like I should be cooking up an organic storm. As a busy person it doesn't always work out. Don't feel bad if you have a couple of Quorn/Linda McCartney/Tesco Meat Free readymeals in the freezer!
Oh, and here's another tip: the fake bacon stuff tastes like corned beef. So if you miss corned beef, buy veggie bacon. If you miss bacon, you're out of luck. :)
I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. (Pescetarian, really, because I do eat fish.) My best advice is to make sure that you don't overly rely on carbs to fill you up--it ends up making you gain weight and feel blah. That's hard, though, because pasta dishes are usually the easiest/least expensive to make and also the most familiar/easiest to accept for people who are used to eating meat.
Good luck!
I've always been a sometimes vegetarian, but really I'm more of a picky eater. I eat fish and chicken but I hate red meat.
Good luck!
Chic on the Cheap
alli! i just became a vegetarian in november. so it's been about four months now and i feel amazing! it's actually much cheaper (as lori-ellen mentioned above) and much more flavorful to cook vegetarian meals. i, too, LOVE the Moosewood cookbooks. i get most of my protein from nuts (my favorite are almonds), beans (i have an obsession with chick peas now), and tofu. i do eat seafood on occasion.
what sparked me to make this change was two things 1) watching the documentary food, inc. and 2) realizing, based on my blood type, that my body just doesn't digest or metabolize meat and poultry the way other people do. i have so much more energy eating vegetarian anyhow. so it's really been a win win. and i do not miss red meat or chicken one bit!!
oh, and soups are my new best friend. i have to say i've mastered roasted butternut squash soup. check out the recipe that i adapated from real simple.com
http://cafetaber.blogspot.com/2010/02/soupee.html
have fun!!! you won't regret it!
I am semi-vegetarian right now but was vegetarian for 3 years and vegan for a year. I am thinking about getting back into it again. Have fun trying the recipes that was always one of my favorite things to do.
I eat fish, because of the omega 3, but I have given up all other meats. But its been suprisingly easy, I really enjoy tofu and lots of beans. There are so many wonderful recipes out there that don't need meat!
This is a wonderful step toward better health! I amped up my veggie/vegetarian intake when I encountered some health issues in my early 20s and it's helped me immensely (I still eat meat, but not at home, and I mostly cook at home). Not only do I not have stomach-issues anymore but my palate has been completely expanded rather than limited.
My two desert island veggie cookbooks are Peter Berley's fabulous, fabulous Modern Vegetarian Kitchen and Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. As someone who's lactose intolerant, doesn't want to eat pasta all of the time and wants hearty, tasty meals, these two have been a godsend. Jaffrey's book has the best chapter on bean cooking/recipes I've seen plus is just a tomb for international veggie goodness and Berley's book is such a fresh take on veggie cooking: His recipes for tofu are inventive and satisfying (and are a key part of my repertoire) as are his grain-salads (perfect for packing for school!). Berley comes from the macrobiotic tradition so he's got an Asian bent, and it's worth noting that neither of these authors are purely vegetarian but champion the value of eating this way. Good luck and happy eating!
http://www.eatwellwithjanelblog.com/
I'm vegan, and I made a nice, slow transition from vegetarian to vegan so as not to feel deprived or intimidated. When I was making the transition, I decided that I wouldn't crucify myself for eating cheese or butter occasionally, and that way, it became far less scary. I've been 100% vegan for two and a half years now and with the help of some great restaurants and recipes, I find it pretty easy!
Good luck!
Hey Alli! I'm about 95% vegetarian now, but was 100% veggie when we lived in England during the Mad Cow era. I've always been a bit queasy around red meat and chicken, but I'll eat it if it's the only option, or if I get a rare craving for a burger or Chick-a-fila. I also love BBQ every once in a while as you know. :) The main reason I can't go full veggie (besides my random cravings) is that I'm somewhat allergic to soy and peanuts. Our usual protein staples are beans, nuts (especially almonds and walnuts) and a little fish. I like being 95% veggie because of the health reasons, it's cheap and because I feel sorry for the animals.
Alicia Silverstone has a new vegan cookbook that I want to read...
good luck! i've been a vegetarian for about eleven years now, the only one in a family of eight, and it's not always easy. i often end up quickly cooking an entirely new dish for myself because the family meal is too hard to adapt into a veggie dish. i often make pastas with improvised sauces, based on pesto, cream, tomatoes, red peppers, eggplants, parmezan cheese...
roasted pineseeds are delicious on almost everything. snack on nut mixes-there are so many choices and they fill you up better than cookies do.
make sure you always have some fresh vegetables around since they taste so much better.
if you are a bit worried about the whole health thing, consult a nutritionist (i did a few years ago and it was a great help, she looked at my daily eating habits and gave great suggestions for improvement) and get your blood checked regularly. sometimes you aren't getting the stuff you need, but won't notice it immediately... lack of iron can make you feel very tired!
the caffeine avoiding is a great plan too.
if you would avoid fish too, make sure you get enough B12: eggs, cheese, milk. yum!
Yep, hubby and i are vegitarian, he's vegan but we will eat whatever is served to us while out at friend's houses. Ours is mostly a health decision, not an ethical decision. We both simply feel better without meat in our diets. Our children are mostly vegitarian too.
My advice is become friends with beans and pulses and experiment by mixing up foods you like. We for example throw anything and everything into salads.
Also don't forget you can get protein through dressings and sauces too. One of my favourites is a tahini dressing, yum, yum, yum.
Oh my gosh, thank you guys! There is so much great inspiration here. I'm not sure why I'm nervous; Nate and I already eat very little meat at home so I'm used to alternative protein sources. I think I'm going to struggle the most with not running out for lazy fast food lunches (but skipping those definitely isn't a bad thing!). I'll check out all of your suggestions!
It's been a few weeks since I started to think to go veggie. The most scary thing, even if I eat meat only once a week, is to have a good and healthy diet. I am now reading Vegetarian for dummies and I'm finding it useful. Alli, good luck, you'll be great! As always thanks, now I have a lot of info on vegetarianism!!!!
Good luck with this! I am slightly vegetarian, if there is such a thing! I do not eat any meat other than fish, thus the slightly. When I used to eat meat, I didn't eat much at all because pork makes me sick (literally) and I always felt so heavy and yucky after eating beef. And for chicken, I just don't like chicken. I think since you've had a sick spell with meat, it will be easier for you. Again, good luck and healthy eating!
I have been a vegetarian all of my life and honestly, it is so much easier to be one now than it was just 5 or 6 years ago. You will do fine! <3
Good for you!!!
I have been vegetarian since my sophomore year of high school and recently decided to be vegan (with the exception of sashimi). I did it originally because meat grossed me out and the whole concept of eating another mammal's muscle did not seem appealing, but now it's for health reasons (have you read The China Study?) and environmental reasons (Michael Pollan books!). I'm now transitioning to veganism, actually, but I'll still eat good sushi since the Omega-3's are so healthy and yummy! Cow's milk is too rich for most humans, anyway. I have been doing really well the past few months on a very restrictive (raw) vegan diet, actually, and I don't miss any of the old foods I used to eat except when I'm around them like at potlucks. Good luck and way to go, your body will thank you!
http://veganyumyum.com has a lot of good recipes, as does http://vegheadrecipes.tumblr.com. If you eat cheese, look for those that don't use animal rennet. Also, I'd suggest looking into vital wheat gluten flour (Bob's Red Mill makes a good one). My husband has a lot of good info, message me through my Tumblr if you want me to get that from him for you. Good luck with your venture!
what a great image!
Hey, I haven't looked through all fo the responses, but I can tell you that my children and I are all vegetarian. I wax and wane between vegan and vegetarian, but the kids are pretty steady with vegetarianism. The hubs isn't veggie, but is completely supportive and eats mostly vegetarian (because, well, the rest of us do). If I were going to give you any advice, it would be not to rely too much on meat analogs. But, if you do buy them, Quorn brand is my family's favorite! Tofu is yummy! Home cooked seitan is delicious! It's really easy to make most anything vegetarian just by taking out the meat. But, it can be a high fat, high carb diet if you aren't too careful. I don't worry about protien - it's in everything you eat. Dairy and eggs cover it if you aren't vegan and you did say you still might eat some meat anyway. I do pay a lot of attention to iron, though. But, I've always had issues with iron - even before I was a vegetarian. And, my favorite - walnuts and hemp seeds, and flax (make sure it's ground before you ingest it) are good veggie sources of Omega fats. Hope this was helpful and not too repetative. And, I love fatfreevegan.com Yummy!!
I'm going to preface this with the statement "I'm weird." I'm a vegetarian most of the time, but when I got out and occassionally when I make a meal, I'll use chicken or turkey or fish. I cut beef and pork out 12 years ago. I don't know what I haven't gone into full vegetarian mode yet, but I may someday.
Had to comment again--this great article was just in the Oregonian Food Day section today!
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2010/03/a_vegans_journey.html
Check it out!
My boyfriend and I have both been veggie for 10 years and have recently cut a lot of dairy as well and are weening into vegan. We use a lot more nuts in our food. We've opted for unsweetened almond milk and other substitutes. My boyfriend had a higher iron count then most people when he went to the doctor for a physical.
We went this direction after learning about the current food system. If you want that help
Watch Food Inc (documentary) and or "controlling our food" both can actually be seen on the internet if you search it on youtube or google video.
I would also recommend veganomicon, vegan with a vengeance cook books. Also, we are so lucky to have the internet. If we don't know what to make we just search popular vegan recipes and go.
Oh and a food processor will be your best friend.
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