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How to go vegetarian?
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Anonymous
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OP, in your shoes, I'd try to buy some meat from a grass fed small farm. It's a lot more expensive that the commercial feed lot places, so you will want to use much less of it with each meal, and of course serve meat fewer days per week.
Start eliminating chops and steaks at meals, or do cook the chops and steaks, but cook about half as much as usual, and serve the meat sliced thinly, with extra helpings of whole grain and vegetable dishes. Try for at least two vegetables per meal, plus some whole grain rolls as well as a hearty whole grains starch. Add some extra garnishes too -- this always makes my meat and potatoes loving husband think he is getting more of a meal, even if I cut back on the actual meat. So -- instead of a big thick steak, a side of mashed potatoes, and some broccoli for dinner -- serve about half as much sliced steak, a baked potato topped with parsley or chives, broccoli AND steamed carrots, with a whole what roll (and maybe a small sald with some red peppers in it.) For your chicken-mushrooms-cream-pasta dish -- still make it. But buy the more expensive farm raised chicken, and reduce how much chicken each person gets. Instead of whole chicken breasts, one for each person, cut the breasts into chunks, and have one breast serve 2 people. Alter the recipe to add something like roasted red peppers and peas, or add more mushrooms, and use whole wheat pasta (or half whole wheat, half regular) http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-with-Red-Pepper-Cream-Sauce/Detail.aspx Instead of making hamburgers, use less ground beef per person mixed in a casserole. Instead of a beefy beef stew, do less beef and more carrots, onions, and celery. Plus serve with a barley pilaf instead of on top of noodles. If you flavor the barley pilaf with a little bit of chicken stock or beef stock it will be very satisfying to meat lovers. For an almost vegetarian meal, I love to serve Greek or Lebanese food. My kids love to try 3 different flavors of hummus, with warmed baby pita bread. Add some feta cheese, some chick pea salad or parsley salad, and some hot peppers, and my husband usually likes it too! Good luck! |
Anonymous
| A really good book that helps people make the transition is Eat for Health by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. It's a two book set that has four phases of moving to a nutrient dense diet, and the second book is full of really delicious easy recipes. |
Anonymous
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A PP mentioned Deborah Madison's cookbooks. In addition to the two she mentioned, I'd add "The Greens Cookbook," which preceded "The Savory Way." Both are recipes from Greens in San Francisco, where Madison was the founding chef. You'll find recipes like shepherd's pie, gratins, and other dishes that can serve as the starting point for a meal.
Sometimes I want something easy like the dishes I used to make with chicken, and there's one "fake meat" product that I find to be pretty good. It's Quorn, which is primarily mycoprotein -- a fungus like mushrooms -- plus vegetable flavorings and egg white. It doesn't contain soy. I use it as a chicken and turkey substitute. I know it's a processed food, but there are times when I find it to be very convenient. We also occasionally eat sustainably caught fish, so we're more pescetarians than pure vegetarians. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a sustainable seafood guide you can carry with you. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't stop eating meat entirely, I would just eat it selectively, only eating good quality meat (these days maybe free-range, organic, etc). And if you eat seafood, life will be much easier for you as well. |
Anonymous
Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet. There are no guidelines for how much or how little meat one must eat before being classified a flexitarian. |
Anonymous
| There is a Seventh Day Adventist store in Silver Spring/Beltsville (not sure which it is technically) on Cherry Hill Rd that sells a really great variety of vegetarian foods both pre-prepared and "raw" (that's not what I mean, but I mean not prepared) and the widest selection of fake meat I have seen anywhere. |
Anonymous
Is this the store in the shopping center with Target and Babies 'r Us? Has a statue of Jesus in front of it? |
Anonymous
Yup, that's the one. I think about 2/3 of the store is a book store. But the rest is like a vegetarian grocery heaven. |
Anonymous
| I really like Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. You should start going veggie by having one night veggie per week, then expanding from there. Any reduction in meat consumption will help. |
Anonymous
Such a great tip. I had no idea. Thanks! |
Anonymous
No problem! I should probably clarify that they don't actually sell fresh vegetables or produce. But just about everything you need to stock your pantry and freezer. They also carry this really delicious granola... I can't remember what it's called, but it's in a brown bag by the grains, about $5 and it's the best granola I've ever eaten. |
Anonymous
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I used to be vegetarian, decided to overnight at a summer camp a lifetime ago when I was in college. So in my early twenties I learned to cook vegetarian food. I purchased many vegetarian coombooks, but some of my favorites are vintage now (but still available).
The Moosewood Cookbook (I like the original better than the 10th anniverary edition - but probably impossible to find)-- I just reduce the fat in it. Vegetarian Epicure (vol 1). I love Indian food and specialize in cooking southern Indian food (it is vegetarian). Also I love beans and rice. I could eat beans and rice a couple of times a week. Beans and Rice: make rice (I use white, you could use brown, just takes longer). Buy refried beans in can, cook, add onions and spices, usually chili powder and cumin. grade cheese, chop lettuce get some salsa and ad sour cream or quacamole if you like (I don't). There is is, a meal in no time. I love the potato curry in The Vegetarian Epicure vol 1, serve over rice, quick to make. But if you are going veggie, buy spices. I have dozens of spices.. many of which I use for Indian food. I love the Brazilian Black bean soup in Moosewood Cookbook (by Mollie Katzen). Don't go veggie all at once, start by making some vegetarian dishes a couple of times a week and as you become familiar with what you like and know how to cook then you can add more. Make spaghetti with tomato sauce, but add ground veggies to the tomato sauce or little pieces of tofu. Substitute tofu for stirfry recipes with meat. Add soy sauce and sesame oil to tofu to get it to taste like something. I think it a whole lot easier to be a vegetarian now than it was 20 or more years ago, but when I was veggie I worried about finding things to eat a restaurants (not as much a concern in DC area -- but in the hinterlands or the country this is a real concern) What I didn't like about being veggie was worrying about what I was going to eat at relatives houses at holidays. It is much easier to be an omnivore with vegetarian tendancies than a strict vegetarian. I did attend a vegetarian Thanksgiving about 10 years ago with a group of divorced people, even though I was not a vegetarian, but I had a lousy time because all the people could talk about was hating meat eaters and other types of conversations. I don't know if this was an anomaly. |