Anonymous wrote:

- We eat a ton of chickpeas, which are wonderfully flexible - a can of sauteed chickpeas is a delicious snack. To make a meal of them we'd add an assortment of veggies (kale, sauteed zucchini, sauteed cauliflower rice, etc) with avocado and feta. Chickpeas also can be added to many soups and fit in harmoniously. I have tried every canned chickpea on the market - Goya tastes best.

- Speaking of lentils, black and green lentils are more delicious and versatile than green lentils which, in my opinion, are super bland no matter what. A really good lentil soup is chef's kiss. Red lentils, which largely dissolve, are great additions to other foods - adds proteins and can increase satiety. We'd add red lentils to our vegetarian chili to make it super hearty. Can also be added to other soups and they disintegrate and fully absorb the flavor of the soup. You can use black or green lentils in much the same way you'd use ground beef. Lentil tacos, made with taco seasoning was a favorite of ours.

My DH is from South India and his entire family has been vegetarian for generations - most have never eaten meat - ever. The trick is to have a balance of protein and other nutients, which most Indian veg dishes do. We always use dried beans and not canned in our cooking. The best place to buy them are in the Indian grocery stores. They carry endless types of lentils, chickpeas, and other beans - whole and split. They're very easy to cook with if you use a pressure cooker. I cook the chickpeas and other larger beans in big batches in the Instant Pot, then freeze so we always have on hand while cooking. They are so much better than any canned beans and they don't get mushy in soups and stews.

My sister-in-law is a well-known plant-based chef in Europe. Most restaurants in the west just don't know what to do with vegetarian dishes - hence the cauliflower steak! California is the exception. My S-I-L uses a very wide variety of grains - some I had never heard of like Freekeh. She never uses white rice which is just empty calories and of no nutrition value. It was tough to get the older family members to switch to more healthy rice and grains because admittedly, South Indian food is very carb-heavy. One of my favorite types of rice that she cooks with is black or "forbidden" rice. It is really delicious and healthy as well. Whole Foods usually carries it and I highly recommend you give it a try!

I grew up a carnivore but as I get older I have also reduced my meat consumption a lot. Especially beef - which I find harder to digest as I age. I do eat a lot of chicken though. All that to say, OP add lentils and a variety of grains to your diet.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good stuff so quickly, thank you!

We already do grain/ rice/ noodle bowls. Lots of chopping, but good for a night with a little extra time. Thanks for the reminder about Mexican flair! I always think of Mexican vegetarian as mostly mushy beans and cooked peppers (vegetarian enchiladas make me sad,) but I can definitely do better.

Yes, nutritional yeast! How could I forget; I have a huge jar taking up space and I never remember to use it. I also have good luck popping up flavors with MSG. I know a lot of people think it's bad (thanks 1980s pseudoscience,) but it works for us

The kids say the texture of tofu is the problem, not the flavor. I've pressed, I've marinated, I've coated, I've pan-fried, I've air-fried, I've given up.

Oh, just saw that you have tried tofu every which way. Ok, then I would suggest putting tiny tiny cubes in some of your dishes where it’s hard to identify, like curries and let them get used to the texture in a nonthreatening way.

It’s not likely, but would they be into fresh tofu? Some restaurants make fresh tofu daily, and it’s so delicious with a sweetened soy sauce like wari joyu. If not, I would send them out to a meal with kids who enjoy tofu and let them be introduced at a restaurant rather than at home. New foods are so much more appealing when mom and dad aren’t making them. I can think of so many foods that my kids tried and enjoyed at restaurants that they had rejected at home - Brussels sprouts, fennel, radicchio, pea shoots, arugula, monkfish, uni, kofta, etc. Nothing to do with my cooking skills, I’m sure! Ha

OP here... you've just given me an idea. The kids like to do food-as-crafts, so we make our own dumplings sometimes (and pasta/ ravioli, and summer rolls, etc-- my daughter especially likes to host friends for a dumpling-making party.) We usually use ground turkey or pork as the main filler. But why not fill with crumbled tofu? What else would be good in there? Shredded cabbage for sure.

Take a look at these:

https://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegan-vegetarian-recipes/vegetarian-dumpling-recipes/

To be perfectly honest, I just started eating meat again after being a vegetarian for 13 years. Long term it wasn't the healthiest choice for me as I was eating too many carbs (healthy carbs like lentils and beans and whole grains - not junk food carbs) and not getting enough protein. Over time, the diet was a recipe for weight gain, hormonal imbalance, and sluggishness. The challenge is that vegetarian meals are often combinations of carbs (like rice and beans) so even if they're healthy carbs, it still too many servings of carbs at one time. Since I started eating meat again, and aiming for 4-5 oz of meat for lunch and dinner, and limiting my carbs to 3/4c or 35g per carby item, I've been surprised to find that I'm so much more satisfied and feel so much better than I would after a vegetarian meal with too many servings of healthy carbs.

That said, I would recommend a couple of things:

I've been working with a nutritionist since last fall to learn how to eat since adding meat back in. One of templates I use for constructing a meal is to have a combination of protein, fat, fiber and greens at every meal. When I'm getting a good balance of all those things, I'm satiated and well fueled until the next meal. So no, cauliflower steaks on their own is not a meal. Most vegetarian meals at restaurants are total fails, often completely lacking a protein. You won't be satisfied if you aren't eating enough protein, and if you're cutting back on meat proteins at your other meals, you family's hunger may stem from long term protein deficiencies.

- We eat a ton of chickpeas, which are wonderfully flexible - a can of sauteed chickpeas is a delicious snack. To make a meal of them we'd add an assortment of veggies (kale, sauteed zucchini, sauteed cauliflower rice, etc) with avocado and feta. Chickpeas also can be added to many soups and fit in harmoniously. I have tried every canned chickpea on the market - Goya tastes best.

- Other beans: We buy Rancho Gordo heirloom beans which are as easy to cook as simmering a pot of beans over with half an onion, a couple cloves of garlic and a peeled carrot and a very generous pour of good olive oil (like 1/4c+). We'd start the simmering in the morning and they're ready for dinner. You can also use a crockpot or instapot if you plan to leave the house or want them ready in less time. The Rancho Gordo beans are crucial - heirloom beans are just so much more delicious than the mainstream beans (black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, etc) available at the grocery store. They're expensive per bag compared to other beans but a 1lb bag can easily serve an entire family so overall it's actually a relatively cheap meal. We'd serve the beans over brown rice and with kale sauteed with lots of garlic. Rancho Gordo has a cookbook and frankly, not a single recipe is bad. We love the lentil soup and the bean pot pie in particular.

- Speaking of lentils, black and green lentils are more delicious and versatile than green lentils which, in my opinion, are super bland no matter what. A really good lentil soup is chef's kiss. Red lentils, which largely dissolve, are great additions to other foods - adds proteins and can increase satiety. We'd add red lentils to our vegetarian chili to make it super hearty. Can also be added to other soups and they disintegrate and fully absorb the flavor of the soup. You can use black or green lentils in much the same way you'd use ground beef. Lentil tacos, made with taco seasoning was a favorite of ours.

- A lot of egg dishes like quiche, frittata (cook's illustrated instructions for frittata are perfect), scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs (as snacks, in salads), etc. But I'd find that I'd need at least 3 eggs in a serving to feel satisfied.

- Consider adding protein powder to meals. I will add it to lower protein soups. I also make smoothies with protein powder using my fat fiber protein greens formula - usually plain greek yogurt, protein powder, chia seeds, pysillium husk (fiber), 1/2-2/3rd banana, electrolyte tablet (important for the flavor), and a cup or two of whatever green leafy veg I have on hand. It's not sweet, protein packed, incredibly satiating and easy to put together in 5 minutes. I've used vanilla greek yogurt in the past instead of adding the electrolyte tablet, but I swapped it because my nutritionist has a 4g sugar cap and the vanilla yogurt had 9g of sugar. Though protein powder is expensive - if preparing a family meal, I'd honestly rather have a meat on the side.

I was excited when the fake meats like beyond and impossible meats came out, but ultimately decided against included them in my diet. They're ultraprocessed foods and in the long run likely aren't going to prove to be good for our health.

Frankly, a lot of vegetarian diets lack adequate protein. The amount of protein in proper serving of beans just can't compare to the amount of protein in meat, and once you increase the serving to get enough protein, you're overeating carbs. If you all are mindful about empty carbs, you may also want to pay attention to overeating carbs too. I didn't like tofu but it really is one of the best vegetarian proteins in terms of being higher protein and lower carb. You might want to keep eating it - I kept eating tofu and eventually came to like it. Tofu continues to be one of my staple proteins even as I'm eating meat again. Low carb and very versatile in how you can prepare it and it can be included in a lot of different cuisines. Andrew Weil has a tofu kimchi soup that is on regular rotation in my house.

You may need to reconsider/lower your fish standards. Buying salmon and other fish in bulk from Costco can be more affordable but I don't know if their fish meets your standards.

We are trying to do the same. We would be ok with lots of non meat meals....but all seem to have cheese which also comes from the same cows so?? I feel like we need to reduce that too.

Why don't/can't you continue to eat as you have? Maybe I missed a post?

I’m a lifelong vegetarian and agree with you that a cauliflower steak isn’t dinner. I too rarely eat pasta. Some of the regulars in my rotation include:

Chickpeas and spinach over rice with a fried egg on top

udon noodle soup with tofu (you can use edamame as a protein instead) and veggies

Spanish omelette with roasted veggies

Quiche with veggies and a baguette

Stir fry (you could try seitan instead of tofu)

Naan veggie pizzas with pesto

Roasted eggplant, tomatoes, onions and garbanzos over Israeli couscous with feta

Quedadillas with black beans and veggies

Falafel wraps

White bean and kale stew

Quinoa salad with veggies and feta

Eggplant Parmesan

Matar paneer

The key for food to be filling and satiating is to have both protein and fat. You don’t have to go overboard with either, but just veggies and carbs is not going to do it.

I did not read the replies so apologies if this has been shared already. The biggest thing that helped me was a good vegetarian Indian cookbook. Many recipes that properly incorporate proteins and skillfully prepare veggies.

Don’t fall into the trap of fake/processed foods, high sodium foods and drastically increasing your grains and dairy intake.

I agree with the Mediterranean recommendations. The dishes are MEANT to be meatless, so you aren't missing or substituting for anything. Greek dishes like eggplant imam bayildi (stewed eggplant), artichokes a La Polita (spring artichoke stew with fava beans and other spring veggies), fasolatha (white bean soup, faki (lentil soup), fava (split pea soup), spanakopita (spinach pie), revithopilavo (chick peas and rice), spanakorizo (spinach and rice), and any thing "lathero" (any vegetable stewed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil). These are all typical greek home-cooking type meals. Greeks round out these meals with crusty bread and cheese (either feta or a variety of hard cheeses).

Turkish cuisine (or really any Mediterranean cuisine) offers lots of veggie-forward options. Ozlem’s Turkish table is a good starting point. Various beans, stuffed veggies, lentil-based things abound. Dishes often are served with or involve yogurt which ups the protein.

I think tempeh is delicious — I like to marinate it in sweet soy sauce before crisping it up in the oven or air fryer as a vegetarian protein in Asian dishes (personal favorite is to do a veggie curry and just add the tempeh at the end so it stays crisp).

I agree that finding good quality fish at a reasonable price is hard. I have better luck with shrimp.

Anonymous wrote:Good stuff so quickly, thank you!

We already do grain/ rice/ noodle bowls. Lots of chopping, but good for a night with a little extra time. Thanks for the reminder about Mexican flair! I always think of Mexican vegetarian as mostly mushy beans and cooked peppers (vegetarian enchiladas make me sad,) but I can definitely do better.

Yes, nutritional yeast! How could I forget; I have a huge jar taking up space and I never remember to use it. I also have good luck popping up flavors with MSG. I know a lot of people think it's bad (thanks 1980s pseudoscience,) but it works for us

The kids say the texture of tofu is the problem, not the flavor. I've pressed, I've marinated, I've coated, I've pan-fried, I've air-fried, I've given up.

Shred the tofu, it's a gamechanger. We use this recipe a lot and it's a big hit even with folks who don't usually enjoy tofu. https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-bbq-shredded-tofu-shredded-chicken/