For the past 2 weeks I've been a vegetarian (having seen something so gross that it actually put me off eating meat) - so I'd like some help and advice from other vegetarians on the forum please.

I'm after your fave veggie recipes (getting to the stage where i'm struggling for ideas of things that aren't too time consuming to make) and also any health advice as I know meat is an important part of our diet, so how can I get round not having to eat it?

Your help would reeeeally be appreciated!

Thanks

I was a veggie for many years and I loved quorn. I used it in everything. And couscous.

i tried quorn for the first time yesterday, it was actually ok! I'm gonna try making a bolognese with it now - can you use it to make burger shapes, or does it fall to pieces??

This is close to something I make:

Ginger Veggie Stir-Fry

It's pretty good and tasty.

Now that sounds damn nice.... have you ever added the tofu??

It is good.

I'm not a vegetarian so no, I don't add tofu in.

I never really tried it that way. Usually I used it in stir-fry. They do make a good burger tho. I was really surprised at all the veggie alternatives out there. Especially in the UK. We used to make quiche, but usually I'd make something that my kids would eat which was just substituting soy for meat in tacos and that type of thing.

Also been a vegetarian for many years and I reckon themost important thing you need ot think about is balance. Meat basically provides iron and protein and you need to find sources of these to make sure your body is getting what it needs.

Other sources include but are not limited to:

Eggs
Green leafy vegetables
Nuts

and here's a link with more information...

http://www.free-diet-plans.biz/best_diets/...arian-diet.html

Oh wow, thanks! Thats really handy! Don't know why I didn't go veggie yeeears ago, I feel so much better for it and have even lost a wee bit of weight! Hurrah!

Mexican diet (the poor ones) included the classical beans, wheat and corn. Beans are usually refried (cooked, mashed and reheated) with the corn and wheat used in tortillas. That allows a wide variety of dishes using a small number of ingredients, and they are inexpensive.
Beans and corn can supply a major part of the necessary proteins.
Cheese in any form helps with the proteins.
If you find yourself missing meat, you can supplement with veggie burgers, I'm not sure if they are available in Britain (I'll check with the lady and find out) or the other substitutes that are produced.
Soy offers a nearly complete protein so any soy product is good.
Long ago in college I took anthropology. Controversial though it was, the instructor maintained that because of our teeth, we humans were originally primarily vegetarian: we have the perfect teeth for foraging, but they are not very good for meat since the incisors used for ripping and tearing meat aren't evident (see tiger teeth, for instance). Whether that's true is still open to question, but the old garbage about not being able to sustain on a veggie diet is nonsense.
We (family) still eat meat from time to time, never beef, but we slide in and out of vegetarian, and there are recipes in the bookcase I'll dig out and forward.
It's actually a better life being vegetarian.

Here's a favorite invention of ours.
Veggie Pizza
Sauce:
1/2 c Mayonnaise
2 tsp lemon juice
3-4 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp chopped parsley
few leaves of basil, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Just mix it all up well and let it sit a while

Use a pre-cooked pizza crust (I usually make my own, cook it so it's still a little soft since it gets cooked again). Or any kind of flat bread (such as Mexican bread).
Spread a layer of the sauce on the crust, as thickly as you wish.
slice 12-15 Kalamata olives in half lengthwise and scatter on the pizza.
slice 1 or 2 tomatoes in pieces about the size of a teaspoon and spread out on the pizza.
(you can seed the tomatoes to make the pizza a little drier)
crumble a half cup of feta cheese evenly over the pizza.
heap baby spinach leaves over the top, try to keep the spinach piled on the crust. Use as much as you like, it will wilt into the pizza. Don't layer the spinach, leave it heaped.
Put a layer of Mozarella over the top of the whole thing. As the cheese melts it will form a slight seal over the spinach and steams the spinach.

Bake this thing at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let it sit for 5 minutes.
You'll find this to be very tasty, and the little bursts of flavor from the feta, olives, tomatoes, and spinach quite interesting.

Health-wise, I juice every morning, carrots, celery, apples, strawberries, pears, peaches. I remove the cores of the apples and pears, pit peaches. The pulp I save to use with other recipes, pancakes are very good with some of the pulp mixed in. The juice provides plenty of the vitamins and minerals necessary, and you won't be faced with eating a ton of fruit you may not like. The combinations are endless.
The pizza above has a fair amount of protein from the cheeses, lots of iron in the spinach, and the good stuff in garlic, among other healthy stuff.

I am an unabashed meat-eater. While I like a good salad every now and then, I could never imagine going vegetarian, but to each their own. However, my aunt used to make vegetarian lasagna when I was a kid, and that stuff was awesome. You might search the 'net for a recipe and try that. I think you'll like it.

Thanks for your help hun, it's actually quite fun being veggie, loving ti so far!

I slip in and out as well..I feel better for it.

Probably have 2 or 3 meals a week that is meat - chicken or beef. I don't like pork or lamb.

I have wanted to be a Vegan for a very long time. Every time I even just began with trying Vegetarianism, it failed me. I end up with what the doctors call "heme anemia". They say it can ONLY be taken in with red meat. If I wouldn't eat meat, they had to give me prescription iron pills which contained beef extracts anyway.

After seeing the Mad Cowboy's films and videos and his interviews on television, I have a real aversion to the livestock industry and what they do to animals. I don't think too many people actually want animals to suffer the horrendous way they do today. Even organic farms do little more usually than just not give antibiotics or bgh.

So then a person is left with whether to buy dairy that might have antibiotics or growth hormones in it, or dairy that might have disease that wasn't treated.

Then, there's the research on the connection between meat eating and Alzheimer's, or its equivalent CJD.

Middle Eastern food has a lot of side dishes that are really delicious and tasty.

Since you aren't a long term vegetarian I am sure that you will want some things to eat that sort of replace the meat.

So these dips can be made one big hard time in advance and then chilled for a munch.

This tastes amazing

http://www.mariesimmons.com/recipes/muhamarra.html

Basically its roasted peppers blended with ground walnuts.

You can also eat falafel which is ground chick peas.

Also try eating FOOL which is a specialty bean dish that will give you iron.


Plus try sauteeing Mushrooms and Onions with a little bit of A1 steak sauce and eating it on a bun.


I would go vegetarian if I had the will power. The slaughterhouses are horrid.

I boycott KFC and try to get halel meat which is slaughtered more naturally.