Hello everyone! I've been lurking here for some time as I'm not quite a vegetarian yet but I'm in the process. First I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good yogurt to eat, because everything I've seen has gelatin in it. I was also wondering where I should look for some good recipes because I'm getting sick of pastas and rice and beans. I have a hard time eating meat substitutes (like Boca burgers) because I ate one when I was pregnant with my son and then threw up.....you know how that goes, now I can't stomach anything like it. Thanks for your help, I hope I'm posting this in the right place!

We have all kinds of recipes on VB, just look in the recipe section. Try Main Dishes - Other to avoid pasta and rice.

You don't have to eat meat substitutes if you don't want to, there are many vegetarians who avoid them.

Oh, and you're in the right place. :)

Welcome to VB! :hi:

For yogurt without gelatin, consider Silk soy yogurt; I think all the flavors are vegan.

The yogurts avail w/o gelatin will probably depend upon your location. Here I could get Cascade something or Nancy's or White Mountain and they don't have gelatin. Most of the larger brands and store generics do. Check in the health food refrig section of your grocery store for more options that are more likely. Usually you can just get big tubs of plain or vanilla, and not small individual flavored ones.

I am looking for a soy yogurt now, since I am cutting out dairy. Is Silk good? I tried one called Whole Soy & Co and it was not so good. I have another brand in the fridge to try also.

For yogurt, I personally love Wildwood Soy Yogurt. Whole Soy and Silk are okay, but I think they are too sweet. Wildwood tastes more like dairy yogurt somehow.

Another great place to find recipes is http://vegweb.com/. All their recipes are Vegan, so you won't find any recipes that call for eggs or cheese, but they have some awesome recipes. Just make sure you pay attention to the ratings.

I found Whole Soy & Co. fairly nasty and thought Silk was much better. But MRSSHF is right- it doesn't have so much of that characteristic yogurt tang... it's more like fruity pudding. Which is all good to me!

PS: momofthree, you could try adding some simple suppers of a grain or starchy vegetable and two "green" vegetables. It's a familiar eating pattern that feels comfortable to me and it's sound nutrition. If you're worried about getting enough protein (you don't need to be) you can have a marinated bean salad on the side, or make beans the starchy vegetables, or put walnuts in your rice, or pecans with your sweet potatoes... I'm getting hungry!

Oops, you said you were getting sick of rice and beans. Well, try having a dinner once a week where you make something like corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes or maybe even beets the centerpiece, and then put some green vegetables like spinach, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, etc with it. Add bread, soup or a salad and you're full!

if you do try soy yogurt, i'd recommend wholesoy or wildwood over silk. they all of a bit of soy taste to them, but silk cultured soy has a stronger one. wildwood is kind of liquidy, but i'd agree that it's most like dairy yogurt in flavor.

I have a hard time eating meat substitutes (like Boca burgers) because I ate one when I was pregnant with my son and then threw up.....you know how that goes, now I can't stomach anything like it.
veggie burgers don't all taste the same. i don't think any of the brands i've tried tasted like any other any more than they tasted like actual meat. i usually eat non-soy-based ones like dr. praeger's, garden vegan, amy's california burgers, and homemade lentil burgers. these taste nothing like boca burgers, which were pretty gross when i tried them.

veggie burgers don't all taste the same. i don't think any of the brands i've tried tasted like any other any more than they tasted like actual meat. i usually eat non-soy-based ones like dr. praeger's, garden vegan, amy's california burgers, and homemade lentil burgers. these taste nothing like boca burgers, which were pretty gross when i tried them.

Yah, but I know where she's comng from. I got violently ill the week I went veg and the last food I had eaten was a veggie burger. It's not the specific flavor of that veggie burger so much as the very idea of a veggie burger. It was months before I could bring myself to eat another one of any variety, and I'm still not too keen on them.

For burger, you could try more of the original Gardenburger like things, which are grain based and not at all fake meat like.

Thanks for the other soygurt recs. Wildwood is the other brand I have right now to try out, so it's good to see that it won't be gross like the Whole Soy was. :)

This Wildwood is pretty good! I have raspberry flavor. Definitely a little runny, but tastes fine to me. Now the question is, is it vegan? It doesn't say so on their website, whereas some of their other products so specifically say it.

I can not recommend Stonyfield Farms All Natural Yogurt enough. They have dairy yogurt and soy yogurt. From their site "Our fat free yogurts are 100% natural — never any artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors or preservatives. They're also made with milk from cows that haven't been treated with the artificial growth hormone, rBGH. Available in 14 delicious FAT FREE flavors." and their soy brand is called O'Soy. I only had the soy kind as I'm vegan now and when I was l/o I hated yogurt. http://www.stonyfield.com/

stonyfield farms is good yogurt (vegetarian). i'm not fond of soy yogurts, really. or wasn't when i would be.

i now eat local yogurt only, so i couldn't recommend that one i guess. :)

Try gardenburgers "Vegetable Medley"
http://www.gardenburger.com/products/products-medley.shtml