Meal Ideas

[frogguruami]

I have been browsing around a bit and have noticed a number of people mentioning that they don't eat soy. So I am hoping I can get more ideas from you wonderful people than I have been finding.

I don't eat soy. I ocassionally will eat soy nuts and will occasionally eat miso. But other than that I don't touch it, especially the processed stuff like tofu and soy milk.

I find so many main dish recipes that are dependent on soy. Can ya'll share some good starter recipes that aren't soy dependent. (Hope that makes sence) I do eat organic dairy and eggs. (Please don't flame the new girl!)

[rabid_child]

Why are you avoiding soy, out of curiosity? Are you also avoiding soy sauce? Soybean oil (which, read a few labels, its in everything)?

I personally enjoy seitan as a protein. It's wheat gluten. Beans are good too. Last week I made pasta with diced tomatoes, kale, garlic, olive oil and canellini beans one night, and another I made fahitas with zucchini, red and orange peppers, onion, with some cumin and a bit of cayenne pepper with mexican rice and beans on the side.

If you're doing cheese and eggs you could make a quiche or a fritata. Quiches are really very simple, just scrambled eggs in a pie crust with some other stuff. Broccoli and cheddar or spinach and feta are good combos.

You can make tacos from a box, replacing ground meat with black beans (or ground seitan). You can replace ground meat with ground seitan or small beans in a lot of recipes (chili, sloppy joes, tomato sauce, etc...).

[Tesseract]

Beans, beans! Put a bean with a grain, add seasonings, and you've got dinner. Bean tacos. Bean burritos. Bean soups. Chili. Indian dishes with chickpeas or lentils. Hummus. Cajun red beans and rice. Beans are so great!

I don't see any reason for anyone who is not actually allergic or intolerant of soy to make a point of avoiding it, but whatever suits you. And Rabid's right-- you're most likely eating a lot more soy than you think you are, so if you're serious about avoiding it, you better start reading labels pretty darn carefully. It's in everything.

[rabid_child]

Hey! I thought of another thing you could try. There are frozen veggie burgers called Sunshine Burgers which are soy-free. They contain sunflower seeds and beans I think. I'd have to go look in the freezer (which is where I saw them when taking out my frozen peas and thought of it). You could do a quick veg-burger with lettuce/tomato/pickles/onions, sweet potato oven fries, and veg baked beans dinner. :lick:

[Tesseract]

Quorn is soy-free and I think several of the Gardenburger products, too. The original and classic style ones, not the ones that are more "meaty."

[mauitn]

Millet Burgers
Recently a friend invited me to a health food
store on Maui and told me to try the millet
burgers. She was right, they were so good
that I bought extra and took them home to my
husband. Despite the fact that neither one of
us are vegetarian (but do enjoy vegetarian
meals) we decided we had to have the recipe.
I was finally able to get the recipe from
them. Enjoy.

Millet Burgers

4 cups millet, cooked
1 cup brown rice, cooked
1 cup ground pumpking seeds, raw
1/4 cup nut butter
3 TB oil (or not)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp onion powder OR 1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Tsp sage
1 tsp thyme


Fry or bake in oven! From receipe book:
TEN TALENTS by Hurd

[mauitn]

Actually, I enjoy tofu, miso and the Boca/veggie burgers, but have never experimented with tempeh, seitan, or TVsomething. Can anyone explain the differences and how they are prepared?

[rabid_child]

Tempeh is made of fermented soy beans and sometimes grains and or veggies. I personally have not found a way to enjoy eating tempeh. Seitan is wheat gluten. A dough is made and then the starch is washed away and the resulting ball is then simmered in broth. I love seitan, and use it all the time. TVP is textured vegetable protein aka textured soy protein that is available in chunks or granules. It is dehydrated and you add any sort of liquid to it to rehydrate, or add it to a liquid, i.e. granules to tomato sauce for a "ground beefish" addition. It is incredably cheap stuff.

And now on to the Moderator Note part of my post:
mauitn, you've stated that you are not a vegetarian, and it doesn't sound like you intend to be a vegetarian, which are requirements for members on VB. We do allow people who are interested in vegetarianism but aren't vegetarians, but please be respectful of the people on the boards (as you have been so far) since this is considered a 'safe haven' for vegetarians. Thank you.

[chiaraluna]

Vegan shepherd's pie -- easy and tasty:

2 cups mashed potatoes (instant or homemade... it really doesn't matter)
1 cup lentils, soaked and drained; if canned, just drained
8.5 oz can peas
6 oz can shoepeg corn
3/4 cup veggie broth
2 T olive oil
2 T vegan margarine (I used Smart Balance Light)
4 T nutritional yeast
3 T Braggs liquid aminos (this is made from soybeans, so you may want to find another flavoring that is similar)
1/2 tsp. each thyme, turmeric, cumin, basil (or to taste)
2 T garlic salt
freshly ground pepper (to taste)


Instructions:
------------------------------------------------------

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Lightly brown lentils in olive oil. Once heated, add the vegetable broth, peas, and corn and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Add 2 T nutritional yeast, Braggs, and remaining spices.

Pour vegetable mixture into ovenproof casserole dish (any size will work, but preferably smaller and deeper rather than larger and shallower). Layer mashed potatoes on top of vegetable mixture.

Melt 2 T vegan margarine. Add 2 T nutritional yeast and mix well. Pour this mixture over the mashed potatoes.

Cook pie uncovered for about 35 minutes.

[GoodLifeSean]

A great quick lunch menu that I like is my mexiwich. I take some whole wheat bread, vegetarian refritos, jalepeño hummus, lots of tomatoes, some lettuce, olives, and some homemade guac... delicious :) Throw in a little vegan friendly spanish rice and its a nice 10 minute meal for one

[frogguruami]

[QUOTE=rabid_child]Why are you avoiding soy, out of curiosity? Are you also avoiding soy sauce? Soybean oil (which, read a few labels, its in everything)?

[QUOTE]

I am allergic to soy. I can handle fermented soy. Yeah, it is in alot of things. Which sucks. Soy sauce is fermented so no prob there. I do avoid soybean oil if it is too high on the list of ingredients. I would never consider trying tofu or soy milk.

[rabid_child]

I am allergic to soy. I can handle fermented soy. Yeah, it is in alot of things. Which sucks. Soy sauce is fermented so no prob there. I do avoid soybean oil if it is too high on the list of ingredients. I would never consider trying tofu or soy milk.


That's interesting considering soy nuts are not fermented. I'm surprised you don't react to them.

Tempeh is fermented soy.

[frogguruami]

That's interesting considering soy nuts are not fermented. I'm surprised you don't react to them.

Tempeh is fermented soy.

Yeah I found that out accidentally. My nutritionist thinks it may have something to do with the processing more than the soy itself. I am very senstive to hormonal fluctuations and treatments. So she thinks that the processing that the soy goes through to make soy powder, soy tofu and soy milk break it down too much and makes the phytoestrogen too available. Based on the reaction I get, it is a logical assumption. Thinking about it, it makes sense. I mean breaking down whole wheat flour into white flour makes the carbs more available so why wouldn't that work with other things.

Sorry just thinking out loud. Basically I am just a freak of nature, LOL.

I think after a few months with no funky hormone hopped up meat in my system I may try to introduce small amounts of soy back into my diet. But for now, NONE! :)

I will look for tempeh. Thanks for the suggestion.