Relatively New Vegetarian Help

[Verie]

Hey guys, my name is Evan and I've been a vegetarian for about 6-7 months now. My reasons are the usual, I care for animals and I can thank my lovely cats for truly helping me overcome my meat-eating, although they don't know that they helped!

Anyway, I'm only 17 so my cooking skills are far from developed, thus I have been relying on my meat-eating mother's cooking, who has been very supportive of me turning vegetarian because my sister already didn't really like meat prior to me turning vegetarian. However, as a omnivore, she usually just makes me pasta and tomato sauce or something similar which is fine, I just have to wonder how healthy my eating is.

As a recent graduate from high school, I plan to take the next year off for leisure, and to work on some much needed skill improving... my cooking. I have never been a bad cook, I just have lacked the know-how and confidence to do very much. I have a couple non-vegetarian cookbooks, but they aren't much help ... but I must admit I admire Jamie Oliver so I buy his books anyway.

Before I start to ramble too much, I had better ask my questions. What are some good beginner recipes for a Vegetarian? I kind of lack self confidence when it comes to cooking because I am a perfectionist when it comes to cooking so I always feel I could have done better, so my logic is if I get the basics down I'll be able to do some more "advanced" recipes.

Second question, what's a good way to start working out a planned diet? Are there any websites with planners or nutritional facts that could help me get started? I feel my generic diet might be a bad idea, and I'd love to be healthier.

Any advice or tips would be great as I'd love to start cooking properly and cooking healthy food for both myself and my family. I figure if I can make some really tasty vegetarian/vegan food for my family, maybe I can save a life every couple of days.

Thanks in advance!

[Veggily]

Can you sign up for any veg cooking classes in your area? Then, you could ask the cooking teacher about meal planning and such, while you learn how to make some veg foods. Also, try to check out or buy a few cookbooks and find some easy recipes. Try some vegan cookbook for variety too, even if you are lacto-ovo. Don't be discouraged if the foods don't come out good the first time. It could be that particular recipe doesn't mesh with your taste, or it could be just a crappy recipe! Good luck.

[Verie]

I've only really been looking at cooking courses because I hope to be a chef or pastry chef (preferably a vegan pastry chef if possible), but I haven't been able to find a vegan or vegetarian course yet. It's quite possible that I've missed some classes/courses, because I truly haven't looked that hard simply because I don't really know where to start lol.

If anyone knows about a Vegan/Vegetarian course in Quebec, Canada ... you'd be my hero :D

[osito]

when i first became a vegetarian i bought the cook book Veganomicon and it helped a lot. It also has a section in the beginning of the book for people who are just starting to cook. It has a lot of good information. Any cook book for vegetarians should help you though.

[Hamry]

I think I posted it yesterday, but I'll say it again. Student Cookbooks are the best for beginners. They're aimed at people who have left home and have absolutely no idea what they're doing, so they're VERY simple and also relatively cheap meals. Cookbooks like these will help you get the hang of the basics and give you the confidence to start making your own small changes to make the dish suit your tastes. I know here in the UK there's loads of veggie ones.

The other thing you could do is try to experiment in the kitchen. It works for some but not everyone. Try with simple things first, like a stir fry or a tomato sauce for pasta. This will help you learn more about what tastes and textures you'll get when putting certain ingredients together. You can taste a pasta sauce, and decide what you're missing or if you've put too much of something in. It can be quite time consuming at first, but once you start learning you'll get better.

I learnt quite a lot from my mother. She used to be a chef and although she bases all her meals around meat, some of the things she's taught me have helped. It's a shame my mother never really wanted to help me cook my meals at first, I'm sure I could have learnt a lot more! Do you have any friends who are good cooks? Would your mum be up for teaching you the basics?

[starwitch78]

'Cause I'm addicted to Google, a quick search lead me to this (http://www.heavenstudio.ca/cooking_classes.shtml), though I'm not sure if it would be near you.

When I first started cooking, I experimented mostly with pastas and soups/stews. They're hard to screw up (and I'm a perfectionist, as well) and have a ton of variety.

As for cookbooks, I started with Better Homes and Gardens basic cookbook; I wasn't vegetarian at the time, though. Now I love Moosewoood's line of cookbooks - they're mostly vegetarian, but have some pescetarian recipes for my almost-veggie husband.

Good luck!

~StarWitch~

[Abyssinian]

I was just like you when I started. I think I was the same age as well. It was pretty hard for me to get started because I couldn't cook anything, besides oatmeal and cereal. I started googling vegan + teenager and stuff like that and a there are a lot of awesome websites out there. I guess the one book that helped me the most with the nutrition part of it was "Becoming Vegan" by Vesanto Melian and Brenda Davis. It helped me really understan how much of everything that I really needed. It opened my eyes big time.
The whole cooking thing is more complicated. I still can't cook at all. I just don't have the interest. But you seem to really have a passion for it. Try finding different recipes online that seem fairly easy and just start cooking. You'll get better with time.
A few simple recipes that don't need much prep or work inlcude wraps, tacos, sandwiches and pasta.
Here are a few websites you should check out:
www.vegetarianteen.com
www.veganteen.net
www.vrg.org/nutrition/teennutrition.htm

[Tom]

I'd get cookbooks out of the library first, and then maybe buy the ones you like. You don't even have to limit yourself to vegetarian or vegan books- most omni cookbooks have some veg entries. (I got a recipe for a very nice lima bean and carrot soup from a book on bean cookery). We have a lot of recipes here, too.

You mention you're a perfectionist about cooking. I don't know what to say about that. Of course I want my creations to be ethical, tasty, and nutritious, especially if I'm serving ti to friends or relatives, but I don't mind experimenting and eating my mistakes in private. I think I mentioned someplace on VB the mauve chili I once made when I was trying for some variety from the usual bean-tomato-onion-chilipowder... wierd-looking and wierd-tasting, if not actually toxic...

[Tokahfang]

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-Food-Cooking/dp/1584790830/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215480146&sr=8-5

If you can get a library or 2nd hand version of that book, I'd pick it up. Its not a veggie book persay, nor is it a recipe book. It has real in depth descriptions of the essentials of cooking. It explains everything from the smoke points of oils to how browning works, and explains how to do things and why it works.

It gave me knowledge of how it all really worked, and with that came confidence.