[New Grandmother]

My husband and I are trying to eat healthier and eat more meatless meals. Please share some of your favorite meals suggestions, recipes, etc. for those of us just starting out.

Thank you very much in advance.

New Grandmother

 

[thatoneguy]

vegetarian tacos, make them like any other tacos except use fake meat.

veggie pizza (vegetables for the toppings) and vegetarian pizza (fake meat for the toppings).

BBQ tofu, there's recipe's in the recipe section.

a big salad is nice.

 

[thatoneguy]

vegetarian tacos, make them like any other tacos except use fake meat.

veggie pizza (vegetables for the toppings) and vegetarian pizza (fake meat for the toppings).

BBQ tofu, there's recipe's in the recipe section.

a big salad is nice.

 

[troub]

tub of hummus + spoon.

j/k... well... sort of. replace spoon with bread/broccoli/tomatoes/whatever

 

[karenlovessnow]

Lentils, or your favorite bean, added to some sauteed onion, stewed tomatoes, simmered about 30 minutes, serve over rice, add some vegan parmesan.

 

[karenlovessnow]

Whole wheat pasta with broccoli, sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Crusty bread with Earth Balance buttery spread.

 

[GhostUser]

Black bean and/or veggie crumbles burritos with lots of veggies. Soy cheese and soy sour cream optional.

Veggie crumbles with rotini noodles and tomato sauce with garlic bread. Or any other noodles.

 

[troub]

mango + blueberries + raspberries + strawberries + banana slices

fruit salads > *

 

[delicious]

A lot of "beginners" like to veganize family favorites. It's easy to sub the meat with tvp, seitan, burger crumbles, etc. You might want to start there.

Some of my favorite *normal* meals are:

Tacos with all of the usual ingredients and Fantastic brand taco filling.

Spaghetti, with a meatless marinara sauce, garlic bread & salad

Scrambled tofu, toast with Earth Balance, & gimme lean sausage, which I make gravy with, too.

I adore veggie sandwiches, with guacamole, sprouts, tomato, cucs

Or TLTs (Tofu, lettuce & tomato)

Not to mention falafel wraps, *tuna* (made with chickpeas instead of fish) & *egg* salad, made with tofu, not eggs. A pinch of black salt really gives it an egg flavor (I hear).

My favorite cookbooks are Vegan Planet, Vegan With a Vengeance,

Tofu Cookery, The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, & Cooking with Gluten & Seitan.

I think this is my favorite online recipe site:

http://www.vegan-food.net/

I like this one, too.

http://www.vegan-food.net/

There are a lot of great ready to eat products on the market now:

Mayo = Vegenaise

Butter = Earth Balance margarine

Cream cheese = Tofutti brand cream cheese

Sour cream = Tofutti sour cream

Turkey = Tofurky slices or roast

Milk = soy, rice or nut milk

cheese = schreese (it's hard to find, though) or you can make your own cheese using Nutritional Yeast. (Vegan mac & cheese is pretty good)

Ribs = Gardenburger BBQ riblets

Ice cream = Soy Delicious purely decadent - yum!

I could go on forever...there is a sub for everything, I guess

 

[zygote]

This site has a bunch of veggie recipies.

vegetarian.allrecipes.com/

Good job on choosing to eat healthier!

 

[elibrown]

Today I went to Luby's for lunch and had fruit salad, mashed potatoes, fried okra, and a wheat roll.

For dinner I poured some TVP, tomato paste, canned black beans, red beans, corn, and chili powder and seasoning into a pot with a little water and boiled it until the TVP soaked up all the flavor and I had easy vegan chili.

I ate it with whole wheat crackers and had some no-bake cookies for dessert.

One of my favorite meals is a chickpea salad sandwich (slightly mash chickpeas, then pretend like it's tuna and make salad) with fresh celery and carrots and ranch to dip them in.

Soy cheese sprinkled over marinara sauce from a jar on whole wheat pita bread = pizza.

Spaghetti with marinara.

Any type of taco or burrito or similar Tex-Mex concept but with beans or fake meat subbed.

 

[Daisy Rose]

Sauteed vegetables( onions, mushrooms, peppers, corn and peas are good with it too!) mixed with some "soy" ground beef, with soy cheese melted in if you want... mmmmm sooo good!

 

[Bios]

Tofu vegetable stir fry over brown rice. Hubby buys bagged frozen veggies (generally broccoli florets and a stir-fry pepper mix) and envelop of Beef'n'Broccoli sauce mix (no actual beef included) for extra speed and convenience. Also makes nice leftovers for my lunch.

 

[christina09]

Pasta.

No, I eat much more than that, but it is a basic, easy, yummy dish. I make marinara sauce with mushrooms or eggplant or zuchinni. Pesto is also a good topping.

I also make stirfries a good bit, with whatever fresh vegetable are around. Saute garlic and onion in olive oil, add veggies, and serve over rice. You could also add beans or tofu or such if you like.

Good luck! As you can, there are plently of options....and if you want recipes, simply Google "vegetarian recipes" or "vegan recipes" and you'll come up with a lot.

 

[Ayrlin]

I'll go with tonights dinner because it is one of my fav's

Falafel with hummus and tihini

A salad of bitter greens with a dill vinaigrette and olives and feta cheese

yum!

 

[shineonyou]

I like to fry some onion, shredded carrot (shredded myself with a cheese shredder), mushrooms, diced tomatos (from a can or fresh), green pepper and/ or whatever veggies you like plus some pinto beans... add tomato sauce and olive oil (or whatever oil) and then add some flour to thicken it. I then season it with seasoned salt, garlic, basil, oregano, curry and red pepper... but only because i like those seasonings. i imagine one could use a lot of different seasonings. I made it last night and it's a good easy vegetarian dish that isn't just a replacement of some other non-vegetarian food.

 

[Lani]

My favorite vegan dishes:

Scrambled Tofu - Heat up some firm tofu cubes with some "sausage". Mix your choice of veggies (i throw some onions, bell pepper, red pepper, tomatoes, and garlic) and let cook for a bit

Grab a pita or tortilla and stuff it! Add some salsa

Portabella Sandwich - Take a portabella cap and put some soy sauce on it. Season with some salt and pepper. Heat on a grill or in a pan. Get some bread and toss on some nayonaise, guacamole, sprouts, tomato. Yum Yum

Riblet Wrap - Real fast easy on the go meal. Gardenburger makes a frozen riblet which is vegan and very tasty. Throw it in the mic for 4 minutes and while it's cooking, grab a tortilla and throw in some chopped onions/bell pepper/whatever else you want

Add the rib, fold up, and enjoy.

Garden Salads are quite tasty with some Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil. Sloppy Joe's with soy meat is definitely very yummy. Bush makes vegetarian beans that can go with any meal. Butter Beans over brown rice is always good. Whole Wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce (or Prego Organic Mushroom if you're in a hurry) is pretty tasty. Hummus is like the best thing ever

Miso Soup is good as a snack. Uhmmmm Progresso makes a Garden Vegetable soup that is extremely tasty. I can go on but yea that's about the top favorites I've had so far over the past 4 months ^_^

OH! One last favorite. Bagel Burger!! I get the Boca vegan burgers and organic bagels from the whole goods shop (no whey in them yay) Cook the burger and the bagel (they come raw heh) and throw on some tofutti cheese, nayonaise, organic ketchup, a tomato, maybe some sprouts, and yet another yum

 

[Invictus]

Black Bean Burgers! Yum. Almost every veggie cookbook I have has a recipe, but my favorite is from Garden of Vegan. Plus, it's super cheap.

Oh, and we do mini pizzas. Take a tortilla and put on your favorite pizza toppings, but a thin layer. I do sauce, onions, pineapple, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Then put the tortilla in a medium-hot frying pan for a few minutes, until it's browned on the bottom. I love thin crust piza, and that's about as thin as it gets. This was my boyfriend's bachelor recipe, and now we both love it.

 

[Lani]

Very good idea Invictus! I will have to try it one day this week

 

[slp2b]

Saute snow peas and water chestnuts in olive oil, fresh lemon juice and zest, and chopped garlic. Serve over couscous of your choice. I had it for dinner Saturday and am having leftovers today for lunch. My silly omni husband and son won't eat it, but it is definately one of my favorites.