vegetarian recepies?

[Emaleth]

Merry Meet!
I wasn't quite sure where to post it, but since it concerns healthy food it seemed to be the best place. The thing is I would like to quit eating meat, I've tried several times, but always something happened that made me go back to it. Part of the problem may be that I don't know any good recepies, so I kept eating the same stuff and got bored:p
Do you know any good sites with recepies, or maybe some that you use yourself? But they should be rather simple, 'cause I'm a pretty lousy cook:D
I'll appreciate any advice you can give me:)

Blessed Be

[Loon]

The book that I get most of my recpies from is called Vegan Meals for One or Two by Nancy Berkoff. It is published by the Vegetarian Resource Group (http://www.vrg.org). Other sites you might want to try are Veggies Unite (http://www.vegweb.com), International Vegetarian Union (http://www.ivu.org), and eVegetarians (http://www.evegetarians.com). I hope you find some good recpies. :)

[shnen]

you might want to follow a Yogi diet, they will take you down the steps to becoming vegan properly, so you don't shock your body, and you get used to replacing the vitamins and minerals you will be missing...
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga is a great resource for this... and other yoga books will have great recipe listings.

[Mnemosyne]

If I want to prepare vegetarian meals, I use the cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The book has loads of recipes. I cook a lot and have noticied that many general cookbooks have good, simple vegetarian recipes, or else you can adjust the recipes to fit your needs.

[Emaleth]

Thanks for help! Loon, the sites are great, so many recepies it's difficult to decide which one to use:)

Shnen - the problem with books on Yoga is that in Poland all you can get are books with exercise if you know what I mean, lots of pictures, but nothing on diet, philosopy and so on. In many cases my only source (not only dietary) is the Internet :(

Mnemosyne - thanks for advice, it never really occured to me to look in general cookbooks, but it's true they do have vegetarian sections. Silly me!:)

Blessed Be

[Mnemosyne]

Hope you find what you are looking for Emaleth. You're right; the internet has a wealth of resources. Actually, I remember seeing loads of vegatarian recipes on the internet. I remember just typing the word "vegetarian" on a search engine and coming up with websites for vegetarian meals. Also, if you don't have cookbooks to choose from, look at basic cooking websites. One of my favorites, particularly because I like watching the Food Channel, is www.foodtv.com. Furthermore, maybe a library near you will have some cookbooks and other books for you to check out. Good Luck. :)

[Nect]

Emaleth, do you like grilled veggies? Check out the condiment aisle at your supermarket. They are usually vegetarian, even vegan, and you'll realize that a lot of the time what gives meat dishes their taste is really the spices, not the meat itself. Some of those sauces can be used to marinate vegetables such as shitake mushrooms which absorb all sorts of moisture very well, so soaking some washed shitake in a marinade for an hour or so and then grilling them is delicious! The remaining marinade can be heated over the stove, add some cornstarch, and you get a gravy. Serve this with rice or potatoes... and you get a wholesome meal. :) Or, you can mix brown sugar with soy sauce to get a terriyaki-ish marinade (adjust the proportions as you like). Or you can drizzle some sesame oil over portabello mushrooms, and lightly sprinkle coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste.

If you like stir-fry, adding some nuts like pistachios or cashews really lifts the dish. Do you like tofu? I was raised on tofu so I love the stuff! If you do like it, buy a pack of silken tofu (some specify 'for steaming' or 'for deep frying' - choose the former) (the kind that packaged in water), finely chop some green onions, lay them on top of the tofu and steam it. If you like, you can also add some lemongrass on top of the tofu. Once the tofu is ready, pour some soy sauce - whatever kind of soy sauce you like - over the tofu. Depending on how much tofu you're making...I'd say 400g of tofu uses about three to four tablespoons of oil...heat this oil until it's really hot (careful not to let any water drop in there!) and pour it over the the tofu. Voila! Serve with white rice (the Oriental kind tastes best with this dish).

If you're turning veg for health reasons, you may like to reduce the amount of oil used, but the taste would be compromised a little.

Hope that helped! ;)

Nect

[Emaleth]

Originally posted by Nect

Do you like tofu?


Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know ;) I've never tried it. Although you can buy it in Poland, it is not very popular. I'm gonna go to the supermarket first thing tomorrow and buy some, though. :)

Thanks again for advice and links. They're very helpful!

Blessed Be

[Yvonne Belisle]

Also you might want to look at Indian cookbooks many of thier dishes are vegetarian. Also there are many recipies in the green room and many are vegetable dishes. :)

[Loon]

I like to take firm tofu and crumble it up and add it to different dishes. Or, I'll scramble it and have it with potatoes and vegetables for breakfast. :)

[Yvonne Belisle]

Http://www.goveg.com/index.html has a free starter kit with information on going vegitarian that includes recipies.

[Loon]

I never got my starter kit! But I read a really good book called Becoming Vegan. The authors, Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, also wrote a book called Becoming Vegetarian. One of them has a Web site: www.nutrispeak.com

[Theres]

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." - Albert Einstein

'The Vegetarian Times' magazine is a great resorce, IF it's available to you in Poland.
you can also try...

http://aolsvc.recipes.aol.com/houseandhome/pls/search.jsp?theme=Vegetarian&browse=Vegetarian

"A mere 10% reduction in meat consumption by Americans would free up enough land to grow 12 million tons of grain - enough to save the 20 million people who starve to death on our planet each year."! - from the new Gardenburger box.
that could be easily achieved by giving up meat ONE DAY A WEEK!

[Emaleth]

Originally posted by Greenman
["A mere 10% reduction in meat consumption by Americans would free up enough land to grow 12 million tons of grain - enough to save the 20 million people who starve to death on our planet each year."! - from the new Gardenburger box.
that could be easily achieved by giving up meat ONE DAY A WEEK! [/B]

So it's not that bad:) My family is Catholic and they don't know that I'm Pagan so I still have to fast every Friday. I may try two days a week now:D At least I won't suffer from any dietary shock.;)

Blessed Be

[Dellit Tandannon]

your family fasts every friday? what branch of catholicism do they follow?

[Emaleth]

Originally posted by Dellit Tandannon
your family fasts every friday? what branch of catholicism do they follow?

Roman. Yeah, every friday, but fasting involves only not eating meat. You can eat everything else in what quantities you want;)

Blessed Be

[Dellit Tandannon]

hmm... my family's roman catholic too but the only time they purposefully don't eat meat is on good friday and ash wednesday.

[Emaleth]

I don't understand it, but it seems that in the US, or maybe other countries as well, Catholics are allowed to do things that a Polish Catholic would consider a sin. When my mom was in the States and went to confession, and told that her sin was that she ate meat on Friday, the priest told her that that wasn't a sin. While here in Poland it is even written in cathehism or something. That's a very strange business:eek:

Blessed Be

[Illuminatus]

My family only absains from eating meet on fridays during lent and holy days.

Religious dietary laws are silly. It's completely ridiculous. Every friday, I must eat a hot dog without a bun. Unless it's a holy day. Then, I eat the bun, but not the hot dog. WTF?

- Ill

[Illuminatus]

Here is a bad-ass vegitarian recipe, and I am a card-carrying meat eater so you know it must be good.

Get a bunch of vegetables and slice them fairly thin. The best ones are eggplant, zucchini, sweet onions, red and green peppers.

Put them on a baking pan covered with tinfoil, and then douse them with olive oil. Bake them in the oven (I think 350, for 45 mins or so, use your own judgement) until they are nice and cooked. Then, you eat them. They are so yummy.

- Ill