New Vegetarian

[Babygrl0098]

Will you please give me easy recipes for vegetarians (i eat fish and dairy products)? That don't have too many carbohydrates or recipes that have the good carbs (like whole wheat). Because my mom is fussin at me saying i'm eating too much carbs (i'm basically eating pasta alfredo and vegetable fried rice). Help.

[sunnymama]

Hi! I've been vegetarian for 10 years, and have had 2 healthy kids, so you can tell your mom you'll be ok. You can even tell her vegetarians live longer, get less cancer, heart disease...yada yada. OK, so you need other things to eat. Whole wheat pasta and marinara, rather any pasta and sauce. Alfredo and marinara are almost always meatless. Sandwiches- I love chickpeas with a little mayo and celery and curry powder mixed up (tuna sandwich style).Other veggie foods- quesadillas, burritoes, pizza minus meats. Just about any food you like you can make meatless. Balance is important. When you think of the food groups, replace the "meat group" idea with "Beans, whole grains, eggs, peanut butter, nuts". There are lots of meat replacement type foods. Major grocery stores will likely carry the Morning Star Farms brand products. They have Chick Nuggets, Corn Dogs, Veggie Burger Patties, sometimes you'll find "meatballs" or they even make a ground beef replacer. This brand is all meatless, and I like the food, and so do my veggie kids. It is really worth checking out. Also read about being vegetarian. Gary Null has some really good info and recipe books. Another favorite of mine are Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family. Just checkout a local library or bookstore under "vegetarian". Good luck!

[holly holy]

get yourself some of the moosewood cookbooks.  the recipes are diverse, easy to prepare, and very tasty!

i'm going on three and a half years vegetarian myself, and i will give you one piece of advice : lay off the cheese.  unfortunately, when i went no meat, i went all dairy.  not healthy.

this time of year soup is great, and there are a million vegetarian soup recipes out there.  check out vegweb.com for some more ideas.  feel free to email me if you want recipes!

[kaipod]

get yourself some of the moosewood cookbooks.  the recipes are diverse, easy to prepare, and very tasty!

i'm going on three and a half years vegetarian myself, and i will give you one piece of advice : lay off the cheese.  unfortunately, when i went no meat, i went all dairy.  not healthy.

this time of year soup is great, and there are a million vegetarian soup recipes out there.  check out vegweb.com for some more ideas.  feel free to email me if you want recipes!

I completely agree with getting some Moosewood cookbooks. I am vegetarian and I abslolutely LOVE the recipes in there!  My parents are always ragging on me for not eating meat.....but they really like the recipes.  (they refer to themselves as "flexitarians")

-kaia

[Kitty Urbane]

I put this in another post but add here too, because it is just too good not to share.

Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. After I got this cookbook and used it, I sold the rest back to the book store.

It has a lot of recipes that appeal to meat eaters, if you like to entertain and that's nice, but the best part about it is that many of the recipes need only a few ingredients, often stuff you have already: olive oil, eggs, garlic, etc.

For example, in my neck of the woods we get an organic box of produce delivered to us weekly. We never know what we're going to get, but no matter what it is, I know Ms. Madison has a recipe, and I can make it without going to the store.

The other great thing is that she gives a lot of great suggestions on how to modify the recipes to suit your needs. So like say you've got a bunch of different vegetables, there may not be a specific recipe using all of them, but she shows you how to roast them, braise them, steam them and make any kind of delicious sauce to put over them. And it's all delicious!

There's also desserts and breads and stuff you may never have heard of like roulades and galettes, which sound fancy, but are easy to make and a hit with everyone. I guess that's why it's called: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

[NynaeveAS]

I also eat dairy and fish, mostly shellfish.  Beef makes me sick after so many years without.  If you want to try something Indian down the line, I love The Indian Vegetarian, Flavors for the American Kitchen by Neelam Batra.   Probably one of my favorite cookbooks.  The spices add a lot to the flavor and I don't need to worry about it being a balanced diet so much.  One of my neighbors is Indian and her family has eaten meals like this their whole life.  You can leave some of the spices out also for a plainer fair.

My favorite non-Indian meal is a grilled cheese sandwich (ciabatta or multigrain bread with a slice of american cheese, shreaded "Mexican" cheese from a bag and pine nuts.)  Combine that with some steamed asparagus with a small amount of salt and ground pepper and I'm in heaven.  It's also good with salmon with a bit of lemon and basil on top.  In the summer, try grilling portabella mushrooms. Top with a slice mozzarella cheese and make them into a mushroom burger with a whole wheat bun.  Honestly, I have been eating a majority of cheese and bread for 15 years and am in great health.  I'm the thinest of my friends, I eat like a horse and no health problem despite my high carb diet.  My husband calls it the High Carb Diet.  Sadly, I also tend not to excercise either.  Lazy me. 

Tip on the veggie steaming: If some people in your family like their veggies soft and some like them steamed, boil some veggies in the pot of water on the stove and place the steamer on top with more.  That way it doesn't add more dishes except the steamer and you don't need to hear the crap of "these veggies aren't done."  (I try to use fresh veggies whenever possible.)

[krazigal72]

i agree about the grilled portabella mushroom "burger"....yummy

[Blond_gurl]

GO to allrecipes.com and you can find a ton of vegetarian recipes with nutritional value charts.  and you also get honest comments from people who made the meals, kind of like this site.  the recipes come in easy to advance directions, kind of like this site.
good luck

[midnightsky1686]

vegweb.com has a ton of veg recipes that are pretty good. 

It's all about learning to balance your diet- which you should be doing even if you are not veg   most people lose weight after a couple months of no meat (my guess is cause you cant eat a *lot* of the junk food you did before). 

When i switched to veg (lacto ovo) from partial i lost ten pounds. (no other lifestyle changes ) i also ended up w/ a higher protien and iron count then id had before (id been having bloodtests before and after for something unrelated).  my mom did not appreciate me becoming veg, but she cant do anything about it now since she knows it makes me healthier.

not necessareily recipe related, but cool foods to try that have some protien or are pretty healthy:
-hummus
-veg chilli
-dried fruits- esp the ones that come in little packages strips
- nuts or mixes
- baked brie (brie is actually pretty good for you despite it tasting so creamy)
- tofu tacos/refried bean tacos (make sure the beans werent cooked in beef though)
- i love wholewheat/multirgain breads that have been toasted w/ a bit of butter on it with  a scramled egg- if my mom is up early enough this is how she tries to get me to eat more protien
- soybeans.  you can get them frozen...they are great in stirfry etc

also if you are going to eat a lot of pasta or rice start trying diff types- ie whole wheat pasta, brown rice, black rice, wild rice, etc. 

[Gobbles]

I've been veg for about two years, and I also had to deal with my mother looking over my shoulder to see what I was eating...though it seems your mum has good reason to! ha ha.
Everyone's suggestions are good. There are tons of great cookbooks out there, Moosewood's of course being a classic. There are also a lot of them that are specifically aimed at teenagers (which I can assume you are?), with ideas and recipes for bag lunches, easy dinner recipes, etc. And there are obviously zillions of recipes online.
Despite my many reservations about Peta's methods, their website does have a wide variety of recipes, all in one place. You might want to check that out.
Now, I don't know why you decided to become a vegetarian, but yay! for you, as it really is very ecologically friendly. Which brings me to my next suggestion:
Please, please, please read "Diet for a Small Planet"!!! This is an old-school book about the ethical benefits of eating from the bottom of the food chain instead of the top, as well as practical tips, and some good recipes. I promise that reading this book will change the way you look at food.
One last tip: don't be afraid of ethnic foods! There are so many cultures out there which don't emphasise meat in thier diets, that there is a lot of room for you to explore and have fun with what you eat.
Being a vegetarian in a family of meateaters means a little extra care and planning in your meals, and a willingness to experiment. Trust me, though, it's worth it.
Good luck and happy eating!