Help! My Spouse is a Carnivore!

[ollieorange]

I don't eat meat. I will not cook it and wouldn't even know where to begin when picking out meat to purchase. When I met my husband he ate brats for dinner every night (yuck!). He is a big meat eater.  I plan out a menu every Sunday with his input. He knows I will not cook or buy meat. If he wants meat he knows he will be doing the cooking that night or we'll be going out to eat. It's been like this since the beginning for us and has worked out well.

[kjlutz]

I have a cookbook recomendation: More With Less by the Menonite Central Committee.  It has lots of dishes that are light on the meat, easily substitutable or full of beans/lentils.  Lots of very filling options. 

For those interested in recipe ideas, Squash Pasta is one of my friend's (a meat eater) favourite vegetarian dish.  I believe this is the recipe she uses (without the prawns). 
I don't follow a recipe:
Here's what i do:
Chop and fry some onion
Add butternut squash (cut into chunks), some chopped carrots and maybe some celery, and a red pepper
fry for a little bit, add enough water to help with cooking and make sure nothing sticks
add a couple handfuls or red lentils
cook until everything is soft and mushy
use the hand blender to make it sauce like (might need a bit more liquid)
add salt, pepper, and lots of parmesan cheese.

Serve over pasta
Also very good with cauliflower

For the meat eaters I think this would be very good with bacon crumbled on top.

[CamOovas]

I have never made a wild rice burger for anyone who didnt love it. They are also pretty filling.  I cant copy/paste on my tablet but the best recipe ever can be found by googling  "heavy table wild rice burger."  Also meat eaters love the indian food/curries that i make lots of, and i make chili with different beans, tomatoes, peppers,corn and broccoli.  Also very filling and lasts a long time after all the ingredients are added.

[LimeRiot]

Thanks, CamOovas. I'll see if I can find that rice burger recipe. I still need to make bean burgers .

Per an earlier suggestion, I made buffalo tempeh tonight. It was yummy and filling and meat-like so the hubby enjoyed it too. I made sandwiches out of it with lettuce, tomato and onion. I also served some of it straight up. We liked it both ways.

This was the recipe I used...

http://cleangreensimple.com/2012/03/vegan-buffalo-wings/

I used wing sauce so I didn't bother mixing it with oil as the recipe suggests.

[Retro_Rose]

Question to all those who are doing it or figuring it out...

You're a veggie, and your spouse is not. What about the kids?

I don't have kids yet, but this question has plagued my mind for a while.

[Harvey]

Are you a vegetarian who eats cheese, milk and eggs? My family loves cheese and potato soup - I can find the recipe if you like - vegie chilies and risotto. I have recently found a recipe for arancini and am planning on making some, it is kind of like risotto in fried balls.

[SunflowerSmiles]

Question to all those who are doing it or figuring it out...

You're a veggie, and your spouse is not. What about the kids?

I don't have kids yet, but this question has plagued my mind for a while.

My son is 12 and he's not a big meat eater. He never has been so it's a bit easier to stick with vegetarian meals with he and I. He's always been a good veggie and fruit eater and willing to try new things.  I just make sure he has proteins like peanut butter or nuts and he does drink milk for the vitamin D and calcium. He doesn't care for peanut butter much but he loves to munch on almonds, pecans, and such.
I do know some friends who their children have decided that THEY are vegetarians and won't go near meat. If they find out there's even a chance of meat in their food they would rather go hungry. I know it can be pretty frustrating to them but kids go through stuff like that. I guess I consider myself pretty fortunate as I don't have a child who is picky with food and if I were to go strictly vegetarian he would be totally fine with it.

[DawnsTrees]

Question to all those who are doing it or figuring it out...

You're a veggie, and your spouse is not. What about the kids?

I don't have kids yet, but this question has plagued my mind for a while.

Since we didn't have a lot of meat in the house from the start my kids just got used to eating without a lot of meat. They learned to love things like tofu as well as ground beef (when my husband would make it). We tried to present both options as normal and when they were older we talked about why both of us made the choices that we made. Both of them grew up to be limited meat eaters, but they do eat some meat. We just made sure that they got the protein and iron that they needed while growing (partially by hiding the good green leafy stuff into food and partially by supplements when needed...).

[Annchen]

My sister and her husband used to be vegetarians. They eat fish now, mostly because he's allergic to soy and some other beans. Their 2 year old daughter eats meat and meat products, but she also eats vegetarian food. She is/was a picky eater so they haven't limited the types of proteins they give her. It's easier to use fish or meat products with small kids to make sure they get everything they need, and daycare would be tricky if she couldn't have what the other kids eat. I still think that kids raised in a vegetarian household will end up eating less meat.

[kjlutz]

my daughter eats vegetarian because that's how we eat at home, and they provide veg food at daycare for her.  when she's older it's up to her, we're pretty relaxed about it so we'll see (although I don't see myself cooking meat at anytime in the near future)