I hope everyone had a great Independence Day weekend and contemplated long and hard about our incredible Constitution and what we can do to keep it from going completely down the toilet ;) However, our 4th of July weekend is a post for another time (hopefully soon, when I am not unpacking, figuring out meal plans so I can replenish our fridge, cleaning, etc.)
As I mentioned in a post some time ago I am trying to revamp my diet somewhat drastically. So far, I have caved more than I've been successful, but I keep trying to get back on the horse and try again. I have continued to read about diet, nutrition, etc. (Thanks to all who have given me some interesting book recommendations. I have been devouring them). I am still convinced I'd do best with as little animal protein in my diet as possible. Actually, after reading most of the China Study (which I highly recommend, by the way) I feel like my whole family should eat this way, but I had better start with myself first. That being said, I am still not equipped with enough recipe and food ideas to sustain a vegan lifestyle, let alone a vegetarian one.
Our readership has offered such wonderful advice in the past so I was hoping some of you could help me out once again. Even if you have just one vegan or vegetarian recipe that you just love, it would help me out. Or, maybe you know of a website with some great recipes that would fit the bill. You can leave me a comment with a recipe or link, or you can email me at sabrinamillar[at]yahoo[dot]com. Any help would be very much appreciated.
7 comments:
Lei posted this that I made a couple months ago: http://addingontolife.blogspot.com/2009/05/whats-soup-doc.html
I've since done a similar approach with red peppers with variations. Both of which are just variants of a basic 3-2-1 formula that Mark Bittman[*] proposes in something or other of his that I just read. (I've been powering through a bunch of them.) That may not be vegetarian with the chicken stock and certainly not vegan with the yogurt as well, but for a balance it's a very healthy approach and easy to make very tasty. The chicken stock could easily be mushroom or vegetable stock if you're okay with yogurt. If you're completely opposed to dairy, you might consider figuring out how to accomplish the same kind of balance with tofu. I wouldn't be able to offer any help though as our tofu experimentation has been only mediocre at best.
I'd also try focusing in on getting good at cooking with mushrooms. A suggestion I've seen a lot lately is to buy dried mushrooms (which are pricy but can be consumed slowly) and use them reconstituted in small quantities with white button mushrooms. The fresh mushrooms will supposedly sop up the flavor from the better mushrooms. I haven't been able to bring myself to try it yet because dried mushrooms are a significant investment.
[*] He has a vegetarian cookbook that I haven't had a chance to read yet.
I try to go vegetarian once a week, it's not a lot, but I feel like it is better than nothing. Plus, I get a few complaints from the fam in general with the meat free entrees. I recommend marthastewart.com, that's where I get most of my dinner ideas these days and she has a bunch of strictly veg offerings.
I really like 101cookbooks.com - her recipes are vegetarian, and some are vegan, and although we aren't I've really enjoyed every recipe I tried from her site.
I don't have any recipes for you, but I was wondering: do you think you'll ever attend a "Tea Party" on the 4th of July?
Might I just make a few suggestions I've learned from friends who have chosen these dietary lifestyles. When choosing Tofu, best to buy the most FIRM. Much better texture in my opinion to eat. When do I use Tofu? Stir Fries, Curry rice dishes, well, basically anything that calls for meat cut up and has a good sauce that will flavor the tofu well. If you haven't given up eggs and dairy, I also use Cottage cheese a lot in italian type meals and beans in mexican type meals instead of ground beef, but you can always use TVP flakes in any of your recipes instead of ground beef. Hope this helps!
The China Study changes your life... also any of Michael Pollan's books. We try to not each much meat as well.
I love doing Mexican dishes for our veg. meals because the beans provide a lot of protein.
We also love Asian tofu stir-fries. And Heather is right--buy extra firm! Tofu is great also in chocolate mousse ;)
My sister is really into raw food recipes. She's noticed a huge change in her health since she started that diet. I just started to check it out...but she recommended "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen" by Ani Phyo. It has alot of good info on the raw food diet and a ton of recipes.
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