Semi Vegetarian

[Nanita8140]

I've been following a semi vegetarian diet for the past five months. The only meat source I've been eating is fish....mostly salmon. The first month was extremely hard! I can tell you that this has really made a big difference in every way. I'm slimmer...especially around the waist, more energetic, skin is glowing. The thing is that it is hard comming up with good filling meals. Are any of you vegetarians? Any good websites, especially ones with recipes you can recommend will greatly be appreciated.

 

[bfllover]

Yes go to vegweb.com also goneraw.com which is completely raw vegan

 

[socca]

veggie social networking websites:
VeggieBoards - Vegetarian and vegan forum, message board, recipes. (high traffic)
VegPeople: VegPeople Main Index - Vegan / Vegetarian Forum (low traffic)

A problem is that many published recipes are too complex and time-consuming for everyday cooking. There are cookbooks targeting veggie everyday cooking, although I don't have any recommendations at hand. Maybe a search at amazon.com or your local library will turn something up.

Living veg is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You do need to be willing and able to experiment. Good luck!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

stay away from barbecues

 

[Janet H]

Vegetarian here... Staying 'filled up' is a big complaint amongst vegetarians. I have some suggestions....

Eat whole grains - they take longer to digest. Brown rice, whole oats, etc.
Add a little fat. A handful of nuts is more filling that a pat of butter.
Beans and bean derivatives (tofu).
Dairy - have some.
Caffeine. A cup of black or green tea staves off hunger for an hour.
Avoid fake meat. It tastes fake and is loaded with salt.
Load up on fruit and veggies.
Learn to make your own hummus. It's a fast snack, easy and cheap to make.
Remember not to pig out on cheese.
If you are going to ignore the (above) cheese tip, be sure to have some merlot as well

 

[CuppaJoe]

....
Learn to make your own hummus. It's a fast snack, easy and cheap to make.
....

Yes! I've been w*rking on variations on hummus, you can add red peppers, etc.

I also do a tofu spread and like to use cold baked sweet potato as a sandwich spread or condiment on sandwiches, also avocados.

Good luck, I could also try to lose some weight this way.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Avoid fake meat. It tastes fake and is loaded with salt....Learn to make your own hummus.

morningstar grillers original 1 serving (1 burger) 260 mg sodium
hanover chickpeas 1 serving (1/2 cup) 350 mg sodium

never noticed that before. i'll have to start using dried garbanzo beans.

 

[freebird5825]

not a vegetarian, more of a meat minimalist.
right now i am whittling down my ancient freezer contents so i can defrost and clean it. i am buying very little meat lately.
www.allrecipes.com has a treasure chest of recipes. i used "vegetarian" for the keyword search and it found 3,814 recipes. have fun!
i use my regular cookbooks, and simply minimize meat OR outright omit the meat by substituting canned beans or frozen veggies or use tuna or the crab flavored fish stuff. eggplant is an excellent meat sustitute for italian style dishes. ever make a veggie or seafood lasagna?
Indian food tends to be vegetarian by default. Mexican style minus the meat can be interesting.
i do a lot of crockpot cooking, mostly hearty soups and oriental style soups. dehydrated potato flakes or pellets used sparingly make an excellent soup thickener. go easy on these due to high salt content.
fresh bread, oven toasted with olive oil, cheese, garlic, parsley, often with very thin sliced tomato on top, makes for a filling side dish.
if you are also minimizing carbs, stir fry veggies over a little rice is excellent. a nonstick wok is an excellent tool to own.

 

[simple girl]

I love this cookbook: Amazon.com: Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day: Moosewood Collective: Books

Awesome recipes, wish I had more time to cook so I could try them all!

 

[Urchina]

I'll second the Moosewood books -- our family (a moderate-to-low-meat consumption crew) has liked everything we've made from them.

Some of my favorite vegetarian recipes come from the Mennonite Central Committee's two cookbooks: "More with Less" and "Extending the Table." These are collections of recipes centered around using less of the world's resources to eat. There's a strong faith-based feeling throughout both books, but also a strong social-justice approach. The recipes themselves are varied, tasty and practical. I'd really recommend them.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Recipes for grain salads tend to be a little complicated. They'll say cook three different grains separately and carefully watch them for their varying cooking times. I just put them into the rice cooker, individually, walk away and run the ones that need more time than rice twice. SO and I toss a lot of leftovers into salads, potatoes, grains, etc; often it's more than I can eat. Add a little dressing to cold rice and put it on the salad.

[edit: I always add a handful of lentils to the rice because the have the same cooking time.]

 

[mickeyd]

I've been following a semi vegetarian diet

Hey so am I!

Only part of each meal consists of meat. I always make sure that vegetables and a starch are included.

 

[tmm99]

If you eat a lot of salmon (especially if you are doing it for health), make sure and eat wild salmon. Stay away from farmed (usually dyed pink) salmon. The omega-3/6 ratio is not the same with farmed salmon (tons more omega-6 in farmed salmon due to the grains/other things they feed).

tmm

 

[FIRE'd@51]

.........skin is glowing

Hope it's not from mercury.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

I've been following a semi vegetarian diet for the past five months. The only meat source I've been eating is fish....mostly salmon. The first month was extremely hard! I can tell you that this has really made a big difference in every way. I'm slimmer...especially around the waist, more energetic, skin is glowing. The thing is that it is hard comming up with good filling meals. Are any of you vegetarians? Any good websites, especially ones with recipes you can recommend will greatly be appreciated.

Don't feel bad that you're not eating any land dwelling animals and aiding in the depletion of the oceans' fish population. I'm following the opposite diet to compensate.

No fish, at least two animals must have died for every meal, and any vegetables I eat are verbally abused as I eviscerate their still breathing corpses on my plate (cooking them alive is just cruel).

 

[NW-Bound]

I eat a lot of fruits.

I also eat a lot of veggie. A lot more than most people.




But it tastes better with some meat.

 

[Janet H]

I eat a lot of fruits.

... But it tastes better with some meat.

Bacon makes almost anything taste better. I haven't had any of the real stuff for decades but just the thought of it still makes my mouth water.

 

[Alan]

I've been following a semi vegetarian diet for the past five months. The only meat source I've been eating is fish....mostly salmon. The first month was extremely hard! I can tell you that this has really made a big difference in every way. I'm slimmer...especially around the waist, more energetic, skin is glowing. The thing is that it is hard comming up with good filling meals. Are any of you vegetarians? Any good websites, especially ones with recipes you can recommend will greatly be appreciated.

We've done this for a few years now although not quite so strict - we do have chicken now and again. We love all sorts of fish and for work at lunch I often pick up a tossed salad at the canteen and add a small tin of seafood to it. (sardines, smoked oysters, kippers, mackeral, anchovies, tuna medley, salmon etc).

We eat loads of fruit and vegetables and will eat a fish or vegetable curry served on a bed of leeks or cabbage. DW buys veggies from the produce market and stir frys them with a little olive oil and herb seasoning, always with some cayenne to add a little heat.

We also find that a glass of milk fends off hunger pangs, plus of course we always have a glass of red wine and square of dark chocolate (70 -85% cacao) every night for medicinal purposes.

 

[bright eyed]

Just remember there are a lot of cultures who have been doing veggy for a long time and their food tends to taste waaay better then the nuveau health veggy stuff! Indian, chinese and middle eastern come to mind! I've gone to amazing chinese dim sum, vietnamese veggie and indian places - but those are abundant here where i live. Thai will also usually have veggy options.

Also, don't overdo the soy - americans tend to overestimate the amount of soy asians have consumed historically - and like most things is good for you to a point, then tips to not so good.

I was veggy for almost 10 years, then got tired of it. I don't eat a ton of meat now, but here and again, esp if it's high quality stuff (no 99 cent burgers for me ack!).

 

[dlhanson]

We have been 100% vegetarian (nothing that is not from a plant) for the last 15 years. This is what we eat:

1. Juice kale, broccoli, celery, red cabbage, and carrots every morning.

2. Beans or splits peas for dinner each day - beans on MWFSat and split peas on TThSat.

3. 2 fruits a day - usually apples

4. Brown rice twice a day (Our favorite brown rice is an Yoga Organic Brown Rice sold by Walmart.)

5. Raw spinach or raw red cabbage.

6. Popcorn without butter or salt for snacks.

25 year old son who lives with us as he finishes graduate school eats the same plus he eats some cereal (he adds water) with some honey added.

None of us have any problem feeling full after we eat. I grew up on meat, potatoes, milk and cheese (my father was a dairy farmer) but I don't miss eating that unhealthy way at all. We are vegetarians for health reasons only.

My weight dropped 110 pounds over the years (I weighed over 300 at one time). The Army wouldn't allow me to enlist when I was 19 because of high blood pressure. At 57 years old, my blood pressure is about 110/55 today (with zero medication).

DW weighs less than when we married in '73 (95 pounds now versus 110 then). She still wears clothes that she bought 40 years ago.

My favorite health website is:
drmcdougall.com

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

The thing is that it is hard comming up with good filling meals.

as meat stays in the system longer, keeping you fuller, and veggies digest quicker, adding supplemental fiber (i use psyllium husks) to diet slows digestion, keeping you fuller longer.

unless you need to stuff yourself before a long trek across the desert, forget about filling meals. change your eating habit from just one, two or three filling meals a day to five, six or more snacks a day. save the 7 course sit down meal for holidays. instead, just eat enough during the course of the day until your hunger subsides and eat only small enough portions to satisfy current hunger. then eat some more later.

www.allrecipes.com has a treasure chest of recipes. i used "vegetarian" for the keyword search and it found 3,814 recipes.

good site. checked it out after you posted. found this recipe

Middle Eastern Rice with Black Beans and Chickpeas - Allrecipes

made a vegetarian version, still need to learn to tweek it some but very nice. i used half the rice with the same amount of spice though only a dash of cayanne. used brown rice which i finished cooking with some extra vegie broth to make it a little soupy for a sauce. added pine nuts and raw diced onion. future tweek involves less chickpeas, more blackbeans and i used too much parsley. i left out the celantro, thinking it would impart a soapy taste. the pine nuts (fresh, not toasted) went along perfectly with the other flavors.

Yes! I've been w*rking on variations on hummus, you can add red peppers, etc.

try roasted garlic with sun dried tomato.

 

[freebird5825]

...unless you need to stuff yourself before a long trek across the desert, forget about filling meals. change your eating habit from just one, two or three filling meals a day to five, six or more snacks a day. save the 7 course sit down meal for holidays. instead, just eat enough during the course of the day until your hunger subsides and eat only small enough portions to satisfy current hunger. then eat some more later.

i heartily second this motion. this has been the ONE thing that has helped me maintain weight. i got the idea from an overweight friend's diabetic diet plan. i am not diabetic. the need to keep blood sugar levels consistent for a diabetic person by using small size, frequent, healthy snacks as a prevention to overeating bad stuff at "scheduled meals" caught my eye. i checked with my doc and he gave me the go-ahead. it really works! i don't feel starved like i did when i used the ol' fashioned mealtimes at classic daytimes.