Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Pleading Letter to Vegetarians

What do you eat every day? I mean, do you just eat the same stuff constantly because there are so few options? Or do I just not know what to cook? (Don't answer that, Nathan.) We've been trying to back off the meat--not rule it out completely, but just back off of it. This isn't easy for me as my favorite food is one of those hamburgers that is the size of your plate and uses an entire head of lettuce, three tomatoes, an avocado, half an onion, an entire pickle, etc.

In the realm of tofu, I'm a stranger and I'm out of ideas. And no, I won't eat tofu.


Let's take a look at meal idea #1, shall we?

1. Beans and rice with a side of avodaco

Ok, not bad, but that gets old, right?


So let's look at meal idea #2.

2. Lentil soup

Ok, except that I'm not really a soup person.


Meal idea #3,

3. Beans and rice

Do you see my dilemma here?



Help!!


PS, Yes we are still doing dairy, it's just that meat is so expensive and we are trying to abide by the "very little meat" part of the Word of Wisdom.

11 comments:

JerieH said...

If you aren't staying away from milk, what about homemade Mac and Cheese?
Corn and Black bean lettuce wraps?
Bean and cheese burridos?
Bruchetta pasta?

Janelle said...

Make hummus as a veggie dip for the kids. Garbanzo beans have lots of protein in them.

I love black beans. I do a lot with them. I couldn't really tell you what though, because I often don't use recipes.

Try Robust Cooking for healthy eating.

Tracey said...

I'm definitely not one to help a lot with this, I have no idea how to cook a meal without meat. My guess is that it will be easier as the nice weather is coming and more fresh fruits and vegetables are available. You could make spaghetti with tomato chunks, but no beef. You could probably do a lot with veggies & pasta. How about veggie stirfry? YUM. Check out this website I found - http://www.vegcooking.com/. I just Googled "Vegetarian Recipes." Good luck!!!

kjirsti said...

Tom and I are all about the pasta. Make a marinara with zucchini spears or red/yellow peppers. We love mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes. Bean burritoes. Stir fry. Adding spices helps alot. Crushed red pepper is one of our favs!

Jenny said...

Ask Heather! She went vegan and has all sorts of good ideas!

http://heather-clark.blogspot.com

Leanne said...

I have a broccoli bake that doesn't have to have meat in it.. in my recipe box on my blog, super yummy over rice!

Potato bar?

Cindy Beck, author said...

Assuming you're still having dairy, you can fix breakfast burritos (burritos filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, salsa, etc.) They're great for breakfast or supper.

You can always do the breakfast- supper thing with pancakes/waffles, eggs and fruit.

Summer said...

I've found that lentils are a great (and cheap) substitiution in recipes that call for ground beef. We regularly make Lentil Tacos and Lentil Lasagne is decent too. We also love pasta dishes - Spaghetti Pie, Stuffed Shells, Baked Ziti, etc. Potato Bar is a regular on the menu too, topped with broccoli, sour cream, chili beans, olives, cheese, whatever you like. Tomato soup w/ Cheese sandwiches is a favorite.

I like all the ideas from the other commenters! I'm always on the lookout for yummy, cheap, meatless meal ideas. THANKS!

Brooke Jackson said...

You are so funny. I have been having issues with the ole Galbladder, so I have been on a NO FAT diet and let me tell you...IT SUCKS! It is so hard to find food to eat, so basically I eat jello, fruits, veggies, and water. My surgeon better be able to operate soon OR ELSE!!!

Brooke Jackson said...

Here is a good meatless meal. I got the idea from Tracey Anderson. You buy the Spanish rice side from Lipton or knorr, what ever it is...then you cook it and add corn, stewed tomatoes, and black beans (good protein). put it in a tortilla top it with cheese, sour cream and salsa and WA LA, you have a delicious meal! You usually put chicken in it but, in your case, just leave it out.

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