Need Help Going Vegetarian

Hi I am Asian and there is all kinds of vegetarian indian/thai/chinese/middle eastern dishes that are easy to prepare but you have to have the ingredients! We do eat meat but only about 2-3 times a week. I cook a lot of lentils and indian flat breads. I make pilaf with rice and veggies. I also use frozen organic veggies instead of fresh bc of wastage. It is so expensive and spoils very easily if you buy fresh all the time. Of course you and your family need to be willing to try other cuisines. I have found that it is extremely difficult from a palate standpoint to eat american food and be vegetarian. Your options are very limited and bland and really not very nutrionally balanced. Many balanced vegetarian recipes come from cultures where vegetarianism is mainstream....like Indian. I don;t use a lot of chillis but I use spices for the flavor. a really good easy indian recipe book would be Madhur Jaffrey's World vegetarian cooking and her Indian Cooking (has meat dishes but lots of other stuff too. If you google vegetarian cookboks you will find plenty but the world vegetarian book has sections from many cultures with ideas for main dishes and sides.

Have you tried Natural Grocers - they have recipes(not all of them vegetarian) on their website.
http://www.naturalgrocers.com/healthy_eating_on_a_budget.php
Natural Grocers
7517 Campbell Road, Suite 500
Dallas, TX 75248
Store Hours: M-F 9-8, Sat 9-7, Sun 11-6
Phone: ###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####

I am a firm believer that what we put in our bodies and on our bodies makes all the difference in our health.
I think it is wonderful what you are trying to do for your family - Good Luck!

Hi there,
We went vegetarian (mostly vegan) a few months ago after reading "The China Study", which I highly recommend. It has taken a few months to get the hang of it. I don't know if you can make this switch without initially stocking your pantry/freezer, which does cost a lot of money. Past that, though, we are saving tons of money not buying meat and only buying very little dairy. Definitely find a grocery - whole foods, central market, sprouts - that has bulk because you will save a lot of money going this way. I have 3 boys ages 5 and under, so finding recipes they liked was challenging at first, but now there are about 6 easy "fail safes" that i can rotate through every few weeks while introducing new recipes. I have used www.allrecipes.com and www.vegweb.com and have found a lot of good recipes. You can do advance searches for vegetarian main dishes, etc. and I have used these 2 websites more than anything else so far!
Send me a private message with your home email address and I can forward my recipes that the kids really like.
I just got a great cookbook - The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein. We were already doing a fairly mediterranean diet, so this was a great fit for our family. I like that she has used authentic recipes instead of changing "regular" recipes into vegan versions... ya know what I mean?
Also - I was also throwing out a lot of fresh veggies in the beginning. Now I am not, but the key is to plan, plan, plan your meals. Personally I plan 2 or 3 days of food, and then buy what I need. So that means 2 or 3 trips to the store each week. That may not be convenient for you, but it has helped us cut down on cost and waste.
I do buy mostly organic - I am a big believer in this. The most simple, basic rule you can follow is that any thick skinned fruits/veggies - i.e. oranges, bananas - are usually not as contaminated, and therefore ok to buy conventionally. The thin-skinned fruits and veggies - especially potatoes, apples, tomatoes - buy organic when at all possible. There is a GREAT book called "The 150 Healthiest foods on Earth" by Jonny Bowden. In it not only is the incredible info on the nutrition of various fruits and veggies, but also, he points out which ones are the most contaminated and least contaminated. I made a little cheat sheet for the grocery so that I can make sure I'm buying organic when it is most important.
Let me know if I can help you in any other way!
S.

Hi K.

I am also an SDA, but I grew up in the church. I decided to go vegetarian 11 years ago and haven't looked back since. I now live in Norway, and organic is both hard to find and excruciatingly expensive when you do find it, so I just stick to vegetarian. I do use frozen vegetables (mostly broccoli, broccoli/cauliflower, or green beans/carrots/baby corn), especially in the winter since fresh is not looking so fresh after being imported here and is too expensive.

Soups (especially lentil soup) are my all-time favorite vegetarian meals. Cottage cheese loaf (or Special K loaf) is also an "SDA staple" that most people, vegetarian or not, love. My husband was apprehensive about tofu, but he LOVES scrambled tofu and quiche made from tofu.

I have tons of cookbooks, but the ones I use the most are: Cooking with the Benton Sisters, Vol 1 & 2, and The Guilt Free Gourmet. Both are vegan, but that's okay. Sometimes I eat vegan, sometimes I don't. I think you can order these books from the Adventist Book Center.

Whole Foods has items in bulk, which can help cut costs. Otherwise, I don't have many suggestions since it has been a few years since I lived in Texas.

Good luck! I don't regret at all becoming vegetarian.

Hi,

Congrats on the change! I have been mostly veg for 13 yrs now and low fat all the time.

Here is a recipe that uses tofu. I have made this and it is delicious.
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/11/double-layer-pumpkin...

She also has is vegan and has an elem age child:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

I love www.drmcdougall.com for the medical info.
But, he does have recipes too:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/dec/easy.htm
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/nov/onepot.htm

Also, I love the Moosewood cookbooks. They usually do have one chapter on fish. I have personally worn out these two cookbooks:
1.
http://www.amazon.com/Moosewood-Restaurant-Cooks-Home-Rec...
2. The Veggie Pot Pie is delicious in this book.
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0609802410/ref=cm_cr...

As far as shopping, I do not just randomly buy vegetables, I plan exactly what my menus will be and make the list. But, that's just how I am. It seems easier to be a meat eating cook. You bake the chicken and you throw on one or two veggies. What veggies they are does not require any thinking. I think with vegetarian cooking, unless you are really skilled, it doesn't seem like you can just create a main dish from random veggies you have in the fridge.

I also have a cookbook from Nava Atlas, Vegetarian 5-ingredient Gourmet:
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-5-Ingredient-Gourmet-Nav...

I know you can also hide tofu chunks in lasagna. It just blends in with the ricotta.

Hope that helps. Don't give up with the kids. They have tofu dogs! and tofu corn dogs and tofu ice cream sandwiches (tofutti brand).
M.