XP: Vegetarian/Vegan help

[roseflower]

Does this go here? I posted in health and fitness as well but unsure of the appropriate place.

Over the last year I stopped eating meat...

I really need overhaul what eat. I'm not a great cook or creative in the kitchen at all. I have bought lots of cookbooks but they take so many ingredients it doesn't seem practical. I don't eat meat/poultry or eggs and I rarely and preferably do not eat fish and am struggling to get the right nutrition.

I recently signed up for the gym and for a couple personal training sessions to help with hip pain. She challenged me to eat carbs once a day and since I eat oatmeal for breakfast I have no clue what to make for dinner. She also challenged me to eat salads for lunch and they just dont satisfy me and I'm not comfortable having tempeh or another soy product daily. I have about 30 pounds to lose

Any vegetarians/vegans here willing to share some advice and healthy meal tips/recipes?

I am trying to meal plan but am getting so overwhelmed with my new eating habits.

Thank you!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using proboards

[panicked]

I think that being a non-soy vegan is difficult. Most of the alternate protein sources are soy-based. However, it's not impossible to do!
Protein- Beans, chickpeas, lentils, nuts and seeds. I try to incorporate them into almost every meal. There are tons of varieties of beans, and then go will in lots of meals. Chickpeas are one of my favorite foods. They are insanely versatile. My favorite way to eat them is to coat them in olive oil, add some salt, pepper, and curry powder, and roast them until they are crunchy. Perfect snack or on a salad! Nuts and seeds are good in salads too. I put almonds, walnuts, or pecans in my oatmeal almost every day.

Fruits and veg- I suggest trying at least one new food a week. Have you tried broccoli rabe? Jicama? Eggplant? Uglifruit? See what's on sale, what looks fresh, and figure out a way to incorporate it into a meal or snack. Also, try to add color. Eat a rainbow of foods. The brighter the color, the more nutrients a food has (usually, though not always, i.e. cauliflower). Some really great fall squash are coming into peak season now. Try them all, they are delish! Don't get discouraged if you don't like something. Try cooking it in a different way or with a different seasoning. Just keep trying, you'll be amazed at what you find you like!

Dairy- I don't drink milk straight-up. I usually use soy. However, So Delicious makes a great coconut milk with added calcium. Just make sure you stay away from the added flavorings and sugar. If you drink milk, stick with low-fat milk, greek yogurt, and low-fat cheeses. Also, check out other foods that have calcium. Broccoli is one of my favorite alternate sources!

Also, as far as meal planning goes, don't get overwhelmed. Can you make your meals ahead of time? I do a fair amount of freezer meals. Stir-fry, whole wheat pasta primavera, soups of all kinds are really easy to make on the fly. Also, crock-pot cooking is awesome if you're using dried beans, lentils, or brown rice (not instant).

[roseflower]

I am not against eating soy at all. I just don't to eat it on a daily basis.

I haven't tried the meals you asked about above. Am literally a beginner at it all. I am learning how to cook and all the options there are all while trying to eat healthy and meat free.
I don't have experience with frozen meals but I would LOVE to do it. It would meals so much easier on busy days. Again it is something I need to learn to do. Do you just cook meals and freeze them? In what? How do you reheat them? How does stir fry work as a frozen meal? Do the foods taste the same?

Thanks so much for responding. No one in my life eats healthy or meat free and I am setting the tone for our family.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using proboards

[panicked]

Ah, okay. If you eat soy in moderation, try tofu. Here's a really good starting point with it. www.wikihow.com/Prepare-Tofu
I'm not a big fan of tempeh or seitan, so I really don't have any suggestions there. I make tofu scrambles (google it, there are a ton of different ways to make it!), I bake it, I pan-fry it, but my favorite was is to dry fry it. Basically, you just press it, marinate it, then place it in a dry pan over low/med heat until it's dry and crispy. Yum! You can even make sandwiches with it. It's great. I would suggest that you try a few different brands of tofu though. It really is a personal taste kind of thing!

As far as freezer meals go, how you deal with them is dependent on what kind of dish they are. My rule of thumb is that if it has a crust or something that needs to be crunchy, freeze it, thaw it in the fridge over night, then bake fully. If it's a dish like soup, pasta, chili, etc... you can cook it thoroughly, freeze it, then thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat. It's trial and error. Google OAMC (once a month cooking) and you will find a ton of good recipes! They also have freezing/reheating methods for each recipe. I suggest making a meal once and eating it before you make a huge batch to freeze though. Nothing worse than thawing out a meal and realizing you don't like it!
Are you on Pinterest? People post amazing recipes all the time. Lots of good beginner veg stuff too.
You don't need to have all sorts of fancy ingredients to be veg, but it does help to have a good pantry selection, good spice collection, and a nice bit of frozen veg. Same with cookbooks. Find a few that you like. Check out anything by Sarah Kramer. The New Moosewood Cookbook is a good one too.

[msmerymac]

I highly recommend looking into the meal plans by Happy Herbivore. They're a little plain-jane, but she follows John McDougall's diet plan, which is high in complex carbs, low in fat, and vegan. They're also designed to be really accessible to people living anywhere, so they don't use a ton of ingredients, and they use things that you can find at pretty much any grocery store. While I do like specialty ingredients and fancy veggie "treat" meals once in a while, there is definitely something to be said for being able to make vegan meals for a week with stuff you could get at WalMart.

Some of the recipes, like I said, are a little overly simple, but I've done things like add my own spices or a few extra veggies. I personally really like eating carbs, since they fill me up more than protein, but her recipes also have protein. For example, one of my favorite things to eat for lunch, based on one of her recipes, is diced sweet potato, black beans, sliced mango, green onion and chipotle salsa.

And her recipes are almost always soy free. Occasionally she'll call for tofu, but with her meal plans, it's like once a week, tops.

A list of meal plans for a week is $5 and they come out every Wednesday. You can also buy her cookbooks on Amazon. (Her real name is Lindsay Nixon, but the books are all things like "Everyday Happy Herbivore" - easy to find.)

For a general, awesome vegetarian cookbook I recommend Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." Most of his recipes are also pretty simple. It's a huge book, which might look overwhelming, but it's organized pretty well.

[panicked]

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian IS a really great cookbook! Here's a site I found that might be of help to you for meal planning: www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/weight_loss_diet_plans/diet_meal_plans/500_calorie_dinners_vegetarian

[magdala9]

I am an omnivore who loves to cook with a husband who loves to eat but is allergic to meat & poultry. To get meals that are filling and satisfying, we use a lot of ingredients and resource from non American cuisines. While Tofu is part of our meal plan, I don't use it often.

This week's meal plan is

Homemade pizza with sliced apples, caramelized onions, smoked gouda and green salad
Ginger baked tofu with steamed snap peas and waldorf salad allrecipes.com/recipe/garlic-ginger-tofu/
Chocolate chili and corn muffins allrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-chocolate-chili/
Pad Thai www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetarian-Pad-Thai-240960
Fish Tacos with spinach apple salad.
Cappellini Pomodoro www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-capellini-pomodoro-385607 with homemade ciabatta.
Miso glazed eggplant with brown rice and snap pea salad www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Miso-Glazed-Eggplant-109748 www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sugar-Snap-Salad-366394