It has been a while since I ate strictly vegetarian because most of my house is carniverous & I haven't had a lot of time to plan meals. OK, honestly? Planning food bores me to tears but I am going to have to spend some time with Ditz dealing with her preference for no meat because so far we have turned up just one meat alternative we are both prepared to eat ~ & believe me, that will get old fast.
Plus , as I at least knew, we are getting hungry faster without meat bulking us up. The thing is, I know if I spend just a wee bit of time with this I can churn out far yummier meals than the carnivores want. Dearest is strictly a meat & 3 veg man ~ the sort of eating that makes me wish I could live on air. I am going to have to plan...so not my forte!
But seriously, I dumped this out of a can last night!
It looked like dog meat & was slimy to the touch ~ like tofu. This was a nut meat so I was expecting something a bit different. I diced it up & fried it & it was reasonably edible from my point of view ~ but not from Ditz's!
Back to basics, folks! I will buy some tofu because I can hide it in things like spring rolls & chances are Ditz will never know the difference. I will buy raw nuts because I have a really good nut loaf recipe myself & the ingredients for falals. I am recipe hunting on the net...
Ditz is the only one of mine that regularly wants a cooked breakfast ~& I am not talking oats here! This morning she fried up some meat sub with baked beans. That is a substantial meal by anyone's standards but by lunch she was ravenous again & she is a picky eater ~ far pickier than I am & I have extremely strong likes & dislikes. She is in the kitchen now experimenting with falals. They taste ok to me...but I've been here before. They do say hunger is the best condiment!
9 comments:
I eat vegetarian (nothing against meat - I just don't like it) and I probably only eat tofu a few times a month. Don't really care for the stuff, but it's decent when marinated overnight or chopped into tiny cubes and dropped in a miso broth. I do a lot of textured vegetable protein and beans. One of my favorites is fake meat browned with hot sauce and onions. I do love falafal in a pita with crisp lettuce and tomatoes, but I have not yet found a way to make really good tahini.
Hi Ganeida,
I went vegetarian for a while last year, but I couldn't convince my meat and veges husband to do the same, and I found that I felt very tired whilst on the vegetarian diet - maybe an iron deficiency?
I haven't been brave enough to try tofu or falafel yet, though.
Allison: It's good to know what others do because Ditz won't eat so many things & what she'll eat I won't touch. I don't like beans but I'll do chickpeas; chickpeas are off limits so far as Ditz is concerned. Nuts & mushrooms I'll do but Ditz wont & whatever we do has to fit in with the rest of the meal & there are a lot of us...
HSM4C: Vitamin B is the thing to watch out for as it has to be replenished each day & often becomes the biggest deficency. A lack of B12 will make you tired. Tofu doesn't taste like anything much but the texture is weird. As Allison said, marinated & fried up it's ok. It takes on the flavours it is cooked with. Like you I still have to do a meat meal for the rest of the family hence the juggling act for something that can be tossed under the grill or in the frypan with the meat. I am actually healthier when I go vegetarian because I am conscious I have to watch my Bs & make good choices all the time or I get anemic very quickly as my iron count is low anyway. And for some strange reason it eases the sugar cravings. lol.
Homeschoolmum4Christ, it could have been iron but keeping sufficient levels of Vitamin B-12 is another big problem for vegetarians.
Studies in recent years reveal that soy is not easily digested because it contains enzyme inhibitors, interfering with the digestion of protein. Where soy was the mainstay of the diet, it was traditional to soak, ferment, and/or sprout the beans. These processes not only add flavor, but increased soy's digestibility and nutrition. Unfortunately, these time consuming processes are rarely included in modern processing.
I am kind of big on the idea of such natural processing, particular fermenting with all kinds of foods, like with sourdough bread and raw milk (clabbering or souring), because the process allows for yeast and/or friendly bacteria to predigest the food, so that it is easier for our digestive systems. This process adds flavor and increases the nutritional value.
It is as if the Lord set up this entire system with food for people who would not have refrigerators or fancy ways to preserve and process foods, and we have abandoned it thinking we are far too superior with our modern conveniences to use the ancient ways!
my louisa has been a strict vegetarian since the age of 6... the rest of us have been on again off again veg over the years. i *love* meal planning, but even i hate the grief of making meals work for both kinds of diets. i can't stand the texture of tofu... bleck! i have no advice for you, i'm afraid, but i sure can comiserate;)
OK, list your meat alternatives here, ladies! What else do you eat for protein? I can hide eggs in quiche; Ditz will eat quiche but not eggs. *eye roll* The falalel thingies were a success. Don't suggest anything too exotic; the store doesn't carry it. I know. I've tramped every inch of the store the last few weeks & talked to every vegetarian in the place asking for their suggestions.
LOL I thought eggs were meat! I'm finding as I shop for Woodjie (milk and egg-free) that there is so much hidden STUFF in everything. You could be eating an entire cow with your next loaf of bread and not know it...
Falafel! Falafel! Mmmmmm one of my favourite things in the entire world. :-D ..very few places to get it back home - there was this food court place in the city and they did it in pitas with something pink, so delicious!
I want to poke that white blobby creature.
Seeds & nuts? - peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, whatever? I'm honestly not a huge nut fan.. well, wait now. I do love the ones at Christmas - is it the pecans? I think so.. they come with honey all over 'em.
I'm prolly deficient in B12 and iron and whatever else vegetarians are prone to missing - I eat terribly unhealthy, but some of that really isn't my fault. I have a broken stomach that plays into it.
Oops, I think you mentioned nuts already.. sorries, haven't had enough coffee yet. :P
we are really big on the dairy stuff here... eggs, cheese, milk, yogurts. i don't care so much for things like meat substitutes, although louisa swears by qorn chicken sub products. beans are good and you can do lots with them. does ditz like mexican food? my kids hate beans in anything but mexican-style foods.. but they'll devour bean tacos, burritos, refried beans with cheese and rice...
oh my, i am making myself hungry;)
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