"People fuss about the imaginary lack of protein/iron/etc in vegan diets. I'm more worried about the lack of empathy & compassion in theirs."
Just want to share what Matt & I eat on the day to day. Being a vegetarian is healthy and amazing. I hope you are inspired!
Pantry Staples
Ground Flax (For smoothies and also for making Flax-eggs which can be used as a binder, see veggie burger recipe below, or bind a scramble of veggies together)
Tapioca flour or rice flour
Corn starch
Oats
Corn meal
Earth Balance vegan butter (tastes just like real butter)
Earth Balance vegan butter (tastes just like real butter)
Miso Mayo
Sirracha Sauce!!
Tamari Sauce or soy sauce
Sirracha Sauce!!
Tamari Sauce or soy sauce
Coconut Oil (I cook EVERYTHING in coconut oil)
What is the tapioca flour/rice flour and corn starch for?
Breakfast! & frying things. On the weekends I make french toast. 1 cup almond milk whisked with 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Then add 6 tablespoons of tapioca or rice flour. This is a great batter for frying many different things! I fry avocados, eggplant, zucchini, etc. For french toast, just add in some cinnamon and nutmeg and dip in strips of bread and fry. Cover in pecans, I like to fry them in the pan for a minute first :) PS. make sure you have pure maple syrup or a syrup that has no high fructose corn syrup. Avoid HFCS like the plague.
*Bread tip: Matt likes a brand called Rudi's and interestingly enough, I like a brand called Udi's lol. I can't have gluten so that's why I eat Udi's. Ezekial is also a badass brand. When recipes call for bread crumbs, I just process a few slices of bread. Easy. Most breads at the grocery store...Mrs Bairds, Natures Own, even the healthy looking ones, etc, have GMO wheat gluten & Soy Lecithin. Gross, no thanks. Always check ingredients for soy. They add that shit to everything. I swear, they are trying to give people breast cancer. Soy es no bueno.
I wouldn't be able to make a lot of our food (very well at least) without a food processor (mine is a simple Cuisinart processor from target, like $30). Eating clean, pure food does require some kitchen gadgets. We have a badass juicer (A Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain, $150 on amazon). We juice every single day. Every morning, I juice 2 oranges, 2 stalks of celery, 6 carrots, 2 apples, and occasionally throw in some kale or pineapple. All organic of course. Get that GMO crap away from me. Here is a link to a lovely study about GMO's and why they are the devil. http://www.naturalnews.
My favorite Recipes from vegetarian/vegan blogs:
http://ohsheglows.com/2011/07/
This veggie burger is FANTASTIC. I make anywhere from 8-16 at a time and freeze them. They are so yummy and perfect for nights when you don't have time to cook but want something yummy, plus, store bought frozen veggie burgers are all kinds of nasty and usually have soy. ick. Bring them to a cookout so that you'll have something to eat (I do this all the time). You can also put the entire mixture into a pan and cover it with some organic ketchup and bake it and it makes a delicious "meat" loaf! This blog has tons of really great recipes that are all worth trying! Yum!
What is the tapioca flour/rice flour and corn starch for?
Breakfast! & frying things. On the weekends I make french toast. 1 cup almond milk whisked with 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Then add 6 tablespoons of tapioca or rice flour. This is a great batter for frying many different things! I fry avocados, eggplant, zucchini, etc. For french toast, just add in some cinnamon and nutmeg and dip in strips of bread and fry. Cover in pecans, I like to fry them in the pan for a minute first :) PS. make sure you have pure maple syrup or a syrup that has no high fructose corn syrup. Avoid HFCS like the plague.
*Bread tip: Matt likes a brand called Rudi's and interestingly enough, I like a brand called Udi's lol. I can't have gluten so that's why I eat Udi's. Ezekial is also a badass brand. When recipes call for bread crumbs, I just process a few slices of bread. Easy. Most breads at the grocery store...Mrs Bairds, Natures Own, even the healthy looking ones, etc, have GMO wheat gluten & Soy Lecithin. Gross, no thanks. Always check ingredients for soy. They add that shit to everything. I swear, they are trying to give people breast cancer. Soy es no bueno.
I wouldn't be able to make a lot of our food (very well at least) without a food processor (mine is a simple Cuisinart processor from target, like $30). Eating clean, pure food does require some kitchen gadgets. We have a badass juicer (A Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain, $150 on amazon). We juice every single day. Every morning, I juice 2 oranges, 2 stalks of celery, 6 carrots, 2 apples, and occasionally throw in some kale or pineapple. All organic of course. Get that GMO crap away from me. Here is a link to a lovely study about GMO's and why they are the devil. http://www.naturalnews.
My favorite Recipes from vegetarian/vegan blogs:
http://ohsheglows.com/2011/07/
This veggie burger is FANTASTIC. I make anywhere from 8-16 at a time and freeze them. They are so yummy and perfect for nights when you don't have time to cook but want something yummy, plus, store bought frozen veggie burgers are all kinds of nasty and usually have soy. ick. Bring them to a cookout so that you'll have something to eat (I do this all the time). You can also put the entire mixture into a pan and cover it with some organic ketchup and bake it and it makes a delicious "meat" loaf! This blog has tons of really great recipes that are all worth trying! Yum!
*I make my own french fries too, organic potatoes cut into strips and then fried in vegetable oil. I keep the oil for about a month and reuse it throughout before freezing it and dumping it.
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This recipe is also good and pretty quick. She uses the microwave for one part of it...I didn't use the microwave because I'm not lazy. Kale is delicious! I love it steamed or also just cooked in a pan with some olive oil. Yum! This website is alright, I like some recipes, but not all. She cooks with tofu a lot, we don't eat tofu at all. *She also pre juices and saves juice for future dates, this is a huge juicing No-No. You have to drink juice the day you make it.
The key to not getting bored with vegetarian meals is variations. Different types of beans paired with different grains, quinoa salad, quinoa pasta (rice pasta is alright...) Beans+Rice equals a complete protein. Quinoa is a complete protein. Lentils are a really healthy protein as well. I like to add steamed or sometimes raw veggies to my bean/rice combos. You just choose what you like, and make your own "slaw". Gobble it up!
Our typical day:
Breakfast
Fresh Juice (recipe above, yields 2 tall glasses of juice)
Matt eats organic raisin bran from whole foods with almond milk
I eat oatmeal made with almond milk and add cinnamon or strawberries
Mid morning snack
Banana
Almonds and Peanuts
or a Kind bar
lil half Peanut butter sandwich (fresh ground peanut butter of course!)
Lunch
Toasted bread with basil spread (I buy this premade from WF) and also Miso Mayo (yummy stuff). Tomato slices, avocado slices (I put one half an avocado on my sandwich and the other half on Matt's). Spinach leaves or lettuce, and then finish off with mozzerella cheese or in my case Daiya cheese (really good vegan cheese brand). We like Kettle brand potato chips, usually jalapeno or regular Kettle potato chips as a side. Matt can't have lunch or dinner without being followed by sweets, so we always have cookies too. They are not vegan lol. My mom makes tons of whole food ingredient cookies about once a month and then we freeze them and bring two for after lunch.
Afternoon Snack
We carry a lunch box cooler with us everywhere full of Kind bars (www.kindsnacks.com), almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, etc. We snack on this if we get hungry before dinner.
Dinner
Rice and beans with veggies and spices, we love salt and pepper. Toss bean sprouts or some other kind of sprouted grain into your mix for even more vitamins and good stuff. I roast veggies or stir fry them in different sauces, homemade peanut sauce, tamari sauce, or I just make a creamy sauce with almond milk once I'm done cooking the veggies. You just add some almond milk, vegetable stock, some earth balance, some rice flour and whisk until it's a consistency you like, adding salt and pepper as needed (I add this to pasta a lot). You can also make delicious sauce from pureeing cauliflower. Or from pureeing cooked carrots and potatoes. Yum lol I'm getting hungry typing all of this out! You can also process garbanzo beans into a mash, add spices you like, roll them into balls or into lil rolls and fry them and make your own falafel!
I usually serve either dinner or lunch with a salad. Spinach is our favorite. We mix in almonds, apples or pears, and always use Bragg's Healthy vinegarette (It is apple cider vinegar and olive oil) Another great homemade dressing is just olive oil and lemon juice.
Just remember to mix things up, change up your ingredients, experiment! Check out that website OhSheGlows for badass recipes. She has really good recipes that you can premake, like a breakfast casserole, and eat it every day. She also has really amazing recipes for holidays.
Our Smoothie Recipe (For the nights when you get home too late to cook dinner, like 8 or 9, OR for breakfast in place of fresh juice) Yields two smoothies. Cut this recipe in half if you are goin solo!
1 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast or another kind of protein powder that you like
1 cup strawberries OR 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
2 bananas
Teaspoon of Chia Seeds or ground Flax
This gives you either a strawberry banana smoothie or peanut butter banana smoothie depending on what you are in the mood for!
So, there is a brand called Match Meat that makes meat alternatives as well. They literally look just like animal meat. They are vegan and have more protein than animal meat. Maybe you can try some of those with some meals to ease into the lifestyle! http://matchmeats.
Things to Consider:
Your body goes through withdrawal when you quit meat, just like if you quit a drug. Really ease into it. Start by making sure your meat intake is only once a day. Then, switch to only every other day. When you're ready, try only once a week. When your cravings dissipate, discontinue all eating of meat. You really will see a difference in your energy levels. My husband was amazed. Soon after quitting eating meat, he didn't need caffeine anymore to start his day and he quit drinking coffee as well. No more groggy mornings, no more cloudy thoughts. It brings clarity at so many different levels! Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you.
Thanks for reading! Hope this helps anyone interested in making the switch to vegetarianism! It's easier than you think!
