Going Vegetarian/Pescetarian - post recipes here!

[stickyvicky]

I told everyone during my camshow this week that Rokkerr and I are going to be Vegetarian / Pescetarian. I think it is the healthier way to go, as as we get older it's increasingly important. I don't think it will be that hard. I love fruits and vegetables and we were not super meat heavy anyway except to occasionally treat ourselves to a nice steak on the barbeque or a steak restaurant.

What happened to make us think this way? Well 2 things. 1) We went to the Bryan Adams concert a week and a half ago and were so impressed by him. No just his talent, artistry, and range, but by his energy! He is 63 years old and he was running back and forth across the huge stage with his guitar singing his heart out and was never out of breath or broke a sweat. His other band members couldn't keep up with him! They were huffing and puffing and dripping with sweat! They looked like they were in pain! lol.... He did a 2 and a half hour show! I'll post some clips...

I started googling him and saw some interviews he had given. He is a very strict vegan. He feeds everyone on his tour but no meat. He says if they want to eat meat they have to go buy it themselves... He is involved in a lot of rescue groups too...

The next day somehow I came across an article about The Dog Eating Festival in China. It's for real. It doesn't just happen once a year at a festival either, there are cities where it is very common to eat dogs and cats. They literally just round up the strays and slaughter them. I watched a video that showed about 8 dogs in a tight net, all bound together so they couldn't move. Just laying on the sidewalk in the sun waiting to be slaughtered. It reduced me to tears.

Then I was thinking, why do I cry when I see a dog being eaten but not a cow or a lamb? They are gentle sentient beings as well. Just because of my meat eating upbringing? I just can't do it anymore. I don't want to eat anything with a face. It's just not necessary. There are so many wonderful things we can eat with just a tiny bit of thinking outside the box.

Not to mention the fact that the poultry pork and beef industry has become the largest contributor to global warming, deforestation and water pollution. Most of the animals are so sick that they would be dead without the antibiotics pumped into them (that we in turn ingest and are becoming antibiotic resistant). Plus the hormones to give the chickens bigger breasts (it's the most expensive cut of chicken). Breast cancer is soaring even in men. Why are we doing this to ourselves?

I just met a girlfriend I hadn't seen in 10 years and she had lost 30 lbs and looked great! I asked her what she did and she said "I became vegetarian". She used to have high cholesterol and now it's perfect. She doesn't even work out! She said her skin and digestion are improved too as a bonus.

That's it, I don't need any more convincing. In fact, now I wish I would have made the decision years ago!

[stickyvicky]

Who has tried these? Which do you prefer? Impossible is made from soy whereas the Beyond Burger is made from Pea protein.

[Hornylady9]

Kat and I like the impossible burgers. when I can find them and remember to pic them up. I have been doing turkey (ground) burgers also. I have been doing chicken, got to fill Kat up, but I think I might go with the organic brands. I got to try to get some seafood in our diet. We really don't eat steak.

Zany

[LizLemon85]

I became a vegetarian (I still eat dairy and eggs) 2 years ago for similar reasons. Bryan Adams!
No, the dog moved in with me and I couldn't eat meat anymore. Pretty much every meal I loved had meat in it, burgers, pizza, Döner Kebab. I tried a lot of meat substitutes, soy, wheat, mushrooms, pea protein and nothing came even close to the taste of meat. I recommend not just replacing meat with fake meat, because it probably won't taste as good as the original recipe and you'll be disappointed and demotivated, but to try new recipes.
I use red lentils a lot for chili sin carne, dal or pasta sauce. It's cheap, often vegan and you don't need a ton of ingredients to make it.
Have you had falafel before? You can make falafel burgers or wraps.

[stickyvicky]

I actually like lentils! I make a mean lentil soup! I think this is going to be really fun! Instead of eating all the same things all the time I'll be experimenting!

Look at this beautiful fruit salad on top of cottage cheese that I have for breakfast, the guavas and the mangoes are from our trees! The other picture is the mangoes lined up in the window sill to ripen. We take them off the tree a little early otherwise the squirrels and the rabbits eat them all right off of the tree!

[stickyvicky]

I made marinara sauce for my spaghetti last week but I missed the meat in it and feel I need protein, I don't like eating all carbs.

the chunkiness you see is mushrooms.

I'm gonna do the lentils next time.
https://lettucevegout.com/recipes/vegan ... e-lentils/

[LizLemon85]

That's my favorite (and very easy) recipe for lentil marinara sauce, I googled it, but I still don't know how to convert grams/ml. They do have the metric system in Canada? Maybe you can help me out Vicky.

125g dried (rinsed and drained) red lentils
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 onion (minced)
1 carot (minced)
3 spring onions (minced)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
water 250 ml

2 tablespoons oliveoil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried Italian spices
1 teaspoon sweet paprika spice
1 tablespoon vegetable stock powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
sugar, pepper, salt

Fry onion in oil (medium heat) for 2 minutes, add garlic, carot, tomato paste and lentils. Fry for 2 minutes. Stir so it doesn't burn. Add can of tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil and
simmer on low heat for 15 minutes until lentils are soft. Add spices, soy sauce and spring onions.

[stickyvicky]

That sounds amazing, but I just don't feel like carrots have any place in spaghetti! Do Italians really put carrots in spaghetti?

I don't know the first thing about any of those conversions haha I never really measure anything I just go by eye and think "this looks right" LOL

I thought grams were only for measuring hash.... lol... no seriously, I thought grams were for powder or solids. And ml was for liquids?


Way too vomplicated for me!

This is my eggplant parmesan that I made at the same time I made the marinara sauce I always try to kill two birds with one stone and make extra stuff to put in the freezer, so when I have a crazy day I can just pull something out and throw it in the oven. I made it with no breading so it's pretty healthy.

[LizLemon85]

That looks good!
I still don't get it, to me the only thing that should be measured in cups is bra sizes.
The original Italian recipe for bolognese meat sauce has onion, carrot and celery in it.

[stickyvicky]

I think the carrot is pretty much melted or pureed into it so you can't really see it I'm sure it adds a little bit of taste/sweetness to offset the acidity of the tomatoes. But I think if you simmer the sauce for a long time you don't need that. Just seems strange to me.. but I'm one of those who likes pineapple on pizza!

[greggl]

I actually like lentils! I make a mean lentil soup! I think this is going to be really fun! Instead of eating all the same things all the time I'll be experimenting!

Look at this beautiful fruit salad on top of cottage cheese that I have for breakfast, the guavas and the mangoes are from our trees! The other picture is the mangoes lined up in the window sill to ripen. We take them off the tree a little early otherwise the squirrels and the rabbits eat them all right off of the tree!

I miss having a mango tree. We cant grow them here. We had a mango tree growing up in south Fl. The house we rented before moving to Lauderhill had a mango tree that had been hit by lighting and still produced amazing mangoes. When we moved to Lauderhill and my parents went to the nurseries to buy a mango tree they couldnt find one they liked. At the last nursery the looked at there was one that was struck by lighting. My mom said thats the one. The owner said that since it was struck by lightning he didnt think it would produce any fruit and was just about to have it pulped so we got it for pretty much nothing and sure enough it filled the yard with mangos every year. We wound up giving away more than we could eat.

[greggl]

impossibleVSBeyond.jpg
Who has tried these? Which do you prefer? Impossible is made from soy whereas the Beyond Burger is made from Pea protein.

I was reading some articles that said that to make the plant based meat taste like meat they use so much saturated fat and sodium that it is better for your heart health to eat lean turkey than impossible burgers or beyond burgers as the saturated fat and sodium in lean turkey is a fraction of what is in the plant based meat.

As to the environmental impacts while it is generally agreed that plant based meat is more sustainable than the beef industry but many groups are saying that the meat industries are much more transparent about their carbon footprint than the plant based industries. They seem to be picking and choosing their data points and quite a few studies are saying that the plant based industries are actually less environmentally sustainable than the chicken industries with some saying that they are no better than Tyson which is the largest chicken production company.

At this point I cant really say if it is better for your health and the environment than real meat.

Currently I believe 2 companies have gotten approval to sell lab grown meat to restaurants and stores. There are a couple of 3 star michelin restaurants that are serving it as a way to get people on board, but it is currently so cost prohibitive that it wont be available for the average person to afford for many years.

[stickyvicky]

Yeah Liz said that before don't even bother trying to eat meat replacements just don't eat meat.

It's like when you are an alcoholic and you have to give it up you can't really replace it with the near beer and the fake wine - it's just not the same you just have to not drink it. cold turkey. They say in the first couple of years it's the worst thing to do anyways because it teases you, keeps reminding you of it, and makes it harder to give up the alcohol.

I definitely wouldn't eat the Beyond and Impossible burgers everyday, but when you are with a group of friends and everyone is having Burgers and Fries and you want to be part of the group you can do it!

[WalterB]

It takes a couple of YEARS??? Vicky, I ain't GOT a couple years!!

You young'uns are free to try all that. I would think that Vicky has the right idea (to me,) just switch to veggies. I know from watching a couple food shows I like, you can make some really good plant-based dishes.

[greggl]

I really should eat a lot more veggies, I'm trying to cut way down on carbs and way down on sugar. Instead of a sandwich and chips for lunch at work I'll take whatever I was making the sandwich out of and dice it up and throw it in a bowl of spinach instead. Eliminate the bread and chips. The bread was hard at first because I really like good bread, but now I dont miss it that much.

[stickyvicky]

I don't keep bread at home at all, I only have it when I go to a restaurant and then I only eat it if it looks like it's really good.

[WalterB]

I switched to wheat bread, 100% Whole Wheat. That supposedly helped something, lol.

[LizLemon85]

Well, I have bread, breadrolls or baguette for breakfast, dinner and sometimes in between lol. A couple of years ago a friend invited me over to his moms house for coffee. She was 70+, but looked at least 20 years younger. I complimented her and she said that it's because of yoga and a special diet. We had "cake", no sugar, no wheat, no dairy, no eggs and of course no coffee and dinner was also horrible. I thought, not worth it, I rather look like shit lol. I gave up meat, alcohol and nicotine, but coffee and carbs, no way.

[lance_s]

I saw this when Vicky started the thread, but have been out of town and didn't have a chance to chip in before now. I'm curious to know, Vicky, if your diet includes eggs and/or dairy products. Overall, the diet you describe is very similar to something my g/f has been on for the last 6 months or so. She started on this diet after discussions with a nutritionist. She was never a big meat eater anyways, so the diet was not really a big change. The only thing is, she's not allowed dairy products, but eggs are OK. She misses cheese, but uses soy or oat milk in place of regular milk. Since I use oat milk anyway, (helps with cholesterol control - I think) its not a big deal.

If you like lentils and chick peas/beans, you should start looking into Indian recipes Lentils (daal) is pretty much a staple there. India probably has more vegetarians than anywhere else in the world, and they've been refining vegetarian cooking for over 2000 years, so they've learnt a thing or two.

If your diet does include dairy products, look up recipes for paneer (also spelt panir). It is an Indian cheese a bit like ricotta. These days, it should not be too hard to find paneer in any major western city.

[stickyvicky]

I will never give up coffee haha but I will stop drinking it late at night....

Great advice Lance I'm going to check that all out! I stopped drinking milk quite a while ago I drink almond or cashew milk instead I absolutely love it for the protein. We still eat cheese and eggs and yogurt and everything else maybe one day we'll be vegan but not now I don't want to change anything too quickly or it will make it harder and more likely to fail.

Has anyone tried making fish casserole? This one sounds pretty good although it's not very low calorie for sure...

https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/fish-casserole/