Want to go half veggie

MrsRogers

I think we should give OP a break.. she did explain in the original post that it was a style of living / cooking as apposed to labeling herself.

Good for you OP.. my OH and I are wanting to reduce our meat consumption due to OH having some cholesterol issues.. So I shall watch the thread with interest.

geri1965 wrote: »

You can't really be "half" veggie, you are either a veggie or you are not. Even if you only eat meat once a month you are still not a veggie!

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Please don't tell people you are vegetarian when you make this change, or people who are completely vegetarian will get served up fish/chicken

"but lotus-eater eats fish and s/he's a vegetarian"

my worst vegetarian meal out was whole, raw swordfish to be cooked on hot slabs at the table...

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I suppose that is some of it, if you take out the meat (or meat replacements) from our diet now, you are left with mostly steamed veg and that's about it. Tasty, but not much jnsq, as you say and not enough I think to give everyone the nutrients they need (we have a 8 and 2 year old as well to complicate matters).

Is that your health reasons, or are too many soya products bad for everyone?

grr lost a post.

Controversial question.

Because I am the only person I have discussed with nutritionalists/dieticians and endocrinologists and only about my body lets say MY health. DH is a grown up who chooses own meals four nights aweek and I have no children to worry about.

Whole nations live well on high percentage of soy in their diets, others are passionate against soy/soya. I'd read about it to make your own mind up what suits the people in your family and remember that people are biased towards their own opinion when writing. A good google word combination might be soy and oestrogen.

Rummer

Hello

Nice to meet you on another board! I know you grow veg so why not have a look on some of the websites that give recipes for seasonal veg?

We hardly ever eat meat now, not for any moral or taste reason but simply because we can not afford to buy the quality of meat we are comfortable eating. So the majority of our meals are veggie. However if we fancy a wee bit of meat in a meal we use bacon or chorizo as they are tasty store for ages and good value.

Nuts, seeds, lentil and beans are where we get a lot of our protein. If you like nut butters they are great on toast or oat cakes and very filling, almond butter is my fav. Seeds I sprinkle on salads and cereals. Beans and lentils just replace meat in dishes.

Anyway some of the meals we have are:

• Curries with veg and chick peas
• Couscous with veggies and lots of tasty herbs and spices
• Goats cheese tart
• Omelets
• Quiche
• Beans on toast
• Salads
• Peppers stuffed with couscous
• Veggie pack pizza
• Baked potatoes with loads of different fillings
• Three bean salad with dressings

There was an excellent vegetarian thread on here with a lot of detailed advice on nutrients and appropriate ways to keep your protein levels up. It also had a lot of tasty recipes.

VJsmum

MrsRogers wrote: »

I think we should give OP a break.. she did explain in the original post that it was a style of living / cooking as apposed to labeling herself.

Good for you OP.. my OH and I are wanting to reduce our meat consumption due to OH having some cholesterol issues.. So I shall watch the thread with interest.

Totally agree - who cares why? YOu are doing something for yourself and it will have knock on benefits for the environment. I hate labels - if you want to eat meat then eat it if not don't. Most people know that eating loads of meat is bad for the environment so you make your choices.

I am not a vegetarian but i have many meals without meat. Particular favourites include veg curry, risotto, pizza, cottage pie, cheese and lentil loaf, autumn veg casserole, lentil and mushroom au gratin, mac cheese, mixed bean goulash - just off the top of my head. I am not keen on meat substitutes because i am a meat eater so if i want sausage then i eat sausage.

I also only drink soya milk (except in coffee) but the only one i really like is Alpro original. THere is a huge variety in taste of soya milk. I started drinking it cos DS has an intolerance to cow's milk and was buying it for him and as he couldn't get through it quick enough, and because i don't like throwing anything away, i started drinking it - now i don't really like cow's milk at all.

HTH

Lotus-eater

MrsRogers wrote: »

I think we should give OP a break.. she did explain in the original post that it was a style of living / cooking as apposed to labeling herself.

Good for you OP.. my OH and I are wanting to reduce our meat consumption due to OH having some cholesterol issues.. So I shall watch the thread with interest.

Aww, thankyou, I didn't let it worry me

You've almost got it right, just I'm not a she, I'm the other one. Good luck with your meat reduction too. Please give me some advice when you work out how to do it

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

We hardly ever eat meat now, not for any moral or taste reason but simply because we can not afford to buy the quality of meat we are comfortable eating. .

This is how we feel exactly. we eat meat in moderation and stretch the meat we use. The Suppers go a long way despite not being the best meat birds and we buy meat from sources we are comfortable with and use it well. I will buy the best grade of some supermarket beef (e.g. free range from small producers) but mainly buy from small scale suppliers. e.g. we've swapped grass for lamb and some aberdeen angus from up the hill (like davesnave ). We're lucky to have some really good pork producers near by, and a good proportion of our milk is from cows well loved and gently handled...sometimes by us.

We're actually passionate carnivores, but that for us means quality (and quality of welfare of production over meat quality when the choice has to be made) over quantity.


edit: there are bits where we haven't always joined the dots...restaurants are one aspect....you can sometimes only hope and support businesses that do their best....often local food is more highlighted than ethicallay produced...and while food miles are important to us they are not the only thing for us. Takeways....a very occasional guiltladen substance. . I do think the hidden thing in non OSers diets must be the stuff in ready made food....a perfect vehicle for battery eggs and ''mean'' meat.

HariboJunkie

We try to eat veggie 2/3 nights a week. Also have a soup night once a week which is usually vegetarian. I'll give you some of our meals for ideas. You can google your own recipes. :D

Macaroni cheese with green salad.
Mixed veg lasagne.
Omelettes and fritattas.
Veggie bean cassoulet.
Goat's cheese salad.
Cheese and onion HM pasties.
Veggie topped HM pizzas.
Roast veg pasta.
Salad nicoise.
Mushroom risotto.
Risotto primavera.
Vegetable Byriani.
Vegetable fajitas.

Good luck. Cutting out the meat will make a big difference to your food budget.

lostinrates

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Mushroom risotto.

risotto is the most amazing vehicle for just harvested veg of all sorts. I like ''green risotto'' into which any thing green goes, or mixed veg risotto as well as single veg or well paired/trios of veg. In the winter/late autumn I go back to mushroom, risi e bisi, pumkin...PUMPKIN! and chestnuts and my favourite on a bleak winter day when I want something warm but fresh....lemon risotto.

Finefoot

Good on you! We have also started eating more veg in our meals. We already have veg with each meal, but eg in our spag bol, I replace half the meat with grated carrots, grated potatoes, mushrooms, grated peppers. Mushrooms and peppers are usually from our freezer (I so hate wasting good food)also pearl barley. I make a huge pot, and then prepare a lasagna for the next day - which has sliced aubergine/corgettes layered with the pasta. Bit of pecorino and ricotta on top, goes down very well. It is a different way, I know,cuz I make a 'red' lasagna instead of a 'white' one.

I also put potatoes in our curries, large pieces.
Spinach! wow, in eggs for breakfast, with hot bacon dressing and boiled eggs for lunch, mixed with ricotta cheese and an egg as a filling for canelloni.

Thats just for starters.
Good luck.

lostinrates

Finefoot wrote: »

.
Spinach! wow, in eggs for breakfast, with hot bacon dressing and boiled eggs for lunch, mixed with ricotta cheese and an egg as a filling for canelloni.

Thats just for starters.
Good luck.

I love the sound of your kitchen.

I also love spinach, and one of our veg meals (I just have to think about these as I don't think of them as vegetarian) is spinach stuffed pancakes.....spinach and ricotta inside with a vegetable laden tomato sauce on top. Simple but hearty.