Veg/ Vegan recipes

[Bloomingpin]

Having been a massive meat eater, I cut out meat overnight about a 100 days ago. Mainly for animal welfare reasons.

i still eat eggs and fish but I would like to cut those out too but I’m in no rush. I suppose I feel nervous because I am not a good cook, I am also anaemic.

I’m wondering how I can make sure I get enough protein. Does anyone have any good recipes? I am not a fan of fake meats but I have no idea where to start when it comes to beans and pulses. My friend said just eat lots of beans - but what does that even mean?!

Lentils
Chickpeas
Halloumi
Green yoghurt
Quorn Chicken and mince
Tofu
Quinoa

Just try to incorporate a lot of these foods into your meals!

Some meals I cook often:

Lentil Dahl
Vegetable and halloumi tray bake
Quorn mince or lentil spaghetti
Tofu stir fry
Tofu Thai green curry

Just to add I was never a fan of Quorn but I found using it in the right meals with the right flavours it's actually quite nice!

I would focus on the iron not the protein
The peas ans beans are good
But also
Spinach and leafy green veg
Tofu

I’ve linked below to the vegan section on the BBC food site that has many recipes with beans, chickpeas and lentils. For example, the easiest section includes a recipes for Tuscan Beans on sourdough bread and vegetable dhansak (which includes lentils).

Apologies if this paragraph is telling you things you already know. Tinned and jarred beans/chickpeas are already cooked so more convenient than dried, dried are cheaper but require planning ahead. I’d start with tins or jars until you work out what you like. Jarred tends to be better quality, but can be a lot to get through. Cooked beans/chickpeas or leftovers from tins/jars can be frozen. If you find a tin of beans is on the hard side, try a different brand because they vary. Lentils need less cooking time than beans so dried are more common although you do get tins and packets of ready cooked whole lentils. Split red lentils (the type used in soup) cook quickly and I’ve only ever seen dried.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/vegan

Good luck!

Lentils are good- full of iron and tasty in a Dahl with jacket potato or brown rice.

You can use beans in a veggie chilli or salad or in soups- anything really.

Chickpea curry is lovely.

Try to mix legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas) with a grain in a meal to get all your protein needs met.

Also, it's generally recommended to eat something with vitamin c i.e a piece of fruit with iron rich foods such as lentils because this helps with absorbing iron. So finish a meal with some fruit.

Hope this helps.

https://cookieandkate.com/

This is a good site. It's vegetarian rather than vegan but many meals can be adapted easily to become vegan and she does point this out.