vegetarianism

[taramac]

I gave up eating meat for about a year when I was younger and bothe my sisters are veiggies although one has now gone back on meat after @10 years.

My dp and I have been think a lot about stopping eating it. My ds2 doesnt and never has eaten meat - his choice and my ds1 does eat it kind of (chicken nuggets etc - I wish he would eat 'proper' meat but he won't!

I haven't bought meat for ages although I have eaten eat if we eat out and we are still eating seafood.

Anyway the point is I wanted to know if anyone else had given up meat later on in life and also to get some more eating ideas. I am quite a good cook and have some recipes but I am not particularly a beans and pulse woman so neede some moer veggie and fish recipes please that are quick if possible!

bump

I married a vegetarian - am definatlely not one and had to learn a whole new way of cooking to avoid 2 different meals and satisfy myself too.
I have a good book called Complete vegetarian cookbook by Charmaine Solomon, and at the time subscribed to the BBC Vegetarian good food magasine which has sadly been discontinued.
To avoid overdose on dairy products for protein you need to combine pulses and grains to give a more complete protein, as unlike meat, beans and grains do not have all the amino acids in them.
DH did have a book called Transition to Vegetarianism ( can't remember authour) which spelled out how to switch and which foods were good to combine and why - not useful for recipies but good for the dietary knowledge.

VEG chilli
fry one onion and one chopped pepper in large pan until soft
Add 2 tspn oregano and 1 tspn cumin. Fry 2 mins
Add tin chopped tomatoes and chilli sauce/powder plus 2tblsp paprika and 2 tspn sugar. Add 2 cans kidney beans and water as necessary. Simmer 40 mins. Adjust chilli to taste.
Serve with jacket potato and cheese, or in tortilla wraps with salad, yoghurt and cheese (warning v messy)
I'm sure I know lots of others but I need to look them up - that's off the top of my head.

Cous cous and roast veg
fry onion and garlic in pan, add can chick peas and large spoon harissa sauce, add cous-cous and stock and leave for 10 mins.
Roast Aubergine, petter, onion etc and serve together

I've been veggie since age 9 and I'm a rubbish (well, not rubbish, just not keen) cook

These might be some use to you... Viva

vegetarian society

HTH

The Vegitarian Society's recipe book (by Heather Thomas)is pretty good - I've tried a few things from there and they've always worked. If you don't mind using meat substitues like Quorn and so on, it's also very easy to do meat type dishes - shepherds pie etc. Good luck. I am married to veggie but am not one myself although we eat veggie at home. I can't resist the pork pies at a buffet.....

I also can spell Vegetarian when I am not knackered...

Some good ideas here. Just a point about amino acids ? you don't need to combine pulses and grain in the same meal. As long as you eat a varied diet, including different forms of protein such as nuts, pulses and dairy in your overall diet, you'll be fine. In fact most people in Western societies eat too much protein. But the vegetarian society will give you all the gen.
I went on one of their cookery courses and can highly recommend them. (Been veggie since 18 wouldn't dream of eating meat or fish ever again, yuk!).

Thanks so much to all your replies - I didn't think I had any until I re-checked today!!

Am mostly worried about the protein as I am not a huge beans and pulse fan and also not keen on dairy either!!

Will check out these websites and thanks again.