Vegetarians/Vegan Recipe Swap

[Jess4921]

Ive been Vegetarian for a year and a half. Are there any other vegetarians or vegans on the forum? I went veg because I love animals so much, and I dont think its right to kill them for food when we dont need to.Im not trying to start a debate (alot of threads like this turn into debates on other forums...). Its just fun to know whos a veggie, so we can all exchange recipes and stuff! And sorry if Im repeating a thread topic, but I didnt see any other threads about this.

 

[BethM]

I'm not completely vegetarian, but I mostly avoid eating meat. I'm always on the lookout for great veggie recipes, especially hearty main dishes. I do eat dairy, eggs, and fish.
My husband is a meat-lover, but will eat veggie if it's good.

 

[Bebop]

I was vegan for a year, but then I turned locavore. I'll eat anything local and farm raised if possible!
>^.^

 

[pamnock]

Most of the dishes I make are meatless - I frequently use legumes as a substitue in meat dishes. Tonight we had wild rice with snow peas, butter beans, and carrots.

Pam

 

[NorthernAutumn]

^^^ Make with your postings, Pam! I've been wanting to involve more legumes for a while now!

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

i have thought about becoming a vegetarian, but my hubby is a meat and potatoes man , and i dont think i could stop eating it and then have to prepare it for him, lol i would love to see some recipies that i could start to incorporate into our foods

 

[pamnock]

Here's one of my family's faves: (Most of my recipes are also low fat/low calorie/heart healthy.)

Heaping veggie pizza:

Pizza Dough:

Mix these dry ingredients together: 3 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 Tbs. sugar

Dissolve 2 pkg. rapid rise yeast in 1 cup warm water.

Mix the yeast mixture into the dry mixture using dough hooks on the mixture (or knead after mixing ingredients together).Lightly coat ball of dough in veg. oil, cover and let rise in bowl for approx. 1/2 hour.

Spreaddough onto lightly greased (veg. oil)cookie sheetandspread with meatless spag. sauce andlightly sprinkle withcanned navy beans- cover lightly withshreddedlow-fat mozzarella cheese. (Meat lovers can add pepperoni or cooked sausage.)

Cookin 350 F oven for about 15 minutes while preparing veggies:

In microwave, cook diced bell peppers, red onions, and fresh sliced mushrooms. Drain and put generous amount on pizza for last minutes of cooking (I lift theedge of the pizza to see of it's golden brown on the bottom). You can finish it off by putting the broiler on for a couple minutes.

Sogood - no one will even notice it's ahealthy, vegandish!

Great the next day - re-heat in oven for best taste and texture)

 

[pamnock]

I'll try to remember to post my very popular low cal meatless pasta salad recipe this week. Great for summer parties!



Pam

 

[pamnock]

Zucchini Casserole

1 med/lg. cubed& boiled zucchini (don't over-cook or it will be too mushy)
1 diced onion
1 can low fat cream of chicken soup
1 small package of stuffing mix
1 grated carrot
1 diced green pepper
1/2 pint low fat sour cream
1 stick of margarine

Melt butter and mixwith the rest of the ingredients. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 1/2 hour.

Cooked cubedchicken breast or great northern canned beans can be added for protein.

Note: This isn't a super low cal recipe, but makes good use of the bounty of zucchini's from the garden at this time of year. Adding extra zucchini to the recipe will reduce calories per serving. Keep overall calories/fat lower by eating a small portion of the casserole along with a garden salad w/ fat free dressing.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Pam, I'm confused about that last recipe being vegetarian since it has cream of chicken soup in it? And you said the pizza is vegan but it has mozzarella. Maybe you meant fake cheese? It sounds like a good pizza regardless, I love pizza piled high with tomatoes (yes yes, even though it already has tomato sauce), olives, green peppers, mushrooms, sauteed onions... even broccoli, peas, and sauteed zucchini are good. Or carrots. Yum. I was vegan for a number of years and a tasty pizza can actually be made without cheese if you use lots of veggies. I think the soy products have come a long way since I was vegan 10 years ago, but at the time there were no fake cheeses and the ones they first came out with were horrifying.

I have a number of tasty vegan recipes. Vegan pancakes, vegan lasagna, vegan chili, lima bean soup, tomato soup... Several more. I can post them if there's an interest. In the mean time, here is one of my favorite "salads". You can eat it on it's own or put it in tortillas or on top of steamed rice. You could add cooked small pasta shapes too and make it into pasta salad.

Black Bean Salad
-2 cans black beans
-2 big avocadoes
-lots of cherry tomatoes (or chopped up big tomatoes)
-a cup or so of frozen corn that has been thawed and drained
-you can add things like cilantro, chopped bell pepper or chopped red onion too, cucumber would be nice... whatever you want I guess.

Mix everything together. Squirt plenty of lime juice over top, as well as salt and lots of cumin. Put on however much you want, the more the better as far as I'm concerned!

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Cream of chicken can be readily swapped for cream of celery... just makes it even more flexible

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Autumn, I was also thinking cream of potato could be substituted! Or you could always make your own cream sauce with butter (optional), flour, milk and veggie broth. You could probably make a vegan sauce with soymilk, though I've never tried it. I do on occasion use cream of blank soups, but other times I make my own sauce, it's cheaper, pretty darn easy and depending on the recipe it's going to be used in, tastes better.

 

[pamnock]

Opps sorry for the vegan slip on the cheese! Misuse of terminology. Yes - substitute cream of celery or cream of mushroom for the cream of chicken.

Although I don't eat much meat, I'm not a vegetarian, so I overlooked a few things : )



The black bean salad sounds really good!



Pam

 

[JadedHippos]

I have not personally tried this recipe yet but it sounds delicious and I'm planning on making it some time this week.

Pisto Manchego (Spanish Ratatouille)

Ingredients
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 large yellow onion, unpeeled
2 lb. tomatoes
2 large red or green peppers
2 medium zucchini
1 medium eggplant
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 500° F, roast the eggplant, peppers, whole garlic cloves, and unpeeled onion, turning occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until soft and charred. After first 10 minutes, add tomatoes & zucchini. (You can also cook the vegetables on the grill until soft.)
2. Put the veggies on a platter as they finish cooking. Remove charred skins. Core & seed the peppers. Peel eggplant and remove the seeds. Peel onions. Dice all vegetables. Squeeze garlic from skins.
3. In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add vegetable and spices along with any liquid in the platter. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

[pamnock]

Pineapple baked beans (This is super good and a great picnic dish!)

Canned baked beans (optional - make your own veganbaked beans )

Add chunked pineapple and diced red onion. Bake for an hour at 350 F.

Variation: cooked ground beef or sausage can be added.



Heart Healthy Broccoli Pasta Salad - low cal/vegan

(I just throw a bunch of stuff together that I have available from the garden in the amounts that I like.)

Cooked Rainbow Rotini (be careful not to overcook!)

Fat free Italian salad dressing

lots of chopped broccoli

diced bell pepper (red, yellow, green)

great northern beans, kidney, or black beans

red onion chopped

black and/or green olives

cucumber cut up

cherry tomatoes halved

Mix it all together and chill!

(variations: Parmesan cheese, cheese chunks, ham can be added)



Spaghetti w/ beans (another way to "sneak" some lentils in!)

Mix cooked spaghetti/meatless spag. sauce and some canned black beans together.

Variation: I love shrimp, so I also mix shrimp into this dish.



No-bake Veggie Pizza

Pre-made pizza crust.

Mix 1 box low fat cream cheeseand 1/4 cup low fat mayo (or sub. Tofutti). Spread on crust.

Add 3/4 cup chopped broccoli, 3/4 cup chopped cauliflower, 3/4 cup green pepper and top with optional shredded cheddar cheese.

Refrigerate before serving.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Hey girls! Does anyone know what to do with canned peas? I think they taste absolutely wretched from the can, but I've got 2 cans leering at me from the pantry (courtesy of Nate:rollseyes, who won't eat them either :biggrin2

What can I make that tastes really good?

Also, one stray can of white lentils...

 

[BethM]

NorthernAutumn wrote:

Hey girls! Does anyone know what to do with canned peas? I think they taste absolutely wretched from the can, but I've got 2 cans leering at me from the pantry (courtesy of Nate:rollseyes, who won't eat them either :biggrin2

What can I make that tastes really good?

Also, one stray can of white lentils...

I know plenty of people who don't like what I do with canned peas, but it's a MAJOR comfort food for me, as my mom made it a lot when I was growing up. To me, it's super delicious! (Seems like a totally 70's sort of food, though.)

I just mix a can of peas (I usually get the "young" ones, which are smaller and sweeter), and mix in some diced red onion, a spoon or three of sweet pickle relish, and enough mayonnaise to make it creamy. Not enough mayo to make it really juicy/runny, though.

I've also read that peas are good simmered with some fresh mint, and maybe a slice or two of onion. I usually see that with frozen, but if you're desperate to use the canned it might be ok. They're sort of mushy out of the can, anyway, so simmering them for a few minutes can't make them much worse!

 

[pamnock]

The white lentils can be thrown into many dishes - I like to add them to baked bean mixes. I just had some today mixed in with brown rice.

The canned peas can be used in a veggie soup or a casserole or any tomato sauce dish.

You can also puree the lentils or peas and mix them into dishes so they are not as detectable. h34r2You can also puree the lentils, heat,and spread on pita or soft taco w/ other veggies and a light sauce.

Pam

 

[Evey]

Hello!

I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, and THIS veggie pizza recipe from Pillsbury has been one of my favs. I load it up with all of my favorite vegetables--mmm, now I want to make it!

Kathy

 

[pamnock]

Evey wrote:

Hello!

I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, and THIS veggie pizza recipe from Pillsbury has been one of my favs. I load it up with all of my favorite vegetables--mmm, now I want to make it!

Kathy

I had some of that recently at a picnic - it's really good on the Pillsbury crescent rolls!

Pam