Vegan/Vegetarian Thread (discussion, recipes, laughs)

[Medusa]

Oooohhhh!!! I love a….forgive the pun here…a good *meaty* post!! ROTFLMAO!


Im about to get TMI up in here so please fast forward if you are squeamish!


Femmeadian- Thank you SO SO much for mentioning the cycle aspect. It has me thinking of hormones and such and wondering if maybe I'm not being paranoid or overly observant when I say that I truly thought I was on the path to PCOS just based on the beard I've been trying to grow the past couple of years! Seriously, black hairs sprouting up on my chin all over the place!! I know that as women age this is sometimes just a thing that happens but in the last 10 weeks, I have noticed that I am not plucking 1/10th of the hair I used to pluck.
Also, the last 2 months cycles have been a breeze compared to what I used to go through. Much less cramping, much lighter flow, better sleep, not as moody, etc. I have been wondering if it was just a minor depression due to losing our Gracie (where I just felt numb and therefore everything seemed not to be as intense as before) but I am seriously thinking it's the meatless living.

The meatless stuff has definitely meant more veggie roughage in my diet and they are now calling me the "super pooper" at work because I'm in there twice a day!! ROTF!

And TRUTH TRUTH TRUTH on expanding the food horizons!! I have discovered that I like a great many things that I refused to try before i.e. quinoa and feta cheese to be 2 of the biggest. It has helped break the monotony of drive-thru bullshit (which I also haven't had in over 10 weeks!) and has given me a LOT of new enthusiasm to cook for us and stop buying processed bullshit.
Jack isn't going to go completely vegetarian but I do have to give her props and say she is almost there and hasn't minded the burritos made with beans or eggs instead of our usual chicken. She's been a super trooper!!

We even made a date one Saturday several weeks ago and stood in the middle of the kitchen getting rid of crap food. Anything that was stale, half-eaten, packed with sugar, nothing but junk, or triggery was tossed. I did take a huge bag of food that was still sealed to a lady I work with and made a "snack basket" for the office with packages of Oreos, chips, candy, and Pop Tarts that we were no longer going to be eaten. They LOVED it and it alleviated my guilt about tossing edible food away.

I'm going to take your advice and get on Pinterest for veggie-friendly recipes. I've pinned a few but I thought looking for websites solely devoted to vegan cooking would be easier (it wasn't!!) so back to Pinterest I go. I did find some pretty yummy looking recipes and even tried the balsamic-glaed brussels sprouts and they were fucking *delicious*.

I ended up eating shrimp today at lunch due to a weird and not-often-felt craving but ended up leaving about half of them on the plate. Gnoshed down on some string beans and rice and a delicious salad with that yummy ginger dressing you can find at many hibachi places

[Medusa]

Ok y'all, I'm going to experiment with a black bean burger recipe I found online. I'll post back when I see how the results come out

[Femmadian]

Do let us know how the burger turns out! I'm curious myself! I still hate beans but I think I might be open to convincing...

I am so glad that Jack is so supportive. That's awesome! I think it surprises some people how good some of the alternatives or just the overall meatless meals can be. The obstacle to discovering that is an open mind (and an open mouth, heh). A friend of mine who is not veg but is a chef in one of the more popular restaurants where I live that is known for doing veg-friendly substitutes, remarked once that meat is mostly there to just take on the flavour of whatever it's cooked with. Seems a simple thing to observe but it really made me think! She elaborated by saying that if you can get the texture and the temperature right, then the rest will take care of itself. That's something I've tried taking forward with me in my own kitchen-related experiments and so far it has served me well!

Oh, and after being intrigued by some of the things you mentioned, Medusa (I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed these things!), I did some digging for some actual medical sources beyond some of the blog posts you typically see online (like journals, that sort of thing) which touched on how a vegetarian or vegan diet might affect the female body specifically and though a lot of what I found was guarded behind a paywall (), I did find a few for anyone who might be interested!

[Medusa]

Alas I didn't try my black bean burger recipe today (got busy cleaning out all the clutter in my office) but I did decide to put on a huge pot of pinto beans.

What can I say? I'm a bean lover!

We'll have my Pappy and Pops over tomorrow afternoon for beans and cornbread and then I'll drain off some of the juice and mash up some of the leftover beans so I can have bean burritos on my low-carb tortillas this week.

I'm actually really enjoying getting creative about getting protein without meat!! It's gotten me excited about cooking in a way that I haven't been in a good long while. For example, I made a smoothie this morning with a banana and some greek yogurt but opted to add a little PB2 powder (it's like powdered peanut butter but without all the sugar) since it has 5g of protein and only 45 calories for 2 tbs.
I'm still relying on eggs quite a bit for protein but I'm finding that some of my favorite veggies have good protein as well. Still exploring different foods and loving it!

I am NOT missing the gastrointestinal distress I used to get from eating certain meats. Any greasy meats like sausages or heavy amounts of red meat used to really do a number on my guts. I felt like it was taking 3 and 4 days to digest certain things and I'd be farting like a rocket and feeling gross the entire time!! LOL

[Medusa]

Yanno? Since I posted in here back before Christmas I am STILL on the (mostly) vegetarian train. And when I say "mostly", I'm saying that 95% of my diet is now meatless.
I try to avoid meat as much as possible these days and have only had it a handful of times since October. I'm not missing it much. Truly!

I've gotten super creative with meals and am really enjoying burritos piled with beans and veggies, pizzas made with english muffins and sundries tomatoes, "burgers" made with black beans, and even TVP as a replacement in spaghetti sauce and chili.

Question for folks: I've seen a fair amount of recipes on Pinterest for eggplant dishes and veggie lasagna. I am looking for a REALLY GOOD veggie lasagna that you have tried or made that has a white sauce like parmesan and incorporates zucchini and carrots. Anyone?

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Yanno? Since I posted in here back before Christmas I am STILL on the (mostly) vegetarian train. And when I say "mostly", I'm saying that 95% of my diet is now meatless.
I try to avoid meat as much as possible these days and have only had it a handful of times since October. I'm not missing it much. Truly!

I've gotten super creative with meals and am really enjoying burritos piled with beans and veggies, pizzas made with english muffins and sundries tomatoes, "burgers" made with black beans, and even TVP as a replacement in spaghetti sauce and chili.

Question for folks: I've seen a fair amount of recipes on Pinterest for eggplant dishes and veggie lasagna. I am looking for a REALLY GOOD veggie lasagna that you have tried or made that has a white sauce like parmesan and incorporates zucchini and carrots. Anyone?

So funny you are mentioning eggplant dishes when I am sitting here eating eggplant parmesan (vegan cheese) that TF made! It's awesome. She doesn't do dairy, so I don't know if she can recommend a good white sauce, but she does make a great red sauce veggie lasagna!

[Medusa]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

So funny you are mentioning eggplant dishes when I am sitting here eating eggplant parmesan (vegan cheese) that TF made! It's awesome. She doesn't do dairy, so I don't know if she can recommend a good white sauce, but she does make a great red sauce veggie lasagna!

Hook me up with a recipe!!!

I have only had eggplant one other time in my life and I don't remember being disgusted by it so I'd like to incorporate it if I can!

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Yanno? Since I posted in here back before Christmas I am STILL on the (mostly) vegetarian train. And when I say "mostly", I'm saying that 95% of my diet is now meatless.
I try to avoid meat as much as possible these days and have only had it a handful of times since October. I'm not missing it much. Truly!

I've gotten super creative with meals and am really enjoying burritos piled with beans and veggies, pizzas made with english muffins and sundries tomatoes, "burgers" made with black beans, and even TVP as a replacement in spaghetti sauce and chili.

Question for folks: I've seen a fair amount of recipes on Pinterest for eggplant dishes and veggie lasagna. I am looking for a REALLY GOOD veggie lasagna that you have tried or made that has a white sauce like parmesan and incorporates zucchini and carrots. Anyone?

You can make white sauce with unsweetened Almond milk, and use grated garlic and a little basil in an oil base to start your rue. If you use eggplant, salt it after slicing and set it aside to "weep" out some of the liquid before cooking, or your lasagne could become watery.

[tantalizingfemme]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Yanno? Since I posted in here back before Christmas I am STILL on the (mostly) vegetarian train. And when I say "mostly", I'm saying that 95% of my diet is now meatless.
I try to avoid meat as much as possible these days and have only had it a handful of times since October. I'm not missing it much. Truly!

I've gotten super creative with meals and am really enjoying burritos piled with beans and veggies, pizzas made with english muffins and sundries tomatoes, "burgers" made with black beans, and even TVP as a replacement in spaghetti sauce and chili.

Question for folks: I've seen a fair amount of recipes on Pinterest for eggplant dishes and veggie lasagna. I am looking for a REALLY GOOD veggie lasagna that you have tried or made that has a white sauce like parmesan and incorporates zucchini and carrots. Anyone?

Here is a good basic recipe for a white sauce:

http://www.veggieful.com/2013/01/veg...ce-recipe.html

[Medusa]

Vegetarian check in!

STILL loving it! I did eat a couple of small pieces of chicken last weekend (like bite-sized) but got zero satisfaction taste-wise. Otherwise, I've been on my veggie-product train.

I did discover that one of the grocery stores in town carries every Morningstar product they make and I kinda went fucking crazy getting all of them. I even found some veggie pizza's by Amy's brand and can't wait to try them. Still trying recipes and what-not and different ways to get my protein for the day.

The other night I needed to get a few more calories and protein so I put a couple of tablespoons of PB2 powder in a vanilla Greek yogurt and it made a peanut butter mousse. DELICIOUS.

We are getting supplies to build another raised bed in a couple of weeks and I will be planting a ton of squash and zucchinis along with tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, and various herbs.

p.s. Feeling GREAT!