Vegan/Vegetarian Thread (discussion, recipes, laughs)

[veganswitch]

http://www.hamptoncreek.com/ goes mainstream. I think you can buy this stuff at Walmart if you shop there and possibly Target. I bought a huge jar of it at Costco for $4.00 and its good.

[kittygrrl]

discovered golden berries, absolutely delightful

[Medusa]

I had to go back and search out this thread!

ALL RECIPES WELCOMED!

In the last 70 days, I have reduced my meat consumption to almost nothing. Literally taking it from meat at every meal down to having meat once a week (and sometimes less). I hope this is not triggery to anyone and I apologize if this post is out of place here. (and this doesn't mean that I am never eating meat, just that it is significantly less than it was)

My goal is to become completely vegetarian.

Since losing my Gracie, I am having a psychological block with consuming meat and have *really* noticed how much better my digestion is and how much better I feel with relying on a mostly-vegetarian diet.
I have even made myself try things I NEVER would try before like Morningstar veggie patties, black bean burgers (HOLY HELL, these are DELICIOUS!!), quinoa, and even butternut squash (never would try it before because the shape of it freaked me out! LOL)

I've been really focusing on eating a huge variety of fruits and vegetables and finding creative ways to get protein. I'm still in love with eggs and that one is going to be hard to give up but we shall see.

I feel amazing. I'm sleeping better. My skin looks amazing.

[cinnamongrrl]

I was perusing the thread...and found a link to a list of companies owned and operated by the GMO kings themselves, Monsanto.

Sadly, one of their companies is Morningstar, which makes very tasty meat alternatives. I had heard previously from a vegan client of mine that their products were not of good quality.

All I can say is that this reaffirms my current and growing thought that everything we consume should be homemade or as close to it as possible. Our government obviously isn't going to protect us from GMOs and other harmful products. The FDA is now tucked comfortably into big corporate pockets. I know for a fact (from talking to local soybean farmers) that if they want to grow a commercial crop they are MANDATED to use Monsanto's poisoned, altered seeds or they can't sell it with FDA approval. What kind of bullshit is that??

I couldn't copy and paste the list so here's a link instead

I found this thanks to Greco's post about Annie's selling out to General Mills, which is owned by...you guessed it...Monsanto.....

I'm going to get a little soap boxy here:

Our government has shown that they really don't care what chemicals and toxins are thrown into our food supply. But they throw up their hands in surprise when thousands are struck with Alzheimer's, cancer, autism and on and on.

We have to advocate for ourselves. We have to vote with our dollars. Because that's the only thing that truly matters to these people. The only sway we have is by choosing to buy or choosing not to. Whether it be genetically modified food, or products that use unnecessary and unrecyclable packaging. It all requires a first step.

I have also learned that "organic" is not even necessarily organic. Because the FDA has approved hundreds of chemicals that THEY deem to be in the guidelines of "organic".

I know this has turned into a bit of a rant, but it weighs on my mind. For inspiration, guidance and information, I would suggest reading No Impact Man. The author imparts a great deal of wisdom. I learned things that really turned the world on it's ear in my eyes. Educating ourselves is the first step to changing this broken system. Using our voices is the second.

My mother always said "one person can only do so much". To which I added (as a snarky teenager) "then do all you can." In my eyes, people need and deserve to be informed of what our government is doing. All my life, I blindly and naively believed that the FDA would protect us. Because that was their job. We clearly have to protect ourselves.

End rant.

[Medusa]

Oh noooo…..Not Morningstar!!!

CRAP.

I guess that means I need to find a really good recipe for delicious black bean burgers ands tart making them myself. And really, I don't mind, at least then I would know what was going in it!

[Femmadian]

[Content note: Somewhat graphic discussions of bodies and their functions! A little gross, but human!]


Yay, Medusa! Good for you! I'm happy for you that it's having such a positive effect on your life already and I wish you the best of luck in your journey. We all go at our own pace and any reduction in meat consumption is a positive thing!

As an aside, as I was reading your post I thought to myself: what a great legacy for Gracie to leave behind in your life. I completely understand what you mean about the mental block and, at the risk of sounding preachy, I think that it's a great way of honouring her memory.

I started my own path to vegetarianism thirteen years ago and have been completely vegetarian (lacto-ovo) for eight of those thirteen. It's a gradual process and I think it was kinder to my body than going cold turkey (pun kind of intended)! I don't know if I could ever go full-on vegan as I like the occasional egg and love my dairy and haven't found satisfactory substitutes for either yet. I originally started cutting out meat for philosophical reasons, but I'm pleased to have noticed the incidental health benefits as well along the way.


[Body stuff]

Going veg does aid in the speed and ease of digestion! It was one of the first things I noticed too, heh. Vegetarians do have a decreased risk of developing colitis, IBS, and colorectal cancer (among other things) and I know from personal experience that we have more, ahem, "efficient" digestive symptoms when on a leafier diet.

Personally, just a few things I have observed: I have very strong and healthy hair and nails compared to my (biological) family members who eat meat. I am also rarely sick and when I am, antibiotics and other medications seem to have be more potent and effective on my system than theirs (to the point that they've even commented on it). It makes me wonder about the implications for antibiotic-resistant pathogens when we're unknowingly being exposed to so many over-prescribed animals (and the implications for healthcare!), but I digress. That's just my own anecdata. The effect on my skin is a bit harder to pin down for me for various reasons. I do take omega-3 supplements and drink green tea to help with that. The tea especially is what I notice a big difference with, especially with hair, nails, and skin. I'm pretty lucky in that I can find locally green tea which is produced without pesticides. Just as an FYI for Canadian tea-drinkers, Red Rose is the only brand out of the top 10 which does not use pesticides.

The biggest change for me, and the one which I am happiest about and was most welcome, was the effect it had on my cycle. I had always had very painful, long, heavy cycles ranging from 9-12 days every month and it was to the point of being disabling and causing me to miss time from school and work and though I noticed little changes here and there as I gradually cut meat types out (beef was the first, fish was the last), I noticed a HUGE difference when I finally cut out chicken. Like, immediately, as in the very next cycle. The pain is still there but nowhere near as bad (and I've learned to reduce my dairy and caffeine intake the week before to help with that as well) and it's maybe a third of what it once was by all measures and for that I am truly, eternally grateful. Both my mother and maternal grandmother struggled with this same issue for years and years until they both had to undergo hysterectomies for severe hemorrhaging and ovarian cysts in their 30's and 40's, respectively, so if I can help mitigate that or at least reduce symptoms in any way, then you bet your butt I will.

Even a lifetime supply of the most lovingly and deliciously prepared butter chicken from my favourite Indian restaurant could never tempt me into giving that up!!!

[/end personal body stuff]

I wish there was greater emphasis on the health benefits for women when talking about vegetarianism/veganism - not in a concern-trolling way that puts more pressure on women to lose weight or change their bodies (or shames them through diet as yet another thing someone else thinks they are doing wrong), but rather from more of an overall harm-reduction model. I think it's worth talking on a societal level about the way that certain animal products and especially the hormones they're injected with affect the female bodies specifically of the people who consume them, especially young girls as they near puberty! We know so little and I wish there was more focus on this.
[/soapbox]

Anyway, blah blah blah… back to your original point! Noms!

I think that one of the great side effects of being veg is that it forces you to expand your food horizons. I would never have touched an avocado or a portobello mushroom sandwich before going veg and now I love them! It dragged my then rather limited palette kicking and screaming towards a more balanced way of eating. It was either that or live on bread and bananas 24/7.

Indian restaurants are your friends. There are so many great meat-free options to try! Also, some traditional Chinese restaurants are good as well as they also tend to be low on meat content in their menus. I tend to stick with Indian though for the added flavour and the use of paneer in just about everything as a meat substitute. My favourite local Indian restaurant is always happy to substitute just about anything with it and I mentally thank them every day for introducing me to it. It's a great way to get your protein and to me, it tastes so much better than I ever remember any meat ever tasting (never mind tofu)!

So, you asked for recipes! Pinterest is currently my number one source for vegetarian recipes, though your mileage may vary. Now, I'm not sure how familiar you are with it or how much you use it (if at all), but I find it helps having a visual of what I'm getting myself into and I like being able to bookmark/"pin" it to my own recipe board to try later on. I'm not sure what your tastes are but here are a few vegetarian boards with plenty of recipes to whet your appetite (sorry about that unfortunate butternut squash image on the third one). If you click on the individual picture, most of them have a recipe listed below the image when it magnifies and/or a link to the site which does have the recipe and additional information about it listed for you.

If you're looking for something to satisfy a sweet tooth after dinner and are leaning towards veganism, there are plenty of delicious options to be had.

I've also recently stumbled upon "Domestic Sluttery" which, while the name raises an eyebrow for me, had a refreshingly flip and irreverent attitude about so-called domestic pursuits (cooking among them) against the din of the recent explosion of "domestic goddess"-type websites as of late. They've since stopped updating but I like pouring over their archives. They have a great little 101 post about some of the more common meat substitutes and had a regular feature for about a year called Sluttishly Vegetarian which I found to be endearing as well as helpful.

Anyway, hope that gives you some ideas! There's a lot to choose from depending on what you're looking for. I wish there had been these kind of websites around when I first started. It would have saved me from raiding the pasta aisle at the supermarket in the early days.

I'm curious - is Jackhammer coming along for the journey too? I know I would have killed to have a veg-friendly person under the same roof when I was in the early stages. So many of the recipes I found then made more food than one person could eat in a week! It's nice to have someone to force feed your experiments to (I mean, cook for). Hope she likes tofu.

Good luck!

[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