Vegetarian Meals: Tasty & Affordable for Vegans

[Monique]

There's a difference between including meat in a balanced meal and going to the unhealthy extreme of over-eating meat or not including enough vegetables.

Sure, but just look at the food that you get in a restaurant. I always find that if you would order a meat dish without the meat, there is nothing left. My mom doesn't cook unhealthy, but a few weeks ago we had some vegetarians over and she had no clue what to cook. Eventually she bought 'meat', the vegetarian variety, and continued to call it meat while obviously it is not, I just think it is silly.

Sadly, at the supermarkets around here, the produce is of terribly poor quality. I don't think their produce buyers know what they're doing. The onions I looked at today all had rot on them, like they weren't left to dry properly before being shipped, and the bin of avocados had mold in it. I had to dig through the peppers to find one that didn't have bruises or other soft spots on it. One variety of tomatoes were going rotten in the bin, another variety looked too green, another were mostly bruised, and I luckily found a few good tomatoes of decent ripeness without bruising in a fourth variety. I miss my grandfather's garden! (I can never get much to grow here...the "critters" all get to it first.)

That's bad. Such a store was my only choice in Detroit until I got someone to go shop at a farmers market with me, 13 miles out of the city.

But then, that does not explain why vegetarian meals are more expensive. You still need to buy the vegetables if you cook a meal with meat, you can't go without. Right?

It's not polite on either side. If someone invites a person to dinner, it is incredibly rude of the guest to make requests. If they aren't willing to eat whatever their host chooses to serve, they should turn down the invitation, not try to dictate the menu.

This has been covered by others, mainly Smurf. The problem is that meat is mixed in with all the recipes, or there are not enough vegetables. Not telling the host that you are vegetarian would be rude in my opinion. You can still make your roast, but don't expect the vegetarian to eat it.

Some people have been vegetarian their whole life, you need to respect that. For me it is a preferance and not a 'religion', so when I am at my parent's house I will eat whatever is served.

On a note, attending a barbeque as a vegetarian is no fun. I don't understand why as a vegetarian you are served french bread with butter all night. It is not that hard to put some veggies on the barbeque, people are not creative enough to think of that

 

[Monique]

Ah, and the only thing that was hard for me when taking on a vegetarian diet is finding something to put on my bread for breakfast and lunch I don't like sweet things at all like jam or chocolate paste, so I always used slices of meat.

But I have found an alternative, I now make bread spreads for myself. One is with plain peas stir-fried with differently flavoured sambals (currently one with tamarinde) the other a paste of chickpeas with lots of spices. I make enough for a few days and eat it.

Then there is always cheese with some home-made sambal that I can put on my bread. The sambal is just oil with finely sliced peppers, onion and garlic that my boyfriend's mother makes for us.. soooooo good

 

[wolram]

Ah, and the only thing that was hard for me when taking on a vegetarian diet is finding something to put on my bread for breakfast and lunch I don't like sweet things at all like jam or chocolate paste, so I always used slices of meat.

But I have found an alternative, I now make bread spreads for myself. One is with plain peas stir-fried with differently flavoured sambals (currently one with tamarinde) the other a paste of chickpeas with lots of spices. I make enough for a few days and eat it.

Then there is always cheese with some home-made sambal that I can put on my bread. The sambal is just oil with finely sliced peppers, onion and garlic that my boyfriend's mother makes for us.. soooooo good

Monoque, what spices do you use in your chickpea paste, it does not sound
very nice, would it be ok for a packed luch, or does the bread go soggy
i will try any thing once

 

[Smurf]

Not telling the host that you are vegetarian would be rude in my opinion. You can still make your roast, but don't expect the vegetarian to eat it.

I wouldn't consider it rude so much as... well... stupid. If you're a vegetarian you're part of a minority, you should assume that someone doesn't know unless you tell them... and if you don't tell them they'll try to feed you meat. It's... common sense.

 

[Monique]

Monoque, what spices do you use in your chickpea paste, it does not sound
very nice, would it be ok for a packed luch, or does the bread go soggy
i will try any thing once

I had a lot of chickpeas left over from a diner last weekend, so I blended that up into a paste and added flavored oil to that to make an Indian soup called Dahl (originally made with lentils, not chickpeas), fortunately it was thick enough to put on bread. I don't know how it does on a packed lunch, the thicker you can make it the better I guess.

Fry onion with cumin powder, cumin seeds and coriander add tomatoes to make lots of sauce, add chickpeas and cook until done. Blend everything into a paste. Put some oil into a pan, be a little generous with it, fry mustard seeds and diced garlic, I added some extra garam masala at this point (indian spice mix) and then pour it over the paste for a flavour boost (the bits of garlic bring another dimension of texture/flavour to the paste, as do the mustard seeds).

I didn't get to eat much of it, my boyfriend ate the rest of it when he came home (two plates full) he liked it more then the original recipe

Actually, do you know Hummus? I think it is a Greek thing, chickpea paste. I was always eating that as bread spread in the US, but can't get it here. Very tasty.

 

[wolram]

Monique

Actually, do you know Hummus? I think it is a Greek thing, chickpea paste. I was always eating that as bread spread in the US, but can't get it here. Very tasty.

All this stuff is new to me, i just invented Mushroom and pea pie though, and
mushroom muffins, yummy. i will experiment with your ideas, may be jar some
of those pastes for packed lunch. Thanks Monique.

 

[Moonbear]

I wouldn't consider it rude so much as... well... stupid. If you're a vegetarian you're part of a minority, you should assume that someone doesn't know unless you tell them... and if you don't tell them they'll try to feed you meat. It's... common sense.

So if someone invites a person who is vegetarian, but doesn't know they are vegetarian, and are only informed after they have accepted the invitation, are you expected to change your entire menu for one person? This is the part of vegetarianism that bugs me. If I were invited to a vegetarian's house, I wouldn't make a big fuss about being a meat eater or that I know I'll go home feeling hungry if I am only served vegetables, or that I can't think of a more disgusting food than tofu. If that's what shows up on my plate, it won't kill me, and I politely take a VERY small serving of tofu and manage to eat it so I don't offend my host, and when the party is over, I go home and make a sandwich if I'm still hungry. But, then when the invitation is reversed, it seems at least some vegetarians feel the need to impose their eating habits upon everyone and start insisting upon dishes the host had either no intention to serve, no knowledge of how to prepare, or that just don't go with the rest of the planned menu.

It's your obligation to inform your host if you have food allergies so your host doesn't kill you, but it's rude to expect your host to change the entire menu if the food isn't going to kill you, no matter if you dislike it.

Of course, I suppose the best way to approach it would be at the time you receive the invitation and before you respond by simply inquiring if there will be any vegetarian dishes served because you're vegetarian. At this point, the host can respond by either telling you, "Of course there will be" (whether they really planned to have them or not, they've now agreed they will include something), or "I'm sorry, we were planning on roast lamb as the main course." You can then decide if you are willing to take your chances on the other dishes being served with it, or to decline with the suggestion that perhaps some other time then.

I guess it also makes a difference depending on who is being invited and why. If you're inviting a friend over to celebrate something they've accomplished, and they have special food preferences, of course since they are the guest of honor, you'd want to go out of your way a bit to accommodate them and serve all their favorite foods. But, if instead, there's some other event you're celebrating, and someone else invited other than the guest of honor has such preferences, then it would be more rude of them to expect the menu will be catered to their special requests. Basically, it's the difference between inviting 2 couples who are close friends just because you want to see your friends vs inviting over 20 people to celebrate someone's birthday.

 

[wolram]

Or you could just nibble on the host.

 

[*Kia*]

Monique

Actually, do you know Hummus? I think it is a Greek thing, chickpea paste. I was always eating that as bread spread in the US, but can't get it here. Very tasty.

All this stuff is new to me, i just invented Mushroom and pea pie though, and
mushroom muffins, yummy. i will experiment with your ideas, may be jar some
of those pastes for packed lunch. Thanks Monique.

Houmous - try tesco hon! - near by the fruit and veggie section

 

[Monique]

It's your obligation to inform your host if you have food allergies so your host doesn't kill you, but it's rude to expect your host to change the entire menu if the food isn't going to kill you, no matter if you dislike it.

I always inform if there is something that my guests dislike, I then make sure there is an alternative for them. I think it is very rude for the host not to consider their guests, why would you want to invite them over if you don't care about their feelings. Then don't invite them over, since obviously they don't count as friends.

For instance, I like spicy foods. If I have guests I don't put as many chillies in the food, or none. I like to use a lot of ginger, when I have guests over I will limit my use. If people don't like tofu I'll cook a veggie burger for them. I also try to limit my crazy dishes to the more traditional ones, unless they indicate they'd like to try something different.

 

[Monique]

All this stuff is new to me, i just invented Mushroom and pea pie though, and mushroom muffins, yummy. i will experiment with your ideas, may be jar some of those pastes for packed lunch. Thanks Monique.

My boyfriend's mother is a cooking wonder, she makes wonderful things that look so easy but tickle your taste buds.

She makes the most wonderful can of pickled vegetables, or ginger in oil with garlic, or the sambal I mentioned, or some dressing with advocado and garlic and other ingredients, or a 'cake' made with mushrooms and pieces of cheese (yum!). I asked for the recipes several times, but somehow I can never recreate the taste the only thing I came make from her inspiration is moldy cheese mashed with oil and garlic: makes a wonderful spread for toast or bread (avoid coming close to people once you have had this)

 

[Moonbear]

I always inform if there is something that my guests dislike, I then make sure there is an alternative for them. I think it is very rude for the host not to consider their guests, why would you want to invite them over if you don't care about their feelings. Then don't invite them over, since obviously they don't count as friends.

Well, I'm thinking more of situations when it's not your friends who are being invited, but maybe co-workers...something business related...people who you wouldn't know as well and where things are supposed to be more formal. Or maybe when someone hosts a bridal shower in their home...the people being invited are friends of the bride-to-be, but not necessarily of the person hosting the party. If I invite my friends, I already know their preferences in advance of the invitation, so of course I would keep that in mind before even inviting them.

 

[Evo]

You can't always know the food preferences of everyone. If you invite someone and they bring their spouse or a date, you won't know. It can be a business affair and you won't know. It's not always close friends or relatives that you are entertaining.

When I used to entertain, to be safe, I served a wide variety of hors d'oeuvres and canapes, people could fill up on those alone.

 

[Moonbear]

When I used to entertain, to be safe, I served a wide variety of hors d'oeuvres and canapes, people could fill up on those alone.

Don't you just love the guessing game when you go to something like a wedding and they serve fantastic hors d'ouvres, so you wonder if you should fill up on hors d'ouvres in case the dinner is terrible or if the fantastic hors d'ouvres are a sign of a fantastic dinner coming, so you should only taste a few?

I do that when I entertain a lot of people. I set the hors d'ouvres out on a tray or table so as people arrive, they can snack a little, and then I leave them out until after dinner, so if anybody didn't get enough during dinner, they can munch on the rest of the hors d'ouvres while chatting after dinner.

Ah, yes, the spouses and dates! That's a fun one. I have a friend who is quite carnivorous, but her husband is vegan. When she first started dating him, it wasn't me, but someone else, who had a BBQ and invited everyone to bring any "significant others." Well, our BBQs did not include much vegetables other than salad and corn on the cob, so that made for an interesting experience. And since he's vegan, not just vegetarian, he couldn't even eat any of the dishes with cheese or eggs in them, which pretty much eliminates everything served at a BBQ. BBQs are of course less formal, so in the future, we would just invite him to bring something that we'd cook for him just because we had no clue what would be a meal for him. It would be much harder at a formal sit-down dinner. I definitely haven't got a clue how to cook anything vegan...it does all look like side-dishes to me. How do you make a dessert without eggs and milk?!

 

[Evo]

I do that when I entertain a lot of people. I set the hors d'ouvres out on a tray or table so as people arrive, they can snack a little, and then I leave them out until after dinner, so if anybody didn't get enough during dinner, they can munch on the rest of the hors d'ouvres while chatting after dinner.

I also did that. I always made sure there were plenty of raw veggies for the hard core.

I definitely haven't got a clue how to cook anything vegan...it does all look like side-dishes to me. How do you make a dessert without eggs and milk?!

A bowl of cherry pie filling? Vegan is too limiting for me. I must have eggs and cheese.

 

[Skyhunter]

You can make anything vegan... cakes, pies, chocolate...

 

[Moonbear]

You can make anything vegan... cakes, pies, chocolate...

Yeah, but I want it to actually taste good. You can't make a real cake or pie without real butter, and cakes need milk and eggs. I don't care what people say you can use to substitute, it's not the same, not even close.

 

[Evo]

Yeah, but I want it to actually taste good. You can't make a real cake or pie without real butter, and cakes need milk and eggs. I don't care what people say you can use to substitute, it's not the same, not even close.

Yeah, crustless carob tofu pie is NOT a substitute for chocolate French Silk pie.

 

[Tsu]

Yeah, crustless carob tofu pie is NOT a substitute for chocolate French Silk pie.

Ya tryin' to make me SICK?

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, crustless carob tofu pie is NOT a substitute for chocolate French Silk pie.

I don't understand how people can eat carob and think it tastes like chocolate, or why you'd need to substitute it anyway. Even when I was still a rather unsophisticated chocolate eater, I got some trail mix as a kid that had carob chips in it that I thought were going to be chocolate chips. Definitely not the same thing! You just can't subsitute carob for chocolate in recipes unless you regularly cook with that cheap chocolate they make hollow Easter rabbits out of (the really cheap ones you find in the grocery store). Carob is WAY too sweet to give that rich chocolatey taste, and what do they hold the carob powder together with? Wax? Sure, some people might just like carob, but that still doesn't make it a chocolate substitute. And there's still no proper substitute for dairy and eggs in baking.

But, why substitute the chocolate anyway? Chocolate would still be vegan, wouldn't it? At least as long as it isn't milk chocolate, right?


Edit:
Okay, I was curious to see what passed as vegan desserts aside from fruit salad, so I went looking. This is what they are calling French silk pie!
The ingredients list:

16 oz applesauce
1 cup sugar
4 bananas
chocolate

Why do they even bother calling it French silk pie? It's not even close! Who do they think they're fooling? That's baby food with chocolate added! Mashed apples and bananas with chocolate. If you like stuff like that, fine, but give it a new name, because it's just NOT French silk pie. French silk pie does not have apples and bananas in it! It has cream and eggs to make a chocolate custard.

I like this comment they have:

Naturally you can taste the difference...

Do you think?

Well, for those of you looking for a vegetarian/vegan recipe, there you go, enjoy!

There are several on this site: http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/dessert.html

(By the way, I tried making oatmeal-raisin cookies with applesauce once for a lactose-intolerant co-worker...I tasted one and threw them away...dog biscuits have more flavor and are easier to chew.)

 

[hypatia]

Hummus is ground chick peas mixed with tahini{sesame oil} garlic and lemon juice.

 

[Evo]

Edit:
Okay, I was curious to see what passed as vegan desserts aside from fruit salad, so I went looking. This is what they are calling French silk pie!
The ingredients list:


Why do they even bother calling it French silk pie? It's not even close! Who do they think they're fooling? That's baby food with chocolate added! Mashed apples and bananas with chocolate. If you like stuff like that, fine, but give it a new name, because it's just NOT French silk pie. French silk pie does not have apples and bananas in it! It has cream and eggs to make a chocolate custard.

I like this comment they have: Quote: Naturally you can taste the difference...

Do you think?

Well, for those of you looking for a vegetarian/vegan recipe, there you go, enjoy!

That's fruit and chocolate, what besides nothing does that have to do with French Silk Pie?? I guess their adaptation of "chocolate milk" would be to blend chocolate into a glass of apple juice? But like they say "Naturally you can taste the difference".

 

[Tsu]

Hummus is ground chick peas mixed with tahini{sesame oil} garlic and lemon juice.

Have you ever thrown a little mint leaf into the mix? VERY tasty!

 

[Moonbear]

That's fruit and chocolate, what besides nothing does that have to do with French Silk Pie?? I guess their adaptation of "chocolate milk" would be to blend chocolate into a glass of apple juice? But like they say "Naturally you can taste the difference".

It seems that at least the people who wrote those recipes have some "issues" with veganism. I see it a lot, just trying to substitute meat or eggs or milk with other things. It's like their diet is still meat-centric and they're in denial about it if they have to try to pretend the food is still the same stuff they've always eaten. It just makes for some nasty foods. I'm also trying to figure out why they need to add so much sugar if it already has sweet fruits in it...applesauce and bananas should be pretty sweet already!

Maybe Monique needs to write a vegetarian cookbook. At least her recipes sound tasty and are not just meat-based recipes without the meat.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, that apple-banana-chocolate pie thing might taste delicious; I wouldn't know without tasting it, but my argument is just that it ISN'T French silk pie, so don't call it that and pretend that it is as if you aren't missing out on indulgences that include dairy and eggs. Obviously, if someone is going through the trouble to call it French silk pie, they are missing and craving French silk pie, or else they'd call it apple-banana-chocolate pie.

 

[wolram]

I made myself a cheese and onion pie with a tomato sauce today, it was absolutly Horrible

 

[Moonbear]

I made myself a cheese and onion pie with a tomato sauce today, it was absolutly Horrible

That sounds like pizza, but I like pizza. What type of cheese did you use? Or maybe it was too much onion? Or the wrong crust?

Oh, and thanks everyone for getting me craving hummus! I love hummus, and can only get the packaged stuff in the supermarket here, which is not very good. I've never tried making my own. It sounds like it should be easy, so maybe I should. Is tahini really just regular sesame oil? I have sesame oil, but I thought tahini was something a little different.

And if anyone is going to suggest any other tasty ethnic recipes, hurry up and do so while I still live within a half hour of an international supermarket and can pick up some ingredients! I don't think there's a very big international community in the middle of West Virginia to have much of a selection of ingredients. Otherwise I'll have to wait until I can make periodic visits to cities.

 

[wolram]

I used cheddar and danish blue, three eggs a small choped onion and some
herbs and spices.

 

[Evo]

Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds. I also have a craving for freshly made hummus, I think I'm going to make some tonight. The ready made stuff they sell here is just awful. It tastes more like wallpaper paste.

 

[Moonbear]

I used cheddar and danish blue, three eggs a small choped onion and some
herbs and spices.

Sounds more like a quiche than a pie. Maybe you should have left out the blue cheese. That doesn't sound like it would go well with eggs. Otherwise, the rest sounds like a breakfast omelet in a pie crust.

 

[Evo]

I used cheddar and danish blue, three eggs a small choped onion and some
herbs and spices.

The tomato sauce must have been the killer. I can't imagine blue cheese and tomato sauce. Sounds like you had a nice quiche there.

 

[Evo]

Yes, Moonbear and I were separated at birth.

 

[Moonbear]

Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds. I also have a craving for freshly made hummus, I think I'm going to make some tonight. The ready made stuff they sell here is just awful. It tastes more like wallpaper paste.

When you make it homemade, can you use chickpeas out of a can, or do you need to use the dried ones to make it taste good? If you use them out of the can, I assume you must drain the liquid and rinse, right?

 

[arildno]

Yes, Moonbear and I were separated at birth.

Is Evo vying for the most-cryptic-reply award?

 

[Evo]

When you make it homemade, can you use chickpeas out of a can, or do you need to use the dried ones to make it taste good? If you use them out of the can, I assume you must drain the liquid and rinse, right?

I've read many recipes calling for canned chickpeas, so they seem acceptable. Yes, drain them, but you can reserve a bit of the liquid to use to thin it if necessary.

This recipe sounds good.

4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
two 1-pound 3-ounce cans chick-peas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup well stirred tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1/2 cup olive oil, or to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted lightly

The comments at the bottom were to reduce the amount of tahini, increase the lemon and omit the parsley.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/101577

 

[Moonbear]

Is Evo vying for the most-cryptic-reply award?

We both suggested Wolram made quiche and that there was some conflict with the blue-cheese in the recipe (though Evo thought it could be resolved by removing the tomatoes and I thought it should involve removing the blue cheese).