You may remember my post about my sisters dilemma of whether to go vegetarian. Well she is now officially vegetarian! It's surprising how much your outlook on food, cooking and shopping changes when trying to buy for a veggie and keep everyone else happy. So the current state of our household is, four meat eaters and one veggie!
My sister is 10 years younger than me and I've gone into overdrive researching what she should be eating. I don't want her to miss out on any nutrients, so much so I'm actually paying far more attention into what is in our foods and the nutritional balance of each meal now than I ever did before! I have a feeling we'll be eating far healthier meals from now on in an attempt to make sure she's getting all the right nutrients, and replacing far more than she has probably lost from eating meat.
So what do you do when you become vegetarian? Do you simply eat more fruit and veg and always order the veggie option when out? Or do you do more than that?
Replacing Meat
I've found myself looking into foods I would never normally have thought of to add a bit more variety. I'm rather ashamed to admit I'd never really tried the following:
- tofu
- falafel
- pine nuts
- various beans and pulses
- using seeds in cooking
I want to avoid processed fake meat where possible, I hate the idea of processed foods in general so feel the same whether its meat based or not. So I'm becoming far more interested in cooking with beans, pulses and seeds to supplement proteins and iron.
My Aversion To Beans
You may think it odd that I write a food blog but somewhat have an aversion to beans and pulses! I'm not generally a fussy eater but I'll never forget the school canteen in my Junior school (I would have been aged 7-10). They had new food trays come plates which separated your desert from your main and it's only as an adult that I've realised the plastic they were made of smells TERRIBLE! We have new clipboards in work which smell the same and bring back memories of pushing sloppy food around my plate. I digress; my old school used to make a bean casserole called 'Bean Surprise'. They used to promote it by saying it was made of magic beans from Jack and the beanstalk. Now for starters I never liked the idea of food with a surprise in it. It was a murky sloppy mess labelled 'surprise' and my 7-year-old imagination decided it probably wasn't going to be a good one! I've gone years and years thinking I hated butter beans, broad beans and chickpeas in particular because that's what they used. I've now come to realise that they are actually really good for you and delicious! I almost feel bad that the school where obviously trying to make something healthy but it's such a shame it looked and tasted awful! The worst part was that they used to leave the thick coating on the broad beans, which for some reason when cooked was like rubber. I have since tried fresh broad beans with the skins removed and have a great recipe for them which I will post soon.
Keeping Meals Interesting
So the next steps are to create interesting meals that please both meat eaters and veggies, either by using alternative sources of protein and iron, or by using a central sauce which can be added to both meat and veg to save on cooking time. We are going well so far! And my favourites have been:
- Use diced butternut squash as a meat alternative. I regularly use butternut squash in curry as it lasts an age in your veg cupboard and is also cheap and tasty. My Dad and Fiance are both the type of men who, when you're serving up food look at the plates and exclaim "You've got more meat than me?!" and will complain if their meal doesn't contain enough meat. I'm pleased to report that despite initial protests that we were having curry made of veg rather than meat, at the end of the meal they were both pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
- Use falafel with rice and spicy dishes as a meat alternative. You don't just have to serve it in wraps! My sister quite enjoys her falafel versions of spanish/chilli dishes and even falafel fajitas!
- Make a veggie pasta dish (with spinach) and serve with toasted pine nuts on top. It's simple but everyone was happy because the pine nuts make it feel that little bit more substantial.
- Next on the list is to adapt one of my chinese fakeaway recipes (Cheats stirfry and satay chicken) into a vegetarian option and add brocoli and sesame seeds for iron.
- Make the most of the eggs. I know not all vegetarians eat eggs, but my sister will be. I'm glad she'll be eating eggs as there are so many things you can make with them and they are packed with proteins and vitamins. We have a great egg fried rice recipe, and also a good fritatta recipe too. Both will be on the blog soon.
So it turns out living with a veggie is pretty good after all! I'm really looking forward to experimenting some more with different veggie recipes. Do you have any tips or favourite vegetarian recipes? If so I'd love to hear from you!
