i don't even see the point of doing so

most people chose to be veggies from a moral or a religious or even scientific viewpoint, not because meat tastes bad, unless he/she is allergic to meat or something

edit - that's because we're omnivores and can digest meat and veggies, it's not like some of us are carnivores whilst others are herbivores

e.g. pointless debate

Eep, that's why I liked to eat fruit when I was stoned, tasted like pure goodness. But yeah,it is really easy to tell the difference for me, you get good at discerning taste/texture. A lot of the times though, depending on the veggie meat product, most meat eaters can't tell when I feed them vegetarian meat.

No, they'll know. Especially if they've been veggie for a while, that person will know because of the explosive diarrhea.

diarrhea? you don't get diarrhea by merely eating eating ham or meat. if that's the reason why you're vegetarian, you've got it all wrong.

If you've been on a certain diet excluding some foods for a long time, there's a chance that reintroducing those foods into your diet might have some nasty side effects or reactions at first, such as diary-hoo-hah.

My youngest daughter chose to be vegetarian a few months ago. She still eats eggs and cheese, so I'm not sure if vegetarian is the correct title. Her choice was based on how the animals are treated before and during slaughter. I'm respectful of her choice, but it has made preparing meals a bit tougher as my older daughter and I still enjoy meat (although, for health reasons, we only have it a couple times per week. Mostly chicken). Can any of you share some meals that would be satisfactory to the three of us? You know, meatless but something other than the pasta that I find myself making way too often?
To avoid cluttering up the thread (I'm new here. Don't want to get myself in trouble), feel free to PM any recommended recipes to me. Thanks in advance!

There are lots of good dishes without meat or pasta.

Eggplant Parmesan
Bread and pan fry some eggplant slices, then roast them in the over with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.

Stuffed Peppers
Hollow out some green peppers and stuff them with rice and whatever else you want (tomatoes, diced peppers, onions, cheese, garlic, mushrooms, etc). Top them with cheese and breadcrumbs and roast them in the oven.

Portobello Mushroom Burgers
Grill or pan fry some portobello mushroom caps and treat them just like a hamburger.

Potatoes Au Gratin
Peel and thinly slice potatoes. Layer them in a casserole dish. Boil some milk, butter and flour and pour over the potatoes. Top with cheese and herbs and bake.

Thanks, oojay! It's funny, I really enjoy cooking but I seem to have mental block on this one.... I've made eggplant parm, but neither daughter cared for that. I think the texture turned them off to it. I think the stuffed peppers would go over well. I've made them in the past (with ground beef, prior to my daughter's conversion) and we all enjoyed that. I can cook the ground beef seperately and add it to my older daughter's and mine (or just disregard the beef altogether). None of us care for mushrooms, so that won't fly. lol And I know we can't go wrong with any potato dish! Again, thanks for the help!

If you're a fan of things like vegetables, salads and bakes, I can dig up a bunch of veggie recipes you might enjoy tomorrow. Also, I'd recommend falafel. It's completely vegetarian, but I served it up in a big meal when I was on holiday with my extended family (all meat eaters) and they all loved it.

Mykonos - That would be greatly appreciated! I thank you and, I'm sure, my daughter will thank you!

It's no problem, really. It'll take me forever to type them out and it's too pate now, so I'll try and do it tomorrow.

Nono, it's about the enzymes your body uses to digest meat becoming inactive in disuse. Your body becomes unable to digest the products after a lengthy time and in a way "rejects" the meat. This isn't a permanent condition.

try these ones..

Vegetarian Recipes - 101 Cookbooks

i've tried a lot of the ones there bere but not so much now because my food is predominantly raw.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...xRufSw&cad=rja

Decent list of some cookbooks i've used in the past and present.

VegWeb
That's a pretty cool site.
Some of the recipes save you money yet still delicious just the same.

Thanks everyone! I'll try some of these and let you know how well it went over. Very cool of all of you that responded!

does she refuse to own anything made of leather too?

Why? Do you think I should add shoes and belts to my menu?

I would really have to ask her. She's pretty much a jeans/shorts and t-shirt kind of kid.

Since I'm attempting to become a vegetarian, should I get rid of my leather belt and sandles?

loose - Like most things in life, I'd imagine there are varying degrees of commitment to vegetarianism. Personally, I respect anyone taking even small steps towards what they feel is right.

I never really considered that if you're a vegetarian that you should give up leather and junk... since it's not being consumed. Vegans on the other hand give up everything animal related. But each to their own, I suppose on what classifies as being a vegetarian nowadays...

interesting question

my fiancee prays to the Goddess of Mercy and the cow is some sort of sacred fairy so they aren't allowed to eat it

when i asked her about leather, all i got were non-sequiturs

exactly that was my point earlier to something I was saying but a few people weren't understanding.

im vegetarian for quite a long time now about 10 years,there is not much sense into arguing why . there are alot or reasons a person can show in both side to justify either eating or not eating animals.
its important to be informed and educated and not to speak out of simple prejudice of conviction based on beliefs.
i find personally more balance in knowing i can coexist causing the least possible suffering not only to animals but to anybody for that matter.

thanks for reading..
F.v.

Nice post, frank. Very well stated. I support my daughters choice and admire her conviction. My ex-wife, on the other hand, is continuously pointing out every negative thing imaginable about my choice of continuing to eat meat. I would love it if the meat eaters would respect the vegetarians, but I would also love if some of the vegetarians (i.e. my ex) wouldn't be so judgemental of those of us who aren't.

To quote Rodney King: "Can't we all just get along"?

i would let the sarcasm pass and just state the obvious.

i asked because of the... rationale of her turning to vegetarianism. you said she felt bad about how animals are being treated... so i was just curious.

depends on your reason i guess for turning into vegetarianism. animal rights is just a "by the way" for me so i didn't get rid of my leather belts and jackets but i don't buy new ones.

if it's just personal preference then no.

bottomline, depends on your principle.

huh? we were pretty amenable to each other (veggies and carnies) before Thee Virgin showed up

Chipper, It wasn't sarcasm. It was an attempt at humor. A failed attempt, obviously, but an attempt none the less.

just out of curiosity, does she eat other kinds of meat?

all cool...

If you met someone who eats dogs and cats, would you feel judgemental or would you just shrug and say, "Meh, to each her own?"

And if you *are* judgemental of people who eat dogs and cats, then why wouldn't you expect vegetarians to be judgemental of meat-eaters who eat other animal species, such as cows, pigs, and chickens?

If someone eats an animal who has died of natural causes, I wouldn't feel judgemental because the person didn't orchestrate that animal's death. However, when someone supports the killing of animals, especially when there are healthful ways to live without doing so, then I'm more likely to feel judgemental (even of myself).

Being free from critique and judgement certainly feels nice, and judgementalism *can* lead to horrible situations (when those who are judgemental decide to physically hurt people with whom they disagree), but judgementalism has also helped reduce or end numerous atrocities (slavery, child labor, capital punishment, etc.), and so I don't consider judgementalism to be a foe. Passing judgement on an action can be an inspiration for change.

And frankly, in my opinion eating animals is a lot worse than being judgemental.

:clap:

Richie, I've thought of some meal ideas (that don't include animals killed by natural causes or any others). I also want to tell you how wonderful I feel it is that you are being supportive of your youngest daughter's choice to be lacto-ovo vegetarian!

If you haven't done so already, I recommend you try adding beans instead of meat to any dishes you make. I think that many young vegetarians may turn to fatty cheese and other dairy products as their main protein source (along with grains), when it would be more healthful to replace some of the dairy products with beans (and vegetables).

I started off using canned black beans and garbanzo beans when I chose to be vegetarian years ago. Later I progressed to cooking whole pots of beans, which you can do by soaking beans for 24 hours well-covered in water, pouring off the water and rinsing the beans, then covering the beans with fresh water and bringing them to a simmer, generally for around 2 hours but more or less depending on the bean size.

Stews and other soups like minestrone that include beans are an excellent meal option, since you can cook a soup and then add either beans or meats later. Bean chili and corn bread is a nice choice since it includes beans and people are used to the idea of meatless chili. Burritos can be made easily with beans or meats.

If your child is like mine, she probably likes to eat what she sees other kids eating at school. So we sometimes buy Boca (vegan) original "Chik'n" meatless patties, which I feel taste very good. However, I have read on the Harvard School of Public Health's website that it is best to limit soy servings to 4 or fewer per week due to the estrogen-like effects of some compounds, isoflavonoids, that are in soy, and so I wouldn't recommend eating soy products more frequently than that until more is known about the long-term impact.

I recommend two recipe books:

(1) "Vegan Vittles," by Joanne Stepaniak. Your daughter might like this, because the book ties in to Farm Sanctuary, a wonderful organization that rescues and cares for animals discarded or rescued from factory farms: http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Vittles-.../dp/1570670250

(2) "Vegan with a Vengeance," which a vegetarian man whom I met yesterday while he was working in a Outdoors Equipment store recommended to me highly: Vegan with a Vengeance | Post Punk Kitchen | Vegan Baking & Vegan Cooking

You probably already know this, but your daughter may benefit from a multivitamin that includes vitamin B-12. If you haven't visited the Harvard School of Public Health's nutrition website, then I recommend it for dietary and nutrition information:

Protein: Moving Closer to Center Stage - What Should You Eat? - The Nutrition Source - Harvard School of Public Health

Calcium and Milk: What's Best for Your Bones and Health? - What Should You Eat? - The Nutrition Source - Harvard School of Public Health

I also recommend the American Dietetics Association's position statement on vegetarian diets, which is rich with useful information. Here is the webpage that provides the abstract along with a link to the PDF of the full document: Vegetarian Diets

Richie, I want to comment on my reply to your "can't we all just get along" post above, since I think my reply probably came off sounding very harsh.

I agree with you that being judgemental of someone can emotionally hurt that person, and that is a concern. Is it possible to judge a person's actions (approve or disapprove of them) while still caring about and liking or even loving the person as a whole? I think the answer is yes, but it does create friction.

If I saw my child kick a dog, you can bet I'd be judgemental even as I love him. I would tell him not to do it and would encourage him to think how he would feel if he were kicked.

If I saw an adult kick a dog, I would probably feel a lot less love and a lot more anger and fear: I *would* judge the person.

In my view, eating animals is a variation of kicking them, because animals are often raised in harmful ways and then of course people kill them (and that's not kind). And if the animals *were* leading happy lives (cooped up inside buildings, as pigs and chickens are in Iowa, and so I doubt their lives are as fulfilling as they could be, but let's just pretend), then killing a happy animal isn't kind either.

So while some vegetarians will say they don't care if other people eat meat or not, I can never say that, because I *do* care. If meat-eating weren't a life-death issue, then it wouldn't bother me, but it is, and so in my opinion it is reasonable that people who care about animals will feel concerned about what or whom other people eat. I don't know if there is any way around that.

Good luck with your meal planning and, again, I'm so glad you are supportive of your daughter. I wish I'd known such support when I was a child.

Applause!! Thank you, Batlord. :)

I have to ask this, why do vegetarians feel like that's a valid argument to compare domesticated animals to farm animals that are used for consumption?

There is also another argument that comes into play majority of the time.

If you are okay with eating cows then you should be okay with eating humans because humans are animals.

Why are those two considered valid arguments/talking points? I don't get it.

(1) Because in some parts of the world, animals you and I may consider as "pet" animals *are* used for consumption. Because whether animals are considered "pets" or "food" doesn't mean that these animals' experiences and enjoyment of life are signficantly different. Dogs, pigs, cows, cats...all have feelings and awareness.

(2) Because meat-eating people often claim that humans should be able to eat animals guiltlessly, without explaining why that is their opinion or addressing the fact that humans *are* animals and appear to share with many of our animal cousins a similar ability to feel joy and pain.

In those parts of the world that take what we consider pets and turn them into chow. I'm pretty sure they don't go around treating them as pets and then when they are low on food they just toss the little animal into the pot.

And even if they did, the animal is serving a purpose to keep the human from starving so I don't really see the harm in it.

Yes there are alternatives but that's what they choose to eat.


I think part of that is some meat eaters feel that animals have no soul and that may come from a religious background. Not really sure , I had a light conversation with a friend of mines over that last night. He was firm in his belief that animals don't have souls so it's fine.

For me, I became a vegetarian based off the notion that I consider myself to be very independent. Personally, I could never walk up to a cow and slit its throat so it was strange to me that I was ok with other people doing that for me. I couldn't even watch other people doing it.

So I decided I'd only eat animals that I feel I could kill myself. It's dependent on me knowing what mindset I'm in. I lived in the country for awhile and I would've gladly killed chickens, but when I live in the city, I have a much harder time stomaching things.

I don't look down on people who eat meat, especially people who have killed the animals themselves. I think there needs to be more respect in the killing of animals than what you get on slaughter farms, and hunting can be better. I just can't do it.

Thank you for this. My daughters are 15 and 17. They are both very much their own persons. I've always tried (not always successfully) to encourage their individuality. They're both very bright, creative, kids and I'm very proud of them!

We eat alot of very healthy salads and I do add garbanzo beans as well as many veggies. I also enjoy making several soups, but find them a bit bland without using chicken broth (sorry). Of course, I haven't done this since my daughters decision.

I don't believe we've tried the Boca Burgers yet, but I do get her Morning Star "chicken" and some of the Amy's meals. I will definately check out the Harvard School of Public Health's website. It sounds like it's loaded with good info!

There have been several recipe books recommended. I'll have to spend some time in the local bookstore to see which of them "jump out" at me (and my daughter).

Thank you for this. Being a "noobie", I've tried to express my opinions while being careful not to step on any toes. That first post did kinda take me by suprise. I can appreciate what you had to say and I do respect your opinion.

Thank you. I may seek your advise from time to time. You seem to be very knowledgable on the subject!

richie1 she's a devout vegetarian and a very intelligent woman!

Clearly on both counts. I'm sure she'll be a great resource to help me navigate through a topic that is fairly new to me!