Asymmetrical Information

Meatless chili is easy to make and tastes as good as the "real" kind. It's also quite convenient, as you can make a fairly large quantity on the weekend and just heat it up for quick meals during the week.

Beer.

Oh, sorry. My bachelor status is showing. Do clams count as meat? If they don't a nice clam linguine works well... butter, garlic, mushrooms, canned clams, some green stuff (parsley?). I'd be more specific, but I usually just wing it, and it's been a while.

"I've spent about equal amounts of time as vegetarian and carnivore."
That's funny, so have I. Bite of potatoes, vegetarian. Bite of venison, carnivore. Bite of potatoes, vegetarian. Bite of steak, carnivore. :)

Alton Brown did an episode about Wheat that had some great recipes in it, from a soup that isn't, to a pudding.

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season7/EA1G07.htm

learning how to make a good Spanish tortilla isn't hard, but the dish itself is quite excellent. a staple in any veg-er-tarian diet (or in my case, libertarian dabbler).

What's your easiest meatless, cheeseless dish?

Other than spinich salad? Don't have any.

Is fish allowed? I love a nice slab of wild-caught sockeye, grilled (in a foil tray) or broiled with lemon, butter and fresh ground pepper. You can't call that unhealthy.

It's got to be eggs, then, and the way most people freak out about the cholesterol in eggs, I'd be willing to bet she won't eat enough of them.

I'm very curious as to why this person thinks that eating vegetarian is more healthy than eating meat! It's a lot more difficult to get the nutrients you need without eating meat, especially if you can't rely on dairy to make up your protein sources.

If this mother is nursing, she should know that consuming large quantities of soy is a very bad idea. Taking phytoestrogens can be helpful during menopause but has been shown to cause thyroid problems in infants. The phytoestrogens she eats will end up in her breast milk.

Anyway: I like a good bowl of oatmeal, but I like to boost the protein a bit. My husband came up with this great recipe:

1/3 C quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 C vanilla whey protein powder
1/8 C almond meal (ground almonds)
3/4 C water

Mix all together in a microwave-safe bowl; nuke on high for about 2 minutes. Stir; Let stand about another 2 or 3 minutes. Eat with your usual oatmeal add-ins; my favorite is cinnamon and few raisins and/or chopped pecans, with a splash of milk or half-n-half. (For the long story + nutrition information, here's the column.)

Eggless or not?

The whole omelet family is awesome if you don't mind eating lots of eggs.

But for eggless, here's Curried Lentils.

2 cups dry lentils (the vivid orange ones are best)
1 garlic clove
2 bay leaves
1 piece ginger as big as the first joint of your thumb
Water to cover generously

Cook together until lentils are soft. (I often do this in the evening).

1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 cup coconut cream (NOT milk)
1 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Add and cook for a few minutes. (I often do this the next morning).

Small handful chopped cilantro

Add to hot lentils. (I often reheat in the evening, add the cilantro, and eat for supper.)

These are awesome. They take time to cook, but the prep time is minimal.

Beans and rice.
I start with two pounds of dried beans. When they're cooked, I add
a couple of red onions, coursely chopped,
a couple of bell peppers ditto,
a couple of cans of diced tomatoes.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, cayenne.
I also add a large dollop of miso paste, for thickness and flavor.

You can add meat of course; I've used cooked hamburger and sausage.

World's easist recipe:

1 can black beans
1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups rice

Cook the rice. Drain the beans and put into bowl with tomatoes. Heat in microwave.

Serve beans/tomatoes over rice.

(And if a person wanted cheese, a little shredded cheddar on top is nice.)

Jane,

I think you meant to write that you have split time between being a herbivore and an omnivore.

%*&$(&*...

Yancey beat me to it...

On the recipe front, 'The Vegetarian Epicure' and Madhur Jaffries' vegetarian books are good. I've found too many others are preaching, when I'd really rather just cook dinner.

I'm not actually a vegetarian, but the Veg Ep has an outstanding Mac and Cheese. Too bad about your friends' requirement.

So easy it's hardly even a recipe:

Brown rice (which can be cooked in advance)
some tahini (sesame butter)
1/3 as much miso as the tahini (I prefer the lighter colors)

Mix them together. Pleasant hot or cold. Can be improved with veggies.

"Meatless chili...tastes as good as the 'real' kind."

Chili isn't my religion, so I won't order up an exorcism for you, but were I from Texas, I certainly would. Seems like you've never eaten chili before.

Meatless "chili" might indeed be edible, particularly in a scenario like Katrina or after worldwide nuclear annihilation, but it no-way, no-how tastes like chili.

Ground turkey can be done. Rattlesnake is a regional delicacy. Venison, elk, buffalo, quail? All are options. But a bunch of beans is not chili.

Furthermore, any sort of mush-meal, whether or not meated, can be meted out and frozen in servings. We do that often. Mush meals, soups, pasta sauces, etc., are a delicious, homemade, healthy, non-budget-busting alternative to buying prefab meals at Whole Paychecks.

But beans are not chili.:-)

Not exactly a recipe, but more of a concept.

Saute some garlic in some olive oil and (if they're not being strict about this vegetarian thing) a chopped up anchovy or two (trust me, you won't taste anchovy, the entire dish will just taste a bit more savory and meaty). Add a vegetable of choice (broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, green beans, zucchini, or eggplant are all good choices) and a can of chopped tomatoes. Cook until the vegetable is crisp-tender, then toss with a pound of pasta. Top either with breadcrumbs sauteed in a small amount of butter (good breadcrumbs are necessary--I save the heels of sandwich bread in the freezer, grind them in the food processor when I've collected a few, and then re-freeze the breadcrumbs) or with toasted pine nuts.

RGT,

That is ok, AughtSix beat us both to it.

I forgot kosheri, a staple of my teenage diet.

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/african/kosheri.html

My best friend was from Egypt, and I always got to stay for dinner when they had this. They cooked the lentils and rice together rather than layering them (one less pan).

1 box lentil pilaf mix (I prefer Near East brand)

What happened to Near East? I used to love their rice pilaf, but they reformulated it a couple of years ago, cut the price, kept tinkering with both, and now it's stabilized with a higher price and a lousy taste.

I know I'm not completely hallucinating this because my wife commented on it before I did. It's the most frustrating reformulation since they redid Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch! I've moved on to Zattarain's (as an alternative to Near East, not to Cap'n Crunch).

A meal without cheese? Unthinkable.

I've moved on to Zattarain's (as an alternative to Near East, not to Cap'n Crunch).

Although, uncooked, I am sure Zattarain's would stay crunchy in milk!

One of my favirote veggie dishes that my husband makes (I don't cook, I bake) is super easy. You take some zucchini, some yellow squash, some red peppers and some onions. You cut them up into big pieces, 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick and spread them out on a cookie sheet or broiling pan. Then take Newman's Own balsamic vinagrette. Shake well. Pour some on top of veggies. Broil until veggies are tender.

Yum.

You can do it with portabello mushrooms too, which reminds me of another recipe. When we had a Superbowl party once we had a bunch of vegatarians so we made steak sandwiches for the omnivoures on a nice crusty bread with horseradish mayo, watercress, and grilled onions. For the veg-heads we did the same thing except with grilled portabello mushrooms. It was a big hit.

Eat Indian food.

OK. That's not a recipe, but there are now several packaged Indian food staples that can be bought that produce excellent meals, in particular if you have your own spices to help the usually bland flavorings.

From scratch, whole spinach, reduce in oil and garlic, add chili powder, tumeric and coriander. Bread or naan or pita on the side (or rice if you prefer, though wheat offers good amount of protein). A bean dish on the side for more protein and fiber. Spinach is an excellent source of iron, which is really what most vegetarians miss (not protein).

Oh, and buy me,
A pressure cooker.

I don't know about "Easiest", and I almost never cook anything without either meat or (horrors!) cheese.

But burritos are quick (half an hour if they have meat in them, half of which is browning/heating the meat, depending on the meat), and quite edible without meat.

Prepare vegetables to taste (onions, garlic, green onion, bell pepper, chili pepper if desired, diced appropriately to their type). Heat refried beans in a pot/saucepan, heat a pan to warm tortillas (ideally cast-iron).

Warm tortillas on the hot pan, add ingredients to taste. People who like it and think it's not too non-veggie can add sour cream. Other people, or the same ones, can add hot sauce to taste.

Devour ravenously.

(And of course for us carnivores, some ground beef cooked with chili powder, or some leftover pork-roast pan-fried to get hot and a little crunchy [carnitas!] puts it Right There.)

Gosh, lotsa comments. This is stolen from http://www.bugbear.com/riceandbeans.html:

Rice and Beans

olive oil or butter
n yellow onions
3n cloves garlic
n 12-oz cans Goya white beans
n cubes Knorr beef bouillon
n teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3n teaspoons cumin
n cups rice, preferably sushi rice

Put rice in rice cooker. Add water as specified on rice package. (Default: 2 cups water per cup of rice.) Turn on rice cooker and forget about it.

Chop onions and fry in oil, over fairly low heat, till glassy. Put in chopped garlic, pepper, cumin, and a little more fat, and stir. Keep heat low. Cook another 2 or 3 minutes, then add beans (don't drain the beans), and stir. Throw in the bouillon cube(s), cover, and cook on lowish heat for at least 10 minutes more. Stir vigilantly to avoid sticking.

Hmm, now that I think about it, boullion != vegetarian. Oh well

www.VRG.org is an excellent place to look as is www.monicabhide.com - & ofcourse good old Trader Joe's has lots of packaged desi vegetarian eats that puts even Indian restaurants to shame

The caveat is that they're looking for recipes without cheese, the eternal resort of the time pressed vegetarian; and they have a small baby.

Please tell that the baby isn't a vegetarian.

Due to my Dad's heart problems I grew up eating a lot of vegetarian meals. One of the family favorites came from a well-worn Jane Brody cookbook. It's delicious and and very healthy.

Lentils Ole (originally from the Jane Brody Good Food Gourmet, modified)

1c lentils
3c water
1/2c chopped scallions (green & white parts), or onion (either is good)
1/2c green peppers, diced
1/2c red peppers, diced
1 TBSP chili powder (adjust to taste, esp. if you use spicy chili powder)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed (what I use) or 1 tsp ground cumin
4 cloves minced garlic
1-2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 TBSP molasses

Bring the lentils and water to a boil, then cover & simmer for about 25 - 30
minutes until soft but not mushy. While the lentils cook, saute the scallions,
pepppers, garlic, chili powder and cumin in 1 TBSP vinegar til the vegetables
are limp (about 2 mins). (NB: I do use a nonstick pan for this step.)
Add tomato sauce and molasses, cook for 1 minute (scrape the stuck pieces
off the pan), taste and add more vinegar if needed (I usually add another
TBSP). Add mixture to lentils and cook until heated through.

Great over rice, or maybe as a burrito or taco filling (recommend using less
than 3c. water then, since this comes out very sauce-y).

This takes as long to cook as a pot of rice:

1 large onion
1 large eggplant
3 medium tomatoes
2 toes garlic
1 handful chopped cilantro (optional but good)
3 tbs. olive oil
Spike to taste

Peel the eggplant and dice. Dice tomatoes and chop onion. In a wok or skillet, saute pressed garlic in olive oil until color just changes. Add veggies except cilantro and Spike and sautee until onions are translucent. Cover and simmer over low heat until eggplant is completely soft. Add cilantro and simmer another five minutes. May be eaten over rice or with nan.

yours/
peter

Eggplant and garlic soup, which I don't have time to post here, but a google search should provide it. The recipe also calls for tomatoes, and if you grow your own, now you really have a delicacy. The eggplant is sliced, then roasted in the broiler, before being pureed with the tomatoes and the sauteed garlic, and whatever fresh herbs one may have available that strikes one fancy, and then allowed to simmer for a short time. Most recipes call for salting and peeling eggplant, but I never bother; I think the skins add a pleasant, slight, bitterness in the finish, which in this recipe provides a nice contrast to the mainly fruity taste.

Of course, if one grows one's own tomatoes, there are numerous meatless sauce delicacies that can be made, even without resorting to cheese. Get a pasta maker (a vegetarian cook would be crazy not to have one), and one will never order pasta again from 98% of the restaurants that supposedly specialize in Italian cuisine. Frankly, any vegetarian cook who has even a sunny balcony, and does not grow his or her own tomatoes, is purely masochistic.

We've gone almost exclusively to the "Okinawa Diet" (using the Okinawan fusion because we can't get some of the ingredients here in rural far-northern California) ... and wow are we a couple of suddenly healthy 60-year-olds.

Here are some quickies:

Steamed cauliflower with sauces of sauteed mushrooms or onions or roasted bell peppers or combinations of all these things and more...in either butter/olive oil combo, straight evoo, or canola.

Stuffed Zucchini (particularly helpful in the summer when friends leave them on your porch in the middle of the night): with anything available. We like mixtures of fresh tomatoes and millet -- or brown rice, eggs, and carmelized onions -- or, again, almost anything. The key is to roast or steam the zukes first. Here's a link for a zucchini cookbook that also supports a small Canadian museum: www.glen-net.ca/museums/dvzukes.html

A friend of mine...has decided to go vegetarian four to five days a week, mostly because they're getting pretty unhealthy.

Seems to me that the best response here is not to offer vegetarian recipes, but to point out that cutting meat out of his diet isn't going to make him any healthier.

PETA/PCRM propaganda not withstanding, meat is at worst a perfectly acceptable component of a healthful diet, and arguably an important one.

If he's looking for ways to improve his diet, I'd suggest cutting back on things like refined sugars and starches, deep-fried foods, or maybe the fattier cuts of meat and high-fat dairy products.

But trying to improve your health by eating meat only on weekends is like trying to eliminate the budget deficit by cutting foreign aid.

I actually prefer vegetables to meat.

That may well be, but meat and vegetables have entirely different nutritional functions. They're complements, not substitutes.

A passable pasta dish includes:

- Your favorite pasta type, cooked the normal way with a bit of olive oil in the water to minimize sticking.

- Fresh garlic, mushrooms (portabella or other flavorful exotics if you can afford them; if not, sliced white are fine), scallions and/or red onions, a hint of basil and/or rosemary, a bit of spinach, and anything else that sounds good, lightly sauteed with a hint of butter and olive oil.

- Toss the whole works together with the pasta and fresh olive oil, then add toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, and any manner of steamed vegetables (small broccoli and cauliflower florets usually work best, a few chopped carrots...) Lightly grilled or sauteed zucchini and summersquash slices are also a nice addition.

- Lightly season the works with cooking wine or balsamic vinegar, if more flavor is desired.

- Serve hot with a side of marinara sauce as a fresh meal, or serve cold as a pasta salad. (The pine nuts will get soggy after a day or so, though.)

Those who don't object to meat and cheese can zing it up another notch with sliced grilled chicken and alfredo sauce, or sliced steak with a strong cheese crumbled/shredded over the top. There's nothing new or unusual in the dish, it's just a matter of having the ingredients and combining them together.

"The caveat is that they're looking for recipes without cheese, the eternal resort of the time pressed vegetarian; and they have a small baby."

Great. Then they can trade off four parts cheese to one part baby.

I should add, another way to zing up the summer vegetable garden once you've worn out the possibilities for summersquash and zucchini is to slice both of those along with bell peppers, and mushrooms and red or white onions (these should be chunked, not separated into individaul peels). Then skewer the works with whole large cherry tomatoes.

Place on the grill at low-to-medium heat and turn regularly while (carefully) spraying with oil and dusting with black pepper and garlic powder. Or baste with a thickened terriyaki sauce. Once the tips of the vegies blacken, the onions soften, and the tomatoes pop open, you have yourself some first-class eating. Highly addictive, although you probably don't want to make more than a weekly habit of this since the end result has seen a slight upgrade in its carcinogen content.

Subtract the tomatoes, and change the seasonings to basil, garlic powder, and celery salt, and a similar (but unblackened) result can be obtained by roasting the vegetables in a shallow cooking tray at 375 for about 45 minutes, stirring regularly.

I'm a big fan of homemade hummus, and all it takes is a can of chickpeas, some tahini, some olive oil, garlic, and whatever spices you'd like to add (salt, lemon juice, jalapeno pepper, etc). Just toss it in the food processor and let 'er rip!

Speaking as a confirmed carnivore, I agree with Kate that portabello mushrooms make a wonderful substitute for meat. I just throw them into a skillet with a little olive oil, and give them a few minutes per side.

If you're only cooking for one or two, there's a quick and easy way to make a side of corn on the cob without heating up the stove or boiling a big pot of water. Take an ear of corn (or two), wrap it in a couple of squares of paper towel, soak it in water, wrap that in plastic wrap, and nuke the whole thing on high for five minutes.

Finally, if you don't count fish as meat (some folks I know don't), Good Eats did an episode on pouch cooking (which will be re-run on March 26 @ 7:00 EDT) that had several quick and easy seafood recipes, including a salmon recipe you can make in the microwave. (available at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_24168,00.html)

If you haven't seen it, one of the nice things about Good Eats is that instead of just giving you recipes, Alton Brown explains the concepts behind what he's doing, so you can tinker with his recipes, adapting them to your own tastes.

The most amazing thing in the world especially in summer is a salad with cold rice and hard boiled eggs and, bizarre as it sounds, a bit of cilantro mixed in with the lettuce. I find sheeps milk cheese nice and it doesn't present the mucous-y, digestive disadvantages of some dairy. The sky is pretty much the limit for additional stuff (cold pollo desmenuzado if you're eating meat that day) but you can keep the prep-needing elements handy.

Oatmeal. Because I like it, especially with dried cranberries or raisins, and a little milk on top.

Easiest thing in the world:

Get a crock pot. Get a 46-ounce can of tomato juice for $1.29. Get whatever mixed vegetables you like (lima beans suck).

Put everything in the crock pot. Season to taste (after some experimentation you will know what to do). Turn the switch. Wait a few hours.

Very cheap, fast, tasty, nutritious.

Succotash and brown rice.
Succotash: Saute a couple of cloves garlic (or more) and half a cup of scallions or vidalia onions (or more) in olive oil. Add a cup of water with two cups lima beans and four cups corn. Simmer on low to medium heat for about 45 minutes (keep adding water as necessary), and season as you wish. I use salt, pepper, cayenne.
Steam brown rice.
Dee-lish!

What's your easiest meatless, cheeseless dish?

Raisin Bran + Milk

You can't get easier than that!

Back when I was an impoverished college student, I had some recipes based on beans and brown rice - not from any vegetarian impulses, but because meat is costly, and I knew where to get huge bags of rice and dried beans very cheap. But I can't remember them now. I think I flavored them with some fat pork, anyhow... As for healthy - I downed 5,000 calories a day and remained scrawny in those days, so my recipes probably aren't much good for people with a normal metabolism.

A good source of recipes is www.vegweb.com. I also like Vegan Planet because their recipes are quick and easy, but with a big variety of taste options. I'm a carnivore, but we have a couple of veg meals a week and those are my favorite sources.

1.5 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1 tbs corn oil
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix, pour 1/3 at a time on hot, smooth, greased frying pan and flip when top bubbles. Serve with syrup.

My faves in that vein all come out of cookbooks (Indian ones, mostly), so I don't want to post them here. Let's just say that you can make some mighty tasty things with basmati rice, cauliflower, onions, potatoes, cilantro, cumin, turmeric, salt, vegetable oil, and water. (I have in mind here two different dishes, neither involving all those ingredients, though frankly it would be easy enough to use all of them, and probably equally yummy.)

The two basic procedures involved:

(1) Take some already-cooked rice and fry it a bit in some veggie oil; throw in whatever vegetables you like, plus some salt and some spices; fry a little longer, then add some water and steam awhile; and

(2) Fry some diced potatoes w/spices for a few minutes, then add (uncooked, but soaked & drained) rice and fry the mix together a few minutes more; then add water (preferably the water you soaked the rice in), bring to roughly simmer conditions, and after ten minutes or so turn the heat down as far as you can and give it another ten minutes or so.

I owe both those to Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking, which FWIW is full of other great vegetarian fare. Those are just two really easy methods of making a tasty veggie dish from a few ingredients.

chop up some ginger & garlic, saute a minute or two in oil (preferably peanut). Add a pound of tofu, cubed. Add any combination of cooked mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, green beans, zucchini or other squash, all diced or chopped into 1/2 inch chunks. Previously, have sauce mixed up: corn starch dissolved in stock (I use chicken, but veg or plain water will do); soy, sesame oil, chili paste, rice vinegar. Pour over mixed tofu & veggies, let thicken. Add scallions and cook a minute more. Serve over white rice.

Get a pressure cooker and make beans.

Ingredients:
Beans, dry (pinto or black or whatever)
Vegetable bullion (not beef, pork, or chicken!) - 2-3 cubes
garlic - as much as you can stand
water to fill pot to max line

Put beans, water, bullion, garlic in pressure cooker. Secure lid, cook at pressure and temp for necessary period of time (I can't remember our latest - perhaps 10 minutes on the flame, and allow to sit under pressure for 30?). Serve with hot corn (we nuke frozen kernels, but fresh is good), sour cream, good salsa or fresh green chile, and diced onion, cilantro, or even fresh guacamole all stirred together, and/or with steamed corn tortillas. A large pot of beans is great to have around for snacks, lunch, dinner, and even breakfast (with eggs).

The pressure cooker is the greatest invention since sliced bread. You can make 3 day beans in an hour with one. And it only uses 10-20 minutes of actual energy-using cooking time.

I'll also second meatless chile stew. Barry, beans are an excellent substitute - indeed, far more people in the actual chile-eating part of the world (where I live) eat beans and corn tortillas as a regular staple then eat that greasy concoction of kidney beans hamburger meat known and misspelled in Texas as "chili". Meat doesn't add much flavor, mostly just texture. Know anyone who eats meat plain, i.e. without salt, garlic, and other spices?

I'll also second Indian and Mediterranean cuisine.

Comments are Closed.