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09
Why Do So Many Vegan/vegetarian Recipes Use Fake Meats?
ByFor almost a week now I have been searching for easy Vegan/vegetarian recipes, but almost all that I have found call for using fake meats or soy based products. I don’t like fake meat or soy.
Does anyone have any simple healthy recipes.
I’m looking for ones that are easy because I also cook animal based meals for the rest of my family.
Ugh.. I hate fake meats, I really prefer to use non-processed sources for protiens.
Unfortunately I can’t avoid eating them as my dad and veggie brother are ‘addicted’ to them. I managed to last a week making meals to my own tastes for the whole family before they started wanting quorn again.When it came to food, that was the best week of my life, and I was much more energetic than I normally am.
I have an easy one pan recipie that I came up with myself – oriental style quinoa salad, that I sometimes eat when its only me I’m cooking for.
50gm quinoa
1/2 tin of mixed bean salad, drained and rinsed
[handful of cherry tomatoes
small handful of sugar snap peas, fresh or frozen.
a few baby corn on the cobs(the very small ones you get in stir fry veggies)
a few water chesnuts]
all of the veggies in the square brackets are to the persons tastes. You can use as many or as few as you want, or use totally different veggies if you prefer.
1 teaspoon of green chillies (from the pickle jar)
1 teaspoon of ‘lazy ginger’, or freshly grated ginger root
1/4 teaspoon of ‘lazy garilc’, or freshly crushed garlic if you prefer.
Put the lot in a pan together, pour boiling water over them, bring to the boil and cook for about 10-15 minuites, adding more water if the pan starts to get dry.
Leave covered for about 5 minutes to let the quinoa absorb the rest of the water
Eat!.
You could try substituting rice for quinoa if you like.
I’ve just come up with an idea for another recipie! This one would be great for summer. As I haven’t tried making it myself yet I’m not sure about the amounts.
No cooking required!
Tinned chick peas, drained and rinsed
cucumber cubes
celery
baby spinich leaves
cherry tomatoes or chopped salad tomatoes
spring onions or small chopped onion
cubed beetroot
chopped red pepper
mixed nuts and seeds to taste
plain bio-yogurt to taste
lemon juice
black pepper
please bear in mind that the salad elements can be experimented with
arrange the baby spinich leaves on your plate
mix the salad elements, onions and chick peas together, and place on top of spinich leaves
season with lemon juice and black pepper
sprinkle with nuts and seeds
add a dollop of yogurt if you choose
eat with pitta breads.
Here are some interesting things to try (yes I have done these before)
Unsweetened strawberries with cardamon seeds
Apple goes well in dry chick pea curry (chick pea dahl)
One reason is that they tend to not digest as quickly. Also it takes awhile to cook other foods. If you have lots of vegetables and fruit around, you can just cook more of them and use pasta, bread, potatoes, etc. for your bulk. Many pastas don’t have meat in them unless you add it. You can cook some with the meat on the side and just add the meat to your families. I’ve eaten a lot of vegetable sandwiches: tomato, avocado, lettuce, onion, mushroom, etc. You can make shepherd’s pie without meat. Tex-Mex food can easily be made devoid of meat. Just cook it with vegetable oils, add the meat after you’ve made your bean burritos, tacos, etc. Many breakfast foods don’t require meat. Cold cereal, mush, pancakes, waffles. You can eat the hashbrowns and give them the bacon. If you just think of almost any meal without meat you will find it is possible. The fake meats help, if you are a very good cook, to allow you to make vegetarian food for your family which both of you will love. You will probably find that you are eating a lot more vegetable and fruits which you never expected. I hope you enjoy the adventure and find some really good recipes. btw, I didn’t provide recipes because I don’t use them for anything but bread and other complex dishes.
Many Vegan or vegetarian recipes use fake meat because of the flavor they impart to the food. Many people may miss the texture of meats, but for ethical reasons, choose not to consume meat. So, meat alternatives are a good substitute. However, what people don’t realize is that they can use NUTS as a meat substitute, which is much, much healtheir.
Many raw food vegans use nuts in their recipes to make delicious foods, such as raw vegan burritos, tacos, etc. you can view many of these types of recipes by visiting http://www.rawpeople.com and clicking on the recipe page.
Actually, most of the cookbooks I have are very sparse on the fake meats, even tofu. I love to cook with whole grains, veggies, fruits, eggs and dairy. This is a current fav book right now:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587612…
HEre’s some good recipes too, very light on the fake meats:http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchre…
They use them because veggies/vegans dont eat meat, right? so to replace that they use fake meat because its tasty and healthy.