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[MaximumZero]

Vegan or veggie, Max? Because I know some simple veggie dishes which's recepies I can dig up. But nothing without some animal product in it.

I've always planned to go vegetarian, but never managed to go further than a few dinners every now and then. I'm a weak person.

Veggie. She can have cheeses, milk, eggs, butter and whatnot (and would probably strangle someone if she couldn't. The woman is a butter fiend.)

[RedKing]

As I just posted in the sad thread, I'm trying to go dairy-free, and I'm worried it's going to be a bitch and a half. Because most vegetarian recipes use cheese as a source of flavor, fat and protein. And a lot of meat recipes use cheese or cream sauce or what have you.

Think we might be looking at a lot more Asian food, since it tends to be dairy-free and there are many low-meat/no-meat options. South Indian cuisine would be a good start.

[Bauglir]

First off, for all your ground meat products, Textured Vegetable Protein is an admirable substitute for the texture, if not the flavor. And it's far, far cheaper than meat, despite the fact that I was only able to find organic stuff around here.

Secondly, something obnoxiously unhealthy. Pizza. Easy to make and the only thing that isn't immediately obvious is the sauce (at least to me).

------------------------------

I don't have a recipe for the crust. You'll have to ask someone else.
Sauce:
1 cup heavy cream
8 tablespoons butter (usually 1 stick, but I can only speak for the Midwest of the US as to that)
Lots of parmesan cheese, the cheap kind.
Garlic, black pepper, and onion to taste
Toppings
Whatever you want on pizza. You will want mozzarella cheese, at least, and I can further recommend spinach.

Melt the butter into the cream and wait until the mixture comes to the slightest boil. Add cheese, stirring it until it melts, until the cream and butter are emulsified into a single liquid. Add seasonings; for ease of use and cheapness, dried ones are efficient, but fresh garlic and onion are probably more delicious.

Spread some of the sauce onto whatever crust you've prepared; you will have excess sauce, unless you're making a ridiculous quantity of pizza. Top with cheese and other toppings, then more cheese for good measure. Put in the oven for whatever your crust recipe recommends, but experience suggests that 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or so is a good place to start, but that was with a prepared crust.

------------------------------

I'll come back with a recipe for bean burgers once I have some measurements for it.

EDIT: I apologize to RedKing for the above. But those do sound like good choices for research.

[RedKing]

That pizza would be like ingesting a claymore mine for me. "Hey, this is pretty g--.....I'll be back in a few hours. Don't come looking for me."

The OTHER problem is that my wife is highly sensitive to capsicum. And much of the dairy-free, low-meat Asian cuisine that would be so ideal is also spiced to hell and back. That's a plus for me, not so much the wife and kids.


Methinks we might end up doing bread and water each night. 

[Vector]

RedKing, I pretty much don't cook with any dairy but eggs.  Ever.  I'll put up some recipes as soon as I have time.

[RedKing]

Much obliged. I know I have a few good vegetarian ones we've done at home, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Pad Thai is always a good option (except for people with nut allergies).

Also, we can substitute things like soy, rice, almond or coconut milk in recipes. As far as we can tell (and we'll be testing this with the allergist) he doesn't react to those, which means it's probably a casein allergy. Cheese is harder to substitute. Soy cheese tastes like....well, like what you would think soy cheese would taste like. Plus we're kind leery of overdoing the soy thing given the murky data on hormone levels in soy. And like milk, there is soy in EVERYTHING now. I met somebody the other day who's soy-intolerant and their situation is as maddening as mine. There's soy lecithin in everything, even non-food products. I don't know if there's a Big Soy lobby equivalent to Dairy Management, but it wouldn't surprise me.

We recently watched "Food Inc.", which while a tad on the scare-mongering side, really pissed me off more with the way that agribusiness *acts* more than what they're making. Monsanto sueing the crap out of farmers over seed copyrights, or the revolving door that lets the big industries put their own people into the regulatory agencies...I don't wanna derail, but it might be good fodder for the progressive rage thread some time.


So yeah....veggies. Baked kale chips are surprisingly yummy. You just take pieces of kale about the size of your palm, brush generously with olive oil and some salt and pepper and then bake in the oven at 350F for about 12-15 minutes. You can vary up the seasoning (I've seen other recipes that use paprika or garlic salt) to your liking. Very low cal.

[Mushroo]

Apologies that these aren't really "recipes" per se, but I never measure anything in the kitchen. Think of this as more of a general "how to."

I have an electric rice maker and a slow cooker (aka "crock pot"). With these two items I am able to buy dried rice and beans (pinto and black are my favorite) in 20 pound bags, this is a huge cost savings vs. canned/tinned beans.

The beans get soaked overnight, then discard this water (it contains the "farts") and cook them for several hours in the slow cooker until tender.

Rice gets cooked according to the instructions that come with the cooker.

Now we have rice and beans in abundance (you can make enough for a few days at once), this will provide adequate carbs and protein as the staple of our diet, plus a bit of iron and vitamins. However it will be extremely bland (notice we didn't even add salt), so we're not done yet!

The key to adding flavor to a vegetarian diet (or really any diet for that matter) is to choose a short list of basic flavorings you really enjoy! Most seasonings are just some combination of sweet, salty, sour, savory, spicy, and aromatic.

For example: olive oil, garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar
chilis, lime, salt, cilantro
sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar
curry powder, cider vinegar, peanut oil, salt

Then you need to know how to cook vegetables (obviously). There are cookbooks to help you but it really isn't hard. The three secrets are:
1. Cut/chop in consistent-sized pieces so they cook evenly
2. Cook in simple, compatible combinations (a lot of rookie veggie chefs make stir fries with 12 different vegetables, some are overcooked, some are underooked--better to make more dishes each with fewer ingredients)
3. Start with high heat for flavor/color/texture, then add liquid and reduce heat to cook all the way through

So now you have 1 or more really flavorful veggie dishes, you can add that to the plate along with rice and beans and have a complete and flavorful meal! Season to taste at the table with pepper, salt, salsa, ketchup, sour cream, grated cheese, fresh herbs, whatever... that's how I've been doing it for decades!

Also don't forget to eat healthy whole-food snacks like fruit, nuts, raisins, etc. and take a daily multi-vitamin!

[lordcooper]

I should have mentioned this earlier, but veggies need to make certain they're getting a full range of vitamins.  B vitamins (B12 in particular) are all too easy to miss out on.

[Dimitri]

I'm a die-hard omnivore myself (Tried going Veg. at one point, -extremely- negative effects to my health.), but I imagine I have some recipes that can be adapted pretty well.

One basic piece of advice for anyone that intends to cook -anything- : Have a collection of basic seasonings and spices.
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Chili Powder, Bay Leaves, Tony Chachere's, oregano, cumin, coriander and others can make a -massive- difference in a dish.

If I think up anything good, I'll gladly share.

[Bauglir]

Still don't know the volume of the can of tomatoes I usually add, so the bean burger recipe will have to wait. For now, a mutant chili I intend to prepare this Saturday. The quantities are probably slightly off right now, I might update this once I actually do it.

48 oz. V8 or similar (in my case, cheaper) vegetable juice
3 cups apple cider
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes (with garlic and onion)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 rounded cup (dry) textured vegetable protein
6 patties vegan maple "sausage", chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 habanero pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
To taste: honey, cinnamon, black pepper, dried red chili peppers, nutmeg, cloves, cumin, garlic powder, sichuan pepper.

Combine all ingredients except vegetable protein, cider, carrot and sweet potato, simmer for about 3 hours in a slow cooker. In separate pot, combine cider, potato, and carrot, and boil until easily mashed (mostly the potato, carrots apparently take ages to reach this state so I gave up), then mix into the slow cooker mix as a thickener. Add the protein about 5 minutes before eating. The protein may get soggy in the leftovers.

[Toady One]

(I warned somebody for trolling and removed the subsequent derail.  The OP is clear.  Please stay on track.)

[RedKing]

Seriously? Somebody trolled a RECIPE thread? 

[Angel Of Death]

RedKing, I pretty much don't cook with any dairy but eggs. 

I'm pretty sure eggs are not dairy...

[Kay12]

RedKing, I pretty much don't cook with any dairy but eggs. 

I'm pretty sure eggs are not dairy...

Ditto.

Speaking of eggs though, one of my favorite dishes that happens to be vegetarian is Spanish tortilla. I can't provide a good recipe though, because my typical style of making omelettes of all kinds is pretty much like !!SCIENCE!!. It's always turned out delicious, though.

[Blargityblarg]

Eggs are dairy in that they're an animal product that can be extracted without shedding blood, which is one of the definitions.