EasyVeg

If you’re at all familiar with PETA, you know that they’re pretty serious about vegetarianism and veganism, and that they’d like to encourage everyone to go completely vegan. You may also know that PETA uses some of the most horrifying animal cruelty videos that would bring even the most hardened meat-eaters to tears as their encouragement.

That being said, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find practical, reasonable advice on their vegcooking.com site.

Basically, their advice is “don’t sweat the small stuff.” The small stuff being trace amounts of animal products that may be in your food. If you are changing your diet primarily for the sake of animals, you may find this advice a little confusing. Especially coming from PETA! Their point, though, is that eliminating animal flesh from your diet has a great enough impact. Also, if you go CRAZY sorting out trace animal products from your diet, your diet will be harder to maintain, and others who may otherwise consider going vegetarian, may be turned off by your dogmatic practices.

Sage advice from the folks at PETA. I can’t believe it either.

I’ve been testing out recipes from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals almost daily since I first laid my hands on the book. So far, my absolute favorite, hands down, has been the Hot Thai Soup. Some of the ingredients are a little different. I hadn’t used them before in my cooking, anyway. And I did have to do some very careful searching of the grocery store aisles to find a few of the items. However, I was able to find almost everything I needed at my local grocery store - not a specialty market. (I’ll note any changes I made to the recipe in parentheses.)

Ingredients
6 cups water (6 cups vegetable broth - I think it adds more flavor)
1 tsp. salt (omitted because I used veggie broth)
3 lemongrass stalks, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
1 tsp. slivered fresh ginger (1/2 tsp. dry, ground ginger)
1 cup canned sliced bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained (I used the whole can)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbsp. Tamari
Juice of 1 lime
2 cups cooked jasmine rice
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh Thai basil, for garnish (omitted because I couldn’t find it)

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine the water, salt, lemongrass, chiles, and ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Strain the broth through a sieve (I used a slotted spoon to remove the lemongrass stalks and chiles because I don’t have a sieve), return it to the saucepan and boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add bamboo shoots, coconut milk, tamari and lime juice. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place 1/2 cup of rice in the bottom of each bowl, ladle the soup over the rice, sprinkle with basil leaves, and serve hot.

Tip
Tamari is just a richer kind of soy sauce. If you can’t find it, or you already have soy sauce on hand, you can use regular soy sauce in its place.

If you’ve been looking for a place to look up vegetarian or vegan friendly restaurants, grocery stores, or any other veg-friendly businesses, you’re in luck. VegGuide.Org is here to help. VegGuide is a community maintained and updated site that lists and rates veg-friendly businesses. In addition to listing and rating these places, VegGuide also lets you know just how veg each place is. It ranges from “not veg-friendly” all the way up to “vegan” with ratings in between of “vegetarian friendly,” “vegan friendly,” and “vegetarian.” The site also offers approximate price range, maps, hours of operation, whether or not the restaurant is smoke free, reviews, and sometimes even pictures of the place. VegGuide.Org arms its readers with a wealth of information.

You can also log in to the site to list or add your own favorite veg-friendly places, or rate and review a place already listed. Add VegGuide to your bookmarks, and never wonder where you can go out to eat again!

Try this quick and easy recipe from Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller. All the ingredients come right out of your pantry, so you don’t have to worry about slicing and chopping ingredients or making sure to use produce before it goes bad. Make it even quicker by using Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown Ready Rice. Just pop it in the microwave for a minute and a half, and add it when the recipe dictates. It even comes in the amount required by the recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups instant brown rice
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1 tablespoon onion flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can white or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (11-ounce) can corn, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and set pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer. Simmer until rice is cooked. Fold in rice and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Could that be any easier?

Going out to eat as a vegetarian can be a little tricky sometimes. Scanning the menu not only for things that sound good to eat, but also don’t have any meat products in them can be time consuming and frustrating. There’s really no need to worry, though.

First of all, as with most things, the more you do it, the easier it will become. After a while, you’ll be an old pro at knowing what items or entire sections of menus to avoid.

Secondly, most restaurants have vegetarian items clearly marked or have entire sections of their menus devoted to vegetarian meals. Chili’s is one such restaurant. They have on their ‘Guiltless Grill’ section of the menu a ‘Guiltless Black Bean Burger’ that is HUGE, satisfying, tasty, and of course, meatless. Also at Chili’s, you can custom order any of their regular hamburgers with a black bean burger patty instead. Obviously ordering a ‘Big Mouth Bacon Burger’ with a black bean patty is defeating the purpose, but if you’ve been missing the ‘Mushroom-Swiss’ burger, have at it!

Nobody cooks quite like mom. Whenever I visit home, I always request my mom’s calebacitas. It’s a vegetable side dish that can be paired with any Mexican entrée, or if you like it as much as I do, you can just eat a heaping serving as a meal. Here is my take on my mom’s dish.

Ingredients
4-6 Zucchini
1.5 cups frozen corn kernels
1 medium onion, diced
1 small can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions
Slice zucchini into 1/4″ or 1/2″ rounds. Place in a pot, and add water until zucchini are just covered. Cook over med-high heat until zucchini are tender and centers become slightly translucent. Drain and set zucchini aside.
Re-heat pot over med-high heat, and add olive oil. Add onions and stir frequently until onions are tender.
Reduce heat to med-low. Add cooked zucchini, corn kernels, and tomato sauce. Stir gently to blend ingredients.
Fold in cheese little by little, until all ingredients are mixed together.
Eat!

Tips
Don’t over cook the zucchini, as they will break apart and become mushy.

This is a recipe from New Vegetarian Cuisine. It was so quick, easy, and tasty, I found absolutely no reason to tweak it or change it in anyway. Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 cups cooked orzo
1.25 cups chopped tomatoes
1 box (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
0.5 cup chopped scallions
3 oz feta cheese, crumbled
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
1 Tbsp nonfat sour cream
4 sweet red peppers

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9″x9″ baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Slice the tops off the peppers and remove seeds and membranes. If necessary, slice a small amount off the bottom of the peppers so they are able to stand upright.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the orzo, tomatoes, spinach, scallions, feta, mint, and sour cream.
4. Spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers, and place peppers upright into baking dish.
5. Bake peppers for 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Eat warm or cold.

I’m all about soy meat replacements. They make my life easier (and tastier!). They make meal planning a cinch, provide a decent source of protein, and let me enjoy foods that would normally be off-limits for my diet - like corn dogs, which I love.

I’ve always held the opinion, however, that some things just couldn’t be replaced by a soy product and taste any good. Ice cream was one of those things. Until I found this:

I was initially drawn to the fact that these ‘ice cream’ bars were only 90 calories a piece. I figured that I could satisfy my late-night sweet tooth with one of these and not gain 50 lbs. - which I felt I was well on the way to with the help of Ben & Jerry’s. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these frozen treats were not only low in calories and fat, but were also heavenly tasting. Even my extraordinarily skeptical hubby loves them. They also come in two fruit cream flavors that, by the way, have even fewer calories! I’ve personally only had the orange cream, but it was just stellar. If and when my local store gets a hold of the raspberry cream flavor, I certainly won’t hesitate to test it out.

Here is a quick and easy pasta recipe with big, beefy flavor (minus the beef).

Ingredients
1 lb. whole wheat penne pasta (or whatever pasta you like)
2 oz. mixed dried mushrooms (the packs I got had porcini, portobello, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms)
1 c hot water
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine mushrooms and hot water in shallow bowl. Let sit about 10 minutes until mushrooms are softened. Drain mushrooms, reserving soaking liquid, and coarsely chop.
Warm the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook stirring frequently for about 1 or 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, soaking liquid, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir in milk, and simmer until sauce thickens slightly.
Meanwhile, cook penne according to package instructions. Drain and return to pot. Pour mushroom mixture over pasta, add Parmesan and parsley. Toss together, and eat!

Tips
Check the weight on your package of dried mushrooms. Many come in 1/2 oz packs, so make sure you’re buying enough for the recipe.
If you prefer larger pieces of mushroom, or your soaked mushrooms aren’t too big to eat, you may skip draining and chopping them, and just toss the entire contents of the bowl into the pan. It makes this recipe even easier.

One-Dish Vegetarian Meals is a keeper! It’s also a good place for vegetarian newbies or those toying with the idea of becoming vegetarian to get their feet wet. It offers recipes for simple meals, and the fact that they are all one-dish meals takes the intimidation factor out of the cooking process almost completely.

Before diving right into the recipes, in a section entitled A Vegetarian Kitchen, Robertson gives the reader general information about what makes a healthful vegetarian diet, introduces us to a few commonly used ingredients (e.g. different varieties of rices, beans, and pastas), and gives tips on how to cook or prepare some of these foods. She also notes in this section that all the recipes in this book are “dairy optional,” and gives non-dairy alternatives for the few dairy ingredients used in her recipes. For that reason, this book is perfect for not only new vegetarians, but those interested in vegan cooking as well.

I was a little disappointed, however, that the pictures on the front and back covers were the only pictures of food the book offered. I personally find that seeing a picture of something that looks delicious inspires me to want to cook it more than anything else. However, that alone wouldn’t stop me from recommending this cookbook.