Adding Variety And Vitality To Your Vegetarian Meals

Those who are not vegetarians almost certainly wonder how a vegetarian cook can make vegetarian meals stimulating with only vegetables at his disposal. This same thought might be stopping or at least deterring some meat-eaters from giving up meat and trying vegetarianism. The fact is, that vegetarian meals are not just 'meat and two veg' without the meat, although forty years ago there were numerous vegetarians who began like that.

However, a lifestyle of 'meat and two veg' without the meat is not sustainable. A person who eats meals such as these will soon fall sick, especially if there is no fish, dairy or eggs in the diets either. Many vegetarians choose to eat a small amount to dairy, fish or eggs to help supply much needed protein, which can be difficult to replace in a met-free diet.

Vegetarians have to plan their meals far more than meat-eaters in order to eat everything that a body needs to grow, repair itself and defend itself from disease. It will obviously take some time for the newcomer to vegetarianism to learn new recipes and how to cook them so in the beginning, lots of vegetarians do indeed cook meals which are of the 'meat and two veg' without the meat sort.

This is all right if you know what to exchange for the meat. There are several items in the stores, and one of the most useful is soya in all its various types. Tempeh is a soya bean meat substitute and so is tofu. Both these can be used to replace meat for a dose of protein.

The good thing about these substances is that they can be made to taste of anything you like - they take on flavours fairly readily. They can also be treated to be similar to the texture of meat.

Seitan (wheat gluten) is a similarly adaptable and useful product, but you have to be sure that you are not allergic to gluten first, because this allergy seems to be spreading. Soya bean products and seitan can be easily bought at health food shops and Oriental stores.

As you become more proficient at cooking vegetarian meals, you will almost certainly rely less heavily on these things. Beans and nuts are also helpful substitutes, but you will probably have to learn how to use them first. Take a look at chickpeas, lentils but kidney beans.

Soya by-products like soya milk and soya yoghurt and even soya margarine can be used to take the place of normal dairy products. You can also create a sort of healthy milk from rice water or / and blended nuts. Apart from making milk and casseroles from nuts, some nuts are excellent in salads. Have a go with walnuts, cashews and almonds and try seeds as well like sesame and poppy. Sunflower seeds and others are great for snacks.

Bread and sandwiches are good vegetarian fast foods. Experiment with different sorts of flour. Buy yourself a bread-making machine and make your own bread. Preparation time is minutes but you can set the timer to cook the bread for whenever you like. Seven in the morning is better than any alarm clock.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several topics, and is currently concerned with vegetarian recipes for kids. If you want to know more or check out some fantastic offers, please go to our site at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.