Simple tricks to incorporate more vegetarian recipes into your diet.
Convincing anyone to eat a vegetarian lifestyle is sometimes a little hard. Especially if they are convinced that they will go hungry if they only eat veggies. For me, my husband actually suggested it after his uncle had a heart transplant – bad hearts run in the family, and a healthy plant based diet has been linked to addressing heart disease risk. That was 3 years ago.
Since then, we have flip-flopped back between vegan, vegetarian and “meat-eaters”, but mostly, we just don’t cook meat at home. The biggest reason? We have found a huge number of recipes that fill you up, are clean, healthy and delicious. We still eat meat outside of the house, but our grocery bills thank us each month for skipping the meat aisle.
A few things to get you going on the right track:
Mix it up
You’ve heard of meatless Monday’s – make that a night in your house, or make it 2-3 meals per week. There is no reason you can’t make 3 vegetarian side-dishes for dinner. There are some amazing options out there, and picking some complementary recipes can keep you interested throughout the meal.
My current favourites are:
– Roasted potatoes with brussel sprouts (Oh She Glows, cookbook)
– Kale, brussel sprout salad
– Roasted cauliflower with chickpeas (Gweneth Paltrow, All is good cookbook)
Believe me, if you throw together a big enough salad with these all roasted together, you will be full!
For lunches, one of the easiest throw together veggie meals is a hummus and veggie sandwich or wrap. Here’s how:
Bread or wrap
Hummus – homemade or store bought is fine
veggies – peppers, cucumbers, grilled veggies (even leftovers) are all great for fillings
salt and pepper to taste
Fake it
A few years ago, we had my sister and her boyfriend over for a taco night. Instead of ground beef, we swapped it for Yves ground “meat” substitute. They both loved the tacos – we had all the best fixings, and while they might have noticed that something tasted just ever so slightly different from the usual recipe, neither of them had any reservations in having the same non-meat version the next time they came over.
Just like my mom used to ‘hide’ vegetables in our meals, you can fake it too.
Learn your non-meat proteins
To keep your meals nutritionally complete, always make sure you have some alternate protein sources during your meals. Legumes (beans) are a really easy way to bump up the protein – Cooked Navy beans have nearly 16grams of protein per cup. Beans can be a little difficult to get into. So be sure to start off with really flavourful hearty recipes – try this garlic roasted chickpeas recipe.
Soy beans and soy based products are also a really great source, but you have to be willing to learn how to cook it – plain or plain baked tofu is really boring. My favourite is Sriracha baked tofu. Throw it into a qunioa bowl or a stirfry…
Bring a friend
Most of us have one, that vegetarian or vegan friend that you have chatted about food with. Ask them to teach you a few recipes! A few of my vegetarian friends even have blogs that I borrow recipes from all the time.
Make a plan
I grew up in a meat and potatoes style family. It’s a lot easier to look into the fridge and see pasta, broccoli and chicken breasts and call it a meal. Meal planning can ensure that you have the right ingredients at the right time – plus, if you plan it, you have a list, it may be easier to stick to that eating plan!
Try using Pinterest or other sites to gain inspiration. You can prepare your shopping lists using Evernote like I did to make things easier!
Button Blog 