Saturday, March 28, 2009

What Do Vegetarian's Eat?

By Masil Nosacki

We discovered my son was a Vegetarian at the very young age of two. As meat eaters the first thing we asked the pediatrician was what do vegetarians eat? It seems like such a silly question now because we have learned over the years that creating easy vegetarian meals are a lot easier than you think. Here is our simple "What Do Vegetarians Eat" Guide

I learned that creating a vegetarian lifestyle could be easy with a few simple changes. Creating a meal didn't meal giving up taste or texture.

* For Meat Texture - try the soybean based Temphe without any animal by product

* Taste - We use Tofu the most. Its easy to find and offers a great variety to your meal.

* Using Beans -healthy, cheap and full of variety

* Nuts " perfect for a vegetarian snack but also adds flavor to your vegetarian meals

* Legumes - cheap ingredient necessary for most vegetarian recipes.

Keeping some of the basic ingredients well stocked in your fridge and pantry will also help create easy vegetarian meal planning. A variety of basic ingredients can include:

* fruits and vegetables - looks for whats in season to save some money

* seasonings - this is where you can get flavorful

* whole grains like noodles and/or pasta

* brown rice and white rice

* variety of whole grain cereal

* lots of various nuts/seeds

* variety of beans

These are just a few ideas. Dont be afraid to be creative when planning your meals. Experiment with different substitutions in your recipes to create new vegetarian meals. And dont worry if your vegetarian diets also excludes milk products there are many soy based products available on the market today that can replace milk, yogurt and margarine just to name a few.

Taking a trip to your local health food store will open your eyes to the endless possibilities available to you for creating easy vegetarian meals and recipes.

These are just a few of the things we have found with variation in our house. Answering the question: "What Do Vegetarians Eat?" should be simple now. They eat everything just with a bit of variation! Find great resources for cooking meals for both types of eaters, vegetarian cookbooks and much more at your local library or on the internet.

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