Question for the Vegetarians Out there...or Any Veggie Savvy Folks.

For breakfast or in place of dessert, I have a green protein smoothie, getting 3-4 servings of veggies/fruits at once.
(I am just a vegetarian wannabe! I can't give up fish.)

Go ethnic :)

Northern Indian
Southern Indian
Thai
Japanese
"real" Chinese (american chinese is like mcdonalds, sooo not healthy!)
Medeteranian
Italian
Tapas/ Spanish
French
MesoAmerican

Sooooo many choices!!!

I cook vegetarian about 1/3-1/2 the time. I avoid vegetarian cookbooks like the plague (a fun thing about real bookstores is actually being able to flip through a LOT of books). They all have this thing, I've noticed anyway, about lentils and vinegar and cumin. Ummmm??? Say what? (Don't get me wrong, I love lentils, but never with vinegar. The chemical reaction makes them spicy. And cumin has it's place. It's place is NOT in EVERYTHING!! LOL.

I'm trying to think of favs, but failing... so here're the veggie or vegetarian things I've cooked in the past couple of weeks.

ALSO... Keep in Mind... Iceberg has almost no nutritional value. It's water and fiber. Sub spinach for iceberg. One of my favorite sammies is roast beef, garlic mayo, spinach, purple onion, roasted red peppers, avocado. ANY sammie or burger that has iceberg on it, try putting spinach on there instead. And pile on whatever sounds good.

On their own:
- Tostones w/ guacamole (not healthy! But yummy!)
- Crash Hot Potatoes http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-pota...
- Baked Potatoes (I bake the tiny little russets because they're fast, then load)
- Sauteed Greens (red swiss chard, rainbow chard, kale, lacy kale chips... the last is done by putting it on low and going off and reading a book. They're ALL deveined, cut into strips, olive oil around the pan, some garlic, salt, pepperman -just a pepper combo, and sauteed)
- Collard Greens (again, not particularly healthy, because I make mine by boiling them with half a pound of bacon chopped up for a couple hours. I also drink the addictive broth. They can be made healthy, but to me, collard greens need bacon. A lot.)
- Saag Paneer
- Mutter Masala (peas in a creamy tomato curry)
- Roasted carrots (so easy, just put on baking sheet, drizzle a little olive oil and salt, and bake at 300-400 until they're soft).
- Roasted Roots (carrots, potatoes, beets, fennel, turnips, etc.)
- Roasted fruits (tomatoes, peppers, peaches, apples... not all together)
- Tomato slices w/ pepperman (lovely stuff, pepperman)
- Broiled Portabellos
- Broiled Asparagus
- Broiled greenbeans & soy sauce
- Sauteed Asparagus, mushroom, onion
- Blanched Edamame w/ kosher salt
- Snap Peas
- Radishes dipped in kosher salt

Dished Up
- Caprese Salad (tomatoes, mozz, basil, arugula, pesto)
- Philly Cheesesteak Blasphmey (swiss cheese, green peppers, onions)
- Gumbo-laya (gumbo + jambalaya)
- Quiche
- Stuffed Peppers
- Tapas
- Risotto
- Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
- Stuffed eightball zuchini
- Pear & Blue Chese Tart w/ pecan & dired cherry salad
- Beef Barley Stew
- Chimichurri Rice w/ Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato soup
- Samosas
- Omlettes (spinach, onion, mushroom, tomato, broccoli)
- Bahn Mi (vietnamese sammie)
- Pho
- Gyros
- Chopped Salad (iceberg -I know-, basil -a lot-, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, green onions, salami, chicken, mozz)
- Pizza (check out the menu for Zeeks http://www.zeekspizza.com/menu/ or Pagliacci http://www.pagliacci.com/menu/delivery/ My favs are the Quentin Florentino & Sunshine @ Zeeks, and the Parma Primo & Goat Cheese Primo at Pags. Seattle doesn't do Chicago DDs to die for, or NY foldable deliciousness... we have our own 'thing' going on that's pretty similar to Roman Pizza.

Sauces
- Roasted red pepper aioli
- Chimichurri
- Harissa
- Watercress
- Tzaziki

Do you like spice? My husband is Hindu, from India. He can not really eat anything but fish, Goat, and chicken. Goat is not easy to get here, so its fish and he HATES any chicken meat that is not free range. If its fatty he wont eat it and 90% of chicken here is fatty. SOOOO we are limited to what we eat. I cook almost exclusive Indian and Tibetian food. Its ALLLLLL veggie, and legumes. Legumes are beans, and I can tell you this. Our groceries really pale to what you can get at an Indian and Asian market. They have seriously hundreds MORE choices of veggies and beans and flours than lets say, Cub. So start looking up Northern Indian Dishes. They cook closest to what use Americans are more used to. Curry's, Masalas, Dals, Padoka, Tandori, and Chutney's can spice up a few bland veggies any day. They are savory and delicious. Believe me, before i met him I was a bland as they come mid-western American girl. meat and potatoes. NOW I cook so diverse I shock the heck outta my in-laws! I also learned to make mean Roti, Nan, and Puri's (flatbreads) its all generally healthy, not much of anything other than veggies and some spices with a little oil.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/

I've found the internet to be the best source for all recipes veg.

I have a few blogs where I detail my kitchen excapades. Maybe you'll find some inspiration there? Last night it was vegan tacos and they were delicious!

www.rawexperiment365.blogspot.com
www.quicklynutritiousanddelicious.blogspot.com

Make your fav stir fry or pasta , you can use the same sauce but instead of the meat add tofu ( for protein) and add more veggies(broccolli, carrots, peas, snow peas , spinach , water chestnuts, bokchoy etc ). You can add boiled and chopped egg whites as well and mushrooms.

Hearty healthy soups loaded with veggies for example Minnestroni soup , pasta fagioli , veg chilli etc.

Veggie salads - pick your vegetables for the day and google for recipes. Read the reviews and select the ones that have 4 stars or more. They generally turn out good.

Veggie Wraps - I make a (dry) stir fry with vegetables. You can use any sauce or spices you like as long it's tasty for you. Wrap it in a whole wheat tortilla.Ketchup on the side.

I also stir fry veggies and make omlettes - iHop style.

I don't have links to recipes but as I said you can google for them :)

To me everything tastes good with or on an enormous salad. If your salad has spinach, romaine, mixed baby greens, cucumbers, celery, sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, squash, parsley, arugula, herbs,....the list goes on for hundreds of veggies....you've got more raw nutrition than most cooked veggie things. So even when you DO eat protein and carbs (which you need in every meal) be sure there's a big yummy salad with it. There's no limit to the combos you can do to keep them from getting boring.

I bought HUGE Asian soup bowls, and practically all my meals are one of those filled with salad, with a tiny bit of main course plopped on top.

I'm an expermintal cook. I like to try different things, just like I like to hear different ideas.

I went to the store the other day and the produce department department had a couple of "grab bags" in their discount section. They had put a hand full of 8 or 9 different vegetables in a bag and marked it for $.99. I hadn't really ever mixed such a wide variety of things before so I washed them and threw them in a pot with a cup of water and two teaspoons of EVOO. The water boiled and the juice partially came out of the vegetables, I removed a cup of water (vegetable broth) and added a 16 ounce jar of ragu alfredo sauce. Then a mixed a tablespoon of corn starch in with the cup of broth and poured it back into the pot and stirred. The vegetables were partially crispy when we served it.

I was amazed at how well it turned out. My wife and I loved it. You could add shrimp or diced chicken or beef or pork for a more meaty flavor.

Hope you enjoy. Good luck to you and yours.

Indian! Goodle Madhur Jaffrey recipes. Indian food incorporates lots of vegetarian proteins... I love meat, but I don't miss it when I cook Indian.

Try www.vegweb.com. Lots of good vegetarian recipes there.

I don't know what you like, I can give you recipes for any of these if you're interested - message me.

1. Kasha Varnishkes (bowtie pasta with buckwheat)
2. Lentils and rice
3. Garden chowder (chopped veggies, milk and cheese)
4. Eggplant parm
5. Veg lasagna
6. Spaghetti squash casserole
7. Butternut squash bisque
8. Vegetarian stuffed peppers
9. couscous or quinoa or brown rice with sauteed veggies
10. bean and cheese burritos

Let me know any recipes you want. :-)

You have gotten great ideas, especially the ethnic food! I am also a fan of soups and roasting veggies. You can roast pretty much any veggies, but they do shrink. 400-425 degrees, 10 minutes covered, 10-20 minutes uncovered works for most recipes. You need to drizzel with olive oil, salt and pepper. And move it around a lot so it gets brown but not burned. Cauliflower this way is great, broccoli with onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes is good, julianne carrots(add some butter though), and green beans (at the last few minutes toss with an asian marinade) are all great.