For health, humane, environmental and financial reasons, I'd like to cut way back on my meat consumption. I'm not going to give it up completely, but maybe I'd cut it back to once a week and when I go out or I'm at a friend's place.
Any suggestions on vegetarian cookbooks or websites? I can poke around on my own, but I wouldn't mind getting some tips from those who've been doing it longer.
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3 comments:
People always recommend Moosewood veggie cookbooks, and they're OK but I never feel compelled to try the recipes (at least in the one I have).
I just got Veganomicon, and I liked the one dish I've made from it so far. Some of the Amazon reviews say the dishes are too complicated though and there are misprints (wrong cooking times/listed ingredients not mentioned later).
Primarily I rely on AllRecipes.com and just make modifications based on my own preferences.
The other one I'd mention is America's Test Kitchen series which gets rave reviews from a handful of people I know. I don't think they have a "vegetarian" specific one, but they do have a "healthy" edition.
http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Kitchen-Healthy-Family-Cookbook/dp/1933615567/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306385941&sr=1-3
Moosewood is a vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca so I've actually eaten there before. Their cookbooks are ok, but the restaurant sucks. My mom was pretty disappointed as well when she went there.
I think I'll just poke around on my usual recipe sites. Is there something I can substitute for meat? Tofu? Seitan?
The few times I've purchased seitan or tempeh from the grocery store, I've never liked it -- though I will eat it at veggie restaurants -- so I guess I'm just unskilled using those ingredients.
Also, seitan and tempeh are generally expensive, so I don't know if it's a cost savings if that's part of your meat reduction.
On occasion, typically for an Asian style dish, I will use tofu I've pan-fried so it's crispy as a meat replacement.
But overall, I think I just usually completely leave out meat if it's not a main component. Or I might use nuts or eggs if it seems like a good addition. Eg, in bacon-brussel sprouts-pasta dish, I'd leave out bacon and add toasted pine nuts.
Personally I think it's best to stay away from anything that's overly processed as a meat substitute, and just look for dishes that are vegetarian with "real" ingredients.
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