# so i cut meat waaaay back. easy veggie recipes?



## boomchakabowwow (Jul 14, 2014)

i am trying to eat meat once a week. if that.

so needless to say, i've been trying to learn to cook more veggies. doing simple, fresh veggie sauces with pasta, veggie bean dishes over brown rice, soups, etc.

any good recipe books? 

on the bright side, my knife skills are vastly improving. and my body just seems to function better..


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## Von blewitt (Jul 14, 2014)

The enchanted brocoli forest


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## daveb (Jul 14, 2014)

Below is a website that Z turned me onto a year or so ago. I like because it doesn't do "fake" food, e.g. make tofu taste like prime rib but rather offers good vegetable dishes. Gotta admit I don't go there often but when I have it's worked.

http://chefinyou.com/


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## JDA_NC (Jul 14, 2014)

I've only scanned through it, not cooked anything from it, but Plenty is a nice option.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1452101248/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

River Cottage Veg might be interesting. I haven't read it but I love their Meat cookbook.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1607744724/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I've got this cookbook coming in the mail.... I can let you know what I think if you'd like.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580089550/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## jai (Jul 14, 2014)

Lentil curry, chickpea curry.


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## Namaxy (Jul 14, 2014)

All of the Ottolenghi books are good. Alice Waters has some veggie books from Chez Panisse. There is an older cookbook from Debbie Madison of the Greens Restaurant in SF, called The Greens Cookbook.


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## MAS4T0 (Jul 14, 2014)

Bombay potatoes.

If you can't find a good recipe I'll write one up at some point.


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## knyfeknerd (Jul 14, 2014)

Plenty and Ottolenghi rule.


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## jimbob (Jul 15, 2014)

+1 plenty. Jerusalem is good too. I recently got "tasting India" which has heaps of tasty vege dishes.


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## Sambal (Jul 15, 2014)

Von blewitt said:


> The enchanted brocoli forest





. . . plus the earlier one by Katzen as well - Moosewood Cookbook.

And as suggested already, the Ottolenghi books are really good, especially Plenty.


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## boomchakabowwow (Jul 15, 2014)

thanks!! great responses. i can barely keep up on google checking all the great suggestions.


last night, hit the late farmers market. anything i couldnt pluck from my own garden came from them. got some spinach tortillini from some hippie chick..and tossed it all with some simple sauted veggies..

dang..i think this is gonna work. i love tasting the individual veggies.

tonight..gonna try to blend a sauce together made from peas and asparagus..this could go horribly wrong.


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## knyfeknerd (Jul 15, 2014)

Also try out a lot of whole grains. I got a "Superfood" book from the library a couple of months ago that provided some pretty cool info. Not so much on recipes, but good nutritional and historical info. 
I'm sure you're familiar with things like quinoa, barley and brown rice..............
....but I really have enjoyed Freekeh, Farro, Buckwheat, Amaranth and Millet. 
A lot of these grains provide an excellent source of complete protein, something your diet may be lacking.


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## Namaxy (Jul 15, 2014)

knyfeknerd said:


> Also try out a lot of whole grains. I got a "Superfood" book from the library a couple of months ago that provided some pretty cool info. Not so much on recipes, but good nutritional and historical info.
> I'm sure you're familiar with things like quinoa, barley and brown rice..............
> ....but I really have enjoyed Freekeh, Farro, Buckwheat, Amaranth and Millet.
> A lot of these grains provide an excellent source of complete protein, something your diet may be lacking.



Great suggestions! I've been making Farro with roasted carrots and fennel, more or less imitating bistro style lentils with faro. Of course lentils are great as well.


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## Castalia (Jul 15, 2014)

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni is a "classic" but no pictures though. It will certainly add some spice and variety to your vegetarian cooking.


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## Sambal (Jul 15, 2014)

A couple more veg cuisine books I like:

The Heart of Zen Cuisine, Soei Yoneda
Traditional zen temple food. Some of the ingredients may be difficult to source in the west, certainly so here in Oz, but whatever you can do with or can be inspired by, this book is a gem. About half the book covers an intro about the tradition and cuisine, ingredients, basics, staples like rice, soups, pickles; and the other half are recipes grouped into 4 seasons. Illustrated with line drawings as well as colour photographs. 

The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, Yamuna Devi
An encyclopaedic book on the subject. Yamuna Devi is obviously from the Krishna people - but hey I didn't noticed anywhere at all in the book where I was encouraged to pick up a tambourine! No proselytising, thankfully. The book however is very well organised, clearly written and covers everything from chutneys to griddle breads, dhal soups to char-flavoured charcharis, pakoras to halvas. And food from many different regions of India as well. Over 800 pages and illustrated with line drawings. For me this is the ONE book on Indian veg cuisine.

I just checked, both are in print and available at Amazon.


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## Sambal (Jul 15, 2014)

knyfeknerd said:


> Also try out a lot of whole grains. I got a "Superfood" book from the library a couple of months ago that provided some pretty cool info. Not so much on recipes, but good nutritional and historical info.
> I'm sure you're familiar with things like quinoa, barley and brown rice..............
> ....but I really have enjoyed Freekeh, Farro, Buckwheat, Amaranth and Millet.
> A lot of these grains provide an excellent source of complete protein, something your diet may be lacking.






It's great to combine lentils, beans with grains and seeds. In fact, it's essential if you're on a totally veg diet. This gives you a complete amino acid chain for protein which is otherwise very limited.

Another tip: 
If you're cooking with lentils and beans I'd recommend using a half teaspoon of asafoetida. You can get this from Indian supply shops, ask for "hing". Asafoetida has a flavour somewhat like garlic and what it does is . . . if you think of your digestive system as an internal combustion engine, it cuts down on the exhaust! I use it even for dishes like minestrone and most dishes with beans and lentils.


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## boomchakabowwow (Jul 15, 2014)

tonight's dinner.

(rough) pureed some, aspargus, peas, onion..made a pasta sauce. 

whole wheat pasta. pic would have looked better with regular pasta. my wife loved it..and we didnt miss meat!!

thanks for the AWESOME suggestions.


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## CutFingers (Jul 16, 2014)

Grilled portobello can be great substitute for a burger...Marinade the burger in basic oil, herbs and vinegar. Grill it cap side down...get a nice grilled char on the cap then flip it over. Cooking it through the cap side down allows water to escape when you flip it over most of the excess water will dry out and you'll have a crisp meaty burger.


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## Asteger (Jul 16, 2014)

Get into Indian food if you aren't already. You'd have to need more than a normal lifetime to know all the cuisines there, and it has to be the world centre of veg-ism.


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## Zwiefel (Jul 16, 2014)

Asteger said:


> Get into Indian food if you aren't already. You'd have to need more than a normal lifetime to know all the cuisines there, and it has to be the world centre of veg-ism.



+1 

Check out the vah the vah channel on YouTube (his website was hacked the last time id looked, so don't go there). 

https://m.youtube.com/user/vahchef

Also, this is an EXCELLENT book on South Indian veg cuisine:

Cooking at Home with Pedatha (Best Vegetarian Book in the World - Gourmand Winner) by Jigyasa Giri, Pratibha Jain (2006)
http://amzn.com/B00CB204F6

With Indian cuisine, keep in mind that veg doesn't always mean healthier. Though it frequently means improved nutrition. (Not sure how that affects your goals with reducing meat consumption). 

HTH!


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## Clarence (Sep 11, 2014)

Once you're done with that deer you shot, you could try Dennis Cotter's For the Love of Food.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/000731275X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Really creative recipes using eastern spices. Detailed instructions.


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## MontezumaBoy (Sep 11, 2014)

+1 to ancient grains / just make them a day ahead and finish later .... particulary like Farro and Amaranth but each to their own ... they "stay fresh" for quite a long time and with a couple of other quick additions they are awesome ... It doesn't take long to figure out which will work for you ... 



knyfeknerd said:


> Also try out a lot of whole grains. I got a "Superfood" book from the library a couple of months ago that provided some pretty cool info. Not so much on recipes, but good nutritional and historical info.
> I'm sure you're familiar with things like quinoa, barley and brown rice..............
> ....but I really have enjoyed Freekeh, Farro, Buckwheat, Amaranth and Millet.
> A lot of these grains provide an excellent source of complete protein, something your diet may be lacking.


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## 99Limited (Sep 11, 2014)

Glad this thread popped back up. I've dropped beef completely from my diet. Might eat pork once or twice a month and fish and chicken once a week. I eat a lot if beans and grains along with more fruits and veggies. One thing I like is roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Another thing I came across was a cauliflower steak. You cut two thick slices out of the center of a head of cauliflower, lengthwise. Brown each side in a skillet and finish them in a over until done to your likeness. Seems like the recipe called for braising the rest of the cauliflower in milk and then pureeing it. Then you used this to make a bed for the cauliflower steak. If you're good at plating, which I'm not, these can make a pretty nice looking meal.


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## Dave Kinogie (Sep 11, 2014)

Surprised no one has suggested the infamous... www.thugkitchen.com


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