[Diary/Dairy]

My favorite nut butter is soynutbutter..... YummmmOOOOO

[Tweety]

I'm not a huge fan of mushroom, but by shitake about once every week or so to add to my tofu stir fries. They are pretty good, expensivel but good.

Give me good old crunchy peanut butter and jelly. I always have some on hand. I've found a good no-sirt organic brand. I hate all that oil. I have some cashew butter that I haven't used yet. I also like almond butter.

[herring_RN]

I have almond butter at home now.
Love them all. Roasted not raw. I'd rather chew raw nuts myself.

Like mushrooms too.
I'm the only one in my house who likes mushrooms, black eyed peas, celery, and other foods i can't seem to remember right now.

[Diane-RN Student]

New vegetarian here.

Not a vegan, though. Gotta take it one step at a time.

Recently starting jogging, too. Lost 10 pounds in the last 2 months

Great thread.

[MainelyMe]

I have been a vegetarian for about 50 years and a vegan for about 10. I have taught vegetarian cooking and healthful living at local seminars for years though not currently doing so. It is not necessary to eat meat analogs to get enough protein, practically everything we eat has protein and the American diet is way overloaded with protein but if worried about a complete protein just eat beans, grains and nuts at various times through the week and the body will combine them into a complete protein. But recent studies have shown that even that is not necessary. Also rather than using sugar substitutes it would be better to cut out sweets as much as possible and when you do use sweets try honey or agave nectar as a sweetener.

[Tweety]

Hi Diane! Congratulations on the weight loss! Best of luck to you!

Very good advice MainelyMe - one always gets the "where do you get your protien" question. Interesting that the old "you must combine proteins to get complete protein" myth is still out there.

[mercyteapot]

Whilst tidying my pantry, I discovered a pack of Knorr's teriyaki noodles that I wanted to use up. It is, of course, loaded with sodium and more calories than I need to be consuming, so I turned it into a low cal, lower sodium (though probably still too high) dish by adding some shredded zucchini, summer squash, and carrots with chopped mushrooms to it and extending the number of servings. I fried the veggies up in some Pam before adding. If I'd had some tofu on hand, I would've added that, too. It turned out to be pretty tasty and I have leftovers for lunch.

[Jaguar Boy]

I love sprouts...they're not necessarily unique to vegetarians, but I understand they're very nutritious. I picked up some sunflower sprouts at the health food store, and they are really yummy. I'm eating them like chips since they're crunchy and have a nice full flavour to them. Any one else into sprouts?

As an aside: I did really well on an assignment today, so my significant other is taking me out to the local veg restaurant...YAY!

[Tweety]

Mercy that sounds good. I love stir fries with noodles.

JB, I was just going to make a posting asking about the local veg*n scene of you guys. Great you have a veg restaurant. Enjoy!

We have a few restaurants that are mostly vegetarian, but all have meat options. I stopped by a coffee shop that I heard had veg*n options and had a great falafal wrap with a quiona salad on the side.

("veg*n by the way is the accepted way of bulletin board speak instead of writing "vegan and vegatarian". )

[herring_RN]

I've grown alfalfa and mung bean sprouts in a jar at home. Very tasty.

Have yet to try sunflower sprouts.

Congratulations on your assignment. Enjoy the meal.
And tell us about it later.

I do feel better now that I'm back to eating oatmeal, bread, couscus, and rice. And one serving of fruit a day.
No bananas or mangos because their glycemic index is high. Mostly cantalope or an apple.
And BEANS! I love beans!
Missed them. But I'm not missing sweets. Hope not to.
Gotta be careful.