BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Vegetarian Hi! Let's chat about meatless food!

I'm pretty new to the Boards but I'd love to trade comments, recipes, and whatever about food that has no meat, meat by-products or meat smell! I'm also on the lookout for low-fat vegetarian recipes, so if you have one, please share! :rolling:

I don't know about the smell part, but one of my fave things is the Morning Star Farm Prime Griller "burger". Completely meat free, but if you bake it for 15 min [flipping over about half way], it'll fool even the most carnivorous meat eater into thinking it's not vegetarian.

I also like to bake it, then crumble it up and mix in with rice and vegetables, along with a little spice mixture for a nice balanced meal.

Also, if you eat dairy products, for a nice twist on a grilled cheese, go to Wal-Mart in the bakery section and look for their "everything" bread. It's Italian bread that has been coated on the outside with the "everything" mixture used on bagels [onion, garlic, etc]. Put some cheese [with tomato if you prefer] on the bread and toast in the oven or toaster oven until the cheese melts. I don't even use butter and it turns out wonderful. Pair it with a bowl of tomato soup for a light supper or lunch.

mmmm...now I'm going to have to go make me something to eat. LOL

Hey, those ideas sound pretty good! Thanks for sharing! :music:

How did you discover how to make them? Was it just experimenting or did you read it somewhere????

Well I discovered the MSF Prime Grillers when I was looking for a meatless "burger" but I was having trouble finding one I can eat. Most meatless burgers are made with mushrooms for texture and the "beefy" taste, but I'm allergic to them. MSF Grillers don't use mushrooms.

As for the rice mixture, that was a recipe born of a laziness to go grocery shopping one week so I started mixing whatever I had in the kitchen. LOL

I also came up with another fave recipe that way. If you have access to "instant grits" which are popular here in the south, make a serving of the grits and mix in cheese and finely diced tomatoes. I actually use RoTel which is a brand of canned vegetables that mixes tomatoes and jalepeno peppers. It makes for a nice hearty hot breakfast. If you don't have grits, plain Cream of Wheat should work about the same.

Allergic to mushrooms?! Wow, that's a disability! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The thing I have trouble with is tomatoes. I don't like tomatoes, and they're everywhere. I'm not angry at you for mentioning them, it's just that restaurants put them in so many things and then say, They're pre-mixed into the dish so we can't leave them out.

Also, a lot of vegetarian recipes I've seen sound great except they call for tomatoes and I'm never sure when I can leave them out and when I can't, for fear of ruining the recipe.

Now my fiance hates onions, any type, even the smell. He can tell if they were taken off food. He's not allergic he just can't stand the taste. So I am onion-deprived! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nah, I understand. I actually didn't like tomatoes for the longest time, but I discovered I love them when paired with red peppers and jalepenos. Go figure. But I would say generally, as long as you like the rest of the items in a recipe, it should be ok to leave out the tomatoes, or even substitute something else. For instance, in my grits recipe, instead of tomatoes, use a medley of red and green peppers.

As for the onion thing, I go through the same thing with my roommate who can't eat them. So we usually make a dish and then after she takes her portion, I add the onions to the rest of the batch. LOL But if your fiance can't even stand the smell, perhaps use a small amount of onion powder in your serving instead of real onions. It has a less pungent odor.

My fiance tells me sun-dried tomatoes taste nothing like the "other" kind and are wonderful, and he doesn't normally like tomatoes either. I, however, am a chicken and haven't tried them! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Okay! I'm going to print out your recipes and discuss them with my fiance. One of the local supermarkets has portabella mushrooms on sale, the perfect addition to so many dishes! Well, if you like mushrooms, that is! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />