I posted a question about recipes for tofu, but nobody responded. So I'll ask this way! What do any of you who don't care for meat much eat? I love beans and grains and would love some ideas! Thanks!

I am not banded yet and I'm no longer a vegetarian. However, I might have a few recipes.

I have some Soup recipes and a number of great ways to prepare tofu. And of course, if you must you can rely on meat substitutes if you can find some that fit your diet - many of them are just loaded with Protein these days. It means eating more processed foods, of course, but if you're okay with that it would work.

Let me know your dietary restrictions and I'll post a bunch of recipes. Are you lacto-ovo?

In the meantime, have you ever looked at any of the cookbooks by Nava Atlas? She has some excellent books and even has a website with some of her recipes posted.

I hope someone else can help you with info on banded life as a vegetarian.

~Cheri

Thank you Cheri!

I am not a true vegetarian, by any means, but the only meats I like really aren't good for me....chicken is too chicken-y...I like ground beef, hot dogs, and bacon....so yeah, processed is okay! I'll look up her books and would love to see any other links you have! Yes, i do eat eggs and cheese. Thank you!

sara

Not a vegetarian, but I haven't had pork, beef or lamb in 23 years. I do eat chicken and turkey occasionally but I eat a ton of fish and seafood so that helps with the Protein.

I'm not banded yet, but I make good use of Morningstar farm products- "burgers", crumbles, and Breakfast items. Hoping I can continue to eat these at some point post op.

There is a local vegan manufacturer here in Chicago that makes a seitan crumble that tastes just like Italian Sausage. I have been putting that into Pasta sauce and eating it over spaghetti squash. I also threw it into a bean soup I made the other day- very tasty!

I love all kinds of Asian food, so I keep the veggie potstickers and frozen Asian Vegetable Mix from Trader Joe's on hand at pretty much all times. They also carry marinated extra firm tofu in a bunch of flavors. They are great for stir frys and salads.

Another favorite is Trader Joe's breaded eggplant cutlets. Baked, not fried and fantastic for making a quick psuedo-eggplant parmesean.

I do get most of my protien from Beans. Never been a big fan of eggs although I have found myself forcing them down more than in the past. I've been making some scrambles with egg beaters, spinach, a little cheese and tons of hot sauce and that has proven to be a filling breakfast option.

Good luck to you!

kagead

I will email you a bunch of recipes to get you started. I'm not sure of your cooking experience level, but most of these are easy to intermediate recipes. Some have a few ingredients you may not keep on hand, and you may not like some of the ingredients anyway. But it's a starting point. I would post them here but the post would be so long it's ridiculous!

Also consider crustless quiche as a meal - I don't have a recipe on hand but I'm sure you can find one. You can add some cheese, some of that bacon or sausage you like, some easy to chew veggies and that would be a nice meal.

Many of these include Beans, because that's how we got the majority of our Protein. We also treated ourselves to Quorn cutlets occasionally when we wanted to feel like we were eating meat. We also used the Morningstar products, particularly the breakfast sausage crumbles. MS products are very high in protein, so if you're lacking in that department you might try them out.

I did not write any of these recipes though I did modify almost all of them to suit me. They are scavenged from a number of places. If you do make any of them, use own dietary restrictions to modify the meals (for example, you wouldn't use a hamburger bun for the black bean burgers, or a tortilla for the burritos if you were having trouble with bread/carbs).

Do check Nava Atlas out - she is (in my opinion) the very best veg cookbook author out there if looking for simple and easy recipes.

I hope this helps. Maybe you'll have more folks chime in soon!

~Cheri

sunfood

Ruths Hemp Foods - Healthy Foods From Hemp, Flax, Maca, Chia and more...

Manitoba Harvest, Hemp Protein Powder with Fiber, 16 oz (454 g) - iHerb.com

I supplement with whey protien isolate, hemp seed, hemp powder with fiber. Many of these products are at Amazon with free shipping.

I prefer the hemp powder with cold water. I also add Sunfood's Sun is Shining Superfood, with 4g protein.

Eating high protein nuts, seeds, and other foods, I still need to supplement to get to 65+g of protein. The hemp with fiber also helps keep things moving along in the GI system.