Vegetarian Cooking For Dummies

Suzanne Havala

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118069554
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Culinary Arts

If you thought you had to be a nutritionist to figure out a vegetarian diet, it's actually a lot simpler than you think. Eating vegetarian, in addition to being healthy and delicious, is just plain fun. Discovering new and exotic vegetables like celeriac or kohlrabi will widen your palate as well as your sense of adventure in the kitchen. Plus, vegetarian cuisine is chockfull of dishes that are robust and flavorful, and a match for any standard meat dish. And, most important of all, eating a plateful of vegetarian lasagna or pasta primavera, or any other scrumptious dish prepared vegetarian style will let you indulge—without guilt!

With Vegetarian Cooking For Dummies, you'll get the skinny on just what lacto-ovo, lacto, and just plain vegan diets are all about and how to create nutritious meals from the rich cornucopia of whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and dairy and egg substitutes that are the staple of the vegetarian menu. You'll also find out:

• How to get your full complement of protein and vitamins, including calcium, iron, C, B12, and zinc—and from what, often surprising, food sources
• How to successfully convert to a vegetarian diet
• How to stock up a vegetarian pantry—including tips on where to shop, starting a kitchen garden, as well as handy weekly and monthly food lists
• Vegetarian cooking basics—including preparing ingredients, cooking beans and grains, handling tofu and tempeh, washing and cutting fruits and vegetables
• Simple cooking techniques—including baking, boiling, steaming, sautéing, and stewing
• The ins and outs of vegetarian etiquette

Not only will you become fully acquainted with the new and delicious world of meat replacements (like tofu, tempeh, seitan, textured vegetable protein, veggie burgers and franks) and egg, dairy, yogurt and cheese substitutes, you'll see how truly simple and enjoyable cooking vegetarian can be. With over delicious 100 recipes, you'll find yourself choosing among such soon-to-be favorites as:

• Smoothie snacks—including a Caramel Apple Smoothie and a Winter Berry Smooth
• Breakfast dishes—including Savory Mushroom Tofu Quiche, Healthy Pancakes, and French Toasties
• Delicious dips—including Hummus, Baba Ghanouj, and Fresh Avocado and Lime Dip
• Soups for all seasons—including Vegetarian Chili with Cashews and Southern Sweet Onion Soup
• Scrumptious salads—including Festive Broccoli Salad, Tofu Salad, and Lentil Vinaigrette Salad
• Entrees for everyone—including Basic Bean Burritos, Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti, Garden Pizza, and Tempeh Sloppy Joes

Full of tips on adapting traditional recipes to vegetarian style cooking, plus a spicy spin on old standbys like Home Fries, Vegetarian Cooking For Dummies lets you reinvent the vegetarian lifestyle to suit your needs and tastes. With pages of full-color photos, black-and-white how-to illustrations, and humorous cartoons along the way, this fun, informative, and upbeat guide makes every meal an exciting step in the journey toward lifelong health.

Part I

A Whirlwind Guide to Vegetarian Basics

In this part . . .

“I skate to where I think the puck will be.”

—Wayne Gretzky, hockey great

**IN a DROPCAP**

You have to know where you’re heading (and why) to be successful. The degree to which you want to work animal products out of your diet, the nutritional goals you hope to achieve, and the manner in which you integrate vegetarian foods into your culinary repertoire will guide your strategic planning in the kitchen.

What better place to start than with the basics? The chapters in this part reveal the who, what, why, and how of the vegetarian way.

Chapter 1

What Vegetarianism Is

In This Chapter

Knowing who’s who and what they do and don’t eat

Figuring out what’s left to eat if you don’t eat meat

Building a healthy body one forkful at a time

C an you visualize a meal without a piece of meat at the center of the plate? Most Americans were raised in the great American tradition that says, “A meal without meat is not a meal.” Your mother probably told you that if you couldn’t eat all of your dinner, you should “at least finish your meat.”

Most people learn to plan meals around the type of meat they plan to prepare. Chicken tonight? Fix green beans and rice to go with it. Roast beef? Have a baked potato and a small salad on the side. Leave out the meat, and all many people can imagine is a gaping hole at the center of the plate. If you don’t eat meat, what on earth can you have for dinner?

The answer, of course, is “plenty,” but that may not be apparent to nonvegetarians at first. Vegetarian diets, common in some parts of the world, are outside the culture of the majority of Americans. Undoing a lifetime of habits and traditions and adapting to a new eating style takes time and practice.

Once you break out of the meat-and-potatoes rut, you’ll discover that your meals are more interesting, more healthful, and more diverse. Making the switch, however, requires a change of mindset. Most people find that getting there is an evolutionary process. The good news is that there’s never been a better time to start. With this book in hand, you’re on your way!

In this chapter, you find out what it means to be a vegetarian and what the different types of vegetarians eat. I also explore the many reasons people elect to go vegetarian.

Laboring Over Labels

We use lots of different labels to describe people. With just a few words, a label can speaks volumes about a person:

She’s a yuppie Boomer.

He’s a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

They’re New Age radicals living in California, land of juice bars and alfalfa sprouts.

When people use labels to describe vegetarians, different terms correspond to different sets of eating habits. For example, lacto-ovo vegetarians avoid meat but eat dairy products and eggs. Vegans, on the other hand, eat no animal products at all. In fact, a vegan not only avoids foods made from animal products but also eliminates all products made from animals, such as leather, wool, and cosmetics and toiletries made with animal byproducts. In general, the label used to describe a vegetarian has to do with the extent to which that person avoids foods of animal origin.

Label logic

A 1992 survey conducted by Vegetarian Times magazine found that almost 7 percent of Americans considered themselves vegetarians. However, a closer look at the eating habits of those “vegetarians” found that most of them were eating chicken and fish occasionally, and many were eating red meat at least a few times each month. That finding prompted many strident vegetarians — those who never eat meat, fish, or poultry — to pose the question, “Since when do chicken, fish, and cows have roots?”

Many people today use the term vegetarian loosely to mean that they’re cutting back on meat. The term has a positive connotation because many people understand that there are health advantages associated with a vegetarian lifestyle.

“What about true vegetarians?” you may ask. “Who are they, and what exactly do they eat?”

A Roper Poll conducted in 1994 for the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group found that about 1 percent of American adults never eat meat, fish, or poultry. The group repeated the poll in 1997, and the results were unchanged. The VRG conducted another poll in 2000, and this time the results showed that the ranks of vegetarians had grown to 2.5 percent of the U.S. population. Most vegetarian activists believe that these figures reflect reality.

The definition of vegetarian most widely accepted by vegetarians is this: A vegetarian is a person who eats no meat, fish, or poultry. Thanksgiving turkey-eaters aren’t vegetarians. Neither are the “I only eat chicken and fish” imposters. Vegetarians consistently avoid all flesh foods as well as byproducts of meat, fish, and poultry. They avoid refried beans, piecrusts, tortillas, and biscuits made with lard. They avoid soups made with meat or fish stock, foods made with gelatin (such as Jell-O), many brands of candy, and most marshmallows.

Vegetarian diets differ according to the extent to which they exclude animal products. The major types are the following:

Lacto-ovo vegetarian: A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet excludes meat, fish, and poultry but includes dairy products and eggs. Most vegetarians in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe fall into this category. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat such foods as cheese, ice cream, yogurt, milk, and eggs. They also eat foods made with byproducts of these ingredients, including whey, casein, skim milk solids, and egg whites.

Lacto vegetarian: A lacto vegetarian diet excludes meat, fish, poultry, and eggs as well as foods containing byproducts of these ingredients. For example, a lacto vegetarian wouldn’t eat the pancakes at most restaurants because they contain eggs. However, a lacto vegetarian does eat dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Vegan: Technically, the term vegan (pronounced “VEE-gun”) refers to more than diet. A vegan is a vegetarian who avoids eating or using all animal products, including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, wool, silk, fur, leather, and food and nonfood items made with animal byproducts, such as many types of personal care products. Some vegans also avoid honey a...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : A Whirlwind Guide to Vegetarian Basics
• Chapter 1: What Vegetarianism Is
• Chapter 2: Nutrition Myths and Realities
• Chapter 3: Moving to Meat-Free
• Chapter 4: Planning Vegetarian Meals
• Part II : Your Vegetarian Kitchen
• Chapter 5: Common Vegetarian Ingredients
• Chapter 6: Stocking Your Vegetarian Pantry
• Part III : Tools and Techniques
• Chapter 7: Tools of the Trade
• Chapter 8: Vegetarian Cooking Basics
• Chapter 9: Adapting Recipes
• Part IV : The Recipes
• Chapter 10: Beverage Basics
• Chapter 11: Rise and Shine, It’s Breakfast Time!
• Chapter 12: Delicious Dips and Spreads
• Chapter 13: Soups for All Seasons
• Chapter 14: Simply Scrumptious Salads
• Chapter 15: Entrees for Everyone
• Chapter 16: Side Dish Spectaculars
• Chapter 17: A Bounty of Breads and Rolls
• Chapter 18: Desserts
• Chapter 19: Hooray for Holidays!
• Chapter 20: Menus Made Easy
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 21: Ten Reasons to Cook Vegetarian
• Chapter 22: Ten Practical Vegetarian Cookbooks
• Chapter 23: Ten Helpful Web Sites to Check Out
• Chapter 24: Ten Online Sources of Ingredients
• Appendix: Metric Conversion Guide
• : Color Insert