feeding vegetarians and carnivores at the same time. ugh

[mopinko]

so, 2 of my kids, age 21 and 17 have gone vegetarian. i am so-so myself, but try to eat healthy whatever i eat. DH's idea of heaven is a giant slab of bleeding prime rib. and the baby, 15, suffers from anemia.
how the heck am i supposed to feed all these people? especially when you never know when the vegetarians are gonna be around. or hungry.
argh
at least they are good about fixing themselves something else if there is nothing on the table.

tonight i am thinking about a pasta alfredo, some home made bread, plus a couple of tuna steaks that got thawed accidently. (they don't eat fish, nothing with a face.)
i know i have to get some easy replacement for meat stocks. i guess i can make some of my own, but it is something that i usually cook because i am confronted with a pile of bones, not because i feel like making it. they both like spicy things, so at least that helps to close the flavor gap.

pastas with the meat on the side are pretty easy. but even though i usually cook beans on tuesdays, i almost always have some meat in there somewhere. i need to learn some new tricks. but, damn, seems like every few years i have to learn to cook all over again.

[Warpy]

1. We're all going to be increasingly vegetarian over the next couple

of years whether or not we want to be, so consider you're just ahead of the crowd.

Stocks would be a real problem, but they do sell vegetarian stocks in health food stores that are OK in a pinch. They can most successfully be substituted for beef broth, IMO. For chicken stock, you can boil onion or scallion, celery, and carrot in water for half an hour to flavor it. Throw some ginger in there if you're doing a stir fry. Throw potato peels in if you've got them, too.

There are also veggie bouillion cubes out there, but get the salt free ones. Trust me on this.

Beans can be cooked quite nicely without that ham hock, I've done it for 30+ years. If you can find epazote, a sprig of it added to beans will take them to heights of flavor you never anticipated. Yes, it smells like gasoline, but it does great stuff for beans. Beans are super versatile in that they can be turned into soups, stews, loaves, burgers, and sandwich spreads.

Since your kids eat dairy, consider tossing their pasta with a little cottage cheese, cooked chopped broccoli, and chopped walnuts. It's easy, high protein, and delicious.

If you're feeling super stuck all the time, invest in Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." It's becoming my go-to book when I have a fridge full of unfriendly ingredients and a lack of ambition to go to the food co op.

[The empressof all]

2. Canned Beans can be your best friend

My kid is almost a Vegetarian and when she's home I always keep hummus in the fridge. Just whirl a can of drained garbanzo beans in the processor with garlic, EVOO, a little Tahini and some lemon juice. You can tweek it many different ways. Sometimes I'll add Roasted Red Pepper or some Roasted Egg Plant. You can spice it up with Cayenne. It's a great sandwich base with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced onions. We use it as a dip for celery.

Give the anemic kid lots of spinach salad to supplement with the meat. I'm anemic and I eat spinach every day.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. If you want to maximize your iron intake

from the spinach you're eating, have a glass or orange juice, or some sort of citrus with it. The combination produces the optimum amount of absorbable iron.

Just one of those little things I picked up while I was being diagnosed with what turned out to be a genetic anemia, the kind that has no treatment.

[mopinko]

12. yeah, doc says

for her to always take a c with her iron. she is not that bad, but she is low enough to have restless leg. no apparent reason. she was having heavy periods, but she is now on the pill for that. :-(

[Tangerine LaBamba]

18. Make sure she gets enough roughage

Iron is notoriously constipating.

I hope she's feeling a whole lot better.

[mopinko]

13. costco has good humus.

we eat a lot of it. there is a little greek fruit market that has some small, local brands, also. roasted red pepper, mmmmmmmmm.
but you give me the thought to make my own. something a little more unusual, maybe.

[wildflower]

3. Hmm, this is what I would do...

I would make only vegetarian dishes, plus do the following...

-Steaks or other meats or fish made on the side for DH
-Focus on iron-rich vegetables like beets, spinach, etc. for the anemic baby (puree them?)
-Start your stock with vegetables first for about an hour, strain it out for your vegetarian stock, then add the bones for your meat stock.

For the vegetarian dishes, use a lot of beans, dairy, nuts, tofu. They like spicy so you could do a lot of good Mexican, Indian, Thai recipes.

[japple]

4. Spinach lasagna or other pastas with spinach added at the

last are great. Then just saute or grill sausages or chicken breast, steaks, fish. Ditto what others have said about beans. They're just about as good without meat flavoring if you throw some garlic, onion, and a couple bay leaves in the pot while they're cooking. You can also cook them in veg. broth. Also risotto with veg. side dishes and a salad would work. Stir fry vegetables, remove from the pan then stir fry meat, serve with rice or noodles and a salad.

Good luck.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I am a carnivore married to a vegetarian and LOVE our diet and our meals

We often eat the same thing. But when I feel the need for meat, I cook it. Sometimes that means thinking ahead (take a steak out of the freezer today to cook tomorrow). Other times, not (buy a steak at the grocery store).

We make soups together. I say "soups" not "soup". The same base can lead to vegetable soup, beef barley soup and vegetable beef soup.

I will sometimes feel carnivorous when we're having macaroni. I keep large, single sausage links in the freezer. I can thaw these and fry them up with some gravy and add it to my portion. I get a nicely flavored meat sauce and Sparkly gets her's plain.

So yeah ..... it takes so compromise and, indeed, sometimes coking two separate entrees, but it can be done and the more you do it the better at it you get.

[grasswire]

7. "make your own" meals work great

A burrito bar or quesadilla makings with some shredded beef or chicken for DH, beans, rice, cheeses, lettuce or cabbage,tomatoes, sliced olives, etc.

A top your own salad night, with chicken chunks, croutons, spinach leaves, walnuts, cheeses, diced beets, whatever.

Top your own baked potato. Could be vegetarian chili and cheese over the top. Could be diced ham and broccoli and cheese. Etc.

Teens like to throw burritos together, and the fixings can easily be made and left in the fridge most of the time.

[elleng]

8. Veg lasagna.

My mother had this prob with my brother and his, and managed it nicely. One thing to do is to ask them. AND my sister in law is a good cook, and could always contribute.

[elleng]

9. and a 'local' soup

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x52908

[mopinko]

15. mmm sounds good.

i should look around for that cookbook. i am sure i could find it in a used bookstore.
i love italian food, and am cursed to have italian in-laws who cannot cook worth a shit. we used to go to christmas eve at their house until i just couldn't take it any more.

[elleng]

16. THAT is SAD, mo!

.

[htuttle]

10. Gonna suggest it again -- Indian food

I think Indian cuisine has some of the best vegetarian food in the world, and I'm a part-time meat eater. Things like chhole, saag and pakora seem to satisfy as much as meat does, yet have none.

Plus, you can easily add a few meat dishes to the menu, like tandoori chicken, lamb samosas, meat curries, etc... Indian feasts tend to be smaller portions of a lot of different things -- everyone can mix and match.

Oh, and make Jyoti canned foods your friend -- they're really good and very quick and easy as either a side dish or a main course for a few assorted omnivores. (not a commercial endorsement -- just a personal one)
http://www.jyotifoods.com/pages/catalog.html

[mopinko]

14. mmmmm indian.

there is a big indian shopping strip near here, and they are finding the places that they like over there. there is everything from little store front carry outs to linen table cloth joints.
we order out from a couple of places. i bet that brand is sold in some of the groceries over there. i admit, tho, that i don't cook indian. i need a good indian cookbook.

and yes, it is great to live in chicago. you can get EVERYTHING here.

[Sparkly]

11. I stopped trying to eat meat at 17

and I say "trying to eat meat," because I'd struggled with it for years. (Just never liked it!) My parents allowed me to scramble an egg when I couldn't stand the meat item on my plate, and I'd been doing that since I was a kid, so eventually I announced that I wasn't even going to try anymore -- "Let's just assume I'll be scrambling an egg."

So what I mean is, your kids could, and maybe should, learn to fend for themselves somehow (cuz you won't always be there to cook for them) and they should know you are being VERY NICE to try to cook as they wish!! (Tell them I said that, and slip me the $20 later.)

Start with figuring out what everybody likes to eat and is willing to eat, and identify overlaps. You could make two versions of one thing, a vegetarian something with meat on the side, or a vegetarian something that meat-eaters may like. As examples, two pasta sauces or soups, a vegetarian casserole with some meat thing on the side, or a vegetarian thing that seems meaty, such as Fantastic Foods' vegetarian chili mix. Mexican food in general is good, since it can have beans and/or meat. If your kids eat eggs, breakfast-for-supper is easy, again with meat as a side option.

As for the anemic one, I tend to be anemic too and grew up having to take nauseating iron tablets. But for what it's worth, it went away when I started taking (get ready) brewer's yeast. No kidding! For me, at least, it seems to be about getting B vitamins so that the iron absorbs (rather than needing more iron). Whole grains, wheat germ, and other nutritious vegetarian food actually helped more than meat or iron tablets. (See if you can get your anemic baby to eat wheat germ!)

(P.S. - Meat stocks -- don't worry about it. If you start with sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, peppers, celery, etc., use herbs, and add some tamari soy sauce -- which has a flavor like miso -- or salt if necessary, you're fine. I also add wine to mine. By the time you get to adding tomatoes, beans, or whatever, you won't miss the bones, I don't think.)

[mopinko]

17. they are pretty good about it, actually.

daughter has lived on her own for a while, and found out what life is like without mom. son is learning to either nuke something or walk over an get a burrito.
i got to the place where i couldn't stand to cook for them for a while, no matter what i was making.
i loved to cook before i had kids, and now that they are grown ups, they are learning to eat what is on the table. i like cooking for them a lot more. tuesdays are my day to cook. not that i don't ever cook on any other days, but on tuesdays i really cook. usually. so, i want them all to eat. i don't mind eating lots of beans, etc. just trying to put the energy into the food, and not so much into the juggling.

[hippywife]

19. My husband went vegetarian

for several years until I began buying meat locally through our coop, so that's what I had to eat, too. No sense in buying meat for just one and I really didn't want to eat it, either, after everything we'd read about the commercial meat industry. Ewwwwww! :puke:

Anyway, during that time I mostly learned to make most of my favorite dishes meat-free. I switched to using baby bella mushrooms in my tomato sauce and doing it in a skillet for a quick-easy meal. Also things like thin-sliced, breaded and fried eggplant slices layered with cheeses and tomato sauce like a lasagna and baked. The little bit of gorgonzola cheese in one layer of that added the kick I loved! As others have mentioned a veggie lasagna, I used mushrooms, zukes, and summer squash.

The NSF Chik'n Nuggets are really delicious in a Thai Peanut Sauce over rice with peas mixed in. And the Quorn tenders make as great cold chicken salad (I cook them first and let them cool.)and are great in a pot pie. The Quorn Naked Cutlets make wonderful chicken sandwiches.

:hi: