Any vegetarian mamas

[charmcitymama]

Or moms who are raising their kids to be? What are some of your favorite dishes?

[JulieL]

DH was a vegetarian last year and we had fun trying new recipes out. What I found that I liked was:

a corn chowder made with tofu
a fake quiche made with tofu
indian crockpot recipe with veggies and chickapea over rice
vegetarian lasgna - a staple I guess for anyone
vegetarian gyro's (making tonight!) w/Pensey's greek spice pack
veg faquitas (can't think of how to spell that right now, sorry)
italian fritata w/veggies

I'll think of more later :)

[JustMe]

Single vegetarian mama here, raising dd to be vegetarian.

Dd's favorite thing to eat is rice and beans with mashed up avocado mixed in. She loves quesidillas, and I ususally add some type of veggie in those. Of course, mac and cheese is her absolute favorite...oops,. just realized I am not sure if you do milk products or not, but we do. She also loves the Morningstar (fake) "chicken" strips (so do I, yum, yum), and of course any kind of noodle or pasta.

Robyn
single mommy to my 3 yr old from Guatemala

[MrsZaz]

Julie -

All of your recipes sound fantastic. I'm always ooking for new vegetarian things to try (DH is a vegetarian). I'm especially interested in the Indian crockpot recipe you have, please could you post it?

Thanks
Colleen

[anamika]

Yes, we are. We were raised that way :) and lived to tell the tale!
We eat a lot of Indian food - lentils every which way (yummmmmmmmmmy).
We eat a lot of pasta too - I have some true and tried recipes (LMK if you want them - an asparagus one and a mushroom one come to mind) and soups (made from scratch) in fall/winter.
Of course, I have a gazillion Indian recipes which might not be what you're looking for :)

[JulieL]

I want the asparagus pasta recipe and all the Indian easy ones that you have too! We just LOVE Indian food!!!

I'll try to find time to post my Indian crockpot one later this week when I have time. But it's in the recent Cooking Lite magazine easy 123 recipes (it's recipes only that they do annually, not the magazine issue)

[citymama]

Another Indian vegetarian mama here planning to raise DD a vegetarian She's just 6 months old, so a little early to report back! But we plan to feed her Indian food, of course, as well as pasta, Chinese/Thai stir-frys, beans and rice - all the stuff we eat!

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a question for the others who have older veg. kids (hopefully this will be helpful to the original poster too!). How do you raise your kid vegetarian without having them feel completely different from the rest of their peers? In other words, not having them walk into birthday parties or the school lunch room without being the only kid not able to eat what everyone else is eating? Some of this depends on whether your kid is raised in Berkeley CA or Milwaukee, WI, I'm sure. I grew up in India where at least half of my peers were also vegetarian, but I know as an adult in the States I am always getting a million questions about being veg! Thanks for any advice.

[anamika]

Hi Julie,
Here's the asparagus pasta recipe. Don't omit the cheese - it provides a nice contrast to the citrus.

SPRING LINGUINE
8 ounces linguine, fine
2 quarts salted water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced
8 to 12 ounces fresh asparagus, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2 inch slices
1 tablespoonful each of lemon juice and unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (or red pepper flakes)
1/2 cup crumbled fresh goat's or farmer's cheese (I use feta)
2 tablespoons sliced pitted cured black olives
Bring salted water to a boil. While the water is coming to a boil prepare the ingredients you will need for your sauce. Add the linguine to the salted water and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked but still firm to the bite.
Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the scallions and asparagus, red pepper flakes and cook over moderate heat, stirring continuously, for about 2 minutes or until the asparagus are crisp tender.
Drain the pasta (reserving a tablespoonful of cooking water) and portion it into pasta bowls.
Add the water, lemon juice and butter to the asparagus skillet and swirl the ingredients around until the liquid and butter form a little emulsion. Season to taste with salt and pepper and spoon over the pasta. Garnish with cheese and olives.
Yield: 2 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

I had an Indian coconut stew recipe typed out but I lost it. I hesitate to give Indian recipes b'cos they call for many spices which may not be in your pantry. If you give me an idea of what spices you have/can get, it might help. I'll try and think of ones which require minimum variety of spices. LMK if you still want the coconut recipe - I know lot of people here don't like coconut b'cos it has a lot of fat. The South Indian diet is naturally low fat and coconut is pretty much the only source of fat, so it figures in a lot of our recipes.

[JulieL]

Usha give me the Indian recipe!!! :) My DH hasn't liked one indian recipe I've made. I realize it's because they are more "American" ized recipes. I just got a mix from Penzys Spices of a Balti Mix, made the above crockpot recipe from Cooking Light with it, and DH still didn't like it. I even used the sweet curry from Penzys vs cheap curry from the local grocery store. He works in medicine and has a ton of Indian co-workers who keep saying they'll help us out LOL, but no one has. I even went to a local Pakistan/Indian grocery store, asked for help, they all I think, thought I was crazy - think short blond blue eyed clueless woman asking the dark and beautiful how to cook their food :0 Seriously I think they thought I was a kook who just wandered in! LOL Anyway I'm desperately trying to create a honest to God, good curry dish that DH could splash with Cayenne to give that heat only he likes. Sigh, I told him I wasn't going to make him Indian food anymore, since he won't eat it :0 ! But seriously I'm getting annoyed - I WANT/NEED an awesome curry dish. Oh and I used light coconut milk. We love ethnic food, and is extremely hard to duplicate, and I have no time for a cooking class although I've sworn I'm gonna take one for the last two years ;) I think DH and I are gonna do a date class at the local cooking conservatory, :)

So yes, in a long winded responce, I want the recipe! And thanks for the other one, off to try it! :)

eta: I liked the origanal cooking light Indian recipe, it is extremely mild, but DS ate it, which is a big plus, oh and I think it tastes better the second day when the coconut milk has time to mix in with the other ingrediants - will try to post that recipe today or tomorrow.

[JulieL]

Honestly I think it's like anything else. You have to say we do things this way, for this reason, and that's ok. Every child contronts this in some category, whether it's toys one child has that you won't buy, or tv you won't allow that another family will, or religous ideology/traditions that you observe that others do not. I assume you don't eat meat because you are Hindi? A good friend of mine doesn't eat meat around her family and normally doesn't eat beef out of respect to the cow, and that's what she tells her son. Her husband is Jewish, so they also hold certian Jewish customs as well. While we eat meat now there are foods we only get as special occasions, that others might eat more normally, and I tell him why - cause they aren't healthy and aren't good for the body. Anyway it's hard being differant I know. I grew up not observing Halloween, and now my child is understanding it's a holiday. I've decided that religiously I just don't feel comfortable with this holiday, and tell my son I don't believe God is a god of fear, that the Bible talks about not being fearful, and I don't like that Halloween is essentially a holiday about scaring people and cellebrating evil. But I've compromised and allowed him to dress up for a child appropriate holiday festival at church that is a harvest festival, and a halloween party (possibly) at a local childrens museum. That is how I grew up, others see it differantly, but I hold my own convictions as my own, not for others. Food is the same in many aspects, anyway that's my long answer :)