I'm a concerned grandmother facing an extended summer visit from my vegetarian 14 year old granddaughter. Help! How can I be certain to meet her nutrition needs without cooking two separate meals, one for her and one for me and my meat loving husband??
[edited June-23-2009]
You would be very surprised at some of the veggie meats they have nowadays. My girlfriend is a vegetarian and I am not (for every animal she doesn't eat, I eat two!) and I was very hesitant the first time she cooked for me. Garden burgers are very good, trader joe's has a large veggie meat selection with veggie ground beef (great for beef stroganoff or any hamburger helper, sloppy joes, putting in spaghettie, etc), vegetarian sausages (which are very, VERY delicious), just about any mexican food can be made without meat, pizza's, etc. You can generally substitute the regular meat in any meal with veggie meat and a lot of times it is just as good as the real thing, and it's healthier. If you and your husband can deal with the veggie meat for the summer that is what I would recommend, I think you would be pleasantly surprised. If not, you can usually hold off adding meat to any dish until after and adding in veggie meat and regular meat seperately after the food is served. Or if you like to grill there are also some really good veggie chicken breasts made by Quorn that are very delicious and seem so real and you cook them however you would cook your normal chicken. I hope this helps. If you need any ideas feel free to message me. I'll also send you a sample menu I'm putting together for a romantic week with my girlfriend that I just finished today.
When you say veggie meats, what do you mean? Is it a soy product? I have some concerns regarding the effect soy has on a young, developing girl. I've read that it can have serious hormonal impact. It sounds like a good solution if I can confirm the actual ingredients. Thanks alot for the suggestion and I will certainly look into it.
The Quorn products are actually made from mycoprotein (which is made from edible fungus). The other Veggie meats are generally made from soy protein, which to my knowledge (and I've done extensive research and consulted with physicians) does not have any hormonal impact and is a complete source of protein (which is pretty much the only thing that vegetarians do not get from eating meat). You should consult with your granddaughters primary care physician if you have any doubts about this though.
Also you would be surprised how much soy you or your granddaughter consume on a regular basis already. Margerine has soy in it, it's regularly used as a filler in other meat products (the shells for the taco's at Jack in the Box are actually made from textured soy protein, not tortilla's), and many other products.
Thank you! Your menu looks fantastic. I'm already feeling better about cooking for my granddaughter. We do not have a Trader Joe in our area but we shop at Whole Foods and should be able to find everything there. I will give veggie meats a try. We buy only organic and pastured/grass fed meats so this may be the next and very logical step for us to take. Thanks again for your tips and reassurances.
You can also just ask her. If she has been vegetarian for a while, she already knows what's good in her diet, and perhaps you will get to learn something from her, and even enjoy being in the kitchen together. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity for gramma and granddaughter to spend time in the kitchen together.
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