As you probably guessed from the title, I’m a vegetarian, and although I eat fairly healthfully, I feel like the meals I eat don’t always fill me up as long as I would like.
Would this be because it is harder to find foods high in protein besides meat? Am I not eating a sufficient amount of protein? Or do I just have a fast metabolism?
If anyone has an answer, could someone also give me ideas for filling meals that will last me longer throughout the day? Thanks.
I find cookbooks to be the best of friends. After coming off of meat it always is difficult to get that full feeling, but thinking of food as a connection rather than a filling of a void can be quite satisfying, energetic, and full in a different kind of way.
Protein: rice, beans, potato, spaghetti, peanut butter, bagels, spinach, tortillas
many others. try http://www.nutritiondata.com/
Good Luck!
Veggie lasagna – make in great big batches, let whatever you don’t want to eat right away cool down, then cut into Tupperware or Tupperware knock-off sized squares or rectangles, put in freezer.
Quiches - spinach, asparagus, artichoke heart, anything you like.
Black bean enchiladas – stacked, not rolled. Red or green chile. Another thing to make a huge batch of and freeze.
Get the Mollie Katzen cookbooks. The one title I can think of right now is The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. I think the Russian Carrot Pie recipe is in that one. It is surprisingly good. The Moosewood cookbooks are good, too.
If you eat eggs and cheese, your options expand a bit. If not, get used to eating small, frequent meals.
Try learning how to cook Indian food. I find that I only get hungry on blander cuisines.
One year for Thanksgiving my sister, who is also a vegetarian, decided that she would forgo the traditional meal and just eat an entire pumpkin pie.* IIRC, she was filled up for quite a while by it. You could switch to eating just pies and cakes instead of more traditional food choices.
Or, you know, you could do like other posters have mentioned and incorporate things like eggs into your diet more. One of my favorite veggie dishes is stirfry. I just throw a variety of sliced up vegetables in a pan with some hot olive oil and spices, cook 'em up, and serve them over rice. I find that adding a little rice to a meal adds a lot of filler. And beans. Mmmm…beans and rice.
-Mosquito
*It was a bizzarre Thanksgiving when my entire family was both fighting and eating at a wide variety of places other than our house.
Thanks for all of your suggestions. It’s hard, because I’ve been a vegetarian the majority of my life (by choice, of course), and there aren’t as many options for a vegetarian diet as there are for a diet that incorporates meat.
bean burrito’s usually hit me pretty good.
pasta. I’m trying to cut down on it now, so I add a lot of veggies. Now I’ make the pasta, and when it’s about 4 minutes from being done, throw in a lot of cut up cauliflower. When 2 minutes from being done, throw in broccoli and frozen peas/corn. When it’s done, all the veggies should be cooked perfectly.
I usually throw on olice oil & red wine vinegar, but in all honestly, it seems using that instead of spaghetti sauce doesn’t fill me up enough. The spag sauce fills me up much better for some reason.
Thanks to the mighty eggplant, I think I could hack it as a vegetarian.
Stuffed eggplant is pretty hearty. Take one eggplant and halve it lengthwise. Remove the insides with a grapefruit knife, being careful not to pierce the skin. Cut the pulp into small pieces, toss with salt, and throw it all in a colander so it can drain for about fifteen minutes. While that’s draining, chop up some mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes - whatever you want to combine with the eggplant.
Brush the eggplant shells with olive oil and broil them for about five minutes. While they’re broiling, sautee the vegetables and eggplant with a little garlic. Once that’s done, toss the veggies with some feta and maybe a little basil and parsley, divide it among the eggplant shells, and broil for another five minutes. The feta should be golden on top once it’s done.
I second the Indian cuisine suggestion. Curries are really easy, especially if you buy pre-made curry paste (Patak’s is a good brand to go with). I like to put chick peas and potatoes in my veggie curry, along with either broccoli or cauliflower - both of which absorb the curry really nicely.
I also have a wonderful veggie chili recipe somewhere, if you’re interested.
Actually, if you’re in a reasonably urban area, I would recommend going to an Indian grocery store where you can find a wide variety of the pre-made pastes for cheaper than at the American grocery stores. My fave brand is ParamPara, which pretty much beats anything else that comes out of the bottle (I’m gonna have to disagree on Pataks) although the sucky thing about it is that a lot of their stuff requires you to own a pressure cooker.
However, once you get the hang of Indian cuisine (and you have all the requisite spices), it’s pretty easy. Plus it’s healthier to just make it from scratch because the pre-made mixes have so much oil in them (even my beloved PP).
Here’s an easy, healthy, palak paneer recipe (this is actually what I had for dinner tonight)
Paneer (you can buy pre-made in an Indian grocery store, sub tofu, or if you are feeling ambitious, I can re-post with my recipe). Cut into cubes and pan-fry or bake till golden brown.
Bring to boil (for about 10 minutes or till garlic is soft): 1 bag chopped spinach, 2-3 cups water, chilies (I use about 4-5 but you may want to cut down), 5 cloves chopped/smashed garlic, 1 piece ginger finely minced, 1/2-1 tomato.
Take about 1/2 the mixture and blend in a blender. You don’t have to do it for too long.
In pan, fry onion till golden brown, then half a tomato if you desire (I like to add tomatoeyness to this dish).
Add a teaspoon cayenne, coriander, cumin. Stir for 1-2 minutes.
Add spinach puree and reserved spinach. Mix and bring to a gentle bubble. Add salt to taste.
If you want it creamy, add yoghurt.
Add paneer at the end and stir in.
Eat with naan, chapati or over rice.
Egg curry is also awesome. If you have a TJs near you, you can just bring simmer a couple of hardboiled eggs that have been halved in a bottle of the Punjab simmer sauce. Although, that’s pretty easy to make as well.
I don’t think that’s true at all. I was a vegetarian for nearly 10 years (although I ate fish, eggs and dairy) and I loved everything I ate - tons of variety. It kinda sounds like my mom, she always says, “But what do you EAT, do you eat salad all the time?” Yes, mom I eat salad all the time. :dubious:
For protein:
http://www.vegparadise.com/protein.html
Soy
Beans/legumes
Whole grains (quinoa is especially good)
Nuts
Eggs (if you eat eggs)
Low fat dairy (if you eat dairy)
For vegetarian protein, it is a good idea to combine. Beans and rice. Red beans and corn, etc. Eating good sources of healthy fat - avocados, nuts, olive oil can help you feel full and satisfied.
Stuff I make:
Stir fried tofu and vegetables over brown rice. A basic, but I love it. I buy the very firm tofu (cutlet style). It holds its shape and absorbs marinade well.
Quesadillas. The possibilities are endless. I get some whole wheat tortillas and then fill them with anything that sounds good. Spinach, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, sun dried tomato, cheddar/colby mix. Grated sweet potatoes, cayenne and sharp cheddar. Quinoa, black beans, cilantro, canned tomatoes and green chiles. Enchiladas are good too - I like avocado and almond with red chili sauce.
Home made pasta sauce - So many different kinds. Puttenesca with capers and kalamata olives. Crab. Morning star farm veggie crumbles with fresh basil, crimini mushrooms ans sun dried tomato. Over whole wheat pasta, over polenta, over gnocchi. Bow tie pasta with fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, fresh parmesan.
Soups. Home made chili. I make a great leek/chickpea/spinach/tomato. Roasted tomato or roasted red pepper with crusty sourdough bread for dipping.
Omelettes. Great if you eat eggs. Stuffed with fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomato, a little feta
Cornbread bake - I make this great thing with sauteed vegetables, black beans, a little cheddar and cornbread on top.
Grilled vegetables. I make a spicy tomato/lime relish and serve it with brown rice.
Risotto - I have a recipe I love for a lemony risotto with gorgonzola stuffed into artichokes.
Portabello mushrooms - stuffed with blue cheese, pasta stars, red peppers
Grilled eggplant sandwiches - Grilled eggplant, really good sourdough bread, pesto, tomatoes, a little cheese with sweet potato steak fries on the side.
Crepes - really thin wonderful pancakes stuffed with whatever I feel like and I love to top them with feta and tomatillo sauce.
Polenta pancakes with avocado relish - I love this with a salad on the side.
Red beans, corn, onions other veggies in a whole wheat pita pocket.
Filling breakfast ideas:
Oatmeal (not the packaged kind) with walnuts and dried fruit
Scramble wrap - eggs/egg beaters with vegetables and salsa wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla
2 pieces of whole grain toast with natural peanut butter
Whole wheat tortilla, smeared with peanut butter, wrapped around a banana
Snack ideas (dairy included):
Hummus with vegetables to dip, or whole wheat pita
Low fat string cheese
Trail mix
Low fat cottage cheese with salsa or fruit
All of it is filling to me 
Incidentally, a good friend of my from law school (American) was a vegan and told me that when she made the choice to go vegan she pretty much bought up a ton of ethnic food cookbooks to learn varied dishes and she and her husband pretty much lived on Indian and Middle Eastern food. She made excellent Indian curries, daals etc. etc… It was really cool because she knew and made obscure, homemade type recipes that she had gathered over the years from friends and the internets.
God, she was so thin too! I don’t think I could ever give up seafood but if I really felt like it, it would be easy to hack it as vegetarian on Asian cuisine.
Cooking whole grains, like brown rice and quinoa, or pulses, like lentils. I’ve been veg for 20 years, and whole grains are nearly always part of two meals a day. It really doesn’t take much extra work, they cook in about 20 minutes, and a pot cooked for dinner usually has enough for next day lunch, too.
Whole grains fill you up, topped by vegetables and small amounts of protein; I use tofu and other soy products. Eggs I used to eat often, but now only about twice a month. I have a very physically demanding job, and am pretty healthy on that diet.
It’s oddly surprising to me to find that the cooking grains thang is just not on the culinary radar of many people.
By far, the most filling vegetarian dish I’ve ever had is peanut sauce over rice or pasta. My friend got the recipe while serving for Peace Corps in Africa (I was unclear on whether the recipe is native to the area she served in or is a cheap/easy-to-make Peace Corps thing).
I cannot emphasize how amazingly filling this is. For normal pasta, even if it’s some kind of heavy creamy sauce or cheese/mushroom filled I can eat a huge plateful. For this peanut recipe, I can only eat a soup cup or so of it at a time.
As with other Peace Corps recipes said friend had, it’s not exact. But here’s the basic idea:
** PEANUT SAUCE**
Heat 1 can of tomato sauce/paste. Not a huge jar of Prego, just one of those tiny 6-8 oz cans of the plain stuff. A little garlic or onion powder is okay, but you don’t want or need lots of spices in it, that’s why the plain stuff. And you don’t need much, either…believe me. This amount would feed two of us with leftovers.
Add lots of sautéed veggies, esp. onions. We also like to use green or red peppers, I particularly like to add mushrooms. Actually, to do this all in one pan start by sautéing the veggies (olive oil is great) and then add everything else into that pan.
The “true” recipe calls for a diced hot pepper, too. The hotter the better. A single chili pepper is plenty hot for me (and I like spicy! But then again, maybe my family just grows particularly hot chili peppers). My friend said they used habenero peppers.
Then add the magic ingredient: ground peanuts. Or even simpler and easier, just use peanut butter. The recipe isn’t exact, but about 1/4 cup or even more to taste.
Mix thoroughly until peanut butter is melted and incorporated into the sauce and serve over hot pasta or rice.
I know it sounds weird but it’s quite tasty and oh-so-filling and satisfying!
…
There is also a Thai dish I’ve had called Pad Thai that uses ground peanuts with noodles, and is also pretty filling in the same way. Now, it is normally served with seafood-- I think! I’m not sure though because I always just order/buy the tofu/vegetarian version. It comes with some eggs in it too, which helps with the protein/filling aspect.
Steak.
A nice cupasoup (I like the asian ones), in a large-ish bowl with lots of pasta, some peas, some corn, some fried egg, chopped chilli, sun dried tomatos, plus whaever else you like (I guess eggplant, mushrooms, sweet chillies and a lot of other things would go well if you like them).
This is my favorite vegetarian cookbook, ever. Tons of variety, easy-to-follow instructions, cultural context, sensible serving suggestions, ideas for substituting less commonly found ingrdients. If you’re looking for filling foods, I find legume-rich recipes do the trick fabulously.