No more Cheese? NOOOOOOOOO

[spirits]

My wonderful DIL has become a vegetarian and as a food lover, in other words steak, pasta, sour cream lover, I find it challenging to include extra foods that she and my son can eat. They are very good at our meals but I would also like to include something special for them besides the usual.
Our favorite family meals include salads and vegetables of course but also meat and dairy. This comes from many many many ok not so many years of traditional North American, ethnic (Ukrainian roots) and cooking magazine meals.
My husband and I have been trying to eat healthier for years, cutting down on our meat and fats, but lets face it, pizza night is one of our favorites. Don't forget my homemade perogies, broccoli with cheese sauce, scalloped potatoes. Tasty yes, lowest calorie no.
Today I read this article and life as I know it has ended

Harvard Declares Dairy NOT Part of Healthy Diet

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/harvard-declares-dairy-not-part-of-healthy-diet.html#ixzz1jAoDqI78

 

[Passepartout]

You have my sympathy. I see no reason, however, for you to change your food lifestyle to fit hers. If she wants to show you some of her favorite dishes, she should be encouraged, however if she finds the food you have prepared distasteful, she can fix for herself.

Many 'vegetarians' eat dairy. What you describe is 'vegan', a much more restrictive diet. Many experts say it's unhealthy at worst and difficult to get sufficient protein into at best. Not the kind of thing someone enters into instantly. It requires much study and work to institute properly. Not the kind of lifestyle change that one just decides one day to stop being omnivore and become vegan.

I wish her, and you, well.

Jim

 

[ScoopKona]

My wonderful DIL has become a vegetarian and as a food lover, in other words steak, pasta, sour cream lover, I find it challenging to include extra foods that she and my son can eat. They are very good at our meals but I would also like to include something special for them besides the usual.


Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/harvard-declares-dairy-not-part-of-healthy-diet.html#ixzz1jAoDqI78

Just keep some tofu and frozen veg in the house and let her make a stir fry when she comes over. You can also embrace middle-eastern cuisine and Indian cuisine.

Or you can just show your daughter this:

 

[Whirl]

Just keep some tofu and frozen veg in the house and let her make a stir fry when she comes over. You can also embrace middle-eastern cuisine and Indian cuisine.

Or you can just show your daughter this:

Hysterical!

 

[geekette]

WHEW!

My sister sent Omaha Steaks for Christmas and I have been setting my inner carnivore free.

Will let you know in a few years which pic I resemble.

 

[bjones9942]

Get yourself a good Indian cookbook or two. Many vegetarian/vegan Indian dishes and still lots of flavor. I recommend Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. Many excellent recipes, although there's not a specific vegetarian/vegan section - you'll have to thumb through to pick them out. And the recipe for Biriyani (lamb - but you can make vegan) is the closest to what I used to eat on 14th Street in NYC that I've ever found. Substitute a garbanzo bean paste for the almond paste and it's a 100% fit.

 

[DeniseM]

It is easy to make vegan pasta dishes - replace the meat with her favorite vegetables and mushrooms, and use a tofu cheese, or other non-dairy cheese on top.

Think about what other casseroles you make and how you can substitute the meat with tofu, veggies, mushrooms, beans, etc.

BTW - I predict that this won't last long. As others have said, a truly vegan diet is difficult to maintain, and also difficult nutritionally. I'd give it 3 mos.

An ovo-lacto vegetarian diet on the other hand is easy and nutritious. (I have been an ovo-lacto-pescatarian (eggs-dairy-fish) all of my adult life.)

Did she also throw out all her leather boots, shoes, belts, and handbags?

 

[DeniseM]

I thought of an easy vegan recipe that we like:

Southwest Spaghetti Squash

Cook and shred a large spaghetti squash.
Stir in margarine, salt, pepper.
Stir in one can vegetarian chili beans.
Stir in one can Rotel Mexican style tomatoes.
Spread in a greased baking dish.
I put shredded cheese on the top, but you could use tofu cheese or crumbled tortilla chips.
Bake for 30 min., or until hot and bubbly.

You can also make this with pasta, instead of spaghetti squash.

I also like to do pasta bakes and just use a can of black beans instead of the meat.

When you combine beans and rice it makes a complete protein, so try going to all recipes.com and searching by ingredient for beans and rice. Vegetarian red beans and rice is good.

You can also buy prepared tofu meat substitutes in all different flavors and forms, and sub them in casseroles. I like the Morning Star Farms brand and they have recipes on their website - http://www.morningstarfarms.com/msfhome.html

 

[bjones9942]

DeniseM - have you found a margarine that doesn't include dairy? I've looked at all the brands in my local supermarkets, and every single one of them contains some kind of dairy (buttermilk, milk solids, etc). If you have a brand that's non-lacto I'd appreciate knowing of it!

 

[DeniseM]

DeniseM - have you found a margarine that doesn't include dairy? I've looked at all the brands in my local supermarkets, and every single one of them contains some kind of dairy (buttermilk, milk solids, etc). If you have a brand that's non-lacto I'd appreciate knowing of it!

I eat dairy products, so I haven't looked - I will google it.

Here's what I found - http://vegetarian.about.com/od/guideproductpicks/qt/veganmargarine.htm

 

[persia]

To be fair the picture of Nigela is a publicity photo and the picture of Gillian is after a ten day survival show on a desert island. But no one would ever argue Gillian is more attractive than Nigela...

Hysterical!

 

[ScoopKona]

To be fair the picture of Nigela is a publicity photo and the picture of Gillian is after a ten day survival show on a desert island. But no one would ever argue Gillian is more attractive than Nigela...

Coming from Key West, I have plenty of vegan acquaintances. They simply don't look healthy. Particularly their skin. All of them look like they just got off a live-action Robinson Crusoe simulation.

And since when people go for a check-up, the first thing a doctor does is look at their skin, I'd say having the skin of an 75-year-old pirate (at the age of 35-50) means something is amiss with one's diet.

 

[m61376]

DeniseM - have you found a margarine that doesn't include dairy? I've looked at all the brands in my local supermarkets, and every single one of them contains some kind of dairy (buttermilk, milk solids, etc). If you have a brand that's non-lacto I'd appreciate knowing of it!

Fleischmann’s margarine is non-dairy. Mothers also has a non-dairy margarine. If you look for a Kosher symbol with the word Parve or the letter "P" it will be non-dairy.

There are also some tub margarines that are non-dairy, but those are two of the stick varieties.

 

[Patri]

I don't understand the 'no dairy' part. No animals were harmed in the production of this butter.
Would these people rather see thousands of farmers loss their livelihood and the unemployment rolls skyrocket, with taxpayers paying their way?

 

[ScoopKona]

I don't understand the 'no dairy' part. No animals were harmed in the production of this butter.
Would these people rather see thousands of farmers loss their livelihood and the unemployment rolls skyrocket, with taxpayers paying their way?

From your perspective, no animals were harmed. From the vegan's perspective, keeping animals in captivity IS harm -- even just for milking. All the cows and chickens and sheep need to be released into the wild, where they can run free and be happy!

And even though there aren't many family farms anymore, vegans would prefer to see them shuttered. Soy or nothing, don't you know.

 

[PigsDad]

And even though there aren't many family farms anymore, vegans would prefer to see them shuttered. Soy or nothing, don't you know.

And where do they think soy comes from? Land has to be cleared and cultivated, causing millions of animals to be displaced or killed. The soil erosion off of these fields chokes rivers and causes countless poor little fish to die. And then there is the pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels to run the tractors, harvesters and trucks to transport the soybeans. Not to mention the factories and their impact to the environment just to process the soy.

Indeed, if vegans are truly committed to not harming animals in any way, the best thing they could do is to take a long walk off a short pier. Anything short of that, they are simply hypocrites.

Kurt

 

[bjones9942]

m61376 - thanks for the info (and sorry DeniseM, I just assumed that with your diet you probably read lables ). Patri - my no-dairy is from necessity (lactose intolerance), not from opinion or religious belief. I'm unwilling to endure stabbing pain bad enough to cause me to pass out, just so a dairy farmer might make a couple of bucks. Call me selfish.

 

[ampaholic]

To be fair the picture of Nigela is a publicity photo and the picture of Gillian is after a ten day survival show on a desert island. But no one would ever argue Gillian is more attractive than Nigela...

And to really be fair - spending some money on "work" is likely involved as well.

Marie is also early fifties (does the "work" show?):

 

[ondeadlin]

I'm a full on meat/cheese/beer guy, but it's always amusing to me how folks react so negatively to vegans. This thread has the usual examples. I just don't get it. More bacon for me.

I could never do it, but my overall take is live and let live.

 

[DeniseM]

I don't understand the 'no dairy' part. No animals were harmed in the production of this butter.
Would these people rather see thousands of farmers loss their livelihood and the unemployment rolls skyrocket, with taxpayers paying their way?

Growing up in a farm community, I can tell you that dairy cows have a fairly miserable existence. They are penned up in small lots that are completely covered with manure. When the manue gets too deep, they take a backhoe and scrape it into a pile - usually in the same pen. Twice a day the cows are herded into the milk barn where they are sprayed with cold water to clean the udder area, and then milked with milking machines.

When they calve, the calves are taken away from the cow immediately, the bull calves are sold off, and the heifers are kept in tiny individual sheds and fed formula once or twice a day from a bottle held in a bracket. When the cows get older and their milk production decreases, they become McDonalds hamburgers.

The happy cow commercials with dairy cows frolicking in green pastures are pure media hype. Usually only beef cattle are pastured.

 

[artringwald]

My four food groups are salty, greasy, cheesy, and beer. The beer helps me forget about what the first three are doing to me and where they came from.

 

[bjones9942]

More bacon for me.

Hands off my bacon!

Does anyone else have a problem with opening a package of bacon and feeling a necessity to cook all of it?

 

[Patri]

Growing up in a farm community, I can tell you that dairy cows have a fairly miserable existence. They are penned up in small lots that are completely covered with manure. When the manue gets too deep, they take a backhoe and scrape it into a pile - usually in the same pen. Twice a day the cows are herded into the milk barn where they are sprayed with cold water to clean the udder area, and then milked with milking machines.

When they calve, the calves are taken away from the cow immediately, the bull calves are sold off, and the heifers are kept in tiny individual sheds and fed formula once or twice a day from a bottle held in a bracket. When the cows get older and their milk production decreases, they become McDonalds hamburgers.

I dunno if the cows think it is a bad life. The cleanliness would be up to each farmer. They graze in the pastures, too. Water and food is supplied, as is shelter. They get shown off at fairs and to elementary kids during field trips. They get music in the barn and names and pats on the rump. Could be worse.

 

[CarolF]

Growing up in a farm community, I can tell you that dairy cows have a fairly miserable existence. They are penned up in small lots that are completely covered with manure. When the manue gets too deep, they take a backhoe and scrape it into a pile - usually in the same pen. Twice a day the cows are herded into the milk barn where they are sprayed with cold water to clean the udder area, and then milked with milking machines.

When they calve, the calves are taken away from the cow immediately, the bull calves are sold off, and the heifers are kept in tiny individual sheds and fed formula once or twice a day from a bottle held in a bracket. When the cows get older and their milk production decreases, they become McDonalds hamburgers.

The happy cow commercials with dairy cows frolicking in green pastures are pure media hype. Usually only beef cattle are pastured.

I dunno if the cows think it is a bad life. The cleanliness would be up to each farmer. They graze in the pastures, too. Water and food is supplied, as is shelter. They get shown off at fairs and to elementary kids during field trips. They get music in the barn and names and pats on the rump. Could be worse.

It's the noise of the mothers calling for their missing babies that affects me.

Patri, this video explains the process and life of a poddy calf.

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/dairy.php

 

[falmouth3]

Back to vegetarian food - my colleague is from India and is vegetarian. He was recently raving about some tofu Italian sausage that he bought at Trader Joes. His partner, a meat eater, also thought they were tasty. Apparently TJ also has some fake chicken that my friend says is really good.