From: afraser@julian.uwo.ca (a.   fraser)
Subject: Re: veg lunches
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 02:04:28 GMT

In article <Brox26.2LF@news.cso.uiuc.edu> mbvg9741@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (plain) writes:
>
>  We (my wife and I) have attempted going veggy a couple times
>  in the past, but we always wind up going back to meats because
>  its more convenient.  Sorry if you don't like it, but that's
>  what we've found.  I guess it's just that we were both raised
>  with meat at damn near every meal, if not every one.
>
>  Part of our problem with vegetarianism so far is that the people
>  we know are extreme, prefering health and correctness to taste.
>  While that is admirable, it is hard to make such a switch.
>
I was raised in a German/Canadian household where meat was the norm at
every meal.  However, there still were some recipes that were
favorites and either meatless or had little emphasis on the meat.
What I am suggesting is that you take a hard look at the typical meals
that you now enjoy and see which ones could be made meatless, and
which ones already are.  I remember a PBS documentary on cholesteral
and diet and one tidbit of info that I remember very well was that
'the average American eats about 10 different meals/recipes'; this
really took me aback but when I considered my own weekly meal history
(ordinary meals, not counting holidays and special events) I realized
that 10 was closer to the truth than the 50 that I would have guessed
off the top of my head.  Now, depending on how much you like to cook,
you may have more favorite meals; but the number probably doesn't top
16. At any rate, my arguement is that, if you accept the number 10,
then you really only have to find 10 new recipes that you like that
are vegeterian.  And the first place to start (I think) is to look at
what you already like to eat: perhaps you have this chicken dish with
really tastey oven baked potatoes  -keep the potato part, perhaps
expand the serving size and find something else to pair it with.

Remember that the vegetarians that you mention have probably been
vegetarians for a long time and have moved recipe-wise farther away
from typical North American fare as time went on.  

>  Now, what all this is getting to;  can anyone give me a source
>  or suggestions for simple and tasty vegetarian recipes, especially
>  for lunches?
>  Thanks.
>  -Vincent


Ok, here is a tasty sandwich full of good green stuff:

2 slices of mutigrain bread (or something as tasty that toasts nicely)
lite cream cheese
a couple mushrooms
3 slices of green pepper, chopped into big pieces
1 slice tomato (optional)
green onion
alfalfa sprouts
black pepper

The secret is to stack the ingredients in the correct order:

First toast the bread and then spread the cream cheese on both slices.
I don't put it on very thick because it is on both pieces of the
toast. 

Then sprinkle a lot of black pepper on the two slices of toast.

One one slice, put nice thick slices of mushroom trying to cover the
whole slice. 

Sprinkle lots of chopped green onion over the mushrooms.  Then add the
green pepper.  I do watch the amount of green pepper I add since it
has a stronger taste.  

Add the slice of tomato.

Cover tomato with alfalfa sprouts.  Close sandwich.

Eat.  Smile and look happy.

(The orginal version of this used bread instead of toast.  Both are
nice.  This is a pretty 'dry' sandwich  -the bread won't get soggy if
you make it in the morning for lunch time.)


Hopefully you will like the above, I have been making it all week for
myself. 


Cheers,
Jan

afraser@julian.uwo.ca