Vegetarian recipes - go on, give them a go and help animals

I'll be honest.  I'm a terrible cook. 

When I was at school and we had cookery lessons (as they were called in those days), not even my aunt's golden retriever would look at the offerings I brought home.  When I met my hubby, I cooked the first meal. He looked at what was on his plate and promptly went off to order a pizza....

But one thing I'm doing this year is to eat some vegetarian meals at home and to eat more vegetarian food when I'm out and about.

Being a vegetarian is good for people & animals

A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, or the by-products of slaughter.

According to the Vegetarian Society, being a vege is good for animals: In the UK over 2.5 million land animals are slaughtered daily and 600,000 tonnes of fish are killed each year.  And it's good for the environment: It takes thousands more litres of water to produce a kilo of beef than to grow the same quantity of grains, vegetables or pulses.  And it's good for your health, too.  Research shows that vegetarians are less likely to suffer from obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and some other diseases.

Where can you get vegetarian recipes?

And if you're thinking you would like to have a go at some vegetarian cooking, the good news is that the Vegetarian Society have some great vegetarian recipes on their website.   One option is to do a search for simple vegetarian recipes - they divide their search facility into Simple (oh good), Moderate (oh dear), Gourmet (ha, ha,) and Caterers (well, I'll leave that one).  This means you can browse their recipes according to your cookery capabilities.  Or lack of. 

I fancy giving Anne's Mushroom Stroganoff a go and Jerry's Curry.  There's a Apple, Orange & Raspberry Nutty Crumble and a Classic French Omelette, a yummy Carrot Cake and a Bolognese sauce for perfect pasta.   Click here to see lots more vegetarian recipes.

And you can search by meal type - starter, main, dessert, soup, side dish, snack, packed lunch, breakfast, party food, cakes & biscuits & more.  And by diet - vegan, egg free, dairy free, nut free, low fat, gluten free and wheat free.   Or by Cuisines - African, Chinese, French, Greek, Indian, Irish, Italian etc.

There's info on nutrition, too.

Do you go cold turkey or do it bit by bit?

Well, the Vegetarian Society have helpful titbits for you, whether you want to quit eating meal once and for all overnight, or do it bit by bit.  There's lots of help and support, too.

Give it a go!

I suspect having more vegetarian food will be like going on a diet.  There'll be times when you don't stick to it - and times when you do.  The trick is not to be too hard on yourself when you slip up but to give it another go.  And then another one.  And another.  Even if we all had one vegetarian meal a month instead of a meat dish every day, that would be a start.  Every vegetarian meal makes a difference.

For more info...

Finally, please also take a look at the Compassion in World Farming which aims to improve the welfare of farm animals around the world.  The food you choose has a direct effect on how farm animals live - click here to learn more