Vegetarians: What have you eaten today?

@WuTwo prompted me to post. I’ve listed the meals I ate yesterday (Saturday). This was quite a normal weekend day for me, although the evening meal was probably closer to a Sunday meal as my Mum was visiting. FYI: All meals are homemade and I’m the chef! The nutrition information is from MyFitnessPal if you’re interested.

Breakfast
Chia pudding (I eat most days, prepared the night before) I.e. chia seeds soaked in full fat milk, flavoured with cocoa, cinnamon and coconut and topped with mixed seeds/nuts. With two mugs of milky coffee.
Carbs 26g, Fat 49g, Protein 29g

Lunch
3 poached eggs and a few beans on (Livlife) buttered toast.
C27 F27 P39

Dinner
Nut roast with roast swede, kale, sprouts, and a Yorkshire for a treat with gravy. (I did make roast potatoes for everyone else, but anyone that comes to my house only gets veg; we’re meat-free: only my dog gets a concession, I’m not cruel!).

50g melon for dessert, but I don’t normally have a dessert.
C40 F55 P26

(No wine: I don’t really drink. I wasn’t allowed alcohol for a long while; now I am, but I’m not bothered.)

Snacks
A handful of walnuts, two squares of 85% chocolate, more milky coffees and some glucose to boost my BG after a walk.

Footnote: I have insulin-dependant T3c Diabetes and digestion problems so I need to eat about 2200 kcals a day or I lose weight rapidly.

@Ledzeptt - Do you make your own nut roast? Would you share your recipe? I love a good nut roast - rich and flavoursome - and I have to confess I'd like to find a good ready-made if I could. If you know one, sing out! If your recipe uses egg I could adapt it. We have a recipe but new ones always welcome!

Today is:

B/fast - 2 Cauldron Mediterranean sausages (vegan), slice w/meal toast, half can cherry tomatoes, engevita flakes.
Lunch: Sainsbury's Love your Veg Mediterrean Veg & basil pasta, followed by a banana & coconut yoghurt (I use the Alpro)
Dinner: Mushroom stroganoff (recipe in Vegan Living magazine) with brown rice, followed by a Pink Lady apple.

Again drinks are black coffee (breakfast) and rooibos tea for the rest of day.

I might drink a glass of Oatly s/s milk at some stage in the day. I like oat milk (never could take to the soya or coconut milks, and don't want nut milks - take too much water to produce).

I just find it confusing as there are distinct differences between the two which could be clarified by stating what type one is -
just as it is confusing if the type of diabetes is not stated where relevant.
But each to his or her own. But I vote for clarity where ever possible !!

@kitedog I am an ethical vegan (as opposed to someone just following a whole food plant based diet where they don't necessarily adopt the lifestyle).

Hi@Wutwo

I do make my own nut roast as I haven’t been impressed with shop bought ones. I recently saw a vegan one in Waitrose that looked good (£5, but nuts aren’t cheap if you make your own); not tried it though - I’ll report back if I do.

Yesterday wasn’t a great day...

Breakfast
Just milky coffee as I didn’t feel well. I blame the clock change, but I don’t know the real reason!

Lunch
Felt better so I made a tofu, broccoli and courgetti salad covered in red pesto (Asda do a vegetarian and also a dairy-free pesto). It’s handy to double-up the quantities (particularly splitting the tofu pack between two meals) and then I’ve a quick packed lunch ready for work the next day.
14g C, 22g F, 26g P

Dinner
Left over nut roast with cabbage, carrot and gravy.
24g C, 41g F, 17g P

I didn’t eat enough and got told off by my boss/carer/wife!


This is my go-to nut roast recipe (based on an original recipe from Rose Elliott with more nuts and less bread; and the pepper for moisture). As you’ll see, it’s quick to prepare and I think it’s tasty:

Ingredients:
* 20g butter or equivalent oil if vegan
* Large onion
* Yellow or red pepper
* Garlic (1 or 2 cloves as preferred)
* 350g variety nuts e.g. hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts (whatever’s on offer)
* 50g wholewheat bread (no crusts)
* Pinch dry thyme or oregano (don’t overdo it)
* Salt/pepper to taste
* Teaspoon each: soy, marmite (dissolved in a little hot water), lemon juice (I cheat and use the bottled stuff)
* If not vegan then an egg to bind, else water

(I do make the vegan version when my daughter visits and it tastes fine; it just crumbles a little - perhaps some aquafaba would help?)

Method
1. Finely chop the onion, pepper, garlic and fry in the butter/oil until soft.
2. Meanwhile, roughly chop half the nuts (no prize for evenness). Blitz the remaining nuts and the bread in a nutribullet/food processor until fine.
3. Mix all ingredients in a bowl including flavourings and beaten egg if using. If necessary, add a little more water to moisten, sufficient to gently bind the mixture (but don’t make too wet).
4. Grease a non stick or lined loaf tin and add the mixture. (I have used a sandwich cake tin when a loaf tin wasn’t available, in which case I ended up with a thin and crispy roast.) Optionally decorate the top with a few nuts or seeds (if you have guests or have an artistic inclination).
5. Bake in a pre/warmed oven at 200 c for 30 minutes. That’s it!

I slice the “loaf” into six, but it will divide into eight if too much. It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge or freezes well. (I reheat in an 800w microwave for one minute.)

According to MyFitnessPal 1/6 of the loaf is 12g carbs, 37g fat and 15g protein.

@Ledzeptt That's great thanks. I think I'd use some soaked chia seeds for binding because then I could add a little extra moisture if the recipe felt like it needed it to bind well.

We'll give it a go though - my husband and son are flexi, son's partner is veggie heading to vegan and I'm vegan - it'll suit all of use

I'll post about meals when I've finished lunch and we've planned dinner.

Breakfast was tinned cherry tomatoes on toast with engevita flakes. I have that a lot because it's my favourite.

Lunch was a (vegan) cheese & tomato toasty followed by a Sainsbury's fresh fruit pot - the one that has apple, pineapple and a couple of grapes.

Dinner will be vegan pizzas - BBQ jackfruit & mushroom for me, roast butternut & charred broccoli for my husband. I'll have a banana & coconut yoghurt for pud, he likes ice-cream.

It's all really quick and easy today; our old dog had a very bad night (severe arthritis in his hips); so bad that his pain meds didn't touch it. None of us got off to sleep until about 3.30 a.m. and we get up at 6.20 a.m. so we're operating on autopilot.

Sorry about your dog @WuTwo - Labrador I guess?

Oddly, he's an old one-eyed Shih-Tzu and has no reason to have arthritis, but he has it! Still got an incredibly healthy appetite (my husband cooks fresh meat for the dogs 'cos raw goes right through them) and loves life in general, so a pain filled night was an exception. If it happens again we'll take him to the vet for some booster pain killers.

I wouldn't touch the dogs' meat with a bargepole but I think they need it, and my husband is neither veggie nor vegan so he's cool with handling it. He's flexi, which suits him.

Haven't had dinner yet so won't post the day's munching. I think dinner is something to do with plantain tonight. I saw the Bosh recipe book open at the page of a new-to-us recipe that I know he wants to try.

Breakfast was organic porridge oats with oat milk, with 75g of fresh raspberries added.

Lunch was an "at my desk" meal - I had Sainsbury's Love your Veg Mediterranean Veg & Basil with pasta, followed by a banana, and I had a drink of oat milk.

Dinner is Easy Peasy Pasta (recipe out of the Bosh book), but our pasta is always wholemeal and I don't get much of it. I have nearly all veg.

Snack tonight will be 65g of mixed roast nuts.

Bit low on the protein today but tomorrow is scrambled tofu for brekkie, and quinoa with nuts, edamame beans and tomatoes (drizzled with garlic olive oil) for lunch. Haven't a clue about dinner yet. We'll make sure it's a high protein meal though, Probably tofu stir fry, or maybe a curry. Oooh - I can add cashew nuts and other stuff as well!

My dog’s a Tibetan Terrier (only 6 and very healthy at present, slightly crazy but that’s natural for the breed). She doesn’t tolerate meat cooked/raw though, so easy and suits us to give her dried food. She does get occasional small meat treats from relatives, but it can get messy, need I say more?

Quite boring today as usual chia pudding breakfast and leftover tofu salad thingy for lunch. I’ve been abandoned tonight so I’ll be rummaging in the freezer for more leftovers. There won’t be anything to inspire anyone, but it’s just a normal working day!

I don’t have the Bosh book. My favourites at the moment are:

“The big book of low-carb recipes” by Nicola Graimes

“Mediterranean paleo diet” (the DK one)

I know they’re not vegetarian, but they contain many veg recipes and I can adapt most of the meat/fish ones.

My all time favourite is out of print: “The new vegetarian cookbook” by Rose Elliot (so look for a cheap second hand copy)

... and for occasions, I love Dennis Cotter’s veg books.

I have the Rose Elliott and agree it' a good book. The one that's in my basket at Amazon at the moment is this one

https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1473639212/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

She has written several vegan recipe books but somehow we don't have any of them. Trouble is there are so very many out there to choose from! Also the vegan magazines all do tons of recipes every month.

I'm hoping my nigari arrives today so that we can make our own tofu. Lord knows we eat enough of it; it would be really good to make our own! If it works I'll post the recipe.

Your dog sounds fun! Our old boy is 13 now, and our youngster is 3. She's taking her time growing up but there are signs of her settling down a bit. She eats anything and everything, which makes life easy. Her particular favourites are sausages. Dizzy isn't keen so my husband cooks sausages for Tutti most days, to go with her biscuits.

OK - today's meals:

Breakfast - a bit too much scrambled tofu on a slice of w/meal toast with half a can of tinned toms. Engevita flakes. I have some black Himalayan salt and add just a bit to the scramble - really adds to the taste!

Lunch: Quinoa and Chia, with chopped cucumber, cherry toms, some fried crunchy tofu cubes on top, with some garlic infused olive oil drizzled on the quinoa (before putting the tofu on top, so as to keep the crunch in the tofu).

Dinner - rather large home made plaintain and jackfruit BBQ pizzas. Should be jerk and not BBQ but we change the jerk to BBQ because I'm allergic to chili. Oddly, not to paprika, ginger or other hot spices or to bell peppers but just to the actual chilli whether as powder or bits of food. For this one you need really ripe plantain - more black than green.

Snack: Mixed roasted nuts. A bit too salty but I love 'em, and only have them a couple of times a week. It means I drink gallons of water just before I go to bed though, which means I'm up out of bed several times.

Today:

Breakfast - 2 slices wholemeal toast with peanut butter. Quick and easy, and yummy!

Lunch: Bowl of lentil & veg soup, slice of w/meal bread, apple, no-cal/carb jelly pot

Dinner: Creamy Seaside Pie - a Bosh recipe which we haven't had before. It looks a bit low in protein for us, so we're adding 160g marinated tofu. I'm following that with a mix of strawberries, raspberries & blueberries with Alpro Coconut yoghut.

No snacks today - I don't think I'll need or want anything after that lot!

Drinks were either unsweetened black coffee or plain rooibos tea, lots of water.

Today was:

b/fast - Tinned cherry toms on w/m toast, with engevita flakes. Then blueberries with coconut yoghurt.

Lunch was hummus with scoops made of raw carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and broccoli florets. Then a Pink Lady apple.

Dinner is sweet 'n smoky BBQ jackfruit with sweetcorn and black beans, accompanied by cauli rice with some mixed veggies in. Dessert is an Alpro vegan Dark Chocolate dessert pot (totally gorgeous).

Snack tonight is mixed nuts because otherwise I'm low on calorie content.

The whole day will turn out to be about 120g carb which is a nice amount for me.

Today's food is planned, but most of it not yet munched.

B/fast was wholemeal toast with peanut butter.

Lunch will be home made tofu, sliced into cubes (marinading as I write), shallow fried in olive oil until crunchy with a large mixed salad.

Dinner will be nut cutlets, peas and chips (yay!) followed by blueberries and Alpro coconut yoghurt.

Drinks: Black coffee at breakfast, gallons of rooibos tea throughout the day. I also try hard to slurp a whole carafe of water split neatly between my morning and evening tablets.

Tonight I had organic chickpea spaghetti with jackfruit puttanesca for dinner. Delicious, but if anyone else has the spaghetti (which is worth it because its 28% by weight protein) don't cook it for as long as the box says unless you like your spaghetti biteless. I like mine al dente, so next time we'll reduce the cooking time by at least 2 minutes.

We normally have wholewheat spaghetti, but this chickea pasta looked and tasted like the white pasta. Luckily the jackfruit dish had a strong flavour and sauce, so the taste wasn't an issue. If the spaghetti sauce wasn't strongly flavoured I'd want the wholewheat pasta. (Although the protein element is a huge plus for the chickpea).

DCUKMod said:

As a matter of interest WuTwo, what type of diabetes do you have?

Click to expand...

I'm type 1, which makes life easier in some ways but more of a pain in others. I get very fed up with the endless working out of bolus Insulin, the hypos and spikes as soon as I'm off colour or get my sums wrong.

I aim for around 120g carb a day, and over the course of the week I'm usually on target. Any more and my bolus accuracy isn't as predictable.

I had 50g of the chickpea spaghetti which was ample for me because I love the veggies!