Current Events > Day 3(?) of vegetarian. Spicy black bean "burger" is pretty good

(+) Yeah! (+)

That morningstar brand. So last time I did something like this, I did vegan for 30 days. Didn't have a problem. People are too hard on vegan/veg diets for lack of variety, but I didn't run into that problem. For some reason tho, I'm really craving meat this time. This burger is dope though and is deffo helping abate that craving. I wanna go vegetarian for at least a month, and hopefully by then the cravings subside and it becomes a normal thing for me. Tired of feeling guilty over eating meat, whether justified or not

@dolomedes
@RebelElite791

Whatchu guys recommend moving forward? Last time it was a lot of potatoes, beans, pasta. This time I'm definitely willing to go more exotic and branch out

I hate the black bean burgers. Prefer the grillers and the buffalo chicken

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I think if you're having meat cravings, maybe finding a house seitan recipe you can have on hand can help. It's pretty versatile, so you could get lots of different items from one batch that you can then season in different ways. You could grind it up for sloppy joes or spaghetti bolognese, slice it for sandwiches, etc. It can be time intensive but it's way cheaper than all the frozen meat alternatives.

One thing that helped me branch out (already was an adventurous eater but going vegan really kicked it into overdrive) was just googling vegan (or vegetarian if that's your thing) recipes by region or country.

Two that really kept me from getting bored were Middle Eastern and Indian foods.

https://eluxemagazine.com/recipes/33-vegan-middle-eastern-recipes/

https://www.thenomadicvegan.com/vegan-indian-food/

Also, there are a shitload of legumes and grains out there to explore. I grew up eating two or three kinds of beans, so my mind was blown to discover how many they were and how unique they were. Finding out about lentils was huge. Same thing with grains and cereals. I grew up eating wheat, rice, and corn with the occasional barley. Getting acquainted with bulgur, farro, amaranth, quinoa, teff, and so on was really fun.


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Huh, that seitan shit sounds intriguing as hell. And yeah versatile too. Will deff look into it in the AM when I'm not too tired/lazy to google. Also, I'll probably buy a rice cooker finally

Vegetables.

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Yo wtf why am I having constipation this morning? I ate a lot of beans yesterday too

I had a black bean burger once, and it was horrible.

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Seitan does take a little bit of practice to make but there are a lot of videos on youtube to learn from, and once you get a good idea of how it works, you can go about flavoring it in different ways. I like to make mine with chickpea flour, as that helps with the density and keeps it from being too rubbery. Vital wheat gluten (I personally have never bothered with making it from white flour) and chickpea flour are both fairly cheap.

Store-bought seitan can be quick and easy but it's not worth the price imo.

Tofu is also pretty good. My favorite way to prepare it is give it a run through the air fryer until it's pretty baked, then season it or throw it in my soups, stews, stir-fries, whatever.

I'd also recommend an instant pot. They're pretty affordable at this point and multi-functional, though still more expensive than an average quality rice cooker.

And if you're taking in more fiber than usual, make sure you're drinking enough water. I haven't been truly constipated in a long time but I know the times I've been "delayed" were usually because I wasn't drinking enough water. You also actually can have too much fiber at times, or at least that's a problem some folks have. I haven't had any problems of note since my body got accustomed to eating this way after a few weeks.

I second the dried chiles and mushrooms recommendations. Also look into mushroom broths and powders. That's been my new favorite thing, mushroom bases. They really take the umami of my dishes to a whole new level.


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black bean burgers are fucking great man damn, now i want some

morningstar burgers are edible, but they're like the absolute baseline of veggie burgers. Try beyond meat for a huge step up in taste and texture

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dolomedes posted...

i've had many a black bean burger and even the shitty ones were hardly 'horrible.' maybe you've had bad luck :(

It legit fell apart in my hands and didn't taste very good.

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dolomedes posted...

ah yes, that is a problem i encounter with a lot of 'veggie burger' options at non-veggie restaurants

That was a vegetarian/gluten free place. I was eating vegetarian that day. Would not do that again tbh...

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Looking forward to the weekend. Got the house to myself and gonna experiment it up. Appreciate all the input bros, gonna go ahead and save this thread.

Also I've had the impossible whop before, to me it was indistinguishable from the real thing

Way back when I did vegan for a month I pretty much lived on rice, beans, and frozen vegetables. Would make like a 5lb tub of it, freeze it, and just eat it every day for lunch. I also tried Morningstar bacon, which was awful lol

tofu + noodles + veggies + sauce

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Platoe posted...

Whatchu guys recommend moving forward? Last time it was a lot of potatoes, beans, pasta. This time I'm definitely willing to go more exotic and branch out

Jackfruit.

on seitan, this came out pretty good for me when I tried it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4UuP0heR8w

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imo the best thing morningstar makes is their sausage. they are kinda dry but put em in a biscuit or something and its better than their burgers or chicken

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tempeh

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ultimate reaver posted...

imo the best thing morningstar makes is their sausage. they are kinda dry but put em in a biscuit or something and its better than their burgers or chicken

Sausage, as in their sausage patties, or the sausage links?
If the latter, then that's objectively wrong.
If the former, then perhaps. Their Maple Flavored > Original Sausage patties.
But it still turns into a hockey puck once it cools down.

As for TC, the Chick'n patties (esp. the Buffalo ones) are top tier. Better than the Black bean burgers.

but honestly, if you're planning on going vegetarian/vegan, then you have to get passed these processed foods. Pan fried tofu with soy sauce and sesame oil as dipping sauce + bowl of rice is what I normally eat nowadays.