The Meat Eater's Guide to Crafting a Meatless Meal, pt.5: Some Favorites From My Kitchen

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 1

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 2

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 3

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 4

I often think it must be boring to read about what I cook. But I did want to give suggestions from what works for meatless meals my family as a sort of springboard for ideas, yours and mine. So, I've divided my family's favorite meatless meals into categories based on the major protein source for each meal.

Tofu

• Tofu-Veggie Lasagna     This dish is something that I think about as I fall asleep at night. It's a garden vegetable lasagna. When my daughters were first born, the hospital sent us home with a dinner basket of a frozen vegetable lasagna and a bottle of sparkling apple cider. It wasn't long before I felt compelled to replicate the lasagna, adding my own twist to the dish. The greens can be frozen spinach or garden (or market) spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, collards, or broccoli. I also like to add about a half of a large carrot grated. I'm lactose intolerant, so I can't have a lot of soft or fresh cheese at any one time. That led me to try tofu as the "cheese" filling, sometimes all tofu, sometimes blended with part cottage cheese. So, I mash 16 oz of firm tofu and season with lemon juice, salt, and garlic. I then add the chopped veggies and stir together. I don't use any meat in this lasagna. Instead, I layer lasagna noodles with the tofu-veggie filling and a marinara sauce. I top the entire casserole with a mixture of grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. This makes a 9 X 13-inch baker of lasagna with about 140 grams of protein total and 8 servings, with about 17.5 grams protein per serving.
• Chocolate-Tofu Silk     This is not a meal, but a high-protein end to a meal, with about 7.5 grams of protein in a serving (if dividing the recipe into eighths). 
• TLT Sandwich     Using strips of fried tofu, layer tofu, lettuce, and tomato on whole grain bread, like a BLT only subbing in the fried tofu for the bacon. One-sixth of a 1-lb block of firm tofu, cut into slices and fried has roughly the same amount of grams of protein as 2 regular slices of pork bacon, about 6.5 grams. Two slices of whole wheat bread adds 7 grams of protein, for a sandwich with about 14 grams protein.

Lentils

• Sloppy Lentils on Buns     I make a Sloppy Joe filling with tomato sauce, green peppers, onions, garlic, chili powder, mustard powder, beef bouillon, salt, pepper, and bit of cornstarch, plus about 1 1/2 cups of cooked lentils and 1/2 cup of cooked barley for 4 people. Serve on large burger buns. Each sandwich contains about 17 grams of protein.
• Lentil-Barley Marinated Salad     I toss together cooked lentils and cooked barley (in about a 2:1 ration lentils to barley), with diced celery, minced shallots, and a mustard vinaigrette. Chill for a couple of hours. Grams of protein would depend on serving size.

Garbanzo Beans

• Hummus and Fry Bread     Fry bread is a yeast dough, such as French bread dough, that is formed into rounds about 4 to 5 inches in diameter and about 1/2-inch thick. I fry them in a skillet with a little oil to prevent sticking (these are NOT deep-fried). We like the fry bread spread with homemade hummus. I make hummus in the food processor with cooked garbanzo beans, lemon juice, garlic, salt, oregano, parsley, and olive oil.
• Tabouli     The tabouli recipe that I follow comes from Jane Brody's Good Food Book. The recipe calls for prepared bulgar wheat, cooked garbanzo beans, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, shredded carrot, diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, salt, and pepper. This is a favorite of ours in August, when my garden provides fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and parsley. It's a dish that is served cold, so this can be made in the cool summer morning hours, refrigerated, and served in the evening -- no heating the kitchen in the late afternoon.

Assorted Other Beans

• Vegetarian Chili     I make vegetarian chili, using beans, barley or TVP (for "chew"), canned tomatoes, green peppers, the usual seasonings, then top with shredded cheddar cheese and fried/baked corn tortilla strips. It's very good, even without meat. The barley or TVP provide that chewy sensation that would otherwise come from ground beef.
• Vegan Shepherd's Pie     The "meat" in this shepherd's pie can be a vegan meat substitute, rehydrated TVP, or cooked beans. I like to use about half TVP/half cooked beans or lentils. We think this is quite delicious and don't miss the meat at all.   
• Bean Tacos/Tostadas     filled with black beans or refried pintos, marinated corn (in a lime vinaigrette), avocado, tomatoes, bell pepper, shredded cheese, and drizzled with plain yogurt.
• Bean and Cheese Quesadillas     whole grain flour tortilla spread with refried pinto beans and shredded cheese, topped with second tortilla and toasted on a griddle. 
• Kitchen Sink Burritos     flour tortilla filled with beans, rice, avocado, cheese, yogurt/sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, olives
• Pasta Primavera     made with spaghetti noodles, an assortment of sautéed vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, asparagus, green beans, carrots, onions, garlic), black olives, Greek olives or capers, cooked cannellini beans, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts or chopped almonds, basil and oregano -- all tossed together.

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein

• TVP Spaghetti
• TVP (or lentil) Cabbage Patch Soup

Eggs

• Egg Foo Yung
• Garden Vegetable and Cheese Frittata
• Garden Vegetable and Cheese Quiche
• Skillet Huevos Rancheros     with corn tortillas, black beans, eggs, chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, seasonings, olive oil, avocado, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, cheese, hot sauce, and any extra veggies (such as zucchini or bell peppers). 

Peanut Butter

• Peanut Noodles     using whole grain pasta, peanut butter, red pepper flakes, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, lime juice, and cilantro, topped with chopped peanuts.
• Live and Learn's Curried Pumpkin-Peanut Soup     topped with whole grain croutons.

Wheat Meat made from whole wheat flour (I haven't ever given this recipe, here. The texture is a lot like ground beef.  It is high in gluten, so a very bad option for someone who needs to be gluten-free. But my family has enjoyed it over the years.)

• "Salisbury Fake"     This is a faux ground beef patty smothered in brown gravy.
• Wheat Meat Breakfast Sausage     Again, a high-gluten meat substitute, seasoned and formed into sausage patties.

Okay, so those are my family's favorites. What are your family's favorite meatless meals?

The Meat-Eater's Guide to Crafting a Meatless Meal, pt 4: The Anti-Nutrients and Minerals

https://www.womensweb.in/2016/08/vegetarian-iron-rich-foods/

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 1

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 2

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 3

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 5

Our meat-heavy diets provide our bodies with much more than protein. Several minerals, including iron and zinc, are also made abundant to us through consuming meat. When eating less meat, we need to pay attention to how we're getting those other nutrients to make up for what is left out in our meatless meals.

The difficulty is that it isn't as simple as adding some spinach, beans, or whole grains to your diet to get those extra nutrients. Plant sources tend to be less bioavailable than meat sources for iron and zinc. I mentioned a bit about anti-nutrients yesterday and that they can impair the body's ability to absorb essential amino acids. In addition to interfering with amino acid absorption, anti-nutrients can also bind the uptake of minerals. 

When we think of beef, one of the first nutrients that comes to mind is iron. Non-meat sources also contain iron. However, the form of iron found in plant sources (non-heme iron) is not as absorbable as the iron form found in meat (heme iron). Various compounds, substances, and minerals impair the body's ability to absorb the mineral iron. 

Polyphenols (in tea and coffee), oxalic acid (in some berries, leafy greens like spinach, beet greens and chard, as well as chocolate and tea), phytates, inositol hexaphosphate, and polyphosphate (in beans, whole grains, and corn), phosvitin (in egg yolks), calcium, zinc, manganese and nickel (yes, there's nickel in some foods) can all inhibit the uptake of iron from plant sources.

We always think about vegetables like spinach as being especially high in iron. After all, Popeye got his extraordinary strength from a can of spinach. And if you look at a table of nutrients for spinach, it will indeed tell you that this vegetable has a lot of iron. It's just these anti-nutrients get in the way of the human body to access that iron.

Despite this, there are some super simple ways to increase your absorption of this vital mineral. 

1. eat a food that is high vitamin C along with the plant-based iron-rich food. This can be as simple as serving orange juice with the meal, or sprinkling lemon juice over a bed of spinach, or serving a tomato sauce-covered pasta dish with the greens or beans, or adding some canned pineapple chunks or tomato sauce to baked beans, or combining cooked or canned beans with shredded cabbage and sunflower seeds as a slaw-type salad. Some vitamin C foods include strawberries, citrus, raw cabbage and broccoli, and tomatoes.
2. eat your iron-rich vegetables along with a small amount of meat, poultry or fish. It's unknown why this works, but the pairing of some animal flesh with the non-heme iron increases the bioavailability of iron for the plant-based food. This would be one of those less meat meals instead of meatless ones.
3. a little bit of sugar, especially fructose is said to boost iron absorption, as well.

Information on boosting non-heme iron absorption found on The Nest and The Mayo Clinic's website.

The mineral zinc is also not as easily absorbed from plant sources as it is from animal products. In addition to being found in seafood, lean meats, poultry, eggs, and dairy products, zinc is found in whole grains, soy products, legumes, nuts, and wheat germ. 

These same plant foods that contain zinc also contain phytates (or phytic acid), the anti-nutrient that binds minerals and prevents their absorption. In particular, whole grains and legumes are particularly high in phytates. Phytic acid in itself is not a bad thing. In fact, there's growing research that indicates this anti-nutrient may inhibit tumor growth, help prevent cardiovascular disease, improve kidney health, and help the pancreas in insulin secretion. It may also give us that sustained full feeling after eating. But, if the diet is heavy in phytates with no mediation, it can bind minerals, such as zinc.

There are several things that can be done to reduce phytates in grains and beans:

1. for grains, yeast breads have less phytic acid than flatbreads, and the breakdown of phytates is even greater in sourdough bread (there's that sourdough again).
2. soaking beans and grains before cooking reduces phytates and other anti-nutrients. With beans, soaking overnight reduces more phytates than using the quick-soak method (bring to boil, shut off heat, allow to stand 1 hour). 
3. fermentation is another good method of deactivating phytates. Using a sourdough is a form of fermentation. Rice can be fermented, too. Here's a tasty recipe for fermenting brown rice (scroll down through the article).
4. sprouting beans, grains, nuts, and seeds before using in recipes/baking  decreases phytates.
5. consuming vitamin C-rich foods with phytate-containing grains, nuts, seeds, and beans can also improve zinc uptake.
6. as with iron, consuming a small amount of animal flesh along with the grains, beans, nuts and seeds can increase zinc absorption.

Information on increasing zinc absorption found on Precision Nutrition and The Mayo Clinic's website.


This sounds like a lot of information to digest to ensure adequate iron and zinc absorption. However, there is some overlap in the anti-nutrients affecting uptake of minerals and how to mediate them through simple dietary additions.


I predominantly use two methods in my own cooking to help with iron and zinc absorption. I add Vitamin C rich foods to meals with high plant-based iron and zinc content. And, we consume these plant foods alongside small amounts of animal flesh for less meat meals. I'll often add an ounce of beef, chicken, or pork per person to an otherwise vegetarian meal, such as a bean soup or rice and bean casserole. The little tidbit of meat adds satiety and texture to the meal, yes, but it also improves mineral absorption. 

To a less extent, I also have also done some sprouting (as you know with my sprouted lentils), and I'm working with sourdough (fermentation of wheat) this spring during this yeast shortage. I also try to use the overnight soak method when cooking beans as mush as possible instead of the quick soak method.


Some quick lists for good foods to keep on hand. Read through and see which ones you might enjoy most.

Plant-based foods that are high in iron and good to keep in the pantry or fridge:

• dried or canned beans, especially soybeans (and foods made from soy), lentils, white beans, kidney beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, cowpeas/black-eyed peas, and black beans
• dark leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, and collards
• whole grains, such as amaranth, teff, oats, wheat, and quinoa, and to a less extent, cornmeal, rye, and barley. Brown rice and couscous are at the bottom of the whole grain iron list on dietbly.com
• nuts and seeds, especially pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, hemp, and flax seeds, but also cashews, almonds, pine nuts, macadamias, peanuts, coconut milk, pistachios (full list here)
• potatoes (iron is mostly in and just under the skins)
• tomato paste and dried tomatoes
• oyster and white mushrooms

Non-meat foods that are high in zinc and good to keep in the pantry or fridge:

• eggs
• cheese
• whole grains, particularly whole wheat as flour
• wheat germ
• soy products
• legumes (especially cowpeas, navy beans, lentils, black beans, white beans, and green split peas, to a lesser extent garbanzo beans, lima beans, and kidney beans) 
• nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin, squash, and sesame seeds)
• peanuts and peanut butter

Good vitamin C foods to keep on hand for mediating some of the mineral absorption issues:

• bottled lemon and lime juice
• canned pineapple
• fresh or frozen bell peppers or strips
• cabbage
• canned, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste with which to make a sauce
• orange juice

Next time, I'll wrap this up with some of my family's absolute favorite meatless renditions of meaty dishes. Till next time . . .