Hey all,

I'm trying to slowly convert to a mostly-vegetarian diet (will never be completely vegetarian because my family is so carnivorous) but I have no idea what to eat. My body craves protein hard during the day (especially at lunch, when I would usually have chicken)...I'm also going to be starting a weight-training regimen, so protein is important.

While I love chicken, I read recently that chickens were one of the most cruelly treated of animals used for human consumption, and there is a little bit of chicken sh*t in every package of supermarket chicken. (Er, gross.) Plus I'm a Buddhist and have been for eight years, so not eating animals would definitely be on my to-do list of long-term goals...it's just very difficult for me. And I adore just a plain chicken breast chucked in the microwave until done. Delish.

So does anyone have a vegetarian staple protein entree that is quick and easy? I'm a fan of peanut butter but the fat content, oi.

I have a bunch of beans, lentils, and whatnot in my pantry, I just have never really cooked them before...I like tofu but I need to figure out a variety of ways to prepare it.

I'm going to browse on Allrecipes.com for vegetarian fare, I just wanted to see if anyone had a quick and easy fallback they always munch on...

there's a thread or three here on tofu - so you might want to do an advanced search where title contains tofu...

tehre are a few different textures of tofu - from a very creamy smooth type good for smoothies and mixing into something like a hummus - to an extra firm, whcih you can marinate and grill or sautee.. Tofu is quite bland on its own and will take on the flavor of whatever you are cookng with it... I'm partial to highly flavored sauces - like curries with it.

I know i've got a few beans recipes ontis forum as well - I prefer the dried beans because of sodium - but canned will work -if you're going for the dried beans (especially black or cannelini bean, spending 30 bucks on a crockpot might be a worthwhile investment - youc an cook a batch of beans in a few hours with little interferance from you.

Lentils are a great meat substutute - look for recipes for lentil loaf or lentil patties -where you can make burgers out of lentils... with the addition of some veggies...