This recipe makes about 4 very generous servings of soup:
- 3c veggie stock, preferably low-sodium
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 5 roma tomatoes, cubed
- 1 red pepper
- 4 Tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbs pepper
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 Tbs dried oregano
- 1 can chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
- 5-6 large basil leaves
- 1c water
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute 3-4 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover and let simmer.
- I tried roasting my red pepper over the gas cooking element on my stovetop. When that didn't work, I cut it in half and stuck it under the broiler until the tops started to blacken.
- Carefully cube red pepper and add to the pot. Stir, cover, and let simmer on low heat for 1 hour. (conveniently long enough to read two articles on the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, homework finished!)
- After one hour, everything in the pot will be pretty mushy. Dump the contents of the pot into a heat-safe blender with the basil leaves, chickpeas, and enough veggie stock to allow it to blend.
*This may take 2 or 3 rounds in the blender. Not everything needs to be blended together.... you'll mix it all back together in the next step. - Return the blended tomato-pepper-garbanzo mixture to the pot, add the remaining veggie stock and water until the soup reaches your preferred soup consistency.
- Bring the soup back to a boil, add the nutmeg, and NOM!
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times:
"You must have to eat sooooo much food to get enough calories and nutrients on a vegetarian/vegan diet!"
"So....What do you eat? Besides copious amounts of tofu, of course."
"You can't possibly get enough iron/calcium/B-vitamins/anything!"
And my personal favorite:
"If you don't eat meat, then where do you get your protein?"
There are times I've been tempted to tell people that I just don't eat protein. Because clearly meat is the only source of protein. But then I hit 'em with The List:
- Nuts - almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc etc etc
- Nut butters - peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower butter, soy butter
- Beans - black, white, kidney, chickpeas, the list could go on for this one...
- Seeds - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc etc etc
- Legumes - peanuts, lentils
- Whole grains - oatmeal, wheat, corn, barley, rice, quinoa
- Some vegetables (broccoli, for example, has 3g of protein per 100g serving)
"But those can't possibly have enough protein in them to make up for not eating meat!"
Listen up. Here in the United States people get waayyy more protein than we need. High-protein diets, protein shakes, protein bars, protein cereal.... it's all a fad. The CDC recommends the following amounts of protein:
| Recommended Dietary Allowance for Protein | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grams of protein needed each day |
||||||
| Children ages 1 – 3 | 13 | |||||
| Children ages 4 – 8 | 19 | |||||
| Children ages 9 – 13 | 34 | |||||
| Girls ages 14 – 18 | 46 | |||||
| Boys ages 14 – 18 | 52 | |||||
| Women ages 19 – 70+ | 46 | |||||
| Men ages 19 – 70+ | 56 | |||||
Generally, if you're more active you may need a few more grams of protein per day. Check out these vegan foods and menus that provide plenty of protein each day. Also, check out No Meat Athlete's information on protein for athletes and how to create a complete protein.
Vegetarian diets require quite a bit of planning and a little research. So why go to all the trouble to avoid meat? That depends on each Veggie's individual motives and morals. There are, however, numerous health benefits to eating a plant-based or completely meat-free diet:
- Lower rates of cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality among vegetarians
- Lower mean body weight
- Lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure
- Longer life expectancy
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