Right now, I am eating a bowl of tofu stir fry. Fabulous, tasty, hits all your food groups.
Any veggies that you love (cook in the order of hardness i.e. carrots first, finish off with the peppers, etc)
Season it with 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/3 tsp pepper & salt to taste
Use one block of organic tofu, crumbled to bite size chunks
You might find that adding a wee bit of water as you are sautéing it will help spread your seasonings more evenly.
And just before serving, drizzle with sesame oil and mix in thoroughly
(also keeps beautifully, reheats well or you can eat it cold like a salad for work the next day)
For a snack, a small handful of almonds and walnuts (will give you both your omega 3's and some calcium) Add a bit of favourite fruit to that and you're good to go till supper.
Another snack that my husband and I love is a protein smoothie. Here's how we make it using the Vega brand of chocolate protein powder.
one large orange, peeled and tossed into the blender
handful of raw kale, spinach or even a large romaine lettuce leaf
one frozen banana
1 scoop of Vega chocolate protein powder
1/3 tsp turmeric powder & 1/3 tsp pepper
1/3 tsp ginger powder
squirt of hemp oil or flax seed oil
enough soy milk to blend to your preferred thickness
-This is absolutely delicious and will make enough smoothie for two large drinks so you can share!
You will notice that I mentioned turmeric and pepper twice and if you've never heard of them, TOGETHER they are a wonderful anti-inflammatory. I try to include them anywhere and everywhere that I can because I have read that inflammation at the cellular level is a scourge in our society today.
I've never used spirulina so no advice there, but I always add a teaspoon of chia seeds to my cereal just before I pour the almond milk or soy milk on. Chia seeds can also be used to make a sort of mousse or pudding with the addition of fruit and pureed. But that you'd have to look up a recipe for. Chia seeds add omega 3's and protein to your diet.
And congrats on taking a stand for compassion! It's not as hard as it sounds and there are hundreds if not thousands of recipes available now, from simple to complex and the market place is providing more and more options to help you out in the transition and to simply add interesting variety to your food choices.
I was a vegetarian for about ten years and then I made the move to vegan which I did over a weekend pretty much. That was ten years ago and last spring, I had a complete blood work up done and everything was perfect. Perfect protein levels, perfect omega 3's, perfect weight for my height, perfect inflammation levels and B12 levels, perfect. Which reminds me, make sure you start taking a B12 supplement. It's inexpensive and absolutely necessary now that you aren't supplementing your needs by eating animals.
Good luck and if you have any questions, you can always ask here and I'm sure one of us old timers will be more than pleased to help you out. I know I sure would.
For good measure, I dug up this link to a great web site by a vegan lady who does great recipes that will help you get started.
http://ohsheglows.com/2017/02/23/adr...omment-1978180