Learn to substitute and adapt

As you gain experience in cooking, you will have fun adapting any recipe: I watch Food TV shows all the time and think of ways to adapt the recipes to my vegetarian palate. Almost all of these require much less cooking than meat, so read the labels and follow recipe instructions carefully. Here are some easy ways to substitute meat for non-meat ingredients:

Ground Beef: substitute frozen, thawed tofu or soy crumbles (available in the grocery freezer section)

Sausages: substitute veggie sausage. I like Morningstar Farm brand

Chicken: substitute tempeh (this is sort of an advanced ingredient you may want to try first before springing in on dinner guests!) or my favorite Quorn (in your grocer's freezer case: it's made from mushrooms!), or just tofu.

Beef cubes: I like seitan. Made from whole wheat. This is available in tubs in the dairy case at Whole Foods and probably in some health food stores.

Burgers: veggie burgers. In the freezer case of your grocery. You can also make your own. Look for recipes on some of the suggested websites I posted earlier in this blog.

Hot dogs: Tofu Pups and other soy substitutes. These cook really fast and you must be careful not to subject them to high heat. They are generally a little softer in texture than a regular dog, but they are tasty!

Bacon: I used to be a real bacon hound, so it was tough to give up way back when there was no substitute! Now Morningstar Farms has a terrific bacon product made from soy that cooks quickly and tastes great: you can cook it in the microwave in just a few minutes and it comes out crunchy! Even my dogs like this!

All of the above are processed foods, so take it easy with these: being healthy involves eating mostly fresh and unprocessed foods, so try to limit your intake on these.