Cookie you are a dear and I understand exactly what you've said in your last comment. I have many of the same experiences that you've described here and considering that we live in a meat-centric world where you see a never ending flow of meat advertising, dairy advertising, suggested recipes on cooking shows, and it's all presented in such an antiseptic way, it becomes increasingly hurtful. Add family and friends pressuring, asking questions but not wanting to really get an answer...yes indeed, difficult to live in this world sometimes. And always theres the accusations about being an angry veg'n, 'pushing our beliefs down the throats of others' when I know most of us say very little......difficult isn't it sometimes?
I'm blessed in that my one daughter has also chosen the same path in life and my husband as well. Mind you he had to 'come along' because I do the cooking
and he doesn't even know where the can opener is kept! I have him under my control
but I've also made a point of learning to cook the best meals! He's never dissatisfied always happy with the results and because of how I cook he never packed on the pounds the way so many men do by the time they're 65 so it's all good. (And considering that my cooking when we first got married meant replacing burnt pans monthly! Yep things have improved!)
As for protein, I just had a blood test done a few months ago and one of the things he tested for was protein levels and they were perfect, iron levels perfect, all perfect. You mentioned that you find it difficult to be sure to eat enough protein foods, maybe if you want to PM me with an idea of what kinds of foods you eat, perhaps I could give you some ideas on how to be more sure on what you're getting.
I know one thing that I like to cook is lentils with coconut cream sauce. I cook the lentils with a soup cube and then when close to done I'll add the coconut, maybe a little bit of leftover spaghetti sauce, some curry spices, pepper, parsley and a tiny bit of 5-spice powder. And of course it's perfect for adding all sorts of finely chopped veggies and then spoon over top of potatoes or noodles or rice. I usually make a large pot so that we're having them for several meals or freezing for another day.
I use lentils too that are cooked to be quite soft and then add them to spaghetti sauce and they take the place of hamburger beautifully. I also find spaghetti sauce a little acidic sometimes to the taste, so I'll often add just a heaping tablespoon of coconut cream to just smooth it a little.
And here's an easy idea, my husband goes to the gym and he'll fuel up before he goes with a slice of toasted whole wheat bread with peanut butter. Now he likes to top that with bananas but you could use a nice jam. Toast and peanut butter, healthy protein! or if you had a cashew nut spread or some other nut spread and voila!
The interesting thing I just learned recently is that you don't need to combine foods specifically to get your protein. Our bodies are able to sort of warehouse enzymes and then when an appropriate match comes along, the system does it automatically. Who knows, you might be doing a lot better than you think. After all everything has protein enzymes in it right. I mean look elephants get so huge on leaves and grasses. Must be getting protein somewhere. Horses, cows, same thing. I even heard you could conceivable get all the protein you need from blueberries except you'd have to eat something like 60 cups of blueberries
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