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You Stick Out Like A Green Thumb

Being a vegetarian here is like a being a Hindu at a 4th of July barbecue in America. What are we to eat? Gone are the prepackaged delights of Morning Star and Boca. Suddenly we are forced to cook for ourselves and we stick out at restaurants like a sore (green) thumb! “You don’t eat meat? Then try the chicken!” is the most common response in most places… However, there is an upside to this:

Finding Vegetarian Choices in the Grocery Store

Eating a vegetarian diet here really isn’t too hard. It just takes some planning and lots of cooking. I make a lot of things from scratch that I formerly used to buy prepackaged, such as veggies burgers, falafel, mushroom steaks, and tofu dishes.

Although i have come to miss the convenience of premade items, I am amazed how much better they taste freshly made. It’s alot easier on the buget as well. One nice thing about Mexico is that the vegetables are cheap! I mean really cheap. I can load up on fresh produce here, that would have been too extravegent for my budget in the States.

Usually all 3 major grocery stores have Mitsuki Firm Tofu. This week Walmart even has super firm tofu (the first time i have noticed it here). Commercial carries a Mexican brand of tofu as well, and they are both inexpensive. Texturized soy protein is also usually in most of the stores, but for sure, in Commercial.

Commercial also carries soya chorizo that I would highly reccomend. It is delicious. Vegetarian staples like nuts, cheese, legumes, beans and other dairy products also abound. There is a surprising amount of Asian food products here that can make for some tasty dishes with the right recipes.

Eating Out

This is where it gets a little trickier. As you may have noticed the main feature in almost all Mexican restaurants in our area is meat, and lots of it. Many times we frequent these places with our carnivore friends. The company may be good but the menu choices are usually narrowed down to a few ingredients: beans, rice, cheese. Thankfully I pretty much never get sick of those.  Sometimes you may even get lucky and find chile rellenos (cheese stuffed poblano peppers) or cheese enchiladas on the menu.

When i want something different I go for the ethnic restaurants here. We have Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, and French. The ravioli at Portofino, artichoke crepes at La Petit Napoleon, Miso soup at Yaki Tori, or a falafel at Delicia are among my favorite treats. Healthy Express inside Soriana even has scrumptious veggie burgers and a salad bar. Above the Gold’s Gym a Salad Bar place is opening up also. Know of any other tasty dishes around town? Drop them in the comments.

Recipes

• Herbivoracious is a great site, and most of the recipes are adaptable to what we have here. For example the Mujadara is to die for.
• Eating Well site has awesome vegetarian recipes. Try the vegetarian tamales
• And of course we can’t forget Foodgawker. Not all the recipes are vegetarian but the ones that are, are pretty much all awesome.

Have any good recipes? Send them in. Any questions? Let us know.

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