Vegetarian Protein Alternatives

I wrote an email to an acquaintance of mine. She was wondering what are some high protein foods, since she’s trying to be a vegetarian, and I’ve been a vegetarian pretty much my entire life so I offered to write her a list of high protein foods. I thought it would be a bullet point kind of list, but when I sat down to actually write it down, I started compiling information that I knew just from experience. It turned out being really long. Upon reviewing it before I sent it, I realized it’s a really good list, so I thought I’d share it on my blog 

Cottage cheese, it has lots of calories, but it’s great for protein. I know a lot of people hate cottage cheese, so just in case you're one of them, I have a suggestion: Mix the cottage cheese with mandarin oranges, or canned (or fresh) mixed fruits. This creates a fruit salad. You can vary how much cottage cheese you put into the fruit depending on your taste. I like cottage cheese, so there's always more cottage cheese than fruit when I make it, but it doesn't have to be like that. Try it, you might like it! 

Eggs. Can't live without my eggs, okay that sounds wrong, but it's true. That's the main difference of course between vegans and vegetarians, vegetarians eat animal products, like milk but vegans don't. A good dinner dish with a lot of eggs is quiche, it also has a lot of cheese, (another thing I can't live without). Eggs can be a good snack when they are hard boiled; you can make deviled eggs too, which has a reputation of being hard to make, but isn't really. If you're going to a potluck and you need to bring an entree, deviled eggs is a good way to go, in case there aren't any other protein foods that you can eat there. There are of course egg salads, or for lunch I sometimes prepare eggs, like I would for breakfast, but then put it on two pieces of toasted bread with mayo or if I'm feeling fancy I'll add avocado and tomatoes and lettuce and it makes one great egg sandwich! A quick note; the yolk is the part of the egg that has most of the protein, so if you're making stuff that has egg whites, it's best not to think of it as getting your protein for the day. But you can cheat a little, most recipes that call for whites won't be harmed if you keep the yolks in there with 'em, but if you're make a white cake, just know it might not come out so white! 

Now I hear that quinoa (a grain) is a great source of protein, but honestly...I have no idea where you can buy it or what to use it for! 

Something a bit more seasonal, since we're approaching Halloween, pumpkin seeds are high in protein. When spooning out your pumpkin, keep the seeds and bake them until they are slightly brown, then you can eat them as a snack. Or if you don't carve pumpkins, you can by a bag of just the seeds at Sprouts or Mothers almost any time of the year.

Beans; any kind of bean will do. I hope you like Mexican food! There are a variety of canned chili in the health food stores and Target that don't have meat in them, just check the labels. But you can also make your own chili.

An obvious one that vegetarians are famous for: soy. If you can drink raw soy milk without any added flavoring, more power to you. It's high in protein, so it's good for you along with a lot of soy based products like health bars and such.

Peanut butter, love peanut butter! Any kind of nut is a vegetarian's best friend. If you want a quick snack a slice of bread toasted with a slather of peanut butter is the way to go. 

Wow, this turned out longer than I thought! I hope you found this helpful, and hopefully I managed to tell you things you didn't already know.