via @ slack how to make your mushies yummy instead of well, mushy.

Hey Chuck: try cooking mushrooms and squash. What I hear is that most vegetables actually have more protein in them than we have been led to believe. Don't fret about protein unless you (or your wife) is actually losing a lot of weight and wasting away, or experiences a sudden lack of energy. Concentrate more on acquiring new dishes and promoting variety.

Mushrooms don't have a reputation for being high-protein, but I cook with them a lot and find them filling and sustaining, if they're done right. I hated mushrooms for years (many other people say the same) because I was always served badly overcooked little white button mushrooms. Try other varieties of mushrooms and practice cooking them right. Take a big portabello mushroom, wash it, remove the stem, drizzle a tiny bit of oil and soy sauce on it (maybe use a flick of worchestershire, or teryaki, or maybe add some onion powder or chopped onions and chives) and wrap it in tinfoil. Grill it or broil it for maybe 15-20 minutes at most. It's like a mushroom steak, or a natural teryaki burger that grew out of the ground!

Many people don't like squash for the same reasons: 90% of the time, we get served limp, overcooked green squash (Zucchini), when there's dozens of types of squash out there. Try roasting halves of acorn squash in an oven for awhile, then spreading cranberry sauce on them. Or spread sauteed pine nuts with season salt on them. Mmmmmmmm. Look into different recipes and different styles of cooking squash. I get bored with zucchini pretty quickly myself, but there's a ton of other squash out there.

Also, this might not help (if a person is allergic to a lot of foods, they're probably allergic to nuts) – but if you can, try adding nuts of your choice (often ground or chopped) to vegetarian meals. Nuts have tons of protein. Throw a fistful of shelled pistachios into your stir-fry if you can, and you might be surprised how good a simple sautee of onions and garlic (and nuts, and mushrooms) goes over rice. You don't need anything else.

If you can get real, authentic Mexican food, try boiled or sauteed Nopal cactus. It's supposed to have a lot of protein. The texture and taste is weird, but it's a weird that I like. Just to show you, vegetarian protein is not limited to beans and tofu.

–thomas daulton, May 12, 2010 at 05:29 PM

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