Techniques for flipping the nuggets when frying tofu chicken nuggets; learn when to flip the tofu nuggets in this free vegetarian recipes cooking class on video. Expert: Kara Denholm Bio: Kara Denholm is a self proclaimed health nut and a strict vegetarian. After becoming a vegetarian at the University of Texas in Austin, Kara began exploring and mastering different vegetarian recipes. Filmmaker: Cody Kimmel

Tofu Chicken Nuggets Recipe : Cooking Tips for Tofu Chicken Nuggets is from groovy vegetarian

• Low Carb, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Shelf Stable
• Vegetarian, No Preservatives, No MSG added

Product Description
Shelf Stable Curry Meal that taste great and is great for you. No refrigeration required before opening…. More >>

Creamy Coconut Curry Meal w/ Tofu Shirataki Noodles is from groovy vegetarian

So why is it that vegetarians eat this stuff all the time? Is is it simply because they have no other choice?

The answer is both yes and no.

Being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you have to eat tofu. In fact, there are many vegetarians who never eat tofu or any popular meat-replacement dishes–such as “veggie burgers” or “tofurkey”–for that matter.

As long as they research and create meal plans, vegetarians can maintain a healthy diet eating traditional meals or ethnic dishes.

Tofu is often cited as something exclusively vegetarian because it is a versatile, highly-nutritional, and can be used to replace meat dishes.

Not only can it be created in textures, consistencies, and flavors that simulate a range of meats–from turkey to hamburg–but it can also actually replace and far exceed the nutritional value of similar meat dishes.

While vegetarians do not actually need to consume tofu, doing so is often a wise dietary choice–and also the next best thing to eating similar meat products (for those who enjoyed meat dishes before they became vegetarians).

Tofu is a low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-calorie food made out of steamed and compressed soy beans. Not only is it a great source of protein–which many vegetarians lack–but it is also heart-healthy and has been linked to a decreased

risk in cancer.

In addition to being served as a meat alternative, tofu is also served in a number of spicy and ethnic dishes, which were never intended to contain meat. Many ethnic Indian dishes contain large amounts of tofu cooked and spiced

in different ways.

So here is my suggestion to you: If you aren’t already a vegetarian, but want to become one, don’t let tofu get in your way. You can maintain a healthy vegetarian diet without ever eating it. However, if you already are a vegetarian, but haven’t tried tofu, I highly suggest you do. It is both nutritional and versatile – and it might not taste as bad as you think.

Vegetarian Recipes: Cooking With Tofu is from groovy vegetarian

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Calcium

1. Kidney Beans (1 cup has 263 mg of calcium)
2. Black Beans (1 cup has 239 mg)
3. Sesame Butter (1 tablespoon has 154 mg)
4. Tofu (1/2 cup has 125 mg)
5. Almonds (1 oz. has 81.5 mg)
6. Arugula (1 oz. has 44.8 mg)
7. Kelp (1 oz. has 47.0 mg)
8. Brazil Nuts (1 oz. has 44.8 mg)
9. Spinach (1 oz. has 42.8 mg)
10. Chinese Cabbage (1 oz. has 26.0 mg)

It’s really easy to get way more than your daily allowance of Vitamin C with a typical vegetarian diet. Calcium is a bit more challenging, but there’s still a lot of good sources.

The 411 on Calcium

Now that you know WHERE to get it, what is the deal with this mineral? Why do we need it? Well, Calcium is good for strong bone health, healthy muscles, pearly whites, a healthy heart, blood clotting, normal nervous system activity, helps regulate many body functions and some say this dynamite mineral is even good for losing weight. (via MSNBC)

And we need on average 1,000 mg of calcium daily.

Supplements?

I would really like to hear from any readers who are taking a Calcium supplement or pill to make up for any loss. Please share with us below in the comment area.

A big thanks to NutritionData.com for the great nutritional information, and also thanks to TofuForTwo.net for the rocking black bean soup image.

Now stay tuned for our next article, which will cover the top 10 vegetarian sources of Vitamin C, you can follow on Twitter to get our updates.

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Calcium is from groovy vegetarian

1.  Vegetarian Times

Vegetarian Times magazine is a fun read, and a terrific resource for everyone from starting vegetarians, to long time healthy-eaters.  The recipes section of their website is quite spectacular.

They have so many recipes they had to include a full featured, intuitive search which includes categories such as your diet type (vegetarian, vegan, etc.), the appliance you’re cooking with, the season, and even special categories to select a holiday.  If that’s not enough to get you drooling, users can rate recipes, so you’re sure to find good ones.

Check it out here:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/

2. VegCooking.com

What better place to find vegetarian recipes than a site entirely devoted to it?  While Vegetarian Times may be slightly quicker and more intuitive for quick recipes, VegCooking is more full featured, with shopping and dining guides, and more.

When it comes to recipes, the site has some delicious ones.  Check out their seasonal article on making a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast.  You won’t be disappointed!!

http://www.vegcooking.com/

3. VegWeb

VegWeb is much more organic in format to most other recipe locations.  Users submit recipes and photos and other users submit reviews.  The recipes here include delicious entries like “Double Chocolate Oatmeal Banana Cookies” and “Vegan Banana Pancakes”.  Strengths are its grassroots nature and the fact that it caters to a variety of diet types.

http://vegweb.com/

4. Savvy Vegetarian

This site has a lot of recipes.  If you can get past a garrish color scheme (at least on my browser) and are willing to dig into the less-intuitive (or at least less graphically pleasing) menus, you should find some good stuff here.

Categories of recipes include bread, beverages, vegan desserts, pastas, salads, soups, and tofu recipes.

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/index.php

5. Simply Recipes

Simply recipes is a blog headed by Elise Bauer.  It has a massive list of neatly laid out recipes.  When looking for a random recipes the layout works very well.  Looking for a specific recipe might be slightly harder.  Still, there’s just so many good recipes here, with attractive pictures, that its hard not to love this site.

The site employs several culinary bloggers, so there’s lots of fresh creativity as well.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/vegetarian/

6. BBC Good Kitchen’s Vegetarian Section

BBC?  Like the British news station?  Yep!  The British Broadcasting Company, interestingly has a massive culinary page filled with recipes of all kinds.  To go along with Europe’s Vegetarian-friendliness, BBC Good Food indeed has a full page of vegetarian recipes filled with beautiful pictures.

The recipes are split into Dessert, Dinner Party, Main Course, Starter, and Vegan dishes.  More recipes can also be found under Occasions and Cuisines, but these are not purely Vegetarian, so beware.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/vegetarian/

7. The Food Network

I admit, I’ve been a bit of an addict of The Food Network at times.  Even if you don’t find cooking TV shows fun, its hard to deny their eye-catching website’s appeal.  Why do I rank it this low?  Well there’s pictures of meat entrees everywhere, which may turn off some.  And while there’s many vegetarian recipes, including a large soy section, there’s less than some places and they’re less sensitive to special diets like veganism.

Still it’s worth checking out, in my opinion:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/healthy-eating/index.html#tab3

8. Veg Kitchen

Veg Kitchen has an attractive website, easy to follow recipes and a lot of them.  The only thing that I was not a big fan of, and this is pretty subjective, is the lack of images to accompany the dishes.  I liked how some of the sites included tempting pictures to motivate you to embark on your culinary adventure.

Still this site is a treasure trove of some great vegetarian (and vegan) recipes.

http://vegkitchen.com/

9. 101 Vegetarian Recipes

The site “101 Vegetarian Recipes” is slightly deceptively named as it actually has more than 101 vegetarian recipes.  The site has no pictures, but has many good recipes, most of which are Vegan.

One minor note is the site pops up recipes in a new tab, which I suppose can be good or bad depending on your browsing preferences.

http://www.101vegetarianrecipes.com/

10. VegNews

This site wins points for creative appetizing recipes with beautiful color images.  Navigation is easy as well. The only drawback that makes it less than tantalizing, is that there’s only a small rotating selection of recipes and it’s hard to navigate to past recipes.

http://vegnews.com/ (recipes)

10 Good Sites To Find Vegetarian Recipes is from groovy vegetarian