Coming out of the vegetable closet

I agree. It doesn't really matter what anyone thinks. No matter what people say: you know you're doing the right thing, and that's what matters.

Yep, except when they threaten to make you eat meat.
Mum's really gotten into this me being a ovo-lacto-vegetarian (hopefully one day vegan!) thing she makes all this healthy exotic food for me. Its handy. Except she made this lentil soup and no joke it looked like diahrrea. She told me she'd make me eat meat if I didnt eat it. I ate it. Then the rest got thrown out.
Still arent sure how exactly she would of made me eat meat. I'd probably be threatened to be grounded or get privilages taken. Any further with forcing me to eat meat, I'd probably have threatened to call kids help line.

I cant imagine using Lentil's as the main ingredient for soup being any good (don't mean offend here). It's a great veg to add in to everything, it is fairly tasteless on its own.

If your Mum isnt accepting and is making your life harder, all I can say is I wish your Mum would read a book called "Dont sweat the small Stuff". She's lucky your not into alcohol and smoking at a young age (I'm assuming :p)

It's hardly any extra effort to stop cooking with meat if you spend 10 minutes on google. And perhaps a little bit of time at the supermarket venturing into these weird dairy/meat free areas..spoooky

Have you tried buying some of the Fry's Range, when I turned Vegetarian this was an easy way to start and increase the reputation of Meat Free in the house. Now my house is meat free.

When i started drinking Soy it tasted a bit funny to be honest. As I was so used to the creamy/fatty taste of cows milk. - I remember after around 2 weeks I went to have some cereal and there was no soy left so i thought Oh wat the hek, Ill have Cows Milk. "Yuuk!!!" I shouted as it tasted really fatty and what I would imagine breast milk to taste like.

You haven't had a good tarka dhal, have you? That stuff is the bomb. I have a good recipe if anyone wants it... very easy to cook, very healthy, and importantly, VERY VERY VERY TASTY!

Sure! Sounds good. I use Lentils in a lot of my cooking buy make sure I add other Veg's like Pumpkins Potatoes or Egg Plant. More flavour..

being vegan or vegetarian makes you love the green even more

HERE IT IS! Take note folks, this recipe makes MAGNIFICENT tarka dhal... easily as good as some of the examples I've tasted in Indian restaurants. You don't even need any quirky ingredients such as asafoetida - you'll find everything you need in your local stupidmarket.

Ingredients:

75g yellow split peas
75g split red lentils
Half teaspoon ground turmeric
900ml water
1-1.5 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil (groundnut works best - canola/olive etc will do fine)
Half teaspoon cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies (whole)
1 or 2 garlic cloves - peeled and lightly crushed (left whole)

You'll need a pot with a lid and a decent heavy base, a sieve and a small frying pan.

1. Wash the lentils and split peas very thoroughly. When you think you're done, wash them again
2. Put them in the pot, along with the water and turmeric, then put on the heat.
3. Stir at intervals of a few minutes until the water starts to boil
4. Before the water boils over, turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover the pot, and give the lentils and peas a good 45 minutes to cook. After this time, pull a couple out with a spoon and give them a try, to test the softness. You want them to be quite squishy! Now stir in the salt, and turn off the heat. Pop the lid back on the pot.
5. Put the oil in your frying pan and set it on a medium heat. When it's hot, simultaneously throw in the cumin seeds and whole dried chillies. After a few seconds, put in the garlic.
6. Give the pan a swish around until the garlic sears to a light brown/yellow colour
7. When this is done, take the lid off the pot and throw in the contents of the pan. Careful! The hot oil will spit and carry on when it hits the water - but this is the fun part.
8. Pop the lid back on the pot for a minute to trap the aromas, then fold the whole lot together.
9. Get a big bowl to save yourself going back too often!!!
10. ENJOY!

This dhal is served well with rice, Indian breads, pappadams, or just on its own. It will also astound you how flavoursome it is, considering how easy it is to make and how few ingredients you need to worry about.

Go crazy!

Thanks a lot for that, will have to cook it soon!

Any time. I'll put a few more of my favourite Indian recipes in the food section. I loooooove Indian cuisine - so full of flavour and lends itself well to vegan ingredients.

Yeah my mum isn't that bad or anything. I have had a lot of support. My parents being against it was mainly because of me missing out on nutrients, but there fine by it now.
Also I don't smoke or drink acohol (or drugs either!) but I know kids my age do. (Or they're just lying to make themselves look good. My school is quite strict, but in another school apparently a girl got drunk on sports day. And in another school apparently some one tried to sell the teachers drugs! Not sure if this is true or just gossip though.) so yeah I'm pretty good.
My mum made lentil soup because she had some lately and liked it. Except this had bacon so??? Also I was just trying to put the point across that when your under 18, your parents can take prove priveleges away from you easily, so it is a good idea to care what they think.