The quest for wholesome, tasty, fast, faff free vegetarian family meals

[Tweet2tweet]

I'm planning for my returning to work FT. Have a family to feed and want us to be healthy but ideally want meals to take no longer than 1/2 an hour. Even better if they'll do for two nights. So far I have:
Spaghetti Bol, red lentils substituting meat
Veg chilli

Everything else seems to be shop bought, quiche, pasta sauce etc. Anyone have an good recipes that fit the bill that you're willing to share please?

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Pasta with a quick sauce? Eg: fry onion, garlic, peppers, add some herbs and a pot of passatta, splash of wine, olives if wished and cook until thick.

Pitta breads with falafels and salad?

Soup? I usually do a quick fruit crumble with (bought) custard if having soup. You can make the crumble mix whenever and use it from the freezer.

Spanish omelette?

Have you got a slow cooker?

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Stir fry and rice or noodles.

[iklboo]

Do you eat fish at all or strictly veggie?

[Cleanandclothed]

Macaroni peas (Hugh f-w)
Baked potatoes with fillings if you can time your oven to come on while you are out.
Scrambled eggs
Dahl

[Tweet2tweet]

thank you!
We sometimes eat very light tasting fish Luke cod, lemon sole etc. Mainly so kids get omegas.
I do have a slow cooker but haven't come across many decent vegetarian recipes. Those I have seem to need a lot of prep. Do you know any good vegetarian slow cooker recipes?

[Tweet2tweet]

Sorry, like not Luke! Predictive text!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Chillis, soups and curries all fine in the slowcooker. If you have no objection to quorn mince, I can give you my recipe for Shepherd's pie filling, if any use.

[CorrieDale]

Slow cookers are great even for veggies. I just chuck in any veg I have with some potatoes, chickpeas and a tin of tomatoes. A few herbs and stuck it on medium for a few hours.

A recipe that we all like is sliced potatoes, onions, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, quorn sausages and s&p. it cooks down to a carby delicious mush. Great for swimming nights!

Rice cooked with coconut cream, tinned toms, kidney beans and veg is delicious. Finish with some coriander leaf.

Noodles with one of those trays of prepared stir fry veg and a lime and coconut sauce is reasonably priced and tasty. Very fast to prep too.

[sameoldIggi]

Remus, I'd love to know how to turn quorn into a tastier shepherds pie!

[sharond101]

vegetable fajitas
boston baked beans
quesadillas
bean enchiladas
roasted red peppers and tomatoes with cous cous

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Right - this is the only way I have found that makes quorn mince edible!

In the slowcooker put -

a chopped onion
a couple of sticks of diced celery
a couple cloves chopped garlic
a couple of sliced leeks
3 carrots cut into rings
packet of mince
glass red wine
spoon of Marmite
couple of tablespoons Bisto
some rosemary and/or thyme
lots of black pepper
a cup or two of hot water

Cook on low all day.

Transfer to an oven proof dish and top with either mash or pastry then cook in the oven until done.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Sharond - do you have a t&t recipe for the Boston beans?

[sameoldIggi]

Thanks! (are you sure about the marmite??)

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Positive! It adds a depth that's needed - is it called umame or something like that? Mushrooms chopped up small would work too but the dds can detect mushrooms at a hundred yards!

[DameFanny]

Use your Bolognese as the basis for a shepherd's pie.

Mushroom, halloumi and thyme risotto is easy to cook while overseeing others' chores.

Get some puff pastry in and keep in the freezer. Take it out in the morning - putting it in the microwave if you have cats - then put flat on a baking tray, squidge up the edges and cover in thin slices of Courgette, tomato, mushrooms etc plus cheese. Chuck in the oven for 15 mins while you make a salad to go with.

Make a big frittata - fry off onions and peppers,stir in sliced Courgette, mushrooms etc for a couple of minutes, then add whisked eggs - at least two per person - and season. turn the heat right down and put a lid on, and when it's nearly cooked through take the lid off and put it under a hot grill for 2 minutes to brown the top. Serve with salad, and keep a slice for a luscious packed lunch the next day.

Soften finely chopped onions in a large saucepan. Add thinly sliced mushroom for 2-3 minutes, then wilt in baby leaf spinach for a minute or so. Take off the heat, grind in some black pepper, then stir in some cream. Stir into the pasta of your choice.

[Tweet2tweet]

Thanks so much for all the tips and recipes, fantastic! I'm going to try them this week. DP won't touch quorn so I'm going to see whether I can disguise it using slow cooker....

[amigababy]

my favourite rice at the moment is:

white or brown rice
veg stick cube
chopped onion
dried puttanesca spices (bought for my birthday - seems to include sliced garlic, chillli flakes, capers, black olives etc etc)

Just cook altogether in a pan till the rice is cooked, so not long for white rice.
This week I added tomato puree to it to make it a pretty colour.
I'm thinking of adding white wine to head towards a risotto.

It's a bit lacking in protein so I sometimes add:
-pre-boiled eggs (a sort of veggie kedgeree, or you could add fish too)
-chick peas
-Quorn chicken style pieces (no good if dp not keen on quorn)

My family eat meat so I do slow cooker casseroles for them using the Schwarz packets eg Sausage and bean. The actual packets of spices are suitable for vegetarians so you could still buy them and then use for a bean, veg and tomato slow cooker casserole instead.

[sharond101]

Remus we have tried this one, www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/536452/bbq-baked-beans

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Thank you, Sharond. I should have said that it needed to not have tinned tomatoes in it. Will have a google.

[TwasBrillig]

Ooh fab thread -I'm going to write some of these down!

[Drladybird]

We'd also make lentil bolagnese or maybe a curry. Other suggestions to add to the mix:
Vegetarian paella Tasty and you don't need to stir it= once preparation is done, it's really easy!

Beetroot, lentil and raisin stew A tasty little stew to serve with rice or cous cous.

[Tweet2tweet]

Just wanted to add, picked up a fab Vegetable Laska recipe in Sainbury's today. Was one the free recipe cards. Took less than half an hour, just needed one pan and was delicious. I added some marinated tofu to make it a little bit more substantial. It's the closest I've come to making a Thai noodle broth and was lovely.

[Tweet2tweet]

Here's the recipe

[ColdfeetPinksocks]

Roast veggies (pepper, onion, sweet potato, mushies etc) stirred through pasta with a dash of balsamic.

Also try www.cookveg.co.uk/

[LoveSewingBee]

Vegetable curries with pulses. You can cook them in bulk in advance and then freeze them. Pop in microwave and serve with rice or naan bread.