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Interested in bringing more vegetarian meals into weekly familiy meals but need help

47 replies

Molly333 · 12/04/2020 09:26

Hi all, im interested in bringing more vegetarian meals into my families weekly menu ( im the only one who cooks but they are quite fussy grr) . Do you have any stock ones you do regularly use? Im not v confident and not sure where to start i also have limited time but could prepare at weekends in advance . Also any books you would recommend ?

OP posts:
BlackeyedSusan · 12/04/2020 09:32

If you are used to beef in bolognaise, lentil bolognaise tastes yuk...I gradually added more lentils and reduced the amount of beef until we now have just lentils and love it.

Are there any things you cook that could have the meat replaced with beans?

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 12/04/2020 09:32

Have just bought Nosh student vegetarian. Have made 1 thing and it was lovely. I think there is a new non student vegetarian book from nosh just out actually. The ingredients are easily available which I like and theres no weighing involved. You use a mug. Very easy to follow instructions.

mamma2016 · 12/04/2020 09:42

A vegetable pasta- passata, onions, garlic, herbs, carrots, peppers, courgette, mushrooms. DC pick out the mushrooms and courgette

Jacket pots- cheese, beans, salad

Cheese and potato omelette and salad

Tofu stir fry

Lentil Dahl

Roasted veg (pots, sweet pots, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms). Add sunflower and pumpkin seeds for last half an hour of roasting. Add sliced halloumi for last 15 mins.

Macaroni cheese

Pizza and salad

My main prob with veggie is most dishes use lots of cheese!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Equimum · 12/04/2020 09:49

Roasted vegetable lasagne - same as normal, but use roasted veg in a tomato sauce in place of meat.

  • Bolognaise
  • Mild veg & chickpea or lentil curry
  • homemade falafel & humus w/ pittas or rice & salad or roasted veg
  • mushroom risotto
  • bean burgers
  • lentil Tagine
  • stirfry w/ cashews
  • lentil dal
  • cheese & tomato puff pastry tarts
  • cheese & veg quesadillas w/ salad or extra veg
These are all dishes that my kids eat quite happily. If I make lentil bolognaise, I often cook extra and add it to a lasagne. Similarly, I alway make loads of falafel and use the remainder in lunch boxes.
Geraniumblue · 12/04/2020 09:50

Vegetarian risotto.
Stir fry.
Pasta with roasted aubergine and peppers.
Onion salsa thing with sweet corn and corn chips and grated cheese on top.
Egg based dishes are also good
Student vegetarian cookbooks will give you a good start.
Or try being pescatarian for a gentle start.

Hangoverstruggles · 12/04/2020 09:51

DH is vegetarian so we do eat a lot of veggie meals as a family.

Our faves our:

roasted veg pasta sauce
Macaroni cheese
Cowboy beans (basically a chilli but with different beans and smoked paprika so more of a smokey taste)
Jackets potatoes
Pesto pasta
Sweet potato & cauliflower curry
Risotto (basic recipe but cook & blend spinach & peas lightly and stir into the cooked rice, it's a vibrant green colour)
Mushroom, squash and blue cheese risotto
Pizzas
Veggie fajitas

It's not easy as I don't particularly like quorn, but DH eats fish so we have fish pie etc

Molly333 · 12/04/2020 09:55

This is so helpful all thanks sooo much . Im going to write a 7 day plan ive also ordered the nosh book . Please share any recipes too if you have time .

OP posts:
MsChanandlerBoing · 12/04/2020 09:55

I would 100% recommend ‘the green roasting tin” cookbook. The simplest, easiest and most delicious veggie cookbook I’ve ever used. It’s very “obvious” veggie so if your family won’t eat vegetables/new things it may not work but it’s very low effort/stick everything in the oven recipes yet awesome😊

Angliski · 12/04/2020 09:57

Kidney bean peanut butter stew from Maddur jaffrey vegetarian book which is super!

Toilenstripes · 12/04/2020 09:58

We make a veggie chilli using kidney and black beans, tinned tomatoes, red pepper, garlic and a squeeze of lime juice. Love it!

theconstantinoplegardener · 12/04/2020 10:07

We also have the Nosh vegetarian book. The meals are quick, easy and delicious, and generally use very mainstream ingredients (it rarely calls for unfamiliar or difficult-to-get-hold-of ingredients such as chickpea flour or date syrup, unlike some veggie cookbooks). It's one of my favourite cookbooks and I use it several times a week. One note of caution: most of the recipes are for two people, so if your family is bigger than this, you will have to remember to double the quantities.

LaChatte · 12/04/2020 10:10

Squash and fennel lasagna from River Cottage veg (recipe can be found online) is amazing, DC and DH hate fennel but love this dish.

middleager · 12/04/2020 10:19

This is so simple and tasty:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spinach-chickpea-curry

I also make my ratatouille with butterbeans (if you can find any).

I also make a nice lentil bolognese with onions, celery, grated carrot, lentils, tinned toms and herbs.

middleager · 12/04/2020 10:20

Not forgetting the garlic..

LooQoo · 12/04/2020 10:20

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spinach-chickpea-curry

Chickpea and Spinach curry - apart from the onions everything comes from the freezer or tins too, so handy if you aren’t going to the supermarket much.

Indian food is a good place to start as plenty of veggie food. Worth a look on the BBC and Good Housekeeping websites for more free ideas. There is a recipe for Puy Lentil and mushroom cottage pie on there too, the mushrooms add a “meaty” flavour.

I’ve got a really old copy of the Bean Book by Rose Elliott. I believe it was a staple cook book for students back in the 1980s but there are some good, simple recipes in there. It’s currentky £3.99 on Amazon.

We did the same thing a few years ago, started with meat free Mondays and gradually expanded it. Our food bill went down a lot.

wheresmyhairytoe · 12/04/2020 10:20

We really like roasted veg - butternut squash, sweet potato, mushrooms, baby corn, cauliflower - with roast potatoes and stuffing and veggie gravy.

Also lentil bolognese, veggie jambalaya, curries, omelette and spicy wedges.

middleager · 12/04/2020 10:21

Jamie Oliver makes a few veggie recipes on his current C4 show on demand.
In episode 1 his veggie chilli looks delicious.

LooQoo · 12/04/2020 10:24

Jamie Oliver also does a sesame and soy green veg stir fry. I usually add some prawns but you could use tofu.

CeriseClementine · 12/04/2020 10:26

We eat vegan chilli or spag Bol once a week.

Easiest thing ever...make the sauce as you usually would but then used tinned kidney and butter beans instead of mince.

Boil them for ten minutes to soften and add to the sauce once made, in the same volume as your normal mince would be. They just soak up the flavour of the sauce.

Qcng · 12/04/2020 10:27

Vegetarian (made with puy lentils from the pack) Moussaka is delish.

Gnocci with cheese sauce

Cauliflower and broccoli and leek with cheese sauce.

Frozen breaded vegetable fillet/burger type things (there are so many varieties) served with chips or roasted potatoes, parsnips, carrot to be a bit more like a Sunday roast.

Tivol (the brand) hot dogs (another frozen item) in finger roll with chips.

Holdingmybreath · 12/04/2020 10:28

Burritos with black bean ,tomato sauce filling.
If you don't mind Quorn the chicken chunks can be used in any chicken recipe but need a lot less cooking and most people like the southern fries.
If you can find them use dried beans to save money.

GCAcademic · 12/04/2020 10:31

Indian cooking is great for vegetarian dishes which are tasty but not laden with cheese (unless you do a dish with paneer). Meera Sodha's Fresh India book is good, and she also has lots of (mainly vegan) recipes on the Guardian's website.

SallyWD · 12/04/2020 10:48

The Internet is your friend. Just Google vegetarian recipes. Tomorrow I'm making a vegetarian lasagne. Just googled and it was one of the first that came up - a BBC recipe with 130 likes. Delia has some brilliant vegetarian recipes on her website. I love her vegetarian moussaka.

AliasGrape · 12/04/2020 11:19

We eat mostly vegetarian although I do eat some fish occasionally and DH eats meat but for home cooking we tend to stick to veggie.

Last night we had veggie fajitas - fried peppers, onions and whatever veggies you have (last night I added grated carrot and baby corn that needed using) with garlic, chilli flakes, paprika and other random seasoning I just sort of freestyle, but you can buy fajita seasoning or dinner kits. Add tin of kidney beans (or black beans or cooked rice or whatever you fancy really) and serve in wraps with some salsa, sour cream and grated cheese. We had some guacamole so used that too.

Falafel - there’s recipes on line but we’re lazy and get the gosh or cauldron ones. We have them warm on flat breads with hummus (I do sometimes make my own - tin of chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, tsp tahini paste, olive oil, bit of ground cumin and paprika, blitzed in blender) with salad.

Griddled halloumi with salad or served on burger buns with whatever burger accompaniments you like, or served in pitta/flatbreads with above mentioned hummus. Or with tsatsiki.

Really lazy one - roast veg (sometimes I even get the packet of pre prepared veg Blush ). Stir through pasta with a jar of sauce - I love the lloyd grossman tomato and chilli one.

Or roast a load of your favourite veg with garlic, herbs and some balsamic vinegar. Add cherry tomatoes for the last ten mins of roasting time. Stir through cooked pasta and crumble in some feta cheese.

Risottos - take time but not difficult. Soften garlic and onion, add your arborio rice for a few mins, whatever veggies you are using and use veggie stock or a combination of veg stock and wine. It’s nice with frozen peas and mint, or you can use peppers or whatever veg really. I sometimes stir a bit of quark or Philadelphia through for creaminess, or actual cream or creme fraiche - whatever we have in.

Veggie chilli - loads of different recipes, I like to do it with chunks of butternut squash and sweet potato. Sometimes do it as a normal chilli but use quorn mince, DH prefers the quorn, I like it with the veggies.

Spanish omelette / frittatas. This is nice www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipe/pea-feta-summer-herb-frittata

There’s a million different veggie curries and dahls out there too. We tried this one recently and it was lovely www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/coconut-squash-dhansak

Not a proper recipe but I sometimes like to use chopped paneer and assorted veg - e.g. onions, red peppers, mushrooms etc and marinade them a bit in one of those pataks paste pots (I bought loads when they were on offer for £1 for two pots) and then fry it all on a griddle pan. I keep a spoonful of the paste back which I stir through Greek yoghurt as a kind of dressing, or you could make a raita or some mint yoghurt. Serve with rice.

This is one of our all time favourites- thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/vegetable-and-lentil-cottage-pie
I’ve made that for non veggies too and they’ve really liked it.

This is surprisingly lovely - I like it best with cauldron sausages, the Lincolnshire style ones - realfood.tesco.com/recipes/carls-all-change-casserole.html

planningaheadtoday · 12/04/2020 11:39

I'm in a similar boat. I'm in lockdown with four big male carnivores! My daughter and I would easily give up meat altogether.

Easy things I've found to introduce are:

Falafel in pitta or wrap with salad and fried onions

Macaroni cheese with cauliflower cheese alongside to reduce the carb load

Hallomi burgers with fries and salad

Home made (multi) baked beans and jacket potato with cheese.

Other tricks not noticed are to reduce the meat by adding fine soya when cooking. So my Bolognaise sauce only contains 250g of mince for feeding 6 people. Same with my chilli con carne. It's easy to bulk out chilli with Soya mince, extra beans and peppers. To date the last two have slipped under the 'must eat meat' radar!

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