Easy healthy vegetarian lunch ideas for visitors

[Jellybel]

Hello - please could I get some ideas for easy vegetarian lunches? DH and I eat a lot of meat and aren't particularly healthy. We also have a 1 year old DS so I need to cook quick and easy meals. DH's family tend to come over to ours to see our DS around every other weekend and I always get super stressed about sorting lunch! They are vegetarian and really healthy too and don't eat anything processed so I'm always stuck for ideas and can't serve up salad every time. Not the best cook but I'd like to show I've made some effort. TIA x

I love the how to cook great food website videos for simple but delicious vegetarian curries. They take about 10 mins prep so almost fast food but cooked from scratch! I often do one of those with basmati rice and a salad. You could also make a simple raita by adding grated cucumber and salt to plain yoghurt.

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

Make cheese sandwiches wuth 6 slices of bread and add some strips of jarred red pepper to them. Cut them into quarters and stick them in an oven dish, cut sides up, iyswim. Cover with 2 eggs beaten with 250ml milk and leave to soak in a bit. Sprinkle with a bit of grated cheese if you can be bothered and bake at 180 for half an hour. Eat with salad.

So savoury bread and butter pudding meets crust less quiche. Love it. Genius

If you want to really hit the healthy mark have a look at some of these bowl recipes which could go down really well as the weather improves. Not all vegetarian but I do like that site for some veggie inspiration.

Vegetable spicy curry slow cooker so throw in and leave, basmati rice, flatbreads, onion & tomato salad and natural yoghurt.

Dessert ...platter of fresh fruits or hot chocolate brownie and vegetarian ice cream

I was going to say Green Roasting Tin too - lots of tasty, healthy one-dish recipes, sorted by how much time they take to prepare.

Soup is VERY easy and healthy and a great way of using up odd and ends, serve with nice crusty bread and real butter and I'm sure they'd be happy

Omelette/frittata

Cous cous salad is a bit more substantial than the usual British lettuce/cucumber/tomato type

Vegetable casserole - also very easy basically soup in blended and very chunky! With less liquid! Serve with baked potatoes

Bbc good food mushroom stroganoff is fab and also very easy but takes some time until you're practiced at the recipe

Thanks all! Lots of really great ideas here. Spoilt for choice. Can't believe I couldn't think of anything apart from salad, soup or sandwich myself

I don’t think anyone’s recommended a dal. This is a super easy one I make a lot…
www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2013/10/spinach-and-coconut-dal.html?m=1

Serve with shop bought naan plus pickles and/or chutneys

Seriously third/fourthing the Green Roasting Tin cookbook. It’s brilliant, super easy and everything I’ve made for it so far (over 2/3 recipes) has been fantastic

Oh love - don't stress yourself.

I would buy a nice quiche/vegetarian pie, a big bag of salad, some hummus, chop up some carrot and celery sticks - minimal effort and there's lots of variety

Rukmini Iyer has two fantastic dal recipes - one red lentils, tomato and black nigella seeds, and one lime and coconut. Both basically mix and stick in the oven.

Buy nice naan breads or make Jamie Oliver easy flatbreads to have as a side.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea Most people are somewhat more intelligent than that these days.

Why on earth is pesto not vegetarian? It surely is. I see it isn't vegan, because of the cheese.

Pesto often contains parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese is always made with animal rennet ( from a dead calf's stomach).

Not all cheese is vegetarian, though most supermarket cheese in the UK is these days. Parmesan is one of the exceptions.

Mushroom bourgignon, green veg of choice, potato gratin (or crusty bread of choice to mop up the juices).
Tarte tatin & cream or ice cream for pudding

Oh FFS. Why does very bloody veggie thread on here have the lecture about cheese? Lots of people don't eat meat but don't bother about such things. And those who do, know!

If the timing of the meal is when you'd normally do say meat and veggies, serve something like veggie sausages/crispbakes/similar - might not be healthy from the point of view of being frozen but easily goes with veggies. I'm only eat fish and veggie and am more than happy if someone makes it easy for themselves.

Those who DO know, yes. But people who don’t eat meat but do eat calf stomach (rennet) or boiled bits of cows & pigs (gelatin) aren’t vegetarians.

If I visited someone & they’d made dinner that they thought was veggie but included non-veggie pesto or cheese I’d eat it out of politeness because I’d appreciate them trying. But the more it gets mentioned on threads, the more people are more likely to know.

This is really easy, delicious and looks impressive! Just serve with crusty bread and a green salad:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/aubergine-halloumi-harissa-skillet-bake

If you're talking normal weekday basic lunch foods that don't require proper cooking... we're vegetarian and these are some of our regulars:

Toasted pittas with hummus, falafels, salad, olives, jarred peppers/sun-dried tomatoes.
Crackers with nice selection of cheese, grapes, chutney, tomatoes.
Avocado on toast drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of chilli.
Scrambled egg on toast with fried mushrooms and tomatoes.
Cheese and spinach omelette with salad.
Soup with crusty bread and butter.
Leftovers (pasta bake, cauliflower cheese, lentil curry, chilli, etc.) served with salad/bread.
Baked potatoes with beans/cheese/leftover chilli and salad.
Wraps or tacos with guacamole, cheese, salad, leftover spicy rice, etc.

All of these are perfect for a 1-year old too :)