In a rut with veggie meals, what’s your family’s favourite meat free meals?

[sendwineandastraw]

As above, we are a family of 5, two of which are vegetarian. DH and I tend to cook more meat at the weekend but predominantly stick to meat free for ease during the week.

I just feel we eat the the same things all the time on rotation, quorn Bolognese, chickpea and veg enchiladas, pizza, veg curry SO MUCH pasta!!!

what meat free meals have you found have gone down well and are a family favourite.

(p.s we all eat fish)

We get Gousto boxes. Had a tomato risotto last night, veg buryani the night belore, ravioli tonight. Kids are veggie and knew we needed educating if they were to eat well. Feel in a similar rut on our non-Gousto nights

We make a meat-free mince bulgogi, I think I got the recipe from a Gousto box. It's soya mince mixed with a grated apple, ginger, onion, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil then cooked in a pan and served with rice. I add whatever chopped veggies we have in the fridge and it's delicious.

There's also a lovely BBC good food lasagne recipe made with cream cheese and mushrooms, it's really easy:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/quick-mushroom-spinach-lasagne

Last night we had pan-fried cod fillet (fried and basted in a mixture of olive oil and butter), served on a bed of buttery, wilted spinach, with ratatouille.

For a veggie meal, one of my favourites is griddled aubergine and courgettes, layered with a garlicky tomato sauce, mozzarella and topped with grated cheese then baked in the oven for around 20 minutes.

I am loving Anna Jones one pot pan planet book. So many amazing recipes in there. Also the green roasting tin.

My favourite go-to vegan meal is roasted cauliflower tagine - I think it's on the bbc good food website. So delicious!

Oh and just as a simple one, we have jacket potatoes once a week. Ratatouille is also nice with rice or pasta, I chuck a couple of tins of chickpeas in for protein.

Quiche maybe?

Shakshuka
Fritata
Field mushrooms filled with a mix of the chopped stalks, red onion courgettes and topped with blue cheese and breadcrumbs
Haloumi and pineapple skewers with baked sweet potato and salad.
Chickpea, cauliflower and spinach curry.
Homemade baked sweet potato falafel in pitas
Peppers stuffed with harissa chickpeas, herbs and cous cous topped with mozzarella.

Fish options
Tuna, sweet potato and chilli fish cakes
Tandoori cod fillets
Lemon and herb, Salmon, new potato and green veg tray bake
Balsamic tuna steaks with salad
Fish topped with mango chutney and grilled

Favourites here are sausage orzo made with Richmond meat free sausages realfood.tesco.com/recipes/speedy-sausage-orzotto.html

Roasted red pepper risotto www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/oven-baked-red-pepper-risotto

And the Vivera Greek style lamb 'kebab' served with flatbreads, garlic sauce and salad.

I’m in the same rut, so following with interest. We eat soooo much curry.

In addition to your list we do paneer curry (more curry!), bean chilli, tofu stir fry or in an Asian broth, ratatouille type of thing with chickpeas served with couscous or quinoa, soups….

Hopefully lots of good recipes on their way as our meals have become very repetitive.

Jamie Oliver's lemony courgette linguine

From his 5 Ingredients cookbook. Quick to make once you've sliced the courgettes up. (I use a cheese slicer as the first pass, then a sharp knife to matchstick the slices. I am not safe in charge of a mandolin.)

Nisha Katona's red lentil Dahl:

Wash a mug of lentils to remove the dust, place in pan with 2 mugs cold water, 1 tsp turmeric and tin chopped toms, bring to boil and simmer (approx 20 mins)

Once cooked (i.e: mushy slop!), heat a separate pan with some oil or ghee, when hot add 1tsp cumin seeds, and when sizzling, add to the Dahl mix (or vice versa, depending on pan logistics!)

Season with salt and cook for a few more minutes, serve with rice/Naan. Homemade naans can be made by 1 1/2 cups s/r flour with 1 cup natural yoghurt and 1 tsp salt. Mix by hand or in mixer for 5 mins until no longer sticky. Place on floured surface, split into quantities you want (6 large/8-10 smaller) and roll each one out. Dry-fry in a hot pan for a couple of mins each side, spread with garlic butter or serve plain.

Can also make even healthier by adding spinach, brocolli, green beans etc to the dahl or serving on the side

Very cheap, very easy and very delicious store cupboard dinner

Our absolute family favourite is burnt aubergine chilli from BBC good food. It's not quick, but it is amazing. I don't burn the aubergine anymore, just char it under a hot grill and add chipotle chilli for the smokiness, and you don't need as much liquid as it says. Other than that, the recipe is perfection.

I'm just here for inspiration! In return I can offer you the exciting suggestion of our old favourite, mushroom risotto. Impressed by some of the ideas above. Your kids are far less fussy than mine!

Ramen or stir-fry
veg lasagne
veg burgers
Quorn fajitas
toad in hole with veggie sausage
sausage casserole & mash

Also following. My usual offering on these threads is a Mediterranean/middle-Eastern feast of pittta/flatbreads, hummus, crudités, fried halloumi or feta, olives, maybe harissa mayo or tzaziki (we ate LOT like this last summer when I grew 100 cucumbers) - then people can grab what they like. Family of fusspots I have 🙄

Wish this thread had been around a week ago!

Currently have DD1's BFF to stay, and he's veggie, but we are not. My meagre repertoire is exhausted after a few days.

So far have made a ratatouille-type thing with grilled halloumi, which went down well. And butternut squash kebabs.

Roasted cauli tagine sounds delicious.

My go to for meal inspiration is to browse which Gousto recipes are available that week. If you Google the recipe name, most are available online. I’ll also put in my regular plug for Meera Sodha’s cook books. East is especially diverse and the recipes are so appealing to me.

In general though some recipes I like are:
Turkish Taglitelle - Diana Henry
Tadka Dal - Monica Halder
Moussaka - Felicity Cloake (substituting mince with cooked red lentils)
Three Cheese Pasta Bake - Gousto
Vegetarian Chilli - Felicity Cloake
Palak Paneer - Monica Halder
Pasta alla Norma - Ottolenghi
Miso Braised Aubergine - Marion’s Kitchen

This sounds like melanzane alla parmigiana

I've got a list in my phone. Hang on, might be able to copy and paste...

🥦🍅🌽 VEGGIE MEALS

Filo pastry tarts - tomato, feta, onion & rocket - mascarpone & mushroom - etc

Paneer & lentil dal

Buttered leeks & mushrooms on pasta

Frittata - eggs, peas, broccoli, Parmesan
Frittata - potato, onion, etc

Creamed mushroom & spinach jacket potato

Jar curry sauce - add chopped courgettes(fry off for few mins first). Serve w/ rice and naan.

Chopped carrot, potato & pea. Micro to soften, fry in butter with pinch of Nigella seeds, sprinkle of Garam Masala.

Gnocchi or Schupfnudel on buttered/creamed leeks

Giant yorkshire, roast potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy

Veggie burger, pan fried chopped courgette and tomatoes, avocado and griddled halloumi.

“Fajita” - onions, red & green peppers fried in spice mix, add fake chick. Serve with dips and tortillas and grated cheese.

Pasta bakes - Bolognese with veggie "mince". Kids will have garlic bread.

Baked salmon with green veg and rice or giant couscous with feta and chilli.

Pan fried Mushrooms, add creme fraiche and tarragon serve with rice and broccoli.

Veggie burger with salad and wedges/crosscuts

Vivera kebab in wrap with salad and tzatziki

Giant Yorkshire pudding with veggie sausages, roast potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy

Homemade curry or daal - with paneer/potato/chickpeas

Fridge veg in tomato sauce - I chop up what's left in the fridge, add a chopped onion and pan fry in garlic and tomato with herbs and spices and serve with rice or pasta or crusty bread - like a ratatouille.

Egg and chips with mashed peas

Shepherds pie with veggie mince and sweet potato topping

Mushroom, onion and peppers fried together

Wrap with halloumi, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, Greek yoghurt, seasoned mayo (lemon & black pepper), red onion and mint.

Stuffed peppers: with savoury/spicy rice and feta

Breakfast bap: soft white roll or English muffin, sliced and toasted, one cheese slice, hash brown and fried egg.

Carbonara without bacon

I also use Instagram to save recipes I like the look of. I might search by ingredient or something like "veggie recipes". Be warned though: this will lead you down a rabbit hole for approx 4 hours, haha!

This is delicious: a packet of cauldron veggie sausages cooked and sliced, a red onion chopped and fried, a good dollop of rose harissa, and a tub of mascapone all mixed together and served with penne pasta.

Obviously ignore any of my list that mentions fish/prawns - thought I'd removed all the fish and meat meals but might have missed a few!

Our most successful vegetarian meals are Dahl (I love the one above , we do similar and I add nigella seeds to the Naan bread if I ever get as far as making it as it’s lovely when we do ),
and frittata (I fry onion/ peppers/ other veg in butter and oil then add egg and crumbled feta / herbs).

we also adore eating falafel but I have never managed to make good ones and they seem so expensive bought!

my other new secret is buying ‘Bold’ beans and chickpeas (I think Waitrose might sell them but not sure, they come in a large jar and taste amazing even on their own).

Kale & Mushroom lasagne

Ricer Cottage - this is delicious

Tonight I'm making a quiche with leeks, goats cheese, new potatoes, peas and asparagus. The new potatoes make it feel substantial but we'll still roast some more as a side

Tomorrow I'm making squash and broccoli Chinese dumplings. The recipe isn't as bad as it looks. Chuck the squash in the oven when you finish work then when it's done mash everything together. I use lazy garlic and ginger. I grate the broccoli instead of using a food processor. There will be a video of Jamie cooking it somewhere as it was on his show. www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/crispy-bottomed-steamed-dumplings/

DH also loves Jamaican patties. We use Dunn's River jerk seasoning in place of curry powder, increase the veg to 400g and cut the pastry to the size of a side plate but otherwise follow this recipe. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jamaican-veggie-patties
Grated sweet potato and black beans also work for the veg mix.

Some good ideas here.

Our default for veggie tends to be roasted veg of some sort. Roasted tomatoes and garlic served with burrata/feta on pasta (with avocado sometimes if we have it), or a pile of roasted vegetables with paprika, flat breads and hummus.

Chargrilled greens with halloumi is popular - chargrill greens like tender stem broccoli, leeks, sugar snap peas. Remove and set aside. Then add sliced halloumi sprinkled with cumin and paprika and fry. When you flip it over, add some crushed garlic, lots of lemon juice, some honey and let it all fry and caramelise. Salt if necessary. Serve over the greens. We usually do that with flatbreads.

Butternut or pea risotto.

Tomato and aubergine and chilli sauce on pasta. I had feta cheese as find otherwise we are all hungry after.

Stuffed mushrooms.

Stuffed peppers (I don't do these any more as DS won't eat them although he loved them as a child. Weirdo. We used to do a sort of sweet stuffing of rice or couscous with raisins and cinnamon, toasted pine nuts and then halloumi or feta)

Veggie tart - roasted tomato, goats cheese and leeks yesterday