easy vegetarian What's for dinner!

[27Mankinis]

I'd love some of your go to easy vegetarian dinner ideas!

DH is a vegetarian who mainly eats raw food. I am looking to be more plant based. I have one child with SEN who eats very limited food so his meals may need to be different and another aged 11 who eats everything.

last night I roasted butternut squash with maple syrup and chilli flakes (glorious!) and had that with loads of green veg.

Tonight I wish to make battered tofu (DH and I both adore tofu) and have that with wedges and salad.

But I would love to have some more ideas up my sleeve!

Thanks!

At this time of year it is asparagus with new potatoes in their skins. Either melted butter or home-made hollandaise sauce or 7 herb sauce containing hard-boiled eggs.

Roasted new potatoes tossed beforehand in garlic and paprika served with poached eggs and asparagus spears.

We have this at least twice a week.

Tonight we did noodles.

One of the microwave steam bags of veg added to cooked egg noodles.

Sauce made of frying garlic in sesame oil then adding peanut butter (loosened with a ladleful of the water you cooked the noodles in). Soy sauce, honey and chilli flakes.

Mix the noodles and veg into the peanut sauce and add chopped spring onions/coriander/fried egg if you want.

Well tonight we had a very lazy/ east dinner of pitta pizzas done in the air fryer - soft pittas, a ‘sauce’ made with tomato purée, garlic, dried oregano, pinch of sugar and black pepper, topped with loads of mushrooms, olives, peppers and red onion and grated mozzarella - 4 mins in air fryer, served with salad.

I really love the idea I got from here to roast a dish of cherry tomatoes and block of feta together, mix together and stir through pasta.

Also been doing a lot of homemade pesto as I have a basil plant growing out of control on the window sill. I made this chickpea version when we ran out of pine nuts https://www.forkintheroad.co/nut-free-chickpea-basil-pesto/

Speaking of chickpeas, I absolutely love this - https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/catalan-chickpeas-and-spinach/

I love harissa roasted butternut squash as an alternative to your maple syrup one. We’re having a lot of salads at the moment with that on top, and just whatever else I can find to add a bit of interest in terms of seeds/ nuts/ croutons etc

I roast peppers, red onions and courgettes in Moroccan spices, stir in chickpeas towards the end and then sprinkle with feta and pinenuts.

Also roast butternut, feta and edamame. Drizzled with sweet chilli sauce.

Equal quantities of frozen spinach and cream cheese melted with a handful of gruyere makes a lovely pasta sauce.

Satay tofu with peanut and gochujang sauce, rice noodles and veg.

Thanks @wildfirewonder That looks delicious.

DS6’s favourite pasta dish ever is a pesto primavera (or, more accurately, pasta pesto, peas and cheese).

Pasta with peas, tender stem broccoli, pesto, Parmesan, and a soft-boiled egg on top (no idea why we added that element, but it is extra protein, and some colour in an otherwise entirely green dish).

If you use wholewheat pasta and lots of veggies it is pretty healthy, but also perfect primary-age comfort food. He probably eats it twice a week, and would have it every day if we let him.

We also eat a lot of daal, home-made biryani with paneer, and vegetable and tofu fried rice. Quesadillas are our zero-effort post-swimming lessons meal, if you have the ingredients to hand they are ready in less than 2mins.

Oh, also forgot blue cheese gnocchi (gnocchi, broccoli, wilted spinach, stirred into cream cheese and gorgonzola, then baked). Also hugely popular with the six year old.

This sounds perfect! 👍

Ooh, this also sounds great!

My family loves grilled halloumi with rice and salad 😋 I add chilli to mine.

I did hummus pasta tonight from the Bosh site someone linked further up, it was lovely. Very filling!

Chop an equal volume of courgette, aubergine, pepper, and a red onion per person. Put courgette, pepper, onion and a whole bulb of garlic into a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and cook on high heat for 20 mins. Toss them round then add in the aubergine and roast for another 20 mins.

Serve sprinkled with feta/goats cheese/ halloumi

Vegetarians eat cheese, dairy, eggs. Vegans are the ones who do t eat any animal products!

Thank you!

That sounds delicious, I've not thought of pairing halloumi with watermelon.

I love the sound of lentil & spinach curry and asparagus risotto, don't suppose you have recipes for them?

Jamie Oliver's Aubergine burger is my absolute favourite!

I’ve posted this before but pasting here as these are my favourite go to veggie dinners.

*Butternut squash and chickpea curry with pilau rice and mini naan

*Sweet potato and black bean chilli with crumbled feta and tortilla chips (Gousto link)

*Vegetable packed potato topped pie with garlicky greens (Gousto link)

*Kidney bean and green lentil dal makhani with coconut rice and mangetout

*Thai green curry with coconut, chilli and lemongrass rice (I use the flavoured Tilda microwave rice pouches for ease and omit the chicken or substitute with tofu if making veggie)

*Lemon garlic salmon with new potatoes, asparagus and tenderstem broccoli

*Herb crusted salmon with hasselback potatoes and peas (Gousto link)

*Buddha bowl salads during summer - this is my favourite base, though I tend to use quinoa or red rice with saffron rather than brown rice.

*A simple roast vegetable and wild rice bowl (using whatever veggies are in the house and again a Tilda rice pouch) with chickpeas, topped with nutritional yeast and balsamic glaze.

The first handful lend themselves well to batch cooking, so I tend to make plenty and freeze.

A few of the recipes we use were originally meal boxes from Gousto that we keep making independently. I don’t think the links for these work unless logged in unfortunately.

I love roasted veggies; tonight we had roast cauli 'steaks' with new potatoes and salad. Tomorrow I'll make a basic risotto (with peas and sweetcorn) then roast the rest of the cauliflower, a courgette and some parsnips, whatever else I have available that needs using, and stir them into the rice just at the end. I always coat the veggies with smoked paprika, garlic and salt and pepper for roasting.

Tonight I did a vegetanle bake which was basically a ratatouille with a tin of lentils stirred in, topped with breadcrumbs and crumbled feta.

That sounds fab.

Cut large sweet potatoes in half, drizzle with a bit of oil. Roast till soft. Top with cheddar cheese and baked beans. Coleslaw and undressed salad mix on the side.

It's like a healthier jacket potato but still so yummy and satisfying! Super easy and comforting

I had forgotten about this thread!

This sounds really lovely. :)

Spinach and ricotta lasagne. You can make it 'posh' (home made tomato sauce, fresh spinach) or as I did last night, very quickly with frozen spinach and Passata with added herbs.
I'm crap at quantities so not a recipe as such:
Mix spinach (wilted if fresh, defrosted if frozen) with a tub of ricotta and season. Layer up with uncooked lasagne sheets and tomato sauce. Mix plain yoghurt, greek is best, with an egg. Top the Lasagne with this and grate over cheese. Bake for approx 30 mins, medium oven till top slightly browned and you can stick a knife easily through the pasta layers.

Bubble and squeak (made with leftover Sunday roast veg - I have to make a lot of veg for there to be leftovers!) with salad and houmous is my new favourite easy dinner