Newly vegetarian family needing meal ideas

[goingveggie]

Decided a couple of weeks ago that it would be healthier for us to become vegetarian . We already stopped eating red meat and ham/bacon/sausages 18 months ago for health reasons.
Ive been making things like lentil bolognese, various vegetable curries, tofu and chickpeas etc. Does anyone have any really nice meal ideas as I feel like I already feel a bit limited !

I make the same recipes as I used to, just with meat free pieces/mince etc. I do find everything has to be seasoned and liquided so much more as the Quorn immediately zaps all flavour and moisture. I find it more expensive that meat tbh 😳

I recommend the Green Roasting Tin recipe book.

Try Mindful chef for a few weeks. You get the whole recipe book for each week, and there’s normally 3-5 veggie recipes in there.

The Hairy Bikers have at least one excellent vegetarian cook book.

I like the website Recipe tin eats for excellent adaptable recipes.

I do a lot of roasted veg, it’s nice with cous cous and parmesan. Also there are lots of nice Italian pasta dishes that don’t involve quorn (although I do use that). My friend does a veggie roast by doing a puff pastry thing with veggie sausages on the top plus the usual veg and onion gravy. Roasted tomatoes on toast with worcester sauce and parmesan is nice. Avocado wraps with chickpeas and harissa.

The new Jamie book has lots of nice ideas.

I wouldn’t contemplate highly processed meat substitutes. I have collected really simple nutritious recipe over the years. Tonight it’s a lentil, chickpea, red onion and tomato salad with an amazing vinaigrette. Yesterday I opened a bag of rocket, drizzles a little garlic oil, topped with grilled halloumi and pistachios.

It doesn’t have to be hard.

Just writing these quickly as it's dog feeding time here, but this is a few things we have regularly:

Macaroni cheese and salad.
Baked potato with cheese and homemade coleslaw.
Homemade pizza (I do cheat and buy the dough if we're pushed for time). We usually have cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and a mix of grated mozzarella and cheddar.
A big layered salad (grated carrot, sweetcorn, boiled pasta mixed with mayo and spring onions, grated cheese, sliced tomatoes, plus whatever else is kicking about in the fridge).
Cottage pie made with Quorn mince, mixed veg through it.
Sri Lankan dahl.
Falafels (I buy them, can't make them at all!) with homemade wraps, yoghurt and mint and salad.
And tonight we're having veggie sausages, mash, peas and gravy because I'm choked with the cold and DH is in charge of making some comfort food!

Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce aren’t vegetarian - Henderson’s relish is a good alternative to Worcestershire sauce though

Mushrooms are good especially at this time of year. I have a lovely mushroom stroganoff recipe or mushrooms in a creamy sauce with pasta.
Halloumi is also good too with quinoa or cous cous. I have been vegetarian for 35 years so have fun!

Pointed cabbage, roast it or grill it.

I’ve been vegetarian for over 40 years and don’t like most fake meats - something about the texture. What you’re cooking sounds good.

If you are doing it for health reasons I would definitely avoid the substitute products, they are ultra processed and not as good for you as meat.

good options are roasted cauliflower instead of meat in curries, roasted veg lasagna, dal (well i would eat that every day given a chance.) switch to whole grain basmati as it contains essential nutrients.

Try a recipe box for a while

Stir fry

If you Google easy, quick vegetarian meals it should bring you up with the BBC web page. Ive tried quite a few of the receipes and they're literally quick and easy and to be fair suitable for the whole family. Some receipes are great for the airfryer if you have one.
If you have instagram or tik tok 'FitGreenmind'is great and I highly recommend following 'Veganezer. His content is great.

Pizza!
Toppings can be bell peppers, mushrooms, thinly sliced potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf

best nut roast I’ve ever had.

I make my daughter a nut toast. A small packet if chopped mixed nuts. A tin if chopped tomatoes, a brown crust to make into breadcrumbs. Chopped onion. Lightly fry the onion, remove from heat, add all the ingredients, and spices to your taste for flavour. Don't forget the black pepper. Cook mark 7 or 200 fie approx 39 mins, until firm. I cover with foil. Enjoy xx

Thankyou these are all great ideas ! I was feeling quite uninspired but I’m going to make a list and a meal plan !

Quiche and salad is a staple for us but I fancy something more autumnal as the weather changes.
You can make a lovely cottage pie using very finely chopped mushrooms and a sachet of Puy lentils instead of meat. Adding Henderson's relish gives it a kick but I also put in a squirt of HP sauce (or fruity sauce) as a secret ingredient!
Risottos and pasta have limitless veggie possibilities - look at oven cooked risottos, they're so easy as is gnocchi!
Another favourite for us is veggie sausages (although I much prefer Glamorgan sausages) roasted with potato wedges, red onion and butternut squash chunks (I slightly parboil the potatoes and squash) with sage. You can add veggie gravy or (this is a Hello Fresh idea) try caramelised onion chutney heated with a little knob of butter and water as a sauce.

Definitely the green roasting tin book, I also buy the odd Gousto box and I’ve got some really good ideas from there, learned how to cook some ‘meat replacements’.
I have pasta with tomato, olives, feta and chilli, rice with Richmond meat free chicken and veg, daals, meat free sausages and veg and mash, pasta bakes, soups, loads of things.

Probably a bit boring but my current favourites (I’m in full autumn mode!) are chilli (veggie mince, kidney beans, chick peas and loads of veg), lasagne (veggie mince + loads of veg) and halloumi in various forms 😂 I’m quite basic and boring so enjoying some of these ideas!

I second this!! Also Jamie Oliver has a great vegetarian cook book called Veg. There are also quite a few Italian and Middle Eastern dishes that are traditionally vegetarian so maybe a Lebanese cook book too? An sample of what we might have in a week:

• lentil spag Bol
• Layered veg bake (layering up thin slices of butternut squash, courgette, tomatoes, red pepper, red onion and every few layers add some fresh parsley, crushed garlic and salt then top with cheese if you eat dairy) served with new potatoes
• vegetable stir fry
• lebanese bits (hummus, flat breads, stuff vine leaves, batatta harra, tabbouleh, pickled turnips)
• jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese/ coleslaw and cheese
• veggie chillie using quorn mince and kidney beans served with rice, salad and guacamole
• cous cous with some sort of beans/chickpeas and roasted veg

we tend to make more than required then have left overs for lunches

hopefully some thing of interest there!

another pasta dish that is a firm favourite in this household is courgette, lemon and feta linguini. Occasionally I will add some quorn chicken pieces to that too but usually not.

I’ve just had a roasted butternut squash and sage risotto. (top tip, buy the branded arborio risotto rice not own brand or you’re stirring for a hour as I did today. Lesson learnt). DD is veggie. She hates Quorn, TVP, fake meat so I cook with beans, pulses, veg, nuts etc instead. Loads of ideas on 5he BBC good food website.

Not boring at all!!! Very tasty sounding!