To challenge you to think of 7 veggie family meals...

[Sayhellotothesun]

That don’t involve meat substitutes?

Baked butternut squash with garlic.
Falafel
Pizza and salad
Soup, cheeses and breads (or a stew or tagine with beans and eggs if you want more substance).
Pasta with a roast veg sauce.
Omelette with sundried tomatoes and cheese. (Or whatever takes your fancy).
When at uni in the 90's I was a vegetarian the "meat alternatives" were thin on the ground and a faff.
There are some great veg cookbooks out there

Before looking at other posts, my options are:
Veggie chilli
Mac n cheese with mushrooms, onion, garlic, peppers, courgette, peas
Mushroom stroganoff
Stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms with salad
Spicy roast buttternut squash with roast potatoes
Jamie Oliver’s Friday night veggie curry
Tomato sauce based curry
Coconut milk based curry
Thai green curry
Pasta with pesto (original or sundried tomato versions)
Veggie fajitas
Baked cheese and crusty bread
Veggie lasagna
Pasta with tomato sauce and roasted Mediterranean veggies

That’s just off the top of my head for veggie meals that our meat eating family enjoys regularly. We never do meat substitutes when having veggie dinners.

We also do a fair amount of fish.

Things we have eaten in the last two weeks:

Macaroni cheese with garlic bread and side salad.

Quiche with baby potatoes and veg (Aldi caramelised onion and cheese quiche is very good)

Veggie burgers (loads of options that aren’t meat substitute type stuff - we like the Tesco spicy bean burgers) with sweet potato fries and coleslaw.

Pizza

Fried Rice with lots of veg. Omelette on the side.

Spinach and ricotta pasta with a nice tomato and herb sauce.

Mexican feast - Veggie chilli, quesadillas, nachos, rice, cheese, salsa, guacamole, taco shells etc. Set up as a diy make your own thing.

For everyone who says pesto, most pesto isn’t vegetarian as it contains Parmesan.

Not an issue if your a meat eater trying to eat less meat but could be an issue of you are catering for a vegetarian.

You can buy vegan pesto

I'm an old school vegetarian, but these days I just say I don't eat meat or fish because vegetarian seems to have taken on other meanings. Factoring in Parmesan, to me, is a vegan issue.

But if you eat "normal" Parmesan you are eating meat!
Plenty of vegetarian pesto in the supermarket, though. Still tastes good.

I actually prefer veggie meals without meat substitutes, in my opinion their not needed in the last few weeks I've had

Mushroom green bean and lentil salad
Mushroom and thyme fuillioni (with coconut cream yoghurt - so actually vegan)
Broccoli and cherry tomato pasta bake
Tomato and goats cheese gnocchi
Aubergine mozzarella and tomato pasta bake
Chipotle mac and cheese
Chilli lime sweet potato rice salad
Creamy mushroom stroganoff
Tenderstem broccoli and asparagus gnocchi
Courgette and goats cheese ligninue
Ginger and veg noodles
Bean chilli with avocado and lime

Not RTFT cos I wanted to see if I could do this off the top of my head..
Macaroni cheese
Halloumi and roasted veg with cous cous
Pea and paneer curry
Stir fry with cashews
Bean chili
Cheese and lentil slice with mash
Butternut squash risotto
Sweet potato skins with spicy beans
Sweet potato and black bean tacos

Those are all simple and cheap to cook and all my DS's favourites! I cheated because I could think of loads

Shepherds pie with just loads of different veg or with veg and lentils (I use ordinary potato and sweet potato on top)
Chilli made with veg or lentils
Roasted veg lasagne
Mushroom and spinach lasagne
Lentil lasagne
Lentil bolognaise
Nut roast
Nut burgers
Chickpea burgers
Lentil fritters
Courgette and lentil fritters
Stuffed peppers
Stuffed mushrooms
Mushroom stack (large mushrooms topped with caramelized red onion, a thickish slice of aubergine, sliced courgette and halloumi
Goats cheese and onion (or beetroot) tarts
Mushroom and onion suet pudding
Pasta bake using leeks, mushrooms, onions
Shakshuka - google recipes - I use spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs (sometimes thin slices of potatoes)
Toad in the hole using veg rather than sausages
Vegetable pasties

If your family like curry there are endless veggie curries you can make:

Veg curry
Chickpea
Chickpea and mushroom
Chickpea and spinach
Sweet potato
Egg and lentil
Just a few of the ones I make

I make this regularly and its delicious - www.eatingwell.com/recipe/250222/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/

I am veggie, never eaten meat substitutes.
Typical week would include:
Pasta
Rice as risotto or pilaff as well as plain and fluffy
Cous cous
Frittata
Potatoes as jackets or as an accompaniment
Curry
Stirfry
Lentils
Wide variety of salads
Lots of fruit
Able and Cole, and the River Cottage websites have loads of great recipes.

I use Zest brand pesto, always have done. My XP was vegan & so was I, for a while. He was an arse so he didn't last but my preference for the pesto did! Even my carnivore DH has pronounced the vegan pesto to be the nicest one he's ever had. I think they do a non-vegan one too, with vegetarian cheese, but I've never tried it.

We are vegetarian and our DC (aged 6 and 8) eat veggie too. They are kind of fussy and eat their tea separately from us as I don't get in from work until late. They pretty much circulate these meals, with the occasional new challenge thrown in. It's not a perfect diet for them, but not so bad either...

Hummus and homemade falafels with pitta or new potatoes and salady bits (peppers, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, etc.)

Scrambled eggs with waffles / hash browns and tomatoes

Homemade pesto (lots of added greens) with pasta and parmesan

Some kind of frozen veggie burger / sausage with peas and sweetcorn

Jacket potato with cheese / baked beans and salady bits

Pizza (bought or homemade) with salady bits

Spinach and cheese puff pastry pie

Soup (homemade or tinned) with bread and butter

These are things they both enjoy. My son is less fussy, and also likes a mild tomato-based veggie curry with rice, spiced couscous with vegs, roasted vegs etc.

One of my favourite meals:

Black bean and tofu scramble (I don't consider tofu a meat sub)

falafal and houmous with pita and greek salad

On that note my quickest meal a greek salad style pasta (feta, tomato cucumber, olives and herbs tossed through pasta with a little olive oil)

Butternut squash laksa

polenta mash with Mediterranean vegetables

lentil bolognaise

halloumi and mango salad with coriander and mint dressing

halloumi burgers with sides

brie and broccoli calzone (having this tonight)

Spinach and paneer (saag paneer) curry

I do this tomato based paneer curry too but I can't recall it's correct name

Roasted cauliflower curry

dahl and rice

and I've been told to bugger off the computer so I'd add more but I have to go...

Omlettes, pancakess and YP can make a basis of a meal.

mushroom risotto.
Vegi curry.
Veg stir fry.
Stuffed peppers and stuffed beef tomatoes.
Egg in a basket.
beans on toast.
Egg on toast.
souffle (cheese or sweet)
sandwiches (including paninni and toasted)
Various sous eaten with sandwiches.
Egg fried rice.
Cauliflower and broccoli cheese.
Imam Biadi.
other stuffed veg eg onions, squash, aubergines.
Salad, red, green or mixed.
Humus with dips.
Baked potatoes with fillings.
Veg lasagna or pasta bake.
Veg kebabs.
egg and chips.
cheese and potato pie.

Ok so for some of them you need to put two things together but yu can still easily get 7 meals.

Actually, I completely forgot about my "mushroom mix" - slowly fry up a large pan of mushrooms, in butter, with garlic, thyme and salt/pepper. Can add a slug of white wine and/or cream if desired.

Great served plain on toast, mixed with pasta (dry mix or with some liquid - white wine, cream and maybe a tablespoon of pasta cooking water), or with rice (needs sauce with rice).

Risottos - mushroom, spring greens, butternut squash.

Fajitas
Lentil pie (mash topping)
Lentil bolognaise
Mushroom stroganoff
Veggie sausage bake
Halloumi skewers, wraps, etc
Pasta (multiple ways)
Butternut squash lasagne
Mushroom & halloumi burgers
Buddha bowls (hummus, roasted veg, bulgar wheat, etc)
Veg curry
Stir fry

Shakshuka/eggs in purgatory

Stuffed mushrooms - I have three versions. 1. I grill, filled with tomato and herbs so it’s like a mushroom bruschetta. 2. I grill three mins each side then crack an egg in the hollow side and bake 20 mins. Is also good if you add spinach and chopped tomatoes before the egg. 3. I grill the mushrooms then afterwards fill with mashed avocado, a homemade tomato salsa (usually just blitz up some herbs and tomatoes and olive oil) and top with a fried egg or omelette.

Impossible? Bit of a sweeping statement. We’re a family of 6 veggies and none of us are massively keen on meat substitutes

3 bean chille
Fajitas with peppers, onions and kidney beans
Jacket potatos with cheese and beans
Pizza
Pasta bake
Lentil dhal
Morrocan butternut squash and harissa stew
Railway curry (mild potato curry)
Vegetable paella
Stir fry

Could go on for ages. I wouldn’t say any of these are particularly adventurous/not suitable for kids- my kids are fairly fussy and don’t like things like mushrooms/eggs/avocado which limits us to some extent but we still manage perfectly well with no meat substitutes

No one can be this stupid.

But apparently they can be really rude.

I'm enjoying this thread and have added a few of these to my recipe folder. So thanks OP

I'm a veggie but a typical " I'll just have a cheese sandwich" veggie.
Not very adventurous at all

But this thread is great, I've seen so many things that I fancy making.

My favourite veg recipes are:

Bean chilli and nachos/rice or whatever.
Veg lasagne
Mushroom and spinach madras
Falafal and anything. I'm obsessed with them.

If everyone else in my family is having a steak and chips type meal
I'll have everything minus the steak and add more mushrooms. One of my faves actually.

Pancakes filled with red onion mushroom spinach and feta
Vegetable curry and naan bread
Vegetarian chilli (tip whizz a third of it in a food processor once cooked to give a "meatier" texture
Pizza with a range of veg - artichokes, olives, mushrooms is a nice combination
Mary Berry's Melanzane pasta - basically an aubergine lasagne
Stir fry
Any number of lovely soups with French bread
Falafel and salad in pitta bread

There are some great ideas to add to my repertoire here - thanks! I don't like to use meat substitutes either.

Has anyone tried the cauliflower steaks? I keep seeing them in Sainsbury's but haven't got round to trying one yet.

I just buy a normal cauliflower and slice it. It's, like, 1/8 of the cost.
I like them with buffalo sauce - half hot sauce, half butter.

And something less gas-inducing for balance.