Inspire me! Quick but yummy vegetarian dinners - any ideas?

[lowrib]

I'd like to cut down the amount of time I spend preparing dinner, when it's my turn, so that I can spend a bit more time with DS in the evening.

I'm fed up with doing the same old things though.

Has anyone got any quick but healthy and yummy vegetarian recipes up their sleeves?

TIA

Hugh Feanley-Whittingstall's baked chicken curry recipe (it's online).

Skip the chicken and do the sauce, to the letter.

Then add what you want to it.

It's brill.

Thanks expat but we're vegetarian!

Leek and cashew crumble
Put leeks cut either lengthways or chunky circles, drained tinned tomatoes or concass tomatoes in a greased baking dish.
Cover in white or cheese sauce depending on your taste
Whizz up cashews, breadcrumbs, cheese, seasoning in a blender (normally do handful of each)
Bake at 180 for 30 to 40 mins. Until crumble golden/leeks cooked.
Doesn't take long at all and can be prepped in advance.

That sounds lovely, thanks for the reply. I'll definitely have a go at it on one of the days when I have a bit of time. I love cashew nuts, leeks and cheese, so it's a great combination!

But it's still a bit too labour intensive for what I'm looking for. It was when I was cooking cauli cheese with a white / cheese sauce, and mashed potatoes on the side, the other day, and DS was after attention when I was making the roux, that I decided something had to give.

I'm need ideas for really quick meals.

I don't have any time to prep stuff in advance as I've just started university as a mature student and study takes up pretty much all the child-free spare time I have.

For 3 days a week I'm at university, and I on those days I only see DS for about 2 hours in the evening. On these nights I want to spend minimal time on cooking.

Ideally I'm looking for things with about 15 minutes prep time!

What about batch cooking & freezing? I do this every fortnight as I work long hours, just leave out the night before & bung in the oven or zap in micro. I do things like veg chilli or veg bolognese, fish cakes, even do veg steamed & freeze. Then you only have to cook rice or pasta or some additional veg to accompany...

Also I sometimes buy pre prepared veg for ease, chopped onion or carrot batons etc just so I don't have to peel & chop stir fry also quick easy & tasty.

Check out vegetarian society website too.

www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/recipes/recipes/mixedbeanchilli/

Dh, ds (23 months) and I all love this. It's super quick and very healthy. We have it with boil-in-the-bag rice which makes it even easier.

I see what you mean!
Do you like chickpeas and spinach? I normally bung them in with onions and a jar of tomato based curry sauce. Just takes as long as the rice to cook.

I suppose I could use my mumsnetting time to do some prep ... no, that's a step too far!

KenDoddsDadsZombieDogsNotDead, chickpeas and spinach mmmmmm! Thanks for that (great name by the way).

Thanks trytobebrave I'll have a look at the link.

Atomat I'm definitely up for batch cooking and freezing I think it's a great idea. I've been meaning to do this for a while, I reckon I need plan about half a day to do it. It won't be for a couple of months, time is really tight! I'll definitely do this in the next holidays and I'll be a bit better prepared for next term.

I do have a couple of other recipes, will just have to think of them! Used to work in a veggie cafe as a student and learnt some good stuff in there.

yes, low, but the sauce can be made completely veggie. i did it last night. just don't do any chicken. you can put chickpeas or red lentils n it or yellow split peas instead. it's delicious.

I think some shop bought pasta sauces e.g. Seeds of Change are pretty good for a quick vegetarian meal, I just add more veggies and some cheese on top.

Omelette, salad and chips or new potatoes.

Jacket potatoes are low prep and there's nothing wrong with beans on toast occasionally!

Something like a mixed bean chilli is quicker if you use frozen pre-chopped onion which is not really that expensive.

Otherwise I would say make double or triple of whatever you're doing and freeze it so that you have no-prep dinners sometimes.

That's great, thanks everyone

I'll let you know how I get on.

Spag bol - fry onions, mushrooms and some quorn mince then chuck a jar of ragu on top.

Thai curry - fry some veg and add some vegetarian thai curry paste then a tin of coconut milk on top. My children love this.

Cheese and potato pie. Boil potatoes with a chpped onion. Drain and mash with a teaspoon of mixed herbs, drop of milk and a teaspoon of butter plus lots of grated cheese. I usually put sliced tomato on top and a little more cheese and pop under grill. Serve with beans. Not very healthy but delicious!

Tofu and veg stir fry with noodles and chinese spices/soy sauce - takes less than 5 mins!

Boil pasta and add some frozen sweetcorn and chopped mushrooms to saucepan at the end. Drain and add some olives, sundried tomatoes and some pesto. My favourate which is great cold for packed lunch next day.

I'd make some Spanish omelette. Not 'quick quick' but once prepped kind of looks after itself. Plus good for lunchboxes etc the next day so two birds with one stone.

Here's my recipe

My dds love cheese and potato pie, as described by Reesie - except we have it with frozen peas cooked with onion, garlic and chilli flakes (baked beans are the food of Satan).

Also like Reesie, we love Thai veggie curry. I buy a paste and a tin of cocnut milk and use packs of stir fry vege if I'm short of time. Then I add either tofu, cashew nuts or omelette strips and loads of fresh coriander.

Bought falafel, salad, minty yoghurt - in a pitta bread and served with more salad, or with homemade wedges.

Pasta with homemade pesto is quick and delicious - I usually do a rocket and red onion salad to go with it.

Sometimes I find that I prefer recipes that are easy to bung together by starting off on the hob but can then be bunged into the oven and forgotten about for an hour areactually better than the quickly thrown together stuff. So a chilli, or a tagine, or a veggie sausage casserole - get it all hot on the hob then shove it in the oven and go and wallow in the bath for an hour. Ditto baked potatoes.

Also - have you tried using a slow cooker? I have this book and have used lots of recipies which are lovely.

Thanks everyone, it's nice to get some new ideas, theres some good stuff here

I feel quite hungry now actually!