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Help me with vegetarian meal inspiration please!

37 replies

IlanaK · 10/08/2011 20:12

We are trying to eat less meat. I try to do vegetarian meals every other night. I am not fussy at all but I have various family food fussiness to contend with. And while I am partly of the school that says tough eat it anyway, I do try not to make things they will really hate. All meals are made from scratch and I don't want to buy meat substitutes like soya protein,

Here are vegetarian meals I currently make:

Homemade pizza
Lentil soup
Baked potatoes with baked beans and cheese
Vegetarian chilli and rice
Eggs (fried usually)

I need more inspiration. The meals need to have enough protein to fill them up (active man and boys). The issues are mostly around ds1. He hates food with a tomato based sauce and foods all mixed up together (casseroles). He is not keen on pulses. I make him eat a small portion of the vegetarian chilli but he hates it. Dh doesn't set eggs so I always have to do something else when I do eggs for us. Everyone is very good about eating vegetables.

So......please tell me your best vegetarian meals!

OP posts:
ImPinkThereforeImSpam · 11/08/2011 13:38

Excuse lack of Nigella terminology and accurate measures....

Roast a load of veg..(peppers, mushrooms, courgettes, onions, tomatoes, olives, etc etc.)

Put Ready rolled puff pastry on to a baking tray, trim edges off and stick them back on, like a picture frame.

Spread with creme fraiche.

Pile on roasted veg.

Crumble cheese of choice (I use goats) over the top and sprinkle with pine kernels.

Bake in hot oven until pastry is golden brown.

Serve with new potatoes, crusty bread, green salad etc!

Easy peasy.

pjwilliams · 11/08/2011 13:41

For quick and easy snacks I go for falafel's on warm pitta with houmous and salad, or quorn/ peppers/ onoins/ mushroom fajitas, or i often just go for a quick stir fry.

OohThatsMyTractor · 11/08/2011 14:04

We eat vegetarian meals every other day due to trying to keep costs down. My OH is a farmer so he is very active, he's also a physically big chap and is always hungry! I find that the following meals work well at filling him up, they're healthy and he enjoys them, which, coming from someone who would eat meat for every meal if I gave him the chance, is high praise!

Stuffed mushrooms - Big mushrooms with a herby, cheesy topping (bread crumbs, red onion - saute for 5 min first to soften -, parsley, feta/cheddar/ricotta/whatever cheese takes your fancy/is in the bottom of the fridge, and an egg to bind together. The proportions can be varied to your taste. Pop it the food processor, spoon on top of the mushrooms and bake for about 15-20 mins. I usually serve these with homemade potato wedges. The filling works equally well in stuffed peppers or you can use it to make a vegetarian 'sausage roll' with puff pastry (v nice cold for lunch boxes too).

Fajitas - I omit the chicken and either use twice the amount of peppers and onions or I use Quorn chicken style pieces sometimes, or kidney beans.

Stirfry - use Quorn or tofu instead of chicken, just make sure you have a tast sauce/marinade to cook it in.

Oven roasted vegetables and halloumi - any veg that takes your fancy eg. peppers, red onions, cougettes, mushrooms, whole garlic cloves, aubergine etc and halloumi - chop, place in a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil and paprika/rosemary/whatever herb takes your fancy and roast for about 45min. I serve these with potato wedges again, or a green salad, or couscous mixed with some harissa paste.

Broccoli/cauliflower cheese bake - I just make a white sauce and sprinkle a little cheese on top rather than making a cheese sauce to keep it a little healthier.

Spanish style omelette - fry diced chorizo, leftover sliced potato, any peppers or mushrooms you have together. Whisk your eggs together in a jug with a splash of milk and seasoning, pour over the mix in the frying pan and cook until set. Good for using up leftovers.

Roast vegetables mixed into pasta with whatever pasta sauce takes your fancy, crumble some feta over the top, or mozzeralla and bake for 10 mins.

Slowly fry red onions, mushrooms and quorn, mix a good dollop of cream cheese in, stir through pasta (reserving a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to 'loosen' the sauce). I've also tried this dish with fresh peas stirred in near the end, or with spinach, or broad beans.

There's lots of different things you can do, part of it is getting out of the mindset of having to have 'meat' in every dish. If you view it as an ingredient, ie. like you would view pasta say, you wouldn't feel that you have to include that in every meal before it become a 'proper' meal.

As long as most meals have a mixture of carbs, protein and vegetables you should all be fine.

Vegetarian protein = ), milk, yoghurt, eggs, nuts, quinoa, beans - kidney beans, chickpeas, butterbeans, black beans, baked beans, lima beans, canelini (sp?)beans, red lentils, split pea lentils, green lentils, cheese - ricotta, mozzeralla, halloumi, feta, cream cheese, herby cheese eg boursin, cheddar cheese, Quorn, soya, tofu, pinenuts. There's plenty of options once you start to look at it.

Part of it is just getting into the habit of looking at ingredients a little differently in that you haven't got a 'big' flavour (in the sense of beef/sausages etc) to work from.

OohThatsMyTractor · 11/08/2011 14:06

Sorry, didn't realise that was such a long post! Hope that helps and does come across as patronising, I didn't intend it to be. Good luck!

PS. I am rather an experimental cook and have found that has been, for me, the best way to cook on a budget and not to include meat/expensive ingredients in every meal.

OohThatsMyTractor · 11/08/2011 14:10

Ooh and another tip someone gave me for bulking up a basic beef bolognese type sauce (to then use in lasagne, spag bol, chilli, whatever takes your fancy) is to grate a couple of carrots into it and/or a few handfuls of porridge oats. It's sounds a bit bizarre but you can't taste/notice either ingredient but it helps to bulk it out and make it go further.

OohThatsMyTractor · 11/08/2011 14:13

This thread has some very good recipes that would be cheap and are vegetarian too.

LadyGrace · 11/08/2011 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

rushofbloodtothefeet · 11/08/2011 15:50

Some great ideas here for you. Just going back to some points you made earlier:
Risotto doesn't HAVE to have parmesan in it, but use cheddar if you want instead. You can also stir in a bit of natural yoghurt at the end instead of cheese. Also the baked mushroom risotto in the MN recipes section is brilliant and so, so easy. There are lots of variations too - pea and asparagus risotto, butternut squash risotto etc.

Fajitas are also a great idea. I usually just use veggies in them rather than try and substitute for meat with beans - onions, peppers, courgette, baby corn and mushrooms; with guacamole, creme fraiche and grated cheese on the side. Sometimes if I can be bothered I also add beancurd chunks (need a firm variety) than has been dipped in egg and rolled in flour. Occasionally refried beans (DP loves them, bit too farty for my tastes)

Goodynuff · 11/08/2011 16:04

pink pasta is a hit in our house (we do the every other day vegetarian too)

chop up 2 cups broccoli, lightly fry in olive oil in your largest deepest skillet, add 1 tsp chopped garlic, 2 green onions, 1 diced red pepper
after 4 minutes or so, add 1 or 2 large tins of diced tomatoes in juice, basil, oregano, salt and black pepper,
when the tomato juice gets hot, add in 1 cup of cream cheese, stir well
add 2 cups cooked pene or rotinni
it is super yummy hot or cold, so it works well for lunch the next day too

TheJiminyConjecture · 12/08/2011 15:48

Spicy lentil and Sweet Potato Stew

This is delicious, so filling and possibly even tastier when reheated the following day. I sometimes serve with naan breads for dipping.

Refried Bean Quesadillas

Tasty, cheap and gorgeous with sour cream.

Hungry now...

keep · 12/08/2011 15:51

Cheap and filling...

Cook pasta, new potatoes and green beans. Combine all three with pesto. Add grated parmesan.

wahwahwah · 12/08/2011 15:55

Maccaroni cheese. Thats all you need to know. Food of the Gods.

Quorn stuff is nice (not all of it) and they often have the 3 for £5 deals on in the shops.

Gnocci is great - easy to make and you can use whatever sauce you like

Tacos - make a veggie chilli (soya if you must), put all the bits into bowls - kids love creating their own fillings

Rice with veggies

Home made ravioli (any filling is good but butternut squash is my favourite)

Roast veggies with tofu

Noodles (like Wagamama)

Omlettes - yummy

Stuffed peppers

You need to stamp down on the fussiness though or you will end up making different meals for everyone, or the blandest food on earth...

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