Vegetarian cooking

[mumofjust1]

My Dd (12) has decided to become vegetarian.

I need some inspiration for vegetarian dishes that aren't too expensive or too complicated, and am especially looking for a good spinach pie recipe.

Any help much appreciated, thank you x

have just cut and pasted from another thread about cooking for a pg friends freezer, but this would apply, you could get her involved in the batch cooking and freezing.

Make a big batch of bolognaise (I do use Quorn mince but you can substitute finely chopped open cup mushrooms.

You can add mild chilli spice, cummin and coriander to some with red kidney beans and freeze in portions. I also freeze rice in portions, then she only needs to micro.

Add barely cooked (so they don't go soggy on re-baking) pasta shapes to some of it and top off with a layer of cheese sauce (cheats lasagne). She can then just sling straight into oven from frozen with a bit of garlic bread if fancied...

Then freeze the rest in portions that she can use with spag.

If you make plenty of cheese sauce and cook extra pasta shapes you can freeze up portions of 'macaroni' cheese, simple but really tasty and satisfying on a cold day.

I also do a pasta dish with sauteed leeks and mushrooms. Saute (in lots of butter for flavour) then add tin of chickpeas and a couple of tins of mushroom soup lots of black pepper, splash of white wine if you've got some. Then again add barely cooked pasta shapes and freeze in individual portions. She can top off with grated cheese and bake.

You can do a cottage pie, as above with Quorn mince or mushrooms. Use lots of finely chopped veggies such as carrots, celery etc. Veg stock and red wine make this very flavoursome, as do Marmite and veggie Worcester sauce. Top with buttery, cheesy mash.

Make extra buttery, cheesy mash and mix with sauteed leek. Freeze in portions then she can have with veggie sausages and veg.

Sorry if too much obviously you don't need to do all of it, but I just wanted to show you that if you plan, you can make loads of diffferent things from one or two big cook offs i.e. cook one big pot of pasta for the 'lasagne' mac cheese and leek pasta bake. Sautee extra leeks and take out before adding the mush and you can use them for the leek mash. Make extra mash for the cottage pies for the same reason, etc.

Google Greek feta and spinach pie - I think Jamie O has one.

Are you looking for veggie dishes which the whole family will eat, or ones your dd can have alongside more traditional 'meat and two vege' meals?

If the latter, you can make tiny quiches in jam tart tins which freeze well - you can just warm a couple through and she can have them with the potatoes and vege the rest of you are having.

Or a stuffed red pepper - perhaps stuffed with feta, olives and cherry tomatoes - stupidly easy.

My 'carnivore' dp is happy to eat veggie chilli, veggie shepherd's pie etc - so if your family are the same you can do those. You may well find that they are cheaper than the meat versions too.

Am sure you'll get loads of good recipes, but the best advice I can give (13 yr old dd1 veggie for 1 yr now) is to make it as easy as possible for yourself. Ways to do this:

• If there are veggie dishes that the rest of the family will eat, make those frequently. Every time you do, separate off and freeze a single portion that your dd can have on a different night, when everyone else is having meat.
• Have batch cooking sessions so that you always have a supply in the freezer.
• Get your dd involved in the cooking, so that she can cook for herself sometimes. If she's short of time, even learning how to use the oven/microwave to reheat one of the individual portions mentioned above is useful.
• On the nights when you're having different things, try as far as possible to make the accompaniments the same. So if you're all having something that goes with rice and veg, then dd's goes with rice and veg as well (or a one-pot thing that doesn't need accompaniments). That way you aren't making mash for you and pasta or something for dd. Exceptions are bread and couscous, which don't take much time anyway.
• Have a repertoire of quick and easy veggie things that you can throw together for everyone. In our house, that's cheese and onion omelette with oven chips and frozen peas, or pasta with tomato sauce.

I would get some recipes from the vegetarian society website, and there are some good veggie cooking magazines. Its a good opportunity to encourage your DS to start with some simple recipes that all the family can eat.

You cant go wrong with omlettes, pasta/lasagne/macaroni cheese, stir frys, quorn (I love the cutlets and sausages), pizza... she will pick up some great skills... then you can go onto pasties, quiche, grilled veggies,etc.

I good basic veggie cookbook (or a good Italian basics book that will have veggie food in there) should give you the basic sauces and recipes that you can experiment with. I went veggie at 15 and although I was cooking long before then,I began widening my repertoire and getting more creative and trying more exotic cuisines and ingredients. I still dont like tempeh though!

This is a decent book:
www.amazon.co.uk/1000-Vegetarian-Recipes-Around-World/dp/0752584278

Thanks so much for all these great ideas!

I made a lentil and chick pea curry yesterday that was bloomin' lovely! I will look into the book recommendations and will visit the library - god only knows why I didn't think of that before

Dd ultimately wants to become vegan, but I suggested she get to grips with being vegetarian first

Batch cooking is a great idea, will give that a go this week, hadn't thought of that either tbh

What am i like!

Can I ask, is it ok to freeze cooked rice? I've heard lots of horror stories about reheating rice, and really don't want to poison dd!

Thanks again x

You can freeze it - the jury seems out on rehearing cooked rice. I will but DH won't!

Vegetarianism is dead easy these days and soya isn't too bad. You can make a decent curry with soya chunks (or paneer for that matter - yummy yum). I will ask my sis for her spinach recipe. I think she jusr frys an onion, wilts the spinach with some nutmeg, then makes a bundle out of it and filo.

Paneer is gorgeous - you can get it in Sainsbo's. it's cheap and easy - just fry it in a bit of oil with some salt and pepper, cumin flakes and a bit of chilli then add to a curry or serve alongside.

I have to disagree re soya chunks though - they are vile. You might as well put Weetabix in your sauce (that was a joke btw - DON'T do it!). :)

Sam Stern (handsome young dude type) has a book of simple veggie recipes, which may inspire your dd to cook some herself.