Family friendly but preferably not carb heavy veggie main meals!

[sparkle12mar08]

Spam me your recipes guys please!

I'd like to do one or two veggie meals a week for the family including 6 and 4 yo sons. However I don't particularly want to go much further down the white carb/rice/pasta route if at all possible. Types of meals we often eat include curries & stir fries, stews, casseroles, and chops/cuts baked in a sauce. I've seen the Veg Every Day book thread and flicked through it in a shop and didn't see all that much for family main meals that wasn't too carb heavy. Off the top of my head I think a spanish tortilla/fritata is probably a good bet as I think the boys will eat it well. I don't mind a bit of prep work with soaking lentils etc and am a reasonably competent cook, but I don't want to spend much more than 30 mins active prepping if possible and I'm no masterchef

So fire away, give me your favourite recipes, ideas or book recomendations! Thank ye kindly

You won't find anything that fits the bill because vegetables, pulses and grains are all carbohydrates. To make healthy vegetarian meals, therefore, choose the less processed or wholegrain versions of staples and get plenty of variety. A popular veggie supper dish in our house is Egg Fried Rice

Serves 2

3oz brown basmati rice (uncooked weight) - cooked according to packet instructions
3 spring onions, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
3oz peas
3oz sweetcorn
2 large eggs, beaten
a little crushed ginger and garlic
Soy sauce
Oil

• Heat the oil in a wok and cook the vegetables until softened
• Push the vegetables to one side, tilt the wok and then add the beaten egg in the empty half
• Stir the egg as it cooks so that you get something between scrambled egg and an omelette
• When set, break up the egg and stir it into the vegetables
• Finally, add the cooked rice, season with soy sauce and stir fry until heated through
• Serve immediately.

That sounds lovely Cogito, and I guess I could also adapt it to whatever veg I have to hand, especially on a Manday when there's always leftover veg from sunday lunch.

I know that veg, pulses grains etc are all carbohydrates, but they're unprocessed and it's partly why I put white carbs/rice/pasta - I want to avoid bread, rice and pasta specifically if possible, but there must be some non-rice, non pasta vegetarian dishes out there?!

Roasted veggies or veggies in cheese sauce or tomato sauce served in individual Yorkshire puddings (made in cake tins for adults)

Spicy bean casserole?

I've just eaten a homemade butternut squash & carrot soup. I make it thick enough to have as a meal and you could always serve toasted wholemeal pitta & cheese with it to make it more substantial (pittas' are lower carb than bread).

Fry onions & garlic
Add spices (I do cumin seeds, chilli & tumeric)
Add chopped squash & carrots (sweet potato also works well with the squash).
Cover with stock (I used homemade chicken stock this time but often use a good veg boullion).
Season & bring to boil.
Reduce heat, allow to simmer till veg is soft.
Blitz with Billy Blender
Eat!

Anything with beans, cheese and eggs?

You can do cheese without carbs in salads, but it's more a summer thing. Like mozzeralla with tomato and basil kind of thing. You can use quinoa for bulk to make it more filling.

How about using some quorn/soya/tofu to pad things out?

We have sweet potato, chick pea and spinach curry at least once a week and tonight we are having vegetable goulash but it's a bit of an improv plan so might be rancid.

Egg chips and beans cannot be beat either imo

lentil shepherds pie

If you have left over veg you could make bubble & squeek burgers and have them with pickles?

Stir fry with marinated tofu (much nicer than plain) and some cashews and pistachios, maybe waterchestnuts for some crunch. My DD doesn't like many veg but she'll happily eat plenty of onions, carrots, red pepper and pak choi (or that similar longer thinner chinese veg) in this. I put in noodles but not too many - you could pad it out with beansprouts and less noodles.

agree about the veggies being carbs, but one of my favourites, that tastes better the days after, so good to prepare in advance for an evening you know is going to be manic
aubergines/parsnips/turnips/sweet ptoatoes/carrots/cauliflower diced large etc with a couple of tins of tomatoes in V8 vegetable juice (68p per tin) with cumin and lots of fresh coriander - cooked long and slow until it is still liquid but only just - tastes much more exotic than it is and requires next to no effort.

Butternut squash in tomato sauce (fry squash cubes & onion in olive oil til nice and browned & starting to soften then add a jar of passata & some bouillon powder & cook til squash is done). Eat with mashed potato & greens

'Carbs' get a bad press but it's not necessary to avoid bread, rice and pasta. They're valuable sources of energy, fibre, minerals and vitamins in their wholegrain forms. Wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholemeal pasta are therefore good choices in moderate portions as part of a balanced diet.

Veggie chili:

A red pepper
An onion
Clove of garlic
One or possibly two tins of chopped tomatoes
One tin of kidney beans
One tin of mixed beans
Chili powder

Any other veg you have hanging around: frozen peas/sweetcorn, courgette, mange tout etc.

Chop and fry the pepper, onion, garlic, and any of the veg that needs it (not peas/corn) until soft.

Drain and rinse beans and add to veg.

Add one tin of tomatoes. Stir and decide if you need the other tin. Add it if you do!

Add half a tin of water.

Cook for about 20 mins.

Add the chili to taste.

Cook until thick.

Serve with rice, in a wrap with or without cheese on top, or on a jacket potato.

Do you call it 'Chili non Carne'?