Cooking for my family is utterly joyless. Help.

[SilentBoob]

I have a newborn so not masses of time to ponce about in the kitchen. We live in a country with no convenience food. I dislike buying meat here because it is all nasty intensively farmed and of dubious provenance. I get it occasionally but think of it as junk food - convenient but not all that good for you.

I am vegetarian. I do all the cooking.

Dd is 5 and not keen on meat that looks like meat - will eat mince but not steak . Also fussy about spicy food and anything too daring.

Ds has a dairy allergy. No milk, cream, butter, cheese.

Dh will eat most things and is getting bored of the same 3 dishes in rotation. He hates soup.

They all eat fish without bones.

I do pasta in tomato sauce a lot.

There isn't even a sandwich filling that all 4 of us eat.

It has to be vegan for both ds and I to eat it - but dd turns her nose up at most vegan dishes I cook (quorn not available here). Which is fine and I don't really pander to her, but it would be SO NICE to cook something that went down well for once.

I have recently taken to doing white fish and rice / potatoes + steamed veg for them and either having just rice and veg for myself, or a piece of marmite toast in the kitchen. But then I get frustrated because I am bfing a newborn and ravenous by the end of the day and I want to sit down to a nice meal without having to cook 3 different meals to keep everyone happy.

This is half rant / half cry for help.

A few things that could work:

Vegetable fajitas (add salsa to the ones that like spice and sour cream to those who don't, refried beans for protein)
Make pitta pizzas (vegetables on one, cheese on another)
Jacket potato with beans and salad
Shepherd's pie (mashed lentils in a tomato sauce with mashed potato on top, add whatever veg they like to the lentils)
Stir-fry with noodles or rice
Fried rice (add eggs and veg)
Sushi with vegetable fillings instead of fish
Pasta in pesto sauce (if you can find a cheese-free one, otherwise just blend pine nuts, basil and oil)
Vegetable and tofu skewers with couscous
Filling salads (add new potatoes, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, chickpeas, sliced meat for the meat eaters and dressing made from balsamic vinegar and olive oil)
Omelette (potato, onion and herbs, sprinkle some cheese on top for the non-vegans if they prefer)
Nut roast, potatoes (fried, mashed, roasted), veg

Thank you Fondle. There are some good ideas there. I used to do fajitas but haven't for ages. Good call. And baked spuds too - another good idea, haven't done for ages. And lentil pie! Yes.

Carrot gratin

(slice carrots really thinly into a baking dish, add pepper and cumin occasionally. Once the bowl is full push the carrots down and fill with vegetable stock, then bake at 85 degrees C if you can for a couple of hours, if not then higher temp for less time)

Tamarindo pizza

Tomato sauce: 2 chopped chillies, 1 tsp mustard, 3 cloves garlic, 2 tins tomatoes, 10 fresh curry leaves (or basil), 1tin chickpeas, 3/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp cumin, coriander, pinch of turmeric. Fry first 3, add the rest, simmer ages to reduce.

Yogurt: 10 tbsps natural yogurt, pinch salt, 1/2 tsp cumin.
mix

tamarind: 2 tbsp tamarind paste, 2 tbsps sugar, pinch salt, pinch cumin. mix

To serve, take a small naan, layer a ladle of tomato sauce, then a tbsp yogurt, then a tsp of tamarind.