I want to go veggie - can you help?

[Cloudminnow]

Would really prefer to be a vegetarian but lack of imagination prevents me from being able to think up enough veggie recipes and meal ideas. Has anyone got any suggestions that are straightforward and don't require lots of unusual/hard to come by ingredients or complicated cooking methods? Thanks!

O'm not vegetarian but enjoy to cook veg as much as possible, Greek food has a lot of non dairy recipes based on olive oil, onion, tomatoes, garlic and herbs. This blog has lots of lovely homemade food that may inspire you

And, like so many others I love
Veg Everyday as its full of brilliant recipes that don't require ingredients you have to make a massive effort to source. Really great book.

Note overuse of the word "lovely", sound ever so enthusiastic

I would also recommend Veg Everyday. Also, Leith's Vegetable Bible.

Rose Elliot has several cookbooks and a website www.roselliot.com. Don't be put off by her being into astrology, the recipes are great.

Bump.

Watching with interest!

Watching too.

Meat makes me go a bit ... bleurgh... at the moment. So am being more pescatarian (sp).

I make reasonable bean and vegetable curries and chillis. I even made a lentil and nut roast the other week which was divine. Fiddly but not difficult.

lentil andnut roast

DS is with me on it, but DH still likes meat. I don't mind separate meals now and again, but it won't be everyday.

Almost anything using mince can be swapped with quorn mince with almost no one noticing ime.

Check out the vegetarian society's website too.

Just remember to include a lot of pulses and/or other protein sources (fungi, quorn, soya mince or tofu). Provide yourself with a range of flavours and don't underestimate the need for certain textures and the need to get some umami tastes in there too (Worcester or Soy sauce can add this). You may miss the "main bit" of the meal. You can get round this by making nut loafs, falafels, vege burgers, stuffed mushrooms (courgettes/squash/pepper/etc) or highly flavouring steaks/strips of veg such as butternut squash, peppers, sweet potato or aubergine (or using big chunks of some of those in things). Another way to get round it is simple variety such as mixed roast veg with a little sugar and honey on top (or stir fried rice with veg).

I'm not vege and bacon alone is enough to bring me back to the omnivore way of life but my late mum was vege for years and much of my childhood only saw meat at weekends when my dad cooked so I know the pros and cons of many vege experiments.

Variety, include pulses, use lots of rich flavours, don't neglect mouthfeel too.

Apologies for this link, it's PETA who I am not a fan of: www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/vegetarian-101.aspx However, the link talks about how to transition to becoming veg*n, and provides a 2 week sample menu with recipes.

The BBC Good Food website is a great source for family-friendly veg. recipes. We're not vegetarian but I try to cook meatless meals three or four times a week. Here.

Good Luck

Would echo the recommendations for Veg Everday and Leith's Vegetable Bible. Two of my favourite ever recipe books.

Here are some of my favourite recipes.

curried chickpeas

lentil chilli

chilli

I love the BBC Good Food website - you can filter recipes so they are vegetarian. I also have lots of Rose Elliott books which are a bit old fashioned now but I still use them a lot. They were what I used 20 years ago when I first turned vegetarian and had no idea how to cook.

Good luck!

nothruroad those recipes look tasty!

supernanny the recipe for the lentil and nut roast scared the living bejesus out of me - 40 mins prep time [bushock].I don't think I do 40 mins meal prep time throughout the whole week [bugrin].
But it does look lovely!

What are tofu and quorn exactly and what do you do with them?
Its the getting the protein bit that I find scary,and also is there an issue with some amino acids being very hard to provide with a vegetarian diet?

Tofu is fermented bean curd, tateless but can be marinated in say soy sauce so it becomes erm tateless. Quorn is a brand name. It is mycoprotein - fungus, made into mince or cubes or steaks. Most Worcester sauce is not vegetarian as it contains anchovies. That may not matter if you aren't being vegetarian for ethical reasons.

Thanks fallen! I wonder,are they actually healthy (or fast food for veggies?) as I'm mainly interested in vegetarianism for the health benefits.

They simulate meat, provide the protein and negligable fat. Probably more healthy than skinless chicken breast, but not much.

Sounds brilliant to be honest.I reckon I'll give it a go - I'm sure DD's would be open to trying it,not so sure when it comes to DH but thats his look out!

My DD1 is veggie, rest of us aren't. Usually too much hastle to cok different meals. Often they can't tell whether its quorn or chicken.

Oops cook , though with my cooking maybe I was right first time.

I've been veggie for 23 years. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's veg book is my favourite cookbook.

DH has been a veggie for about 20 years, and we try and have the same food as often as possible and he just subs in quorn, if you like it you can still eat a lot of your old meaty favourites.

Lots of info online about going vegetarian, e.g.:

www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=519
www.viva.org.uk/goingveggie/index2.php

And loads of recipes online, e.g. vegsoc above, and on websites such as BBC, Channel 4 etc:

www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/vegetarian
www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/vegetarian

fallenangle, yes tofu is bland when you get it out of the packet, but it can be very tasty if you squeeze out the excess water (e.g. with kitchen towel), and then marinate - the longer the better. We cut in strips and do a quick marinade for breakfast - oil, soy sauce, tom sauce, smoked paprika - strips are then fried and added to a bagel/toasted sandwich with cooked mushrooms, toms, and relishes. Also do a braised tofu in the oven, having cut tofu into cubes, and marinated in veg oil, soya sauce, garlic, fresh ginger, few drops of sesame oil. Obviously the longer you leave in marinade, the more the flavours are absorbed.