So bored of everything we eat. Please inspire me!

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I'm veggie, dp and dds are now meat eaters but since I do most of the shopping (online), meal planning and cooking (though dp is v good at doing prep etc) we eat veggie 99% of the time at home.

I tend to do lots of curries, chillis etc but we're all getting a bit bored of them tbh. It's also hard because dd1 won't eat anything in a creamy/cheesy sauce and I won't eat anything with tinned tomatoes, so that rules out a lot of pasta dishes for example.

Please inspire me!

Any good recipes with tofu maybe? Or something Thai-esqu? Or something with sweet potatoes which isn't a curry or a chilli? Or an exciting pie of some sort?

Roll out puff pastry. Top with either:

pesto (made with basil or sun dried tomatoes), feta cheese, chopped tomatoes, olives

tapenade (make sure it isn't made with anchovies), feta, chopped tomatoes, basil leaves and, a couple minutes before taking out of the oven, walnuts or pine nuts so they toat but don't burn

creme fresh with minced garlic stirred in, caramelised onions, herbes de Provence (this is my version of flammenkuche and tastes surprisingly nice- can add chopped quorn bacon and grated cheese but I prefer without)

we do spoon bread as a main if we add veggies (it can be like a souffle) its a side if just plain. Its lovely with harissa or other sauce.

Tabbouleh is good too as a salad option.

I do puff pastry thing a lot - I make it with 4 different corners, so everybody gets what they want! :)

I love taboulleh (minus evil tomatoes) but the dds pull faces at it.

Do you know the website Lisa's Kitchen? Really yummy veg recipes. Some faffier than others!
foodandspice.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

Get Plenty anyway as a few of the recipes are not as time-consuming, others you can do at the weekend and freeze, and you sound as bored with food as I was before getti that book. The aubergine stuff is basically just aubergine baked with olive oil and thyme, then topped with buttermilk mixed with Greek yogurt and minced garlic, za'atar and pomegranate seeds. Easy but really delicious and fresh-tasting.

Ratatouille (sautéed onion, Aubergines, courgettes and fresh skinned and deseeded ripe tomatoes or good quality passata/canned tomatoes, preferably Cirio) with rice and fried egg on top

Lots of pasta dishes don't contain tomatoes but sautéed mixed vegetables. Key is to cook the veg slowly in a little olive oil to bring out the flavour and then mix to the cooked pasta, if you like add grated Parmesan on top

A quick pesto consists of a blend of pecorino, pine nuts, lots of basil leaves - few handfuls and good quality oliveoil (not too much) and seasoning of course

Arab dishes are also nice. Very easy to make humours. Baba ghanoush is more work (roasting of Aubergines) but also nice.

Have you looked at some Claudia Roden recipes?

This looks amazing

I do know Lisa's Kitchen but haven't looked for a while - will certainly do so.

Thanks again all.

Gnocchi but don't boil it - pan fry in olive oil so it gets a little crispy on the outside. Top with lots of grilled veg and grated cheese.

Sorry - houmous

Yes to homemade pesto and hoummus - love the stuff. Love baba ganoush too (but barbarian dds don't).

Gnocchi is a good idea - do you buy the ready made ones?

Yes - tried making homemade gnocchi once but it didn't turn out as well as the shop bought.

Fresh gnocchi now in my Sainsbo's basket!

Like the idea of blending fresh toms.

Good luck OP!

I think that many canned tomatoes are not really ripe which makes them sour and results in producers adding sugar.

Good quality canned tomatoes can be really nice though (at least I think so).

If using fresh tomatoes, I would select fully ripe ones, blanch them for a minute or so to deseed them and remove the seeds. I find it hard to find ripe tomatoes at the moment though.

I hate them all, even the posh ones! :)

Fair enough.

Risotto with added nuts are also nice.

You could do baked tofu as an alternative to stirfry sometimes? www.theppk.com/2010/04/orange-ginger-baked-tofu/ is good, or you could try the following:

Cube tofu, aubergine, & maybe a couple of other veg like mushrooms or courgette. Fairly chunky rather than small pieces. Put in casserole dish, pour over hoisin sauce (or black bean sauce). Put lid on & bake at low to medium temp for at least 45 mins.

I find the Post Punk Kitchen stuff good for combinations I would never think of myself. Browsed one of her books that a friend had (Veganomicon I think) & she had a great suggestion for quick meals: basically a bean, a green, a grain, and a sauce. Easy to vary the sauce - make a batch up at weekend?

Red lentil soup is also nice and red lentils don't need soaking overnight.

Stuffed mushrooms
The really big ones, slice peppers, red onion, goats cheese, sliced black olives, some spinach & basil. Breadcrumbs over the top & grated cheese.
Serve with rocket & herb salad & vegetable chips. Sliced up sweet potato, ordinary potato, parsnips etc oil, rock salt. 50 mins in oven...lovely...

Thanks for the tofu recipe - looks good. I do a baked tofu thing with five spice powder, which is gorgeous. Your hoisin thing sounds good too.

Do lentil soup a lot.

Love stuffed mushrooms but both dds are mushroom refusers.

have you ever tried buckwheat?

www.polskafoods.com/polish-food-blog/buckwheat-groats-recipe-kasza

delicious with mushroom gravy on a side