What are your (veggie) dinners like this week?

[LucyTheValiant]

DH is a vegetarian so we eat a largely veggie diet, and I'm getting a bit bored of the same old stuff.

We often have:
Vegetarian cottage pie (with lentils)
Chilli
Stuffed pasta for a quick and easy dinner
Jacket potatoes
Pasta bake
Some kind of quiche or pie with salad and wedges
Risotto
Halloumi and veg bake
Butternut squash and spinach lasagne, but it's a faff so quite rare
Sausage and bean casserole (with quorn sausages for DH and real sausages for the rest of us)
Sausage and mash
Vegetable curry
Veggie bolognese

It's all fine but it seems to be on a bit of a two week rotation and I'm getting bored. What do your meal plans look like? I don't like quorn but am happy to make two versions of something, one with quorn one with meat, if it's very minimal extra effort but would rather stick with one vegetarian meal mainly.

Thanks in advance

Not veggie but we eat:
Lentil Bolognaise
Potato and vegetable curry
Dhal
Gnocchi and sauce/tortellini
Stuffed tacos/enchiladas/fajitas - veg ( or quorn chunks or pieces added in, or chicken)
Ricotta, spinach and walnut lasagna/vegetables and baked bean lasagna
pizza
toad in hole - use veg sausages
sausage casserole - use quorn/meat sausages
Soup and crusty bread
vegetable stroganoff ( use butter, flour, natural yoghurt and paprika for simple sauce with stit fried veg including steamed cauliflower) with tagliatelli/rice
Jacket potatoes and salad with fillings
Thomasina Miers red rice recipe with corn on the cob
tortilla and salad/broccoli

Nigella's supper onion pie (in domestic goddess book). Recipe here: mrshotpotato.blogspot.de/2012/06/nigella-lawsons-supper-onion-pie.html

This BBC Good Food veg curry is divine and feels quite 'special' (and my kids scoff it too): www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/775646/vegetable-curry-for-a-crowd

Moroccan Chickpea and Spinach Soup from Covent Garden Soup Book (green one). This is really lovely and feels like a meal in itself. Could also be used as a sauce for serving with rice / couscous or whatever:

Serves 6
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 finely chopped onions
2 crushed cloves garlic
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon chilli powder – or to taste
2 tablespoons tomato puree
150gm chopped dried apricots
Finely grated rind of ½ lemon
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1.5 litres veggie stock
250gm chickpeas
200gm spinach (I just use frozen)
S&P

¼ pint natural yoghurt to garnish (I skip that)

Cook onions gently in oil for 5 mins in covered pan without browning.
Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add tomato puree and cook 3 mins.
Add apricots, lemon rind and juice, stock and chickpeas.
Cover and simmer for about 20mins until chickpeas tender.
Cool a little then puree. Return to clean pan and stir in spinach. Cover and simmer for 5 mins till spinach wilted.
Season to taste and serve with a swirl of yoghurt.

Purpleflamingos could you share your falafel recipe - I've tried and failed with these in the past. (But I love them!)

This is another real fave in our house - from an ancient Good Housekeeping Christmas mag - was suggested as veggie Christmas Dinner and it really is good enough for that too!

Roasted Vegetable Moussaka

1 medium onion
2 fennel bulbs, cut in strips
2 red peppers, chopped
1 medium aubergine, sliced
350 potatoes, peeled and sliced
5 whole garlic cloves
5 tblsp olive oil
400g can chopped tomatoes
4 whole pieces of sun-dried tomato, chopped
227g tub cottage cheese
3 large eggs
175g cheddar, grated
3tblsp natural yoghurt (around one small pot)

1. Put vegetables and garlic in two roasting tins, drizzle with the olive oil and season. Cook at 220C (200C fan oven) for one hour, tossing occasionally and swapping the tins around so the veggies cook evenly and turn golden and soft.
2. Add the tinned tomatoes and sun-dried tomato to the veggies, then mix well to combine. Return to oven to cook for another 10-15 mins.
3. In a bowl, beat together cottage cheese, eggs, cheddar and yoghurt and season. Spoon veggie mixture into an overproof dish and spread cheese mixture on top.
4. Cook at 200C (180C fan oven) for 20-30 mins or until the moussaka is golden and bubbling.

I love this thread. My emergency tea is quesadillas - keep wraps in the freezer and then let eveyone chose their own fillings from a mix of cheese, salami, pineapple, tomato, onions, peppers, courgette etc, and then fold them over and griddle them for about 3 mins on each side, til cheese has melted. Serve with something for dipping such as sour cream or salsa. These are also good cold, cut into pizza-ish triangles for parties.

I also always keep puff pastry in the fridge for either a random leftovers tart or to top a pie (generally also made with random leftovers)

A PP mentioned it too, but you can make a baked brie into a meal by adding crusty bread, celery, apple or pear, green salad etc. drizzle with honey before baking mmmmmmmm.

Smittenkitchen.com has a delicious recipe for baked macaroni cheese made with cottage cheese. I sometimes grate raw courgette into it. In fact I grate raw courgette into a SHEDLOAD of things.

Noodles and miso paste useful for a quick veggie meal, with any veg, fresh or frozen.

Nigella has a brilliant recipe for a very easy and VERY tasty split pea soup in Feast. It's served with chopped hotdogs on top which obvs the veggies (or people who think hotdogs are disgusting ;)) could leave out. Very cheap too.

Cheese and onion pie
Mushroom and chestnut pie (tinned chestnuts)

Another vote for aubergine parmigiana here. Last nights tea!

Try this no noodle Pad Thai. A bit of shredding with a julienne peeler or a spiralizer if you've got one. Lots of veg (carrot, zucchini and beansprouts, coriander). Pour the lovely sesame Asian dressing on top and sprinkle with peanuts or ground cashews. A hit with the family every time. Recipe on blog (greenswede.net). Good luck and happy eating!

My falafel recipe isn't real falafels. It's made up. Dc are 5&3 and very suspicious of anything that isn't a tried and tested favourite. I blend chickpeas with a handheld blender. Grate 2 carrots per person (carrots are fine, they know carrots), finely chop broccoli or spinach (again, they know broccoli and spinach), grate some cheese, add flavour with touch of cumin and ginger and season. Mix it all together into little balls (the chickpea blend helps it stick together) dip in flour and shallow fry the balls in rapeseed oil. We are slowly increasing the amount of chickpeas.

tbh I just buy a dried flafel mix.
add water, leave for a bit, then fry.

we also like pita dinners, just slightly toasted pita with p,enty of things to fill. feta creme, tomatos, cucumber, flafel, fried onions, cheese....whatever we have in the fridge really.

woolshortage - I just made your Moroccan Chickpea and Spinach Soup
soooo tasty
I used only 1/2 tsp of chlli and perhaps more spinach
I also used Saigon cinnamon which is less sweet and I use it only in savoury dishes.

We're doing the Moroccan chickpeas tonight too!

Oooh thanks for the falafel tips.

Glad you liked the chickpea and spinach soup Antimatter - it's that kind of flavoursome veggie food that makes me think I need never eat another bacon sandwich!!

Roasted Tomato and Butternut Squash Risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2- a whole a medium butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
300g of cherry tomatoes
I also add mushrooms and peppers to bulk up the veg
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 cup (240ml) of arborio rice
1.5 cups (360ml) of passata
1.5 cups (360ml) of veggie stock (I use about 500ml – too sticky otherwise)
some freshly chopped basil (I just use dried or frozen)
some freshly chopped Italian parsley (ditto)
100g of parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180c or 350f (gas mark 4)
Add the tomatoes and butternut squash to a oven proof dish, toss in a little oil and roast in the oven until butternut squash is slightly caramelised, but still has a bite to it. Approx 25 mins.
Place your passata, stock and some freshly chopped basil in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and then reduce heat down to low.
Heat some oil in a frying pan over a medium high heat and saute your onion and garlic until softened.
Add the arborio rice and mix well.
Then start adding a couple of ladles of your passata/stock at a time, stir constantly and scraping any bits sticking to the bottom as you do. As your stock is absorbed add a couple of more ladles and continue until passata/stock is almost gone.
Add in your roasted tomatoes and butternut squash and other veg and the remaining passata/stock and stir well. The rice should have a slight bite to it when ready.
Season with some salt and black pepper and top with some freshly chopped parsley and a 25g serving of parmesan cheese per person.
Enjoy!!

Shamelessly marking place. Some fab ideas here. Thanks