Vegetarian cooking

[Indith]

Ok ladies, I have a vegemetarian coming to stay at the weekend. As a meat lover with a DP who doesn't consider himself 'full' unless he has eaten meat I need a little help!

I'm thinking along the lines of a good vegetable lasagne......courgettes, aubergines, butter beans. Got to make it nice and filling as DP does a huge amount of exercise and needs a million calories a day to stay upright!

Any suggestions?

A good veggie lasagne is a thing of beauty. I would enjoy that if a friend cooked it for me. Dp could have some crusty bread or a jacket potato with it if he is going to feel deprived otherwise?

Some other nice meat free meals for this time of year are stew with dumplings, veg curry, or lentil soup with bread and cheeses to follow?

Homemade pizza with plenty of gorgeous topping like goats cheese and baby spinach, grilled aubergine and olive etc etc nice for a lunch.
Curry is a good one as you can do several dishes and slip in a meat one for DH..
Fill DH up with a big bowl of chunks of olive bread and dipping oil to accomp the lasagne.
A decent pudding helps keep you going too - cold weekend calls for a big bowl of apple crumble with posh vanilla ice cream or melt in the middle gooey choc puds...Mmmmm

If they're staying a couple of nights you might want to go for something simple for one meal. I always churn out my River Cafe tomato sauce which is quick and delicious - my dh loves it despite being fully carnivorous. You fry some garlic in olive oil til its golden, then add a tin of tomatoes and reduce til thickened. Add fresh basil at the end - or dried earlier. When the sauce is ready, cook your pasta, then drain and toss in the still-hot pan with a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar. When that's been absorbed, toss butter and grated parmesan through, then mix sauce in and serve with more parmesan. Just double up to 2 tins of toms for 4 people, etc. You could slice a chicken breast over dh's (maybe marinate/toss in balsamic/oil first - chicken, not dh!) Sounds like nothing, but the balsamic vinegar gives an incredible richness. Happy to provide exact quantities if you want, just bump.

Thank you all

Pretty similar to my thoughts really. We are total foodies but having never really cooked vegetarian hard to know what to put in to make sure all the right nutrients are there!

And no worries about the puddings lemon....puddings and cakes make the world go round!