healthy vegetarian!

[Mummyoftwo91]

So January is approaching and I need to loose weight so over being a chubster! I have been vegetarian for years, my meals are healthy packed full of veg and all home made but seem to be very carb heavy! Does anyone have any healthy vegetarian recipes to share? I need some inspiration!

You could try having things like veggie chilli, curry etc but with interesting side salads instead of rice. Eg: chilli with deconstructed guacamole or a fresh mango or tomato salsa, or curry with minty onion, cucumber and tomato, or some sort of spiced carrot salad.

My problem with my vegetarian diet is carbs aswell. The meals i make normally need either rice, pasta or potatoes somewhere along the line.

That's my problem too I can't seem to be full on salad as yummy as they can be!

I think veggie meals need a certain amount of carbs to be filling. Have you tried reducing the amount of dairy and eggs you're using and using more pulses?
I find meals like veggie chilli, chickpea curry, lentil spag bol, tagines etc all pretty filling, healthy meals containing very little fat/dairy.

I don't think there's nothing wrong with carbs.

I find portion control more important and I write down everything I eat so I can't kid myself I'm eating healthily.

I'm a veggie and managed to shift nearly 2 stone this year with Weight Watchers (don't worry, I'm not a rep for them or anything)! It's worth thinking about though as their plan is quite good for veggies as most fruit / veg are zero 'points', and a lot of quorn products etc are quite low in points too.

Portion sizes are definitely something to have a look at - it's soooo easy to be having way more than we should be - so perhaps start weighing out what a portion looks like for the foods you eat regularly - like cereal, pasta, rice,should be between 40g-50g

Something I've tried more this year is cauliflower couscous, courgette spaghetti etc - it doesn't work for everything but if I'm having something which already has some carbs in it - like chilli which already has beans, then this works well

Making sure at least half your plate is veg or salad is another good rule to use too

I like the courgette spaghetti and cauliflower couscous idea I've seen these ready made in tesco so I will give them a go! I'm so desperate to loose weight I even contemplated eating lean meat such as chicken again but I just can't bring myself too

Yes yes to cauli rice and courgette spaghetti.

Most recipes say don't use the cauli stem but I like to grate the stem and then pulse the rest of the cauil in a food processor.

More filling soups with lentils or beans in? Red lentil and tomato is easy to make and if you put cannelini (or whatever) beans in your minestrone it bulks it out. I'm not a huge fan of the beany texture so I blitz up the beans with some of the soup to make it thicker.