Vegetarian family dinners - whats your go-to?

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DH and I are really struggling to get out of a rut at dinner times. 3 under 5's so needs to be family friendly food.

If you want, please post your go-to vegetarian meal with instructions for a dumb-dumb to follow

I'll start:

Fry your choice of veg (onion, leek, garlic, peppers, sun dried tomato, peas, sweetcorn, tiny cubes of carrot etc) until really nice and soft. Add cooked quinoa (I sometimes add a stock cube to the cooking water but feel guilty about salt content!) and a dollop of pesto. Mix well.

Serve with a slice of grilled halloumi on top and a big salad

www.eatwell.com/blog/2015/2/17/north-african-butternut-squash-and-chickpea-stew

I make this a lot. Makes loads and freezes well.

Thank you. I'll also add:

Veggie bolognaise sauce

1. Fry onion and garlic, add a grated carrot, one pepper, half a pack of quorn mince, generous handful of red lentils, tin of tomatoes, tablespoon of tomato paste, stock cube, water to absorb lentils, mixed herbs etc. Simmer for as long as you like.

Serve with grated cheese and pasta.

We resort to a lot of quorn/ Linda McC sausages and fake chicken as always rushing in and out to sports/ after school stuff.

Other faves are veggie curry - tin of beans/ frozen butternut squash/ fried onions/ any other veg/ jar of curry sauce. Egg fried rice - fry egg, cook rice with veg, mix up. Stir fries with veg and cashew nuts or marinaded tofu. Jar of marinated peppers in oil, fry up a bit with some halloumi, add to couscous.

This is delicious. Butternut squash risotto

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/778636/roasted-squash-risotto-with-wensleydale%3Famp?client=safari

I literally never eat quorn

Most common here would be
Stir frys
Curry (mattar panner usually!)
Onion and goats cheese tart
Risotto
Pasta with chilli, grated courgette and peas
Hallumi with chickpea/lentil/cous cous salady things
Mexican food -fajitas/quesadillas/enchiladas
Gnocchi bake
Home made bean burgers and wedges
Baked potato
Lentil chilli
Soups and lots of bread

Moroccan-chickpea cakes I make loads of these in advance then freeze so they can just be heated up in the oven. Also nice cold in lunch boxes.
Falafels and Pittas
Italian bean casserole
Lentil and spinach dahl
North African chickpea stew
Pinto bean chilli
And my go to can't be bothered to think about tea is 'whatever needs using up in the fridge frittata'

Oh and another is chuck on what every you have puff pastry tart!

Sometimes I bake a whole squash at 175 agrees (you don't need to peel) just make holes in it and brush with oil. When it can be pierced, not too easily! I cut it in half and remove the seedy bits, then make a curry or stew with it, or fry slices gently ; to serve with veggie burgers or whatever.

We love it sliced for Xmas dinner too. A good book to help you is Hugh Fearnley Whitting stall's River Cottage Veg every day.

I tend to do things like:

Stir frys
Fried rice with added veg of your choice
Veggie chilli
Pasta puttanesca
Butternut squash and chickpea curry
Veggie lasagna
Veggie quesadillas or fajitas (with peppers, onions, corn, black beans, avocado etc)
Veggie toad in the hole.
Spanakopita

lastqueenofscotland what is your gnocci bake recipe please? Sounds like it might be something my 4 year old might like!

Some great ideas here. Apologies for the silly question but when you add lentils are these just dried ones? You don't have to pre soak or cook them first?

I really like halving butternut squash (half each) or quarter for under 5s, spray lightly with olive oil and oven roast for 50 mins in the oven at190 or'200 c. Meanwhile cook some golden vegetable rice or if short on time microwave pouches of veg rice. Once squash is cooked, sprinkle grated cheese on top and grill until cheese has melted. Then served with rice and broccoli... 😀

It'll be red lentils, they don't need soaking and cook really quickly.

Zoe it depends on the lentil , the small dhal orange ones can be put straight in the curry\ stew I sometimes use them to thicken a stew. The bigger browny greeny ones maybe would be better soaked for a while, it depends on how long they've sat on the shop shelf.

Veggie sausage Toad in the Hole every time!

Thanks for the tip!

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

1 pepper per adult 1/2 pepper per child

Slice pepper in half through the stalk and de-seed
Stuff pepper with refried beans - home made or tinned,
Top with cheese (I use mexicana cheddar works if you dont want it too spicey)
bake for 20 mins @ 180

Serve with Rice, salad, avocado and salsa + mexican trimmings

YUMMY!

Mine are
Mushrooms and cheese on toast
Softened onion, garlic, cumin and black beans with rice or in a quesadilla with veg
Fried rice with any veg
Frittata with any veg
Veg pasties (cooked veg in puff pastry parcels)
Filo mushroom parcels
Spanakopita
Leek and mushroom pie
Mushroom risotto
Socca pizza
Veggie meatballs (carrot and chick peas) with polenta and Tom sauce
Veg fritters
Mini frittatas done in mini muffin trays
Courgette carbonara
All kinds of soups, minestrone, leek and potato, spiced tomato and coconut, squash, carrot and lentil, watercress
Pumpkin sage and ricotta cannelloni
Ratatouille
HM baked beans
Parsnip and rosemary tagliatelle
Kale squash and garlic yoghurt orzo
Grilled aubergine as a main with other salady bits, sweet potato, tahini broccoli etc
Ma po tofu
Spinach pancake
Arancini
Gozleme (stuffed flatbreads)
Cauliflower cheese soup
Macaroni cheese
Pasta with squash and sweet potato sauce

I could go on!

Also have three under 5s and not vegetarian

Speak I make a tomato sauce frying onion, garlic, chilli (if you have a little one maybe go light on the chilli) add tomato purée, a splash of balsamic vinegar and tinned tomato. Add salt/pepper/thyme/oregano and simmer for a while.

Cook gnocchi, add to baking tray with sauce. Top with mozzarella, pesto and basil leaves and bake till its starting to go golden

Ah, thank you - that sounds delicious!

Marking my place, I'm an almost lifelong vegetarian but DH and I are truly in a rut at the moment. Risotto is our go to meal, squash, sweetcorn and mozzarella is a weekly one!

Place marking and will be back later with some recipes!

Loads of good suggestions on here. a few we make here in our non vegetarian household.

We also enjoy a squash and sage risotto quite often (check BBC good food) and we try to recreate Nando's halloumi and portobello mushroom wraps. Secret ingredients being chili jam and yoghurt.

Marking my place to read tomorrow. Dd has just gone veggie and inbred ideas. Thank you for the thread!