Meat-free Mondays (or any other day!)

[PixieMiss]

I am looking at introducing a meat-free day into our weekly meal plan, mostly due to costs.

I am a tad ashamed to say that we have meat with every single meal and I am at a loss at what I can prepare otherwise
My DH can be a tad picky on his vegetables but we do like cheese, pasta, rice etc.

Anyone willing to share their lovely vegetarian recipes with me?

We are mainly vegetarian here. I still cook DH the occasionalmeat/fish dish - but in general no meat.

There are quite a lot of eggs - omelette for lunch, poached eggs for breakfast etc. Not all on the same day of course. ;)

Beans feature too - bean chillis, bean burgers etc.
Lentils - dhal is a hit, lentil 'shepherds pie' is v tasty too

Pasta is easy - I tend to often just make a tomato sauce - lots of garlic- capers for a hit of excitement - fresh basil on top is good too.

There are so many options - but you just need to find meals that your family will eat. It's easy here as most of the time is just me and DH - DS is away at Uni but is veggie too.

Years ago I started this- we are now 50\50 meat to veg days. It gets easy with time and experience. I can't imaging eating meat every day now.

Vegetable lasagnes and chillis are many and varied, usually a good place to start with vegetarian sceptics.

In winter vegetable casseroles, root veg stews with pearl barley, squash tagines etc all work well.

Vegetarian really comes into its own in curries - there are so many options and variety. Fresh India is a brilliant vegetarian Indian book- try meera sodhas website , there's lots there.

Yottam ottolenghi does sensational vegetarian food - google ottolenghi veg recipes , or his books plenty and plenty more are amazing.

Pie! I like to make a kind of giant sausage roll, filled with chopped onion, red pepper, sweetcorn, chilli and either grated or cream cheese. Nice with a baked potato (if you don't object to a carb-fest) and salad. Carnivore dp likes it.

Stilton and mushroom pie, if he doesn't object to mushrooms.

Fritters - sweetcorn / courgette and feta etc

Curry - lots of different varieties. Butternut squash, chickpea and spinach is the next one I'll be making. Look out for paneer - it's a cheese which can be fried and added to curries.

Soup

I love veg, occasionally eat meat but rarely enjoy it as much as a veg based dish. These are all good recipes
Italian veggie bake
Jamie's aubergine parmigiana
Root veg stew
cauliflower and chickpea curry
Chachouka
Lentil pepper and spinach balti

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

I'm vegetarian. We eat a lot of quorn! We have pasta, stir frys, currys, fajitas, chilli, roasts. A lot of the same meals I ate as a meat eater, but just using vegetarian alternatives.

Cauliflower wing tacos.

There is loads of different versions but the hummus one is our fave, DP says he actually now prefers this over mince tacos!

Jacket potatoes - I have with beans and cream cheese, but the world is your lobster when it comes to toppings
Omelette (cheese, plain or veg) with potato wedges and peas or beans
Veggie fingers/burgers with chips and salad
Meatless pizza with salad
Mexican bean and potato thing: fry red onion and red pepper, add can of black beans and some roast new potatoes, Mexican seasoning (I prefer taco seasoning). I have this inside tortillas or with an omelette.
Bean and veggie sausage stew
Soups with garlic bread (pumpkin, vegetable, sweet potato and red pepper, pea and mint, cream of sweetcorn)
Vegetable and egg fried rice
Vegetable stir fried noodles
Thai spiced pumpkin coconut curry soup with noodles in it
Lentil Bolognese
Dahl
Endless Indian curries
Cheese, pasta and vegetable bake
Pasta with tomato and garlic sauce
Pasta with mushrooms and garlic cream sauce
Stuffed peppers
Frittata - either potato, pea and pepper or pumpkin, onion, pepper
Moroccan spiced chickpea stew with couscous
Roasted veg bulghur wheat
Fried halloumi or poached eggs with spiced beluga lentils

I also do a meatless roast and DH says he's happy to have it without the meat.

Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips, peas, sprouts, stuffing. If you make giant Yorkshire's you can use them as a bowl for the above mentioned veg and fill with gravy - yum yum yum.

The River Cottage Veg Every Day book is brilliant. Meals so good you don't realise there's no meat but still simple everyday cooking without faff.

Hugh fearnley whitingstall Veg Every Day, is really good for this.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/26/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-vegetables

Placemarking

WHY do so many veggie recipes involve tinned tomatoes? Grrrrr.

This curry is an all time fave in our house. Everyone loves it and it is so easy to do.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/cookingonabootstrap.com/2014/09/02/jardaloo-ma-murghi-curry-with-apricots-22p/amp/?client=safari

Jack Monroe is fantastic for cheap meals. Most are veggie/vegan but not all.

We don't eat a lot of meat. I usually buy a piece of meat for roasting and something like a chicken most weeks. I like to buy stuff that has been reared locally which is expensive so I balance the cost by eating less.

Dinner tonight was soup, sweet potato and red onions roasted with coriander. Lentils cooked in stock and coconut milk and then all whizzed with the roasted veg in my blender. Served with grilled naan bread.

Just google recipes that don't involve meat. Pea, mint and Parmesan risotto is lovely, lentil shepherds pie, tons of ideas on good food.

I'll be watching this with interest thanks op! For both cost and health reasons we plan to cut down on our too high consumption of meat this coming year.

This aubergine cassoulet is very good as is this Chinese style aubergine dish. I hope you like aubergines!

Thanks for all your brilliant ideas!

We've started the task early with a vegetable pasta bake - nice and simple! Next week I am going to do something with lentils. I like the sound of that shephards pie so will look for a recipe online.

I have heard lots about Jack Monroe but never had a look at their blog or recipes.

Nice to see others following suit too