What can me and DH eat together?

[KitKat1985]

So me and DH are quite unusual if terms of her compatibility with eating habits - I'm a vegetarian and he isn't (indeed, he very much likes his meat and fish and isn't very keen on eating meat substitutes). DH however absolutely hates cheese - every variety, and won't eat anything with cheese in it or on it. He's also not very keen on a lot of vegetables, and would turn his nose up and beans / lentils etc. You can see how this rules out a lot of veggie meals!

So what tends to happen at meal times is I make a veggie and a meat version of everything (so for example last night I made two toad in the holes - one with 'real' sausages and one with veggie ones, or a meat curry and a veggie one, or a beef and veggie version of Bolognese etc). Whilst it's not a problem per se it does mean we are forever cooking two lots of everything and doing double washing up.

Just once in a while it would be nice to cook something veggie that he would eat too. I do once in a while do omelettes but am otherwise stuck! Any ideas?!?

That should say 'our' compatibility with eating habits, not 'her' compatibility with eating habits!

...boiled egg curry? Quiche?

Me and dp are much the same, except he's much more open to vegetables and meat substitutes than your dp, so it's much easier! Although we often cook and eat separately.

Yeah I did think about quiche but most recipes I've seen seem to have cheese in.

Why are you doing all the cooking?

It sounds like he just eats meat, fish, egg and bread/pastry/batter healthy.

Any vegetables that he DOES like?!

Quiche was a bit of an afterthought to the egg curry to be honest, does it work without cheese do you think?

How about pasta dishes? A lot of fairly authentic tagliatelle type things have minimal other ingredients, often just a sauce of some form - creme fraiche type things, or tomato & garlic. Then you could have garlic bread and salad sides.

Does he actually not like the taste or is he just against vegetables full stop?

He must be terribly constipated.

Well, he would cook if I asked him but it would be something frozen from the freezer served with oven chips, or if cooking something else he'll be asking me questions every 5 seconds as to what he needs to do next, as he's an appalling cook (by his own admittance). I remember when we first started dating and he admitted he didn't know how to cook pasta (I had to explain to him you boil it in water). He was nearly 30 then and he hasn't improved a lot in the past 7 years!

He eats fruit and salad type food, and he will eat some vegetables but he's not a fan, so he won't eat much of them. He does like tomatoes so I occasionally do pasta in a tomato sauce.

Does he dislike the veggie versions of the meat? Would he eat the veggie sausages (etc) that you cook with?

Risotto?

Pizza?

^ doh. Pizza probably off limits due to the cheese thing.

recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/baking/topsy-turvy-pea-and-mint-carbonara

This is really nice. You could leave out the bacon, he can leave out the cheese when you assemble it.

I'm vegan; one particular variation for pizza is to soak cashews, then grind them up small and spread them over the tomato base. Worth a try perhaps? It's sort of creamy in texture but not as oozy as cheese, so he might like it.

I am amused that the failings of cashew 'cheese' as a vegan substitute might actually be a selling point in this case

asiasociety.org/blog/asia/cashew-nut-curry ?

if cooking something else he'll be asking me questions every 5 seconds as to what he needs to do next, as he's an appalling cook (by his own admittance).

Oh dear, you are saddled with a man child.

There is no such thing as a bad cook, only a lazy one. He could look up recipes but why would he when he knows you'll do it for him?

You could order Hello Fresh for a couple of months. 3 meals a week, with a step by step guide WITH PICTURES. Surely even be would be able to manage that?

OP, cooking two meals every night must be a massive ball-ache. Unless that's already been discussed and agreed between you then you could think about making a stand. Most veggies I know don't cook meat, so perhaps you need to buy a couple of decent veggie cook books and tell him that you're no longer prepared to handle meat but you're happy to make a 'main meal' which he can add to by frying up a bit of steak or whatever. If he says he can't cook then tell him 'if you can read then you can cook' and buy him a simple cookbook like Good Housekeeping.

I would cook for me and if doesn't eat it, freeze that for another day. Let him get on with cooking his own.

Oh, veggie of 32 years here. My OH eats meat but not at home as I don't cook it.

Oh there are some really good ideas here - thank you!

I should say I don't mind cooking per se, (to be honest sometimes it's a relief when DH finally gets home from work to tell DH to look after the DDs whilst I hide in the kitchen for half an hour!) but the double washing up is a ball ache.

Why doesn't he wash up if you're cooking?

Yeah in this house the cook doesn't do the washing up. He's got himself a nice little set up, hasn't he? Doesn't sound like he does much at all.

Do you also do all the laundry? And the ironing? And the hoovering? And the cleaning up?

Some quick fixes so you don't have to cook two things all the time:
Add sliced chorizo or Parma ham or roast chicken at the last minute to pasta with a tomato sauce or vegan pesto.
Buy a cold roast chicken from a supermarket and add some of that to whatever you cook for yourself.

Stand alone things:
A quinoa and nut pilaf salad.
Egg fried rice with peas (high protein) and chilli, plus cashew nuts and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce
Pesto rice salad- boil rice, stir through pesto
Brown rice with creme fraiche and peas, with Maldon sea salt
Sweet corn fritters with sweet potato mash, green salad and mango salsa

I hope you're not going to tell us he can't wash up, very well, either.

Yes DH does help with washing up!

Thank you for some more ideas Orchidaceous.