Vegetarian Daily 'What's for dinner?' thread

[Florene]

I am a rubbish vegetarian. Not in the respect of not eating meat or fish, that I am very good at. But cooking interesting, and more importantly, nutritious dinners each night, not so much.

So I mainly eat toast. Or sandwiches. Particularly as I work a variety of shifts each week, and it's just easy. But I am low on energy and damn it, I want better meals.

So I am hoping that having started this thread, I can sit back and watch it grow, with daily updates from the more grown up organised amongst you, which will inspire me to join in.

Anything able to be cooked ahead then frozen is especially welcomed, but not essential.

I'll start us off.

Tonight I will be mainly eating.... mushroom pate on toast

[pambeesley]

For lunch today I'm heading to yo sushi. They have an offer on their tofu Katsu curry mmmmmmmm

[AnneOfCleavage]

Last night was fajita boats with mixed beans heated through mixed in with the fajita sauce mix then topped with cut up raw mixed peppers and lettuce then grated cheese on the very top - yummy!!

[InigoTaran]

This is delicious and takes 5 mins to prepare! You can use any pasta and I often add mushrooms, peppers or asparagus.

thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/spelt-spaghetti-vine-tomatoes-and-baked-ricotta

[Florene]

Okay, sufficiently inspired, just finishing current cup of tea and then off to shops for ingredients. Be back later!

[Florene]

Okay, quorn bolognese simmering on the hob for tonight, and ingredients purchased for another 5 meals. I CAN do this!!!

[HairsprayBabe]

👏 Good effort OP! What else did you decide on?

[LornaMumsnet]

Nothing beats a Quorn bolognese!

Anyone mind if I join in & follow?

I'll be making fake chicken lasagne (using vegetarian pulled chicken) and will add some mild chilli powder - it gives such a good taste without too much spice.

[Melassa]

Tonight is courgette and carrot pasta with saffron, served with flaked almonds.

Yesterday it was Turkish style chickpeas with potato and Swiss card, served with buttery saffron rice.

I've just realised it's double saffron. Will need to change tonight's!

[Melassa]

Chard not card!

[Florene]

@HairsprayBabe There is a red lentil and spinach dhal simmering in the slow cooker for tonight as we speak!

@LornaMumsnet Is that a Linda McCartney pulled chicken thing or did you make your own? Sounds lovely...

@Melassa Turkish style chickpeas?? Tell me more!

[LornaMumsnet]

spinach dhal sounds delicious!

Yeah, it's the Linda McCartney one and does not disappoint!

I've only recently gone meat-free (dislike tofu with a passion), been a couple of months now and so I'm surviving on meat substitutes but having a look at this thread, I've got so many new ideas.

[hugoagogo]

I will be having mexican rice, roast red peppers, rocket and grilled halloumi.

[Melassa]

Chick peas Turkish style is just onion sautéed with cumin, add diced potato and a tablespoon of this wonderful pepper paste called biber salçası, add a splash of hot water to thin and stir. Chuck in cooked chick peas plus whatever leafy greens you have, top up with more hot water, season and summer for around 15 minutes, or until the potato is cooked.

This is great with cauliflower too, with or without chick peas, and keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

[Melassa]

Deep fried tofu with a spicy chilli sauce is a thing of wonder, as is this

[Florene]

The dhal was amazing! I will definitely be making it again.

Today I am making Quorn Thai green curry. And due to upcoming shifts, a quorn sausage, kale and gnocchi bake for tomorrow.

@Melassa I am working up to the black pepper tofu (which looks delicious), I'm not good at cooking tofu yet but hoping to get better...

[hugoagogo]

Last night I made lasagne with red peppers, red onions and courgettes topped with a ton of cheese.
Today I am thinking about udon noodles with cauldron marinated tofu, more courgettes, thai seven spice, vegetarian stir fry sauce and a slosh of sriracha on top.

[Joinourclub]

I use tofoo brand tofu which is the best texture imo.

The sausage bake sounds great. I do a quorn sausage, kale and bean casserole which is lovely and hearty and perfect now winter is approaching.

Tonight I'm doing Thai butternut squash curry with a cucumber sambal.

[Fax]

I have 19 year old DC who went veggie earlier this year. I have found lots of ways to either cook a veggie alternative for him or for us all to eat meat free. Our meat consumption as a family has probably gone down by half.
We all love veg bolognese but prefer soya veg to quorn. In fact soya over quorn in most things.
I've experimented with various meat substitutes as I do feel you need something to bulk out meals, especially for skinny teens with big appetites.
This is a favourite (the recipe is very detailed as I wrote it out for DS to cook himself)

Lentil Sloppy Joes
Serves 4
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 red or yellow sweet pepper, diced
half grated carrot
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (ordinary paprika will do)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 diced red chilli – leave out if you don’t like chilli
1/2 cup (100g) Lentils
1-2 tablespoon BBQ sauce (Any bottled BBQ sauce such as Heinz or Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon Sriracha (chilli) sauce leave out if you don’t like chilli
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar


Lentils – if using green or brown they need soaking overnight first. Orange lentils don’t.
First, sort through the lentils to make sure there are no small stones or bits that should not be there. If need be, you can spread the lentils out on a clean kitchen towel to do the sorting.
1. Put lentils in a pan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes or until tender, drain.
2. In a large non-stick pan add oil onion and pepper.
3. Fry until browning.
4. Add all the other ingredients apart from lentils and heat through
5. Add lentils and cook on low heat until thick.
6. Taste and add whatever it needs.
7. Serve as you would ribs or burgers. Goes well with bread, chips, jackets or rice. Leftover sloppy joe mixture will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days and freezes well. Reheat in the microwave, or in a pan on the hob, adding water if the mixture has dried out. If frozen defrost in microwave before heating in a pan.

[kateandme]

sub meat in lasagne for musrooms or other in season veg.
make a white sauce vegetable crumble.simply use birdseye frozen veggies for the base.a roux then crumble topping.mmm.mustard or added veg stock cube optional to sauce
do the same with a tomato based sauce
mac and cheese.always good.when cooking the pasta add pease to same pan and other veggies you want to add in to a pasta dish.(so use bigger pan)
pan of water.quick cook pearl barley/giant couscous,bulgar wheat,wheatgerm(come in any supermarkets),stock cube.cook.
mix trough some roast butternut squash,or sweet potato. or anything else. to be honest it make a lovely side dish to anything.do a spice version by putting a few whole spices in a pan and gently heating through.goes lovely with any dish to pep it up
roast red onions sweet potato peppers.on baking sheet.yum
get whole cauliflower.or cabbage. slice downward towards talks into thick steak-esque slices. roast in oven with olive oil.can also do curry version with adding spice.
twice baked stuff jacket potatos.online has a trillion recipes and soooo easy.

[Alabasterangel6]

Tonight we're having Fay Ripleys mac and cheese, which is easy and adaptable using whichever veg the family will eat. She uses spinach and leek. Tonight I'll use peas and courgettes as that's what I've got...recipe on this blog:

thislittlepiggylovesfood.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/mac-cheese.html?m=1

Will serve with rocket salad.

Tomorrow we are having chickpea and chilli soup (tastes Mexican!) delia smith recipe with home made flatbreads.

Rest of the week will be freezer fodder as I'm working; pardina lentil bolognese, halloumi kebabs with rice, and home made wedges with sweet corn fritters are all on the list.

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

pasta a la Norma tonight as got an aubergine in my veg box: chop and fry the aubergines, don't worry if they get a bit blackened. Then add garlic, some herbs, tinned toms, wine if you have it around but no biggie if not. Can also add in some onions and peppers if you want to bulk it up (not traditionally Italian but who cares?). Add to cooked pasta with a broken up ball of mozzarella if you fancy, obvs if you leave it out it's vegan. The sauce (without the cheese) freezes really well.

Chickpea curry is something I make all the time when it's just me - fry onion with whatever curry spices you fancy, I usually have mustard seeds, tumeric, cumin and coriander, chilli, then a bit of garam masala at the end. Don't forget the salt. Add tin of chickpeas, tin of toms and cook. Stir through some frozen spinach or any other greens at the end, sprinkle with garam masala, serve with a naan (I buy packs of mini-naans to keep in the freezer). It freezes well too.

I do find curries come out of the freezer a wee bit blander than they go in so taste and add more spices when you reheat.

[Florene]

There are some great ideas on here that I will make sure I try, thanks very much.

Tonight is broccoli and red chilli pasta, as short on time before work. Might add some quorn pieces to make it a bit more substantial.

[Fevertree]

Tonight I has tofu scramble, hash browns, veggie sausages and tinned tomatoes. I batch cook and have a 'proper' meal at lunch time too, this week I've got lentil and bean chilli with jacket potatoes, morrocan inspired chick pea tagine type thing with couscous, and soya and mushroom mince with boiled potatoes and steamed greens

[kateandme]

roasted onion and garlic,giant couscous some stirred down tinned tomatos and peppers

[HairsprayBabe]

Lettuce tacos
Quorn steaks, fennel puree and cream cheese sauce wilted kale
BNS mash kiev and broccoli
Vegetable and Chickpea curry
Squash rosti and poached eggs wilted kale
Out at my MILs on saturday
out for lunch sunday so something light, stirfry/frittata/soup