Any recipe book recommendations to help me get more veg into our meals?

[Squirrelfruitandnutkin]

I'm an ok cook. The dcs do ok for fruit and veg, but I'm sure we could do better. They, and their dad, are all confirmed carnivores. I'm hoping to get a bit more veg and a bit less meat into our meals.

What do you suggest? Ideally I'm looking for one book with plenty of ideas to inspire me and give me some tips for getting veg in 😄

I've been feeling like this the last couple of weeks! And have managed to tweak our meal plans to include more veg especially.
What meals do you cook in a typical week?

Jamie Oliver's Superfoods. The original and Family Favourites are both really good.

There's some good ones by Hugh Fearnly whatshis face - we have one called veg and another called "3 good things" which is very good inspiration (although we often deviate from the recipes a bit).
I think they've both been out for a while, so can probably be found cheaply somewhere.

What about borrowing some recipe books from the library? Then if you find one really useful, you could buy it elsewhere.

I just chuck extra veg into everything really - so if I make bolognaise/chilli/stirfry it is not an authentic one but will vary depending on what veg I have in the fridge and freezer.

Spaghetti Bolognese but make the spaghetti 50/50 beansprouts or spiralised veg.

I cook all sorts. If I'm cooking something like chilli or spag Bol I add onion carry celery to start.

Curry with veg would be good. Or pasta dishes that are a bit quicker. I find it hard to know what veg to do if we have something like carbonara.

Kids are not fooled by beans sprouts for pasta/noodles. That's a non starter and they love their carbs!

For mince dishes I think you can get quite a lot of veg in without anyone noticing. So, for example, I made spag bol at the weekend with two large onions, two leeks, two massive carrots, three sticks of celery, a tin of tomatoes and 400g of minced beef. Everyone ate it and quite a bit of veg per portion.

With the carbonara, I throw some frozen peas in with the pancetta. I've tried grated courgette too but that was more controversial! And a side salad if they'll eat it.

The books I have one called Less Meat More Veg that I quite like. Only about three quid second hand on amazon.

Whizz ip a load of veg with tomato sauce for pasta? Add lentils to mince etc?

Yes you're right mince dishes are easy to add veg to - and I do usually do that. Same for a tomato sauce for pasta.
Might try peas in carbonara.

I think I'm stuck in a meal rut, after work, get kids, do homeworks with them etc there's not much head space for thinking more creatively about dinner.

Must try harder, baby steps to start.

If your kids will eat veg without a fuss, I think crudités before dinner works well. We have carrots, peppers, sugar snap peas and radishes to munch on while I cook. Makes me feel less bad if there's no veg in the actual dinner.

The ottolenghi books are great for vegetarian food. I think plenty is just vegetarian and if you google he does a column for the guardian focusing on a different vegetable each week

Add a little side salad. Little gem, greater carrot, cucumber, tomato, red onion.

roasted veg I find my kids love.roast peppers,courgette,sweet potatos,red onions and garlic.drizzle with oil.serve with chicken,lamb,pork.
we add to pasta bake at different time:brocoli,sweetcorn,cherry toms.peppers.red onion
to lasagne chunks of courgette
somehow stiry frys turn veggies ok for the kids mange tout etc they like.
peas to carbonara
how old are they.asking them to choose has helped us.they feel more importanr lol.so itl be "right someone choose what veg we're having tonight. or if in the store itl be firs tto grab five veggis wins the choice of biscuits.
roaste cauliflower with turmeric and spices.
cabbage steaks in the oven.
cauliflower broccoli and green beans we have found work great in curries.

Add a big handful of frozen peas to any creamy pasta sauce, or sliced mange tout (peas cheaper though!)

Almost any tomatoey sauce can have a chopped pepper added to it. Spag Bol as well as all the veg you're adding to the sauce, replace half the mince with red lentils.

For pure veg meals, curries and stews can be all veg. A chickpea curry is a staple here when I'm short of time and the texture of the chickpeas means we don't miss the meat.

Cabbage steaks??? I'm intrigued kateandme

Do bean sprouts count as veg? I'm such a pleb.

Also things like peppers and muchrooms...they count aswell. How much of a pepper would o have to have for it to count as one of my portions for the day?

Do things like lentils count?

I add a handful of watercress to the side of most meals. It’s packed with goodness.

And as someone has suggested raw veg cut up, to eat before a meal. Carrots, peppers, celery etc.

sparkle I really don’t worry about “how much is a portion?”. I think it’s far more important to eat a variety of things, so I aim to eat as many different fruit and veg a day as I can. Trying to stick to the “you must eat 6 cherry tomatoes for it to count as 1 of your 5 a day” puts me off!
I can manage 4 in my sandwich along with some cucumber and lettuce. I’m not going to beat myself up for not eating the other two.
Plus I don’t undetstand how it can be a blanket “X is one portion”. I’m 5ft 2 and quite slim, how come I need to eat the same number of tomorrow’s as a man who’s 6ft? it doesn’t make sense.

the same number of tomatoes*

How about chicken fajitas with loads of veg to add in?

Cauliflower/Broccoli/Macaroni cheese with bacon bits - a mix of cauliflower broccoli and pasta shapes in a cheese sauce with bacon bits added and grilled/ovened for the crispy top

nowanearlyNicemum they are amazing.you can do it with cauliflowrr and broccoli too!! basically chop down fully in length so they are "steaks" you can make all sorts of versions.here is one of my faves
www.everydaymaven.com/garlic-rubbed-roasted-cabbage-steaks/