family friendly vegetarian receipes please

[sweetheart]

My kids keep saying that they would like to try a week being vegetarian.

My daughter especially often picks meat out of her meals because she says she doesn't like the texture so I don't really need to consider meat substitutes like Quorn because i would imagine she won't like those just as much.

Trouble is my kids are really bloody fussy!

Are there any vegetarians out there that can share their favorite meals / receipes with me?

We're confirmed meat eaters but we will eat quiche (w chips and beans) and chickpea and tomato curry.
I'm now seeking more recipes (hence my reply!)

home made pizza/coleslaw/salad
chillis made with brown lentils
curries any veg you like, add some red lentils to the sauce to thicken and add protein
red lentil dahl/poppadums, naans etc
roasted veg lasagne
pasta with various sauces

How old are they?

Macaroni and Broccoli Cheese
Veggie Korma (sweet potato, chickpeas, spinach is nice)
Quesadillas
Frittata's
Marmite Pasta
Courgette Carbonara

They are 19 and 13

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/spicy-sausage-and-lentil-casserole/

This is great with veggie sausages

I'd be keen to replace the protein element rather than just give them pasta with a sauce etc because I don't think either of them eat enough protein.

In fact they mostly eat bloody junk despite my best efforts. They are skinny little buggers too!

We do things like:
tomato, herb and mozarella gnocchi bake
veggie chilli with guacamole and wraps (or just with brown rice)
home made quiche with salad and garlic bread
plain old egg, chips and beans
home made pizzas with salad
pasta with ratatouille style sauce
pasta with creamy cheese and leek sauce
falafel, humous, pita and salad
stir fries with noodles or rice
satay veggie curry
dahl, rice and spinach curry
spanakopita (spinach and feta pasty in filo pastry) with salads
veggie goulash with sour cream and herb dumplings
spanish omlettes with garlic bread and salad
stuffed peppers or stuffed squash

Would they eat tofu? It's not the same texture as meat. I get the solid tofu, cut it into cubes, then dip them into cornflour mixed with either sesame seeds or spices or paprika and then shallow fry. They come out crispy on the outside and soft in the middle and DC love it.

Chickpea and roasted cauliflower curry?
Bean chilli ?
Coconut dhal?
Omelettes?
Roasted veggie sauce with pasta?
Aubergines roasted in garlic tomato sauce with cheese?
Spagetti with garlic, passata, capers, olives , sprouted broccoli?
Twice baked spuds with onion and cheese?
Lentil and cheese loaf?
Veggie shepherds pie with lentils?

Cashew and broccoli stir fry.
Cous cous stuffed peppers
Mushroom pasta.

Spicy Bean wraps.

Some of my DC's favourites (all BBC Good Food)...

Vegan shepherds pie
Somerset stew
Indian pies

They also eat a lot of vegetable curries, dhals and chilli.

We don't tend to eat meat substitutes apart from the ocasional Quorn sausage (every 2-3 months) when DS is eating meat ones.

Sweet potato and peanut butter stew.
Peanut and veggie noodles.

Cheese and tomato bread pudding recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/leftovers/cheese-and-tomato-bread-and-butter-pudding
Easy stuffed peppers www.vegetarianrecipesmag.com/vegetarian-recipes/easy-stuffed-peppers
Bean crumble
Hidden veg macaroni cheese
Lentil meatballs www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/lentil-meatballs-with-fresh-tomato-sauce/
Jamie Oliver’s veggie enchiladas www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-enchiladas/
Risotto www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/risotto-primavera/
Lentil ragu
Chilli bean bake with soured cream mash www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1167641/chilli-bean-bake-with-soured-cream-mash
Egg fried rice www.greengiant.eu/sweet-corn-fried-rice/
Cheddar pies www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2895666/crusty-cheddar-pies
Peanut stir fry www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/noodle-stir-fry-crunchy-peanuts

This bean dish is delicious, easy, protein-rich, and goes a long way. I serve it with mash, then add chilli powder the next day and serve with rice/over nachos. Black bean deliciousness

This white bean soup takes minutes, tastes gorgeous, and is lovely with a slice of cheese on toast. White bean soup

Very easy, protein-packed lentil bolognese. Yum

I serve this vegan chana masala with a big dollop of cottage cheese to take the heat out and up the protein (honestly, it's a delicious, but obviously NOT vegan, addition). Chana masala

Veggie lasagne is a winner in my house and very easy to make. My kids don’t like aubergines or courgettes generally but in a lasagne they’ll have them.

Veggie pasta bake.

Veggie stew with chunky bread and butter and / or dumplings.

And yes to veggie curry. I was a bit unsure about how tricky recipes would be etc but with veggies I was actually a bit more confident at just chucking stuff in and it makes me much more adventurous when you can’t just rely on meat plus carb plus veg for every meal :)
I started with a week and ended up staying veggie.

Savoury crumble is another very popular one,
Slow roast or fry their favourite combination of veg i a tomatoey or creamy cheese sauce then top with nut, oat, breadcrumb and cheese crumble topping.

Some of my favourites are curries made with chickpeas, mushrooms or quorn for protein, cauliflower cheese, veggie lasagne with either lentils/quorn mince/soya mince, nut roast with traditional roast dinner side dishes, sausage, mash and veg.

You say they are fussy, what will/won't they eat? What forms of veggie protein do you think they'll find acceptable?

Stir fries with tofu/meat sub veg and noodles
Quorn or Lentil spag Bol
Black bean wraps with guacamole etc
Omelette and salad
Good old baked potato beans and cheese
Sweet potato and chickpea Thai curry

I'm a vegetarian and regularly make meals for DP and DS

Veggie lasagne is amazing. Roasted pepper and aubergine filling.
Sausage stew made with green lentils
Spicy red lentil soup
Minstrone soup
Naan pizzas
Brocoli mac and cheese
Veggi curry of all types, katsu with sweet potato is really good
Good old jacket potatoes
Stuffed peppers, we like them stuffed with cous cous and ratatouille
Cous cous salad/wraps
Falafel wraps
Cheesy potato and leek pie
Haulimi is great for so many different dishes
I rarely use meat substitute and we get a lot of protein with eggs, nuts, lentils and beans ect

We aren’t veggie but only eat meat once or twice a week. I just take all of our favourite recipes that contain meat and switch it out for either beans (kidney, Black, pinto, chickpeas, butter etc), lentils or veggies or a mix of all.

We're having roasted med veg lasagne tonight. Am loving some of the ideas on here and feeling inspired to try to eat less meat.
Am going to start another thread on sandwiches as we are very meat eating there too

Just marking my place as I'm also keen to do some more veggie family meals. we eat too much meat because it's so often easiest just to slap some sausages in the oven and serve with veg and potatoes or make up a big batch of bolognaise or whatever.

I'm loving the fried Tofu idea especially. I also have a chickpea nugget recipe I'm planning to try and a bean burger.

We already do veg lasagna (I bulk cook these and leave in freezer as they're a hassle but if you do a big batch it works).

Also veg thai curry which DS LOVES. Am planning to try adding some tofu to up the protein though.

red "Pesto" goes down well here, even with fussy DD - roasted tomatoes and other veg with some olive oil which is then blitzed with some walnuts (optional) and some cream cheese (also optional). (DS is a really good eater but even he won't do big chunks of roasted veg alone - as a side dish, maybe! so this works well for us).

Stuffed mushrooms work well here - spinach, goats cheese and pine nuts usually and I mix in some couscous to get a little carbs in as well.

But all of these work for DS but less so for fussy DD.

Loving this thread! Can I ask, what do you make for lunchtimes? All these recipes sound great for main meals, but the thing I really struggle with is how to have more veggie weekend quick lunches, where I always end up falling back on ham/salami/pate. We have cheese and hummus, and I do make quite a bit of soup, but any other ideas?