Vegetarian meals for fussy eaters

[cornflakegirl]

We would like to eat more vegetarian meals. However, DS2 really dislikes the texture of cooked vegetables (except tomatoes in a sauce). I find the texture of Quorn unpleasant and don't like the flavour of soya mince. And I'm not a massive fan of raw vegetables.

Vegetarian meals we currently eat are:
Jacket potatoes
Dal
Macaroni cheese with added veg
Bean stew
Pizza and salad / roast veg

There are loads of veggie curry etc recipes that DH and I love, but they are no good for DS2.

We eat quite a lot of chilli, so it would be useful to have a good vegetarian recipe. (I have a delicious butternut and black bean one, but DS2 won't eat butternut).

Anyone have any suggestions please?

Falafels in pitta bread with a dressing such as hummus.

Omelette and potato wedges with a green vegetable on the side for those who want it.

Soup, tomato obviously! Will DS eat vegetables if smoothly blended into a soup. Pasta & bean soup could perhaps work.

Pasta and tomato sauce bake, a version of Mac & cheese really!

I'm confused.

So DS likes raw veg ?? He'll also eat roast veg, + mac'n'cheese with veg??

He could cook his own meals if he doesn't want what you prepare for the family.

I also find Quorn & soya mince very unpleasant - there are plenty of other options.

The carrots in these bean enchiladas are grated and are therefore barely noticeable when cooked. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/bean-enchiladas
Cheese and tomato bread pudding recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/leftovers/cheese-and-tomato-bread-and-butter-pudding
Frittata and salad
Bean burgers or lentil burgers
Hidden veg lentil bolognese www.mrsrachelbrady.co.uk/2016/09/hidden-veg-and-lentil-spaghetti-bolognese/
Lentil meatballs www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/lentil-meatballs-with-fresh-tomato-sauce/

Egg Fried Rice with any combination of baby sweat corn, peas, peppers, mushrooms, beansprouts, carrots, pak Choi, bamboo shoots.

Veggie pakoras.

This Curried rice pilaf with red lentils is a favourite in our house. Even my very fussy son will eat it.

Mushrooms on toast, with garlic and cream if you want. It’s quite good and I do serve it to meat eaters and they are ok with it.

How about Balti Aloo? (Potato curry)

Beyond Meat have launched a ground beef (non beef) mince - it's pea protein, had one of their burgers the other day and was very impressed, you might like it for a vege chilli.

Mum2jenny that sounds delicious- how do you make it?

I'm not a quorn fan either, I usually use lentils instead of mince.

Toast the bread, sauté mushrooms in garlic and butter, add the cream when almost cooked and let it bubble, then serve it on toast ( buttered if you want!)

Salt and pepper to taste

DS likes raw veg, so for eg macaroni cheese we will have roasted cauliflower and he has carrot sticks.

He's not a fan of homemade soup.

Ricekrispie, Dreams - thank you, will check out those recipes.

Pumpkin - I hadn't realised Beyond Meat was soy-free, will try that, thank you.

Toominty - we like lentils, but I've never made a lentil bolognese anywhere near as nice as the meat version. Do you have a good recipe?

I’m veggie and otherwise not really fussy, dd is omni and very fussy!

Not a fan of quorn sausages myself due to the texture I much prefer Linda McCartney ones. Especially in my sausage casserole:

Linda McCartney sausages
Baked beans
Veggie stock
Diced onions
Garlic
Sage, oregano and marjoram to taste
Sage and onion stuffing mix (I know seems weird -method clarifies things)

Grated cheese too if desired

Dead easy, I have done it in slow cooker or in standard oven.

Fry off onion and garlic until translucent, lightly fry sausages but you don’t have to worry about thoroughly cooking them, then put in slow cooker or casserole dish.

Add beans, herbs and stock - in that order.

Cook in slow cooker (4 hours on low or medium) or standard oven (2 hours at 200°c)

Sprinkle stuffing mix across the casserole as a “lid” also grated cheese if using.

Pop in/back in oven for 15 mins.

Serve with potatoes (mash or roast works best I think), Yorkshire pud or (my dds preference, she hates spuds) noodles (sounds weird but does actually work quite well).

I’m also not a big fan of soya mince, I prefer quorn mince which is very easy to work with. Our chilli recipe:

Quorn mince
Tinned chopped toms
Onion & garlic
Baked beans (do you sense a theme? 😂)
Sliced peppers
Chilli flakes, paprika and cumin to taste

Fry off onion, garlic and mince, add rest of ingredients and reduce to simmer, I find it best to cook for no around 45 mins, long enough to absorb the flavours but not too long so the mince turns to mush.

Served with rice is great but also of course works with baked potatoes, tacos, nachos...

Would ds eat crunchy fried veg? Cos stir fry very popular in this house too. Either just veg or quorn chicken style pieces or beef style pieces, choose veg from peppers, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, thinly sliced carrot, broccoli, bean sprouts, sweet corn, baby corn, water chestnuts, mange tout... there’s loads. You can easily make your own sauce (most have tomato purée or passata as a base or sweet chilli sauce, tons of recipes online)

We like:

sweet and sour which is dead easy as it’s basically ketchup - Yep really - soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar and I use a little pineapple juice too.

Satay - peanut butter - again yes really - soy sauce, chilli flakes, paprika, squeeze of honey, splash of lime juice

Teriyaki - soy sauce, garlic, ginger, cumin, ketchup, brown sugar, squeeze of honey

If ds likes raw veg and you prefer cooked then tacos are a good option, ds can have sliced raw veg - peppers, carrots, mushrooms, baby corn (yes they can be eaten raw they’re lush) and you can have the same veg (so only same amount of prep) but stir fried. With the usual accompaniments of salsa, guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, coleslaw etc

I’ll try and think of some more - why don’t you say what meat dishes you normally eat as they’re usually easy to convert to a veggie version.

I haven't tried Linda McCartney sausages in years, will put them on the shopping list.

If I could find a good chilli recipe and some nice veggie sausages, that would give us 2-3 meat-free days each week, which I feel would be a good compromise.

Last time I looked McCartney stuff contained palm oil so didn't buy it, I don't rate it anyway, far too salty.

Cauldron sausages, tofu, Heck sausages, especially The Beet Goes On ones and they also have some bright green ones.

You can use jackfruit, or get it in burgers, pulled pork style and various others.

Waitrose Beet Wellingtons are interesting.

I practically live on salads and vegetables but there are many recipes on Google, I also have a collection of vegetarian cookery books, one is just potato recipes. See if you can find a copy of the Cranks books on Ebay or Amazon, old but still useful.

I have gone vegetarian and need a bit of help too. It’s been a couple of months now. I am bored with vegetables and lettuce and avocados. I’m not going back though. I think I need a good cookbook. I am eating a lot of cheese too much I think.

If you have a good chilli recipe already just try replacing the meat with a mixture of beans and upping the veg content a bit - courgette takes up the flavour well, and more peppers.

I generally just use the same recipe for whatever I'm making but swap the mince for lentils. I always use garlic in everything, even though I know it's not traditional for bolognese!