Meat free family meals?

[Bookworm19]

I'm looking for some ideas for meat-free family meals? We're not vegetarian but trying to reduce meat consumption for several reasons.

Nothing too intensive as I have two young kids (one has additional needs).

DH loves meat and is reluctant about lentils etc but generally fairly easy to accommodate.

Naan pizzas recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/naan-bread-pizza

Cheese and tomato bread pudding recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/cheese-and-tomato-bread-and-butter-pudding
Halloumi burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/halloumi-burgers
Pasta bake www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/broccoli_and_cheese_42991
Leek and potato pie www.amummytoo.co.uk/cheesy-leek-potato-pie/

West African peanut stew is my favourite
Vegan Richa is a great blog for veggie curry recepies and most of them are simple
Risottos
Gnocchi with pesto
Dahl and naan
Falafel, salad, hummus and flatbreads

Enchiladas (really easy to double) www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/quick_beany_enchiladas_63257
Peanut noodles www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/spicy-peanut-noodles
Chickpea burgers realfood.tesco.com/recipes/sweetcorn-and-chickpea-burgers-with-smoky-tomato-sauce.html
Frittata (I serve this with wedges) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/masala-frittata-avocado-salsa

Macaroni cheese
Tomato and mozzarella and basil puff pastry tart
Haloumi and Mediterranean veg skewers
Shakshuka
Vegetable crumble
Pasta arabiata
Baked gnocchi with broccoli, leeks and blue cheese
Peppers stuffed with cous cous and veg
Root veg and chickpea tagine
Veggie sausage casserole
Cauliflower, Sweet potato and red pepper curry
Water chestnut and bamboo shoot stir fry with pineapple and cashews.
Fritata

There are too many easy and tasty meat-free dishes to list here without knowing what you and your family like.

Try the BBC Good Food website and filter the recipes to vegetarian and vegan.

@AtleastitsnotMonday do you have the cauli, sweet potato and pepper curry recipe? Sounds amazing. Otherwise lurking for ideas ;)

cauliflower and sweet potato curry. I’ve been making it for years so don’t use the recipe, having just looked at the recipe, it appears the red pepper doesn’t actually feature! Definitely add it though, it’s really good!

My DH is the same, loves meat but he enjoys my roasted veg lasagne (I just roast peppers, courgettes, butternut squash cubes, red onion, aubergine etc til caramelised, add tomato sauce and layer up, but there will be recipes online)

Veggie sausages are good - Cauldron or the Richmond ones. So you can do sausage & mash, hot dogs, toad in the hole. Pasta with spinach, cream & parmesan. Noodles with tofu or quorn, ginger & honey. Massamam curry (paste from jar or homemade). Linda McCartney burgers. Soup with nice bread. Laksa. Frittata/quiche.

We like roasted vegetables served with pasta or couscous and feta/mozarella/burrata cheese.

Vegetable curries

Roasted cauliflower and carrots with pilaf is quite substantial and feels sort of "meaty".

Vegetarian fajitas made with lots of peppers and onions.

Stuffed mushrooms/butternut/peppers in various guises. Can be a bit of an effort but generally good and mushrooms/butternut are particularly substantial and "meaty" for the meat lovers.

I do a mushroom stroganoff sometimes although we generally avoid cream-based dishes. Similarly, cauliflower cheese with some garlic bread and some steamed carrots/peas/corn etc is an easy and child-pleasing, but calorific, veggie option.

Falafel is often good. I can't stand the stuff but when DH was veggie it was a standard for him.

We have also started eating a lot more fish and now have it at least twice a week. Not sure what reasons you have for cutting back on red meat, but mention it as that's the alternative we've gone for around here. So usually 2x fish, 1x veggie , 1x chicken and then the other two can be red meat or veggie/chicken etc.

www.100daysofrealfood.com/easiest-spinach-lasagna/

Spinach and ricotta lasagne

Even kids like it

Veggie family here. Our favourites are:

Toad in the hole with veggie sausages

Mac Cheese with chopped spinach and peas

Red lentil and carrot bolognese/lasagne (much softer than other types of lentils so v good for kids)

Quiche with any veg you want. Mine like sweetcorn and courgette

Tagine with chickpeas and chopped apricot.

All of that goes down well with my kids who are young and one is a bit fussy.

Wow, some fantastic ideas!
I've had a busy few days so only now getting back on here.
I used to be vegetarian but only had to cater for myself. DS is veggie by default (ASD so limited diet), I miss my veggie days and some of these meals are making me miss it more! I'll definitely be implementing some of these ideas soon

Pasta primavera (variety of green vegetables) and pasta Siciliana (tomatoes and aubergines) are two easy and quick to cook meals.

What about a vegetable soup followed by omelettes?

Black bean fajitas, Chana Masala, tarka dhal, falafel, aubergine parmigiana, burnt Aubergine Chilli all firm favourites in our house

Non-meat balls. Veggie burgers. Veggie fajitas. Ratatouille. Any number of pasta dishes. Risotto. Dals. Veggie curries. Couscous with veg .....

Bean-based chilli / enchiladas etc. Filled veg (mushrooms / peppers....) Stir-fry....

(Our dc are basically veggies nowadays)

Oooh loving the ideas on this thread

Paneer curry
Chickpea shakshuka
Veggie fry up (hash brown, mushroom, tomato, haloumi, egg, veggie sausage, baked beans)
Udon noodle stir fry with tofu, ginger and veg
Mushroom risotto
Sweet potato and courgette fritters (with curry powder and served on flatbread with yogurt and mango chutney)
Vegetable lasagne
Courgette and ricotta puff pastry tart (with chilli jam on the side)
Pasta puttanesca
Pizza

Also love veggie freezer/oven food:
Birdseye veggie fingers
Quorn fishless fingers
Pukka vegan pies
Quorn nuggets
Frys chicken burgers
Goodlife mushroom and spinach kiev
Richmond veggie sausages
Asda plant-based burgers
Itsu veggie bao
Itsu veggie gyoza

I do this most weeks and it's lovely and very adaptable. I use dried chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli, less oil, coop light coconut milk and Patak's not Waitrose paste. It's really lovely. I don't always add the spinach, it's equally nice with peas and I'm trying green beans next time. I like it with naan.

www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/chetna-makan-s-chickpeaspinachcurry.html?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=recipepage&utm_campaign=Chetnavegancurry&utm_term=athome&utm_content=Chetnavegancurry

http://annajones.co.uk/recipe/seven-suppers-meat-free-week

Menu this week:

• Veg stir fry noodles with Linda Mcartney vegetarian pulled chicken bits
• Roasted vegetable lasagna with a bit of red lentils in the sauce
• sausages and mash (we all like Richmond) and peas
• Veg burger or haloumi burgers - there are so many choices of vegan and vegetarian burgers out there, we like the Meatless farm ones, and also the M&S ones, I really like the Linda Mcartney ones but kids not so keen
• Jacket potatoes with veg chili, loads of recipes online
• Veg curry

(my kids eat fish once on a while so if they have that, DS and I will have something aubergine-based. We love aubergine but kids not so keen).

Will also try the naan pizza, sounds like a winner to me!

roasted veg lasagne is a big hit in our meat eating household. I usually add courgettes and mushrooms too

We love veggie chilli on sweet potato wedges with salsa, guacamole, cheese etc.

Cous cous , roasted veg and halloumi with sweet chilli sauce

Delia's stuffed peppers with goats cheese/ feta , tomatoes, garlic and basil with a big mixed salad and crusty bread

Homemade quiche , salad and new potatoes

Veggie fajitas with halloumi or Richmond vegan sausages

Veggie casserole with dumplings

Loaded wedges with baked beans, cheese and fried onions and topped with a fried egg

Just some veggie meals we have here