Vegetarian "meat & 2 veg"

[leavesandsleeves]

Hi

I'm looking for ideas for vegetarian dinners along the lines of "meat and 2 veg". Eg mashed potato, carrot.. and what?!

Also, things like mushroom risotto / butternut squash mac n cheese .. what can I have alongside them that will make them a bit more nutritionally complete? Other than a few greens? They all feel very carb heavy and not very well rounded on their own.

Would generally need to be quick/easy and child friendly too. We are time poor, both working FT with 3 small kids (3yo and 1yo twins). Kids and DH are not vegetarian but eat vegetarian a fair bit at home.

I find curries/chillis etc easier as I can throw in lots of veg/lentils/beans/tofu etc, but I'm struggling with the above. I try not to rely too much on meat substitutes either.

I do Yorkshire pudding and Paxo

Richmond vegan sausages with sweet potato mash, vege and gravy

Risotto - stir a load of chopped baby spinach in just before serving

My vegetarian child loves a cauliflower cheese grill (from Sainsburys) with her potatoes and veg when the rest of us are having roast meat.

Home made nut roast? I'm not vegetarian but MIL makes a lovely one.
Cheese? Roasted/baked sweet potato with tenderstem, green beans with garlic/lemon and some halloumi cooked with chillies/chilli oil in a griddle pan

Lots of veggie alternatives like Quorn/sausages etc if you don't mind heavily processed food. For something more natural: Yorkshire puddings, big slices of squash toasted, lentil or nut loaf, big mushroom grilled/roasted, halloumi, roasted chickpeas or beans (crispy), stuffing balls, or just do the meal with various veg to give different colours and textures and a nice veggie gravy with mushrooms/onions etc.

With risotto, lots of cheese, and maybe some peas cooked and served on the side? Macaroni cheese, I'd add a portion of microwaved frozen veg to the side of that too. That's essentially my go-to in most situations- add cheese or an egg and add a portion or two of cooked frozen vegetables.

Oh and pies/pastry things!

Slices of Tofu sprinkled with a bit of soya sauce then either fried or roasted in oven . Serve with roast potatoes, veg and home made apple sauce. Delicious

I make a carbonara with tenderstem broccoli or asparagus or leeks instead of bacon. It still has egg and cheese and pasta but greens too which lighten it.
Pie and mash and veg? You can make 'midweek roasties' at the same time as the pie cooks so you use less pans.
Spanish omelette (tortilla) already has the potato in so you can serve it with all the veg and tasty toppings and it's still basically protein, potato and veg.
Shakahuka base freezes really well and you can poach eggs (or a ball of mozzarella) in it to serve with crusty bread but the base can also make 'dirty fries or 'dirty rice' by spooning the sauce over and crumbling feta or any tasty cheese or crumb over the top.

Eggs, chips, peas and beans?
Humous, falafel in pita with salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and red pepper slices
Veggie haggis with neeps and tatties
Veggie ravioli or tortellini with pesto and steamed broccoli
Add a cauli or a romanesco, cut into florets, to the mac and cheese, serve with grilled tomatoes and peas. Really helps stop it feeling too carb-heavy.

We occasionally have Linda McCartney sausages with mash, greens and gravy. Those meat substitutes are highly processed though so I avoid having them too often.

For a roast dinner, stuffing balls, yorkshires, nut roast or just be creative with the veg to provide different textures. Chunks of halloumi and brussels chucked in for the last 20 mins with a tray of roast root veg = delicious.

Pies!

Cheese and onion
Squash and feta pie
Leek and potato
Vegetarian cottage pie

Then also

Garlic Roast cauliflower
Vegetarian skewers - halloumi/Red onion/courgette/mushroom
Deep fried or baked halloumi/ mozzarella/ feta

We are a vegetarian family and this is also basically what we do. Although unfortunately our youngest won't eat egg in any format other than eggy bread!

Roast peppers, onions, garlic, carrot plus chickpea patties + boiled broccoli (pre-made and freeze patties or grab bean burgers. Make a garlic Greek yoghurt ;) sounds a lot, but it's mostly just putting things in the baking tray :)

A veggie sausage

I mostly eat Asian or Middle Eastern food that doesn't need that central component, but every so often cook a frozen quorn roast. It is significantly cheaper than quorn escalops or other alternatives and can then be used for sandwiches and so on for a couple of days.

Toad in the hole with vegetarian sausages is also apparently acceptable to the kids.

We don't really eat 'meat and 2 veg' type meals. On the odd occasion that we do, it's usually with homemade lentil loaf or nutroast. They're pretty easy to throw together.

But mainly, we just don't eat like that. We eats burritos with refried beans and fried veggies and fresh tomatoes and lettuce and guacamole. Quiche or fritatta with salad and roasted broccoli/cauliower. Curries with rice and yoghurt or raita. Chili with cornbread. Pita with haloumi or falafel and veggies and olives. Pasta/risotto with beans or lentils and courgettes and peas and ricotta. Tofu stirfry with bok choy and bean sprouts and noodles or rice.

I don't think trying to stick to a meat-and-2-veg template works well for veggies. Or I just don't like it.

Showing my age here, but can you still buy Sosmix?

I like cauldron sausages (veggie not vegan) with mash and carrots and broccoli

omelette with chips and peas

toad in the hole with gravy (cauldron sausages again)

quiche, beans, potato wedges, veg

there is lots of stuff like Linda McCartney pies you can use for more traditional British dinners but normally I eat curries, lentil soups, felafel, frittatas, tofu in various forms- rarely a meat and 2 veg type meal.

I agree with the last PP but FYI if you want to be able to add a component with texture, a tofu press is a total gamechanger. Leave overnight in the fridge and it turns tofu from soft and squishy to something drier and chewier and which can be treated like the expensive meat alternatives.

Pies, quiches, sausages.

Also breakfast type dinner: mushrooms, beans, eggs etc.

I make risotto in the slow cooker. It was just trial and error as I didn't have a recipe and I HATE standing over the cooker stirring things. Sometimes I just cook the risotto rice with the stock, and add whatever I fancy in later.

And make extra for arancini the next day

Richmond sausages aren’t bad, and you can take the skin off and make other things with them, tonight I skinned some cooked ones and mixed in with some made up stuffing and chucked some frozen chestnuts in. I made into balls and put inside Yorkshire puddings, airfryer for a few minutes served with veg.

mac and cheese is a favourite, I add cauliflower/ broccoli in there too.

my saviour is soya beans, I buy a bag frozen from Tesco or you can get fresh edamame which are the same. Lovely in currys/sweet sour etc instead of “meat”

I made enchiladas the other day, using a mix of onions peppers edamame celery baby corn . Made them up as you would chicken, they were amazing