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.

You could make lentil burgers.

1 1/2 cups of red lentils. Wash and boil for 20 mins
Finely chopped onion
Diced larger tomato
Garlic, 1 clove
1 1/2 inch thumb of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
i added about a teaspoon of ground coriander
6 cups of loosely packed chopped greens (I used savoy I think by the time it had fried down it was quite a small amount.

I made this into a very stiff Dal by combining fried veg and spices with cooked lentils. Make burgers out of the mix. Refry lentil patties in oil to get a crust on them. Serve with your vegetables.

Served the leftover dal loosened with a bit of extra water. I put it with some spiced roasted cauliflower/ red pepper/ red onion/ potato which I'd put piri piri salt on.

Nandos do a tenderstem Broccoli topped with hummus. You could beef this up with crispy chickpeas then serve with some fried halloumi and add some roasted red peppers and maybe roasted carrot and/or other sweet veg you like.

(The crispy chickpeas I drain a can wash and then dry on a clean teatowel. I then toss in garlic oil and piri piri salt (or cayenne pepper or smoke paprika but they are nicer with some salt on. Roasted until crispy (20-30 mins on high ish heat keep an eye out as they can become very crunchy).

when my family mostly ate meat, I planned meals around chicken-pork-fish-beef etc

now I plan around eggs-cheese-beans-nuts-mushrooms. So each meal will have one of those as the primary source of protein, plus some carbs and other veg

possible lazy meals include
jacket potato & chilli-no-carne
nut roast
fried egg on chips (v popular with kids)
spaghetti carbonara with peas instead of bacon
nut roast
baked beans on toast

Toad in the hole with chopped mushroom and tomato in the batter & onion gravy.

All kinds of easy homemade non processed 'burgers' eg beanburgers, halloumi burgers, mushroom burgers make a good central component

Agree with PP about pies!

A veggie traybake also good (eg with feta or halloumi, bbc food has some good ones, as well as of course The Green Roasting Tin), and can be served with veg

Very obvious but a jacket potato with a range of veggie fillings

Frittata - good protein source

Quesadilla (getting away from meat and two veg here but can definitely be served with veg!)

These are ideas for the meat part:

• Nut roasts - make mini in cupcakes then freeze
• Bean burgers - make in advance and freeze
• Tofu - tear into pieces, fry in a pan with ginger and garlic (from frozen), quickly add pineapple juice (from a can then use the pineapple for pudding)
• tofu - grate, add oil then bake or air fry. Use the flavoured blocks of tofu (smoked is amazing) or plain and add flavouring e.g. garlic, smoked paprika
• tempeh - tear into pieces then coat with olive oil and flavouring (e.g. smoked paprika, garlic and onion powders) then either air fry or fry in a pan

Also things like Mexican baked rice are easy and have everything in - veg, beans, rice, spices and stock in a deep tray, oven cook. Can add halloumi, tofu or tempeh instead or in addition to the beans. I used the BOSH recipe first time and now I just free style!

This is one of the reasons we tend to eat vegetarian only once, or sometimes twice, a week vs when we were really trying to do veggie at least half the time. It was just too often that we were eating either too much cheese/fat or too carb heavy OR it was just too complicated. Having said that, this is a helpful thread as it is inspiring me to try a bit harder again. I really do prefer to eat veggie twice a week if I can and we've slipped a lot on that.

So outside of curries and risottos (which are often our veggie option currently).

stuffed peppers/butternut - great as the "meat" option, with side vegetables/salad and rice/couscous/new potatoes. But EFFORT.

Fried halloumi served with wedges and chargrilled greens (with a dressing if I was feeling enthusiastic). We do often do halloumi fajitas, but not sure if that falls into your "curry" style and not what you're asking here.

Mushroom, aubergine and goats cheese burgers.

Roasted cauliflower served with a rice pilaf. Sometimes I do a satay sauce.

Agree re tart - we usually add bacon but leeks and spring onions on a base of cream cheese (we usually add herbs, mustard and an egg) are good by themselves. I sauté the leeks and roast the spring onions. Salad on the side.

Thanks all!

Bean burgers or cubes of crispy tofu for the plate with veg and potatoes.
For risotto and mac cheese, definitely white beans, perhaps black beans or broad beans. I really don't like fake meat in concept or practice.

A big stuffed mushroom with potato and veg. (We like it stuffed with leeks and cheese and topped with breadcrumbs).
A stuffed anything actually: red peppers with quinoa and ratatouille, beef tomatoes with spicy rice and lentils etc

Yes to a stuffed mushroom- I do them with Stilton and mushrooms.

Ooh, DS loves stilton, and mushrooms. I don't know why I have never thought of stuffing my mushrooms like that.

I usually do chopped onion, garlic, spinach and a bit of cream cheese.

20 min meal with onions, garlic, peppers and some paprika powder then add canned black beans x1, canned toms. Whack some avo, rice (can be from bag or whatever is easier) a quick tomato onion salsa and everyone has burrito night.