Protein-rich non-meat recipies, please

[PaninoPan]

I've posted before about dd's (8) desire to not eat meat anymore Well push is coming to shove, and I am keen to support her. I've spent years being non-meaty, but get concerned about the 'protein question' as I'm pretty active and expend alot of energy.
Soooo..can posters recommend meals/diets/major food sources that will satisfy the protein thing? I've looked around but it ususally involves meals with 27,000 ingredients. We need nice simple recipes that I can do that doesn't demand living in the kitchen all evening, when I'd rather be with dd??
Links to recipes would be fine. I cook pretty well, but need assistance here!!

ta.

< when I say I cook pretty well...>

Try to get the book "A Vegetarian In the Family" (Amazon usually have it).

Its about adapting normal family meals to serve one vegetarian.

Nut roasts, cheese, nuts, seeds. You could make patties/nut roasts etc and freeze in single portions that can jsut be heated up and served instead of the meat - i.e. you have burgers, dd has vegiburger etc.....

My dd likes -
falafel

soya beans

chickpeas in various formats - eg made into casseroles, mixed into cous cous, fried into little patties with grated carrot and onion

tofu

omelettes

Rose Elliot recipes are very reliable.

stripey - it's not a general veggie book I need, but food that is high in protein, for dd as she will need it, and for me as..I need it too! I only cook for me and her mostly anyway.

Soy beans. Apparently very protein rich, you can get them in the frozen veg section now.

Lentils. Does DD like spicy food? Dhal is fairly straightforward.

I can vouch for this recipe from Policywonk, It's lovely.

Baked beans on toast OR eggs for breakfast. Hommous instead of butter where possible.

Vegetable curries with beans in it. Vegetarian pastas. Felafel. Frittata - I make them with spaghetti, fetta and spinach.

It wouldn't hurt the whole family to have meat free dinners a 2 pr 3 nights a week anyway.

I was vego for 4 years - it is very cleansing ... I will still often choose the vego option. Is she still inclined to eat fish? Sushi can be fun for kids. If she is so keen then you should enrol her in meal preparation and decisions. If there is a third party adult, someone she respects, who could talk to her about the need to maintain a balanced diet for her health then it could be very helpful.

Tempeh, tofu, available in the supermarket in forms that you can prepare quickly at home. HTH

"General veggie books" are always full of clever ways of making sure there's enough protein in the diet though. And to be honest, most modern diets have too much protein anyway.

Are you veggie too?

And do you have any feelings about quorn, veggie sausages etc?

100 most protein rich vegetarian foods.

wow! thanks. no, not keen on spicey. yes will eat fish, ( as they are not so immediatley cuddley to her..)...lots of freah leads..many thanks.

janeite - I have been veggie more often that not, but wonder about the protein thing. Can v. happily live without the taste of meat. >

A Slice of Mushroom Heaven (from Dana Carpender's low-carb cookbook - very good for high-protein recipes both meat & veg). It's a high-fat recipe, it being for the Atkins diet, but you could re-make it with less butter, low fat cheese and low fat milk/cream (I believe - but don't quote me - that Soya Dream is quite low in fat?)

500g Mushrooms, sliced
Half an onion/1 largish shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped small
4 tablespoons butter (about 50g)
60ml dry white wine (I have substituted red in the past, or just use water/grape juice if you don't want booze in it - although the alcohol content will be cooked out of it, iyswim...)
1 tsp lemon juice
3 eggs
375ml Double Cream (orig recipe specifies Half & Half which is a weird concoction of milk and cream, so I used DC for less carbs but you may wish to use single or a mix of single and milk for less fat!)
3 cups cheese, grated (recipe says Gruyere but I use value cheddar and it tastes fine to me!)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Fry the onion/shallot and garlic and mushrooms until limp, then add the wine/liquid and cook on a highish heat until all the liquid has boiled away. Stir in the lemon juice and take off the heat.

In a bowl, beat the eggs & cream together, season to taste, add the mushroom mixture and 2 cups of the cheese. Stir well. Pour into an 8 x 8 non-stick or well-greased baking tin and scatter the remaining cheese on top. Bake at 180C for 50 mins or until cheese is golden and bubbling. It makes 9-10 portions, but freezes well so I tend to cook it in little tinfoil freezer dishes (I get 5 'double' portions out of it) and cook it for 30 mins instead, then it's ready to go for when I need it.

Nice hot or cold, as a main course or a side, goes well with broccoli and green beans.

Also spinach florentine is yum - wilt some spinach in a frying pan with butter, then add 1tsp garlic puree/garlic granules, 60ml (1/4 cup) cream and 60ml grated parmesan and heat through til bubbling - this is so gorgeous! Make egg florentine by throwing an egg or two on top of it to gently poach/fry once you've stirred in the cream and cheese.

and the 100 list makes for good reading, JV. Can construct stuff round this, thanks.

aargh, sorry, by the time I'd typed that out (couldn't find any links) you've had millions of better suggestions!

It's good to give a variety of proteins. We're veggie and meals that I make generally contain one or more of the following:

lentils - as well as dhal suggested above, they don't just have to be used in spicy food - they're pretty versatile and can be made into things like a veggie bolognese or put into stews. There's different varieties of lentils. I would use red lentils for a bolognese, puy lentils for a shepherdess pie for example.

Dried soya mince is very cheap and quick to cook.

I'll have soya beans as a side vegetable quite a lot of the time (you can buy them frozen)

Cans of beans such as chickpeas, kidney beans can be put into stews and casseroles. Flagolet beans make a lovely salad with avocado, spring onions, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice.

Cheese - amongst other things - cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese

Eggs - french and spanish omelettes.

Tofu - good in stirfries (I've seen recipes where it can be blended into soups to add some protein)

Nuts also a great source of protein (I'm not cooking things with nuts in at the moment because DD is only 21 months old and there's history of allergy in my family)

It's also a good idea to provide things like brown rice/brown pasta/brown bread at least some of the time.

In the past I have found the Vegetarian Society very helpful in providing information about nutritional balance. www.vegsoc.org I contacted them when DD was born and they sent me some free fact sheets.

Another vote for Rose Elliott for good vegetarian recipes. My personal favourite is Sarah Brown (the recipe books of hers that I have have got some good nutritional information too).

HTH

I know it is much slagged off, but Quorn stuff is pure protein I believe.

no lovecat! Am about to cut and paste it into a Word doc. Fatty, but the sort of stuff I can freeze so am'nt cooking when dd is here!!

yes moon, I do quorn on occassion, and It DOES need cheering up, doesn't it?

cut n pasting that too DixiePixie, thanks. I know most of this, but good to have it pinned as an aide memoire for shopping!

Oh yum cow pea leaves!!!!!!!
They are on a BOGOF down the local ALDI I believe.

My DD and DH are lifelong veggies, so we all eat veggiea lot of the time,

Our favourites include;

Houmous
Fish Pie
Grilled mackerel brushed with teriaki sauce.
Cheese and potato pie
Califlower/brocolli cheese
Omelettes
Crab salad
Prawn curry
Welsh rarebit