daughter going vegetarian

[sarah861421]

HELP. My daughter ( 20 ) has decided to become a V for the summer, ( and possibly at Uni ). This is not a moral issue, just a lifestyle choice ( fad ), and I want to help her. The rest of the family are committed carnivores. I am a dreadful cook so cant aspire to anything exotic, and she has accepted that she will do most of the cooking, but what? Never eaten / bought / cooked lentils/ Quinoe / chickpeas or anything else that is hippydippy ( dh words not mine ), as most of our meals are meat and two veg. I want to be able to cook the occasional thing for her, and help her cook the rest without panicking every night, Where should we start. whats the easiest really. Happy with fish but not chicken ( my husband doesnt see chicken as real meat )

My parents still occasionally refer to my 28 years as a vegetarian as a fad..... and I grew up on a small holding where we slaughtered our own meat.

I would check out the vegetarian society website. They have a fantastic range of recipes for all kinds of meals. It's not hard, to cater for her, I promise.

Also a lot of Indian recipes are veg based!
You also do things like veg stir fry (perhaps with pan fried salmon!) there are lots of veg burgers out there, and plenty of pasta dishes too?

At 20, she can make her own lifestyle choice and she can also make her own dinner.

RAINYBO, yes absolutley she can, and she will, and is happy to do so. However she has asked me for some help / advice and I want to help her. To be honest, anything i can do to some more time with her is a good thing.

You'll find us hippydippy types are keen to help

First off, meat and 2 veg can easily be adapted if she doesn't mind sharing the table with you guys (I am vegan and DH and DC are not, so I have to be adaptable; a lot of vegans aren't though). We often have roasts here; the roasties are prepared in sunflower oil and margarine is subbed for butter if wanted. Dh and the DC have meat, while I have vegan sausages (Linda McCartney range). Also, Bisto caramelized onion gravy granules are vegan; I have my own gravy pot :) the Linda McCartney range also has individual pies, I think.

Shepherds pie can be made with lentils or soya 'mince' (I prefer lentils) and other easy meal options include jacket potato with beans, veggie chili and pasta with pesto. If she likes Indian food then there are loads of options too.

For puddings: crumble can easily be made using dairy-free margarine, and soya cream is sold in small pots handy for individual use. Tesco also have dairy-free icecream now (in fact a lot of the big supermarkets have a budding frozen range for vegans).

I hope your daughter enjoys her vegan diet and that it ends up being far more than a 'fad'!

Sorry, misread the op and thought your DD was vegan (wishful thinking). Oh well, the above points still stand

Some of my very easy to make favorites:

• spinach lasagne (replace mince sauce with spinach plus feta cheese plus sundried tomatoes (and anything else you fancy)
• stir fry of veggies (often just a ready made pack from supermarket) with cuscous or rice, sometimes with Quorn fake chicken
• spicy bean burgers (sainsburys own brand are really nice) e.g. with mash and veg (these also work well to replace meat if everyone is a carnivore
• chunky vegetable soup (potatoes, leek, broccoli, anything else you have in the fridge) with bread

It's much easier if you don't only try to recreate meat and two veg type meals with meat 'substitutes'. Some of them are nice, but some are absolutely vile (under no circumstances buy Linda McCartney sausages or Quorn breaded chicken pieces)

DoubleHelix I like Linda McCartney sausages, especially the caramelised onion ones

Get her to make some big batches of things like Brown lentil chili, Bolognese, curries etc so she can freeze a few portions. She could also make nice quiches and pizzas. Her dinners should end up way more exciting than meat and two veg.

You could get Asian cookery books and make all sorts of Asian food. Italian and Mediterranean food can also be veggie friendly. A lot of my friends are meat eaters but they've not missed meat when I serve them vegetable tagine with couscous etc. Besides, you don't have to be a vegetarian to eat veggies dishes but a vegetarian can't eat meals with meat and poultry etc. So it's nice to cook vegetarians exotic things to give them a more variety of dishes to choose from.

Bean or quorn curry:

Sweat a roughly chopped onion, add curry paste and garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add chopped peppers and/or okra and/or partially cooked cauliflower florets and/or almost fully cooked chopped potatoes,. Tin of tomatoes, boiling water if required to cover the veg. Simmer gently for approx. 20 mins. Add tinned chickpeas and tinned kidney beans and sliced mushrooms. Cool for approx. 5 mins. Thicken with coconut cream - I like pataks sachets - come in a box of four.

Quinoa stuffed peppers - cook quinoa in veg stock or marigold bouillon, mix with chopped spring onions, kidney beans or black-eyed beans, chopped cherry tomatoes if you like and chopped courgette - remove most of the white flesh first if you think your quinoa mixture might be too sloppy. Pile into halved peppers, top with pine nuts. Bake in a med oven for 40/45 mins.

Quorn fajitas - marinate quorn pieces with juice of half a lime, a lot of chopped coriander, chilli flakes, crushed garlic, quarter teasp molasses and salt. Fry with onions, chopped pepper, strips of aubergine, strips of courgette, sliced mushrooms. Serve in a wrap with soured cream, guacamole, salsa and grated cheese.

Fried eggs, baked beans, oven chips and mushrooms.

Spag bol made with quorn pieces. Put a handful of fresh spinach on top of the spag after you have put it on the plates, bol sauce on top of the spinach.

Falafels -yum. Serve with salad, salsa or other dips, potato salad or hot boiled potatoes.

Be careful, OP, she could well end up teaching you how to cook good food. 😉😁

I've been a hippydippy, fad following vegan for 30yrs. Started as a vegetarian 35yrs ago.

Savoury rice. Cook rice in stock and add peas, sweetcorn, peppers, chopped courgette or whatever really. Mix with tinned kidney beans.

Pasta, stir fry, rice, beans, lentils, potatoes all great veg bases, quiche, frittatas, mushroom anything is fab.
Thug Kitchen and River Cottage are brilliant sites.

try something simple like pasta or a stir fry!

Don't go to too much trouble - make it easy on yourself. If you are having burgers buy your DD a supermarket Beanburger (GoodLife ones are good).
Other easy shop buys: Pestos, pasta sauces. Spinach and ricotta or cheese and tomato tortellinis .If you are having a chop/steak/roast etc then a vegetable pie works well with the two veg - my DD's like Higgidy spinach and mushroom pies - it is also easy to make a pasty with some shop bought pastry and some veg. plenty of veggie pizzas around too. Most meat substitutes are pretty dire (IMO). Vegetable fajitas/enchiladas etc are very easy.

Loads of internet sites have Vegetarian meals - Jamie Oliver site has a big library of veggie meals. Meera Sodha's website has nice Indian meals - many are vegetarian. The Guardian has a big archive of Yotam Ottolenghi's "New Vegetarian recipes" . Serioulsy the internet is your friend just goggle vegetarian recipe for whatever dish you fancy and you will get a myriad of responses.