Meals based on foods other than meats

[Parrothead]

My dad was a meat-and-potato man. My husband is a meat-and-potato man. I learned to cook from my mom, who cooked for my dad. My dh preferred the tradition continue. This is the fellow that will eat a pound of steak or a half pound hamburger. At least until now. He has agreed to cut back on some of the meat he eats. Of course, he is waiting on the day that those in the know say red meat is go for you. Sort of the way they changed their minds about eggs and chocolate.

 

Now I am trying to figure out how to cook meals based on veggies with the meat as a side. (hopefully one day to be nonexistent at most meals) But for the life of me all I can think of is a salad with a couple strips of grilled chicken. I can not wrap my brain around a meal based on, say, green beans or beets - both of which we love.

 

I'm going to make the next two week menu sometime this weekend and would like to try basing meals on veggies or fruit or even whole grains (we never get enough of those). Will the hive give me some ideas?

[ElizabethB]

Stir fry heavy on veggies with brown rice.

 

Buffalo is good for you but a bit expensive. Venison is also good for you, but I don't think it's very tasty.

 

Salad with whole wheat pasta and veggies, you could add a tiny bit of grilled chicken or not.

[myfunnybunch]

Stir Fry! Lots of veggies, a little meat.

 

You can make a meatless meal based on a veggie quiche or put a little chopped chicken or ham into the quiche if he's not ready for completely meatless meals, pasta or rice noodles tossed with veggies and diced meat, soups and stews with little or no meat in them, burritos and tacos with lots of veggie and bean filling choices and a little meat.

 

You might want to check out a vegetarian cookbook from the library. We often make meals from our vegetarian cookbook and just add a little chicken or turkey or sausage. :)

 

Cat

[Parrothead]

 

You might want to check out a vegetarian cookbook from the library. We often make meals from our vegetarian cookbook and just add a little chicken or turkey or sausage. :)

 

Cat

That is my plan for Saturday. I'm going down to the big city and finding some vegetarian cookbooks. I have a couple in my Amazon cart, but haven't purchased them. I really like to get my hands on books before I buy them.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

[JeneralMom]

There is a book by Shaw called Almost Vegetarian. You might want to check it our for a gentle introduction to meat-lite meals. If you click on the link to Amazon there are a bunch of similar book suggestions you might see if the library also has.

[Mrs Mungo]

I do a small amount of chicken and some tofu in my stir fry. I cut it in cubes, dredge it in a little flour, baking powder and seasoning and stir fry it first. I usually cook the chicken for stir fry ahead of time when I'm cooking chicken for a meal earlier in the week. I then add the chicken and veggies. I add already cooked brown rice last. A little soy sauce, lemon, garlic and honey, done.

 

Have you tried honey baked lentils? It's a pretty hearty dish even though it doesn't have meat.

 

I wouldn't start out with something like quiche for a meat and potatoes guy. I would start with dishes that are very hearty-stew with barley, vegetarian chili, portabello mushroom sandwiches, stuff like that.

[shalom22]

I was going to say stir fry, but you already have two votes for that. We eat a lot of stir fry. For a family of four, I can get by with 1 or 2 chicken breast and use lots of veggies. We love broc., cabbage, zuchinni, onions, bell peppers, carrots, etc. It is my go to meal. You can make so may variations. Serve with rice or even pasta.

[stormy weather]

(the magazine) usualy has recipes with less meat and even a Vegetarian section. I don't always follow the recipe exactly but they give me good ideas that can be tweaked.You can search and print off for free from here-> http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/ Their search engine is pretty good for weeding things out you don't want too. I'll just add that soups or stews and dishes with pasta as a base are also a good way to add more vegies and reduce meat with out it being too noticable to kiddos. Mine anyway. I hope this helps.

[Jen in PA]

My dh is also big on meat. One veggie meal he likes is vegetarian fajitas. I use portabella mushrooms, red bell pepper, onion, cilantro, cheese, and sour cream. He never misses the meat. He will also eat vegetarian chili made with beans, tomatoes, barley, and the usual spices.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Stews and soups can have as little meat as you choose.

 

I made beef stew yesterday. It's wonderful in cold weather!

 

I made Pioneer Woman's Chicken and Noodles last week, and it was wonderful!

 

A pot of Texas style chili can contain more beans than meat.

 

Haystacks! On a plate, pile some broken tortilla chips or Fritos. Spoon on some Ranch Style beans, or plain pintos, or some chili. Then, layer on some shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, diced avocado, salsa, cilantro, sour cream, whatever floats your boat! You can even add a little ground beef if you feel you need it, but it's great without it. Yum!

[Rosie_0801]

Many recipes calling for red meat are fine with kidney beans substituted, and most recipes calling for white meat are fine with white beans. Obviously the cooking time is different, but you can make spaghetti sauce with lentils instead of ground beef. You can make any kind of curry and throw in beans instead of meat. Or you can cook what you always cook and serve less meat. If it's not available they can't eat it ;) When we were transitioning, dh felt a meal could be meatless if we had nuts and seeds involved. We ate a lot of things with peanuts or slivered almonds tossed in :glare: They go with anything...

 

Rosie

[LittleIzumi]

Meals around beans, quinoa, TVP for some or all ground meat, eggs, pasta dishes, stirfry, veggie chili, etc. Oh, and you can find ethnic food that's vegetarian if you like it--Mexican (rice/beans/cheese), Indian (beans, lentils, etc). Rice or noodles quinoa seems to match better with non-meat meals to break the meat-with-potatoes cycle, lol.

[rwalizer]

I'm surprised there aren't more votes for beans and rice. Look on line for a variety of recipes. I love allrecipes.com. We too are trying to cut down on meat and processed foods. We have been big bread people too and we are trying to go with more grains like brown rice and less bread.

[Parrothead]

I'm surprised there aren't more votes for beans and rice. Look on line for a variety of recipes. I love allrecipes.com. We too are trying to cut down on meat and processed foods. We have been big bread people too and we are trying to go with more grains like brown rice and less bread.

Beans and rice are a staple around here. We may be in Maine, but dh is a southern boy. He spent his first 32 years in Georgia. But, where he is from the beans aren't beans unless they have ham in them. Three days ago when I made 15 bean soup he said, "You are going to put ham in that and make it a meal, right?" :lol: How do I fight that?

 

Sunday starts our two week trial diet. He did say that for this two weeks every other day for meatless would be okay. Hopefully he will realize that he can survive.

[cougarmom4]

Most of my meals have only a little meat--

Baked potatoes--w/toppings (chili, broccoli & cheese, cottage cheese & tomatoes)

Mashed potatoes w/gravy & bits of roast cut up

Refried Bean burritos

Soups--with just a little meat or none (white chicken chili, minestrone, vegetable beef, chicken noodle)

Breakfast meals--french toast, eggs, pancakes, eggs&potato scramble, breakfast burritos

Casseroles w/mostly vegetables & little meat