Vegetarian or low-meat meals?

[Cricket]

:) Dh and I want to start cutting back on meat, due to cost and health reasons. We eat a lot of meat. I'm just at a loss as to what else to cook! I do cook soups and the kids are finally coming around to liking those. Any ideas or websites? I have a low-fat Moosewood cookbooks but so far not much in it appeals to the kids or dh.

[AK_Mom4]

potato dishes are generally a hit here. Scalloped potatos, baked potatos.

 

Also good is mexican food with a veggie twist - burritos with rice and beans, fajitas made just with cooked veggies, veggie tacos. These are all things we have when vegitarian friends visit.

 

pasta cassaroles - google for recipes. baked mac&cheese with fresh mushrooms, tomato mushroom pasta bake, mock tuna cassarole (uses hummus)

 

Pizza. Stir-fry veggies and tofu. Veggie lasagna, Spaghetti loaded with veggies in the sauce....

 

Gosh - I'm getting hungry writing this.

[Tarreymere]

Hmm....lets see. We eat all kind of pasta dishes and stir fries. There are so many great pasta recipes that we could eat pasta all month and still be happy. The stir fries and other oriental dishes have a lot of variety also. I make quesadillas pretty often and refried beans and rice.

 

I especially like polenta with tomato and cheese or grilled green pepper and onion. I make different kinds of bean burgers with different combinations of things. One really interesting and really good veg recipe I found is at a site called the Prudent Homemaker and is for a nonmeat chicken fried chicken made from mainly oatmeal. It is insanely good.

 

We also like falafel, many good recipes for that on the web. My husband loves chickpeas slightly mashed in a mock cream of chicken type sauce over waffles or biscuits. I also make mock chicken patties out of chickpeas. I make a good lentil loaf using lentils and stove-top type stuffing mix, tastes just like the lentil loaf in that frozen dinner from Amy's.

 

We don't like tofu, but we do use flavored tvp. I have found that even though it is flavored already it tastes better if you reconstitute it with a broth instead of plain water. I also add a tablespoon of soy sauce to each cup of beef flavored tvp. There is quite a choice of flavored tvp out there including pepparoni, bacon, and sausage.

 

Oh, and how can I forget pizza? With or without flavored tvp, with different combinations of things...........

[chickenpatty]

 

Lentil Tacos. These are really good!

[justasque]

Start with your protein:

Eggs, beans, lentils, tofu, cheese - that's five days worth right there.

Once you focus on your protein, it will be easier to find a meal your family will like that includes it.

 

So you could do strata, chili, lentils/rice/veg, tofu lasagne, mac cheese - quite a variety.

[Caitilin]

The Canadian meal planning site SOSCuisine has a "mostly vegetarian" option which might be useful to get some new ideas from. The site is free to join and the mostly veg. option is also free. (There are some menus you pay to subscribe to there also.) Happy cookery!:001_smile:

[sparrow]

Pick up the More-With-Less cookbook.

[kewb]

This is always a big hit in our house:http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianandvegansalads/r/greekquinoa.htm

 

Of course, I doctor it up with whatever extra veggies I have on hand. And I add more garlic. There is never enough garlic.

 

For cookbooks, my two like many of the recipes in The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest.

Edited June 1, 2011 by kewb

[Anita in NC]

Lentils, eggplant dishes, squash casserole, soy sausage, chickenless nuggets, quiche, spanikopita, vegetable egg rolls, pasta dishes, bean burritos, sweet potato casserole, roasted veggies, grilled veggie pockets, hummus, veggie burgers, soy breakfast patties, quinoa, millet, rice dishes, soups, bean dishes, crispy tofu, polenta, veggie stir fry, etc.... are all favorites here.

 

Check out http://www.allrecipes.com they have lots of great ideas. Or check out some vegetarian books out the library.

[NicAnn]

We are vegan, here's our meal plan this week: We're also gluten free, so substitute wheat if you can.

Sweet potato and black bean enchiladas.

Cornbread topped potpie- potato, parsnips, turnip, carrots, peas, onion.

White bean soup

Pizza bake (recipe from Healthy Heart Bisquick), with black olive, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and whatever else I can throw in.

Honey Baked Lentils with brown rice

Stirfry with Rice noodles...and maybe homemade spring rolls

Cinnamon Rolls, eggs for the husband, sweet potato hashbrowns and fruit salad.

 

Good luck! I feel soooo much better since I've been vegan/vegetarian.

[Jane in NC]

:I have a low-fat Moosewood cookbooks but so far not much in it appeals to the kids or dh.

 

There are several recipes in the low-fat Moosewood that I particularly like. May I suggest that you try the Sweet potato and black bean burritos, the black bean chilaquile, the Southwestern corn and potato soup, and their reduced fat version of mac and cheese. These are among our favs in that cook book.

 

Of course, there are things like hummus which are just so tasty in the hot summer months. We are lucky to have local veggies coming in. Couple whatever is in season with a frittata. We love sauted greens with beans (cranberry or garbanzo).

[ondreeuh]

Someone here posted a recipe for brown rice and lentil taco filling that subs for ground beef. 1 cup lentils, 1 cup brown rice, 1 packet taco seasoning, 4 cups water. Cook in crock pot or simmer on stove for ~30 minutes.

 

My favorite is "black beans and quinoa" on allrecipes.com that I have adapted. I use 1 can black beans and add 1 can of tomatoes with chiles.

 

Chickpea rosemary soup

 

cheesy beans and rice

 

veggie chili with cornbread

 

veggie stuffed pasta rolls

 

stir fry with extra firm tofu that has marinated in soy sauce

[Mynyel]

I go here...

 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Fruits-and-Vegetables/Main.aspx

 

And they have the veggies from A-M and N-Z. I just click on them and then start browsing. I love, love, love this site!

[Pamela H in Texas]

http://www.cancerproject.org/recipes

and

http://www.fatfreevegan.com

 

These have some awesome recipes which can really help you make some health gains on top of just knowing you're eating healthier and vegetarian :)

[LittleIzumi]

 

http://www.vegweb.com has tons of recipes. Many are vegan so you can replace the "soy milk" with your normal cow milk, etc.

[OrganicAnn]

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman is another cookbook suggestion.

 

We had to slowly develop a list of recipes that we like. We try a new recipe every couple of weeks. Most don't work out. Here are some ideas.

 

Stir Fry

Vegetable Quiche

Veg Pizza

Marconi and Cheese

Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup

Vegetarian Chili

Spaghetti with Meatless sauce

Cheese Tortellini

Veg Lasagna

Breakfast food - Eggs, hashbrowns toast or Pancakes/Waffles

[justasque]

Pick up the More-With-Less cookbook.

 

Oh yes, an oldie but a goodie. They also have some very nice fruit desserts in there. Most recipes have "options" so you can vary it now and again.

[LittleIzumi]

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman is another cookbook suggestion.

 

:iagree:

[Miss Peregrine]

Pasta with lentils and arugula

 

I use mini shells. This is probably my favorite meal right now. It is so good. I want to cook it every week.

[duckens]

We made this for supper tonight. It only took a few minutes.

 

Avocado Soup

2 avocados

2 cloves garlic, minced

1c milk

2c vegetarian broth

1/4t ground nutmeg

 

Add all ingredients to the blender and mix. Chill. Serve cold.

 

 

 

 

I'm still burping garlic!