Vegetarian, healthy, and easy recipes?

[luckymom]

I would like to use more recipes that are: vegetarian, healthy and easy for our family meals.  Prefer non-starchy, high protein options. Please share your favorites for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Thank you.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I love to keep a big bowl of black bean and corn salsa and corn tortillas.  I make mine with 2 cans of black beans, rinsed, 1 can of corn, drained, red pepper, avacado and a lime and olive oil dressing.  Add cilantro.  

 

Grilled portabello on pita bread with lettuce, tomato, red onion, tasziki sauce (gyros)

hummus wraps with grilled peppers and red onions

 

[kewb]

One of our favorites:

Edamame and black bean salad

12 oz Edamame

15 oz black beans

1 med/large carrot chopped fine

1 red pepper chopped fine

1 can water chestnuts diced fine

3 scallions chopped

 

Dressing:

2 tblsp olive oil

1/4 cup Braggs liquid aminos (or soy sauce)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tsp grated ginger

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tblsp sesame oil

 

Whisk together ingedients and poour over salad. Let marinate for at least an hour. Garnish with black sesame seeds if desired.

[displace]

Nothing new under the sun, but I love eggs/omelets/frittatas. Can be customized per person/ family with lots of veggies. Don't forget it can be a breakfast for dinner option.

 

Along those lines, egg salad, either with a plate of lettuce/salad, or in a sandwich.

 

Quesadillas can be made veggie easily.

 

Black beans and rice

 

Vege burgers!

 

Baked ziti w/ vege fillings/sauce

 

Snacks: cottage cheese with fruit

 

Yogurt with fruit and oatmeal/granola

 

Fruit smoothies

 

Vege fruit muffins (zucchini, pumpkin, apple, banana)

 

Gosh I'm so hungry I have to stop helping...

 

ETA. Mine aren't really recipes but just ideas, obviously.

[Night Elf]

We like black bean soup with onions. We serve with shredded cheddar and a dollup of sour cream.

[Guest]

Did you just post this to keep me occupied so I wouldn't muck up the other threads, lol?

 

If you're just trying to cut back and looking for something easy for Meatless Mondays, one of my faves from the '70s that might be '14-friendly is the mock cheese soufflee from Frances Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet.

 

Take some bread crumbs--about one slice of bread for each serving--and mix them up with some grated cheese. I'm not going to look up how much grated cheese because we know more about nutrition than we did in the '70s and you may want to use more or less than she does anyway. Then just toss that stuff in your favourite meatloaf pan, mix a raw egg up with enough milk (and I'm not going to look up how much milk for you either, but I won't get on your case if it's not grass fed so I'm not all bad) to make it soggy and nasty, pop it in the oven at 350 until it transmorgrifies into something yummy and you're good to go.

 

[Guest]

Here's something more modern if you're up for expanding your horizons a bit. It's cheap, easy and high protein too:

 

http://www.vegweb.com/recipes/best-vegan-mac-and-cheese-entire-worldseriously

 

 

[luckymom]

These are all great.  Thanks!  Keep them coming ...

[AmandaVT]

I'm making Asian Lettuce Cups for dinner tonight. Cook crumbled tofu until brown and crispy, dice and saute onion, garlic, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bell pepper, scallion. Mix in hoisin sauce and serve in lettuce cups alone or with rice.

[umsami]

We love haystacks..or nachos…or whatever you want to call them.

 

Take tortilla chips of choice and make little mounds on a cookie sheet.

 

Then put refried beans on top…either canned (check for lard)…or homemade

 

Then put some shredded cheese on top

 

Put in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted, and beans and chips are warm

 

Top with lettuce, chopped tomato, guacamole, sour cream, jalapeños, etc.  Whatever floats your boat. :)

 

 

 

Quesadillas….we like ours with sautéed red, yellow, and green peppers and onions plus cheese.  We usually add in some cumin to the peppers/onions to make it taste more smokey.

 

Cheese filled ravioli.

 

Cream cheese/egg pancakes.  Roughly one egg plus 1 oz cream cheese in a blender…can add stevia or cinnamon.  Cook in a well-greased skillet.  Serve with fruit, or syrup.

 

Breakfast for dinner….veggie sausage and pancakes.

 

Red lentil soup….Great Northern Bean soup…. etc.

 

Veggie chili.

 

 

Anything from Mollie Katzen's books. :) Also check out Nava Atlas.  

[HappyLady]

http://happyherbivore.com/2011/08/easy-black-bean-burger/

 

http://www.limetreelife.com/2012/01/04/easy-breakfast-vegan-gluten-free-mini-quiches/

 

http://www.theppk.com/2011/02/mac-shews/

 

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/smashed-chickpea-avocado-salad-sandwich/

[Guest]

 

Anything from Mollie Katzen's books. :)

 

:iagree:

 

Also Laurel's Kitchen and it's probably in the buck a bag bin at your local thrift store or the next library book sale.

 

If you already have Whole Foods from the Whole Family (La Leche League cookbook) then look up the lentil patties recipe to save yourself from another one of my overly chatty and somewhat condescending remixes; it's very forgiving and tweakable if you just go with the "busy day" advice and use it for a stew.

 

There's some other good stuff in there that I used to make for my twentysomethings, but it might be mixed up in my mind with cookbooks I don't have any more so I'll post again if I get a chance to look stuff up for you.

[Joanne]

Hummus with shredded carrots and cucumber rolled in WW tortilla. Flavored hummus can add variety.

 

Oatmeal - I have been making refrigerator oatmeal and eating it cold.

 

Smoothies

 

Almond butter on celery or apples

 

Almond butter sandwiches

 

Eggs in a variety of forms

 

Black beans, cheese and salsa on baked potato (or brown rice)

 

I used to make a kidney bean burger with mashed kidney beans, ww seasoned breadcrumbs, egg and eat on we roll with lettuce, etc.

 

Pea and hard boiled egg salad

 

Cold tortellini salad with peas, corn, onions and Italian dressing . White beans would be good in this.

[happi duck]

"Tuna" salad made with mashed chick peas instead of tuna

[Camelfeet]

My family goes nuts for this snack, and it is SUPER easy.

 

- 1 part cashews (i use about 1 heaping cup? Everything can be eyeballed and exact quantities don't matter)

- 2 parts almonds

- 3 parts medjool pitted dates  (but any dates will do)

- 3 limes, zest and juice

- Fresh grated coconut

 

Blend cashews and almonds for about a minute.  Add lime zest.  Blend again.  Add lime juice, blend again.  Add pitted dates, blend.  At this point it will be hard to blend.  You may have to stop blending, and move things around with a spoon a few times.  When the mixture is pasty but still firm and a bit chunky, form into balls and roll in fresh coconut.  Refrigerate.  

[Alice]

Lentil Tacos are one of our favorites:

 

Lentil Tacos

chopped onion (about 1/2 of a medium onion)
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 cups of lentils
3/4 cup quinoa
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp oregano
6 cups of water
some salt to taste

Combine all in crock-pot and cook on low for about 8 hours. This will seem like a LOT of water for a crock-pot recipe but the quinoa acts as a sponge and soaks it up. If you are around while it is cooking you can check it and may even need to add more water as the time goes on.

(If you think you don’t like quinoa, try this recipe anyway. It makes the taco filling very thick and gives it the texture you expect from tacos, almost meat-like. You can make it just with lentils but you’ll have to adjust the water a bit. And I think it’s better with the quinoa.)

Use the lentil mixture as filling for tacos, soft or hard. Add whatever toppings you like (cheese, sour cream, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole).

 

[kewb]

I use a fair amount of recipes and inspiration from:

http://ohsheglows.com/

 

 

[luckymom]

Inspired!  Thank you!!

 

Once I get vegetarian down, I will start asking about vegan.  But, I am not quite there yet.

[happi duck]

My family goes nuts for this snack, and it is SUPER easy.

 

- 1 part cashews (i use about 1 heaping cup? Everything can be eyeballed and exact quantities don't matter)

- 2 parts almonds

- 3 parts medjool pitted dates (but any dates will do)

- 3 limes, zest and juice

- Fresh grated coconut

 

Blend cashews and almonds for about a minute. Add lime zest. Blend again. Add lime juice, blend again. Add pitted dates, blend. At this point it will be hard to blend. You may have to stop blending, and move things around with a spoon a few times. When the mixture is pasty but still firm and a bit chunky, form into balls and roll in fresh coconut. Refrigerate.

Sounds yummy! Do you use raw or toasted nuts?

[Laurie4b]

A super-easy go-to for me: Black bean tortillas:

 

I nearly always have tortillas in the fridge, canned black beans in the pantry, and onions and garlic. Most of the time, I have peppers in the freezer, and avocados and salsa in the fridge.

 

Saute onions.  If you have peppers, add them with the onions. Mince garlic while onions are cooking and allow it to sit out so that the allycin (sp) develops. (It's the stuff that's really good for you in garlic.) Rinse the beans to get rid of extra salt.When the onions/peppers are soft, stir in garlic and beans and heat through. If you like seasoning, add some chili powder and cumin while the onions/peppers are cooking.

 

Spoon onto tortilla. Add cheese and/or avocado or guacamole. Serve with salsa and sour cream or yogurt.

 

This takes about 15 min total. Each person makes their own tortilla and if they add cheese, the tortilla gets popped in the microwave for 20-30 sec.

 

 

[MeAndTheBoys]

Happy Herbivore website and cookbooks--someone linked a recipe upthread.

 

We went veg last year and I bought 3 of her book; got a new one for my bday this year.  So many easy, healthy recipes!!!

 

We aren't veg anymore (resistant family! lol) but we eat veg 3-4 nights per week.

 

My only "beef" with her books is that the serving sizes are generally small--she is married, no kids, so many of them are for 2-4.  I have to double them.  And sometimes when I double them, it makes WAY too much, so I think her view of serving size and mine are different :)  And we use dairy, so I sub real milk for her non-dairy listings, and sometimes I sprinkle a Mexican-type dish with real cheese :)

 

But they are great cookbooks--my family enjoys the meals even though they'd rather have meat.

 

Betsy