Vegetarian food budgeting ANY TIPS?

Lady_K

I will have a look at caz clarkes books then, I just looked on play.com and they don't have any thats surprising but I'l search it up, thanx

ladywood

Ok - recipes as promised.

Macaroni Cheese - fairly obvious I think - macaroni in cheese sauce. I sometimes add corn or tomatoes for a bit of variety.

Lentil patties with cous cous & tomato salad
Courtesy of WW - cook a tin of tomatoes with a chopped onion and 3.5 oz of red lentils until lentils soft (add water if liquid dries up but not too much - you want a firm consistency at the end). Add a handful of raisins, a tsp curry powder, some lemon juice and parsley if you have it and cook 5 mins more. Cool and shape into 4 patties - dip in seasoned flour and shallow fry until coating crisp. Cous cous salad - soak the cous cous in veg stock. Add chopped fresh tomato and fresh herbs - parsley, basil etc.

Vegetable and lentil curry
I just put whatever I have veg wise (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, courgette, onion etc) into the SC with some or brown green lentils and enough veg stock to just cover. Add curry powder or your own mix of spices (I use cumin, coriander, ginger and a pinch of chilli for a mild but rich flavour). Stir up and put on low for as 5+ hours (I tend to just leave all day - sometimes 7-6 - and it is fine!)

Moroccan stew again with cous cous
Another based on a WW recipe except I again I did this in the SC. Put the following in the SC - all chopped - onion, garlic clove, carrots, butternut squash. Add tsp each of cumin, coriander, cinnamon, 2 tblsp tomato puree and 1/2 pint veg stock. Leave on low for 5+ hours. 20 mins before serving add 1/2 packet silken tofu (chopped) and a few chopped dried apricots (or other dried fruit). Serve with toasted pine kernels on top (optional).

Mushroom stroganoff
And another from WW. Put a chopped onion, garlic clove, 1lb mushrooms + 100ml vg stock in frying pan. Cook for 10 mins until soft. Add a tblsp tomato puree and a small carton of natural low fat yoghurt. Heat through.

Tofu & feta pasta
See previous post! Left overs.

Chickpea burgers (includes kidney beans)
Gillian McKeith - easy and makes loads! Put the following in a food processor - can chickpeas, can kidney beans, 1 grated carrot, 1 chopped onion, 50g sunflower seeds, 2 tblsp tahini, chopped garlic clove, fresh (or dried if you haven't got fresh) coriander, veg stock cube crumbled. Blend until well mixed and fine consistency. Divide into 20 balls, put on baking tray, flatten and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Sorry I did forget a few ingredients in my previous shopping list like Tahini and herbs - latter are best home grown on the windowsill!

Lady_K

Oh they look lovely thankyou when I get round to making them I'll let you know how I get on with them

RacyRed

Try Mollie Katzen's recipe books, The Enchanted Brocolli Forest and the Moosewood Cookbook, they are fabulous. There are loads of recipes on her website HERE

A few suggestions for your daughter:-

Stir fry smoked tofu cubes in a couple of tablespoonfuls of sesame oil and drain on kitchen paper. Crispy outside and creamy inside, delicious. Eat with sit fry or in wraps with salad

Quick and healthy lunch. Make sobu (wholemeal) noodles per instructions on the packet (most supermarkets sell them these days). Dry fry a selection of seeds and nuts, sunflower, pumkin, sesame, pinenuts and so on, by constantly tossing them in a hot wok. Quickly add the noodles and a couple of handfuls of baby spinach and toss until the spinach has wilted, this just takes a minute or 2. Add a tiny drizzle of nut or seed oil (sesame, walnut or whatever your daughter prefers) and some light soy sauce. That one is low GI as well as quick, easy and very tasty.

kittiwoz

Most of Sophie Grigson's cookery books are quite veggie friendly. I like her books because they're easy to follow and the tone is enthusiastic and relaxed. I also like Lesley Waters "Cooler Than Chillies", which is a vegitarian cookery book. I think it's well worth investing in a good range of spices. (Best to look in an Asian grocery store if there's one anywhere near you - Much cheaper than the supermarkets) If you learn how to combine flavours and season food properly you can make a lot of very tasty and different tasting dishes using similar store-cupboard ingredients.

Quorn is unrelated to soya btw. It's a type of fungus grown in vats. Presumably why it tastes kinda like mushrooms. If your daughter has some sort of reaction to Quorn it doesn't mean she'll be ill if she has soya, TVP, or tofu. (Unless she finds tofu as revoltingly slimy as do!)