Best vegetarian recipes for non-vegetarians?

valk_scot

I usually have one meat free day a week plus one fish day and a soup & pudding day. . But not Monday. Monday is leftover day! We usually have a roast dinner on Sunday and there's always leftovers for stir fry or curry or something. Tuesday is soup & pudding day, Wednesday/Saturday are either meat free or fish days, depending on what's availible and who is around. So really when I'm meal planning it's already half done and I only have to really think of what I'm going to make for Thursday and Friday.

Billie-jo

If they are red peppers you could roast them with some onions, garlic and tomatoes and make into roasted red pepper and tomato soup. Serve with some crispy croutons or some freshky baked bread.

Or cut into stips and thread onto skewers along with tomatoes, mushrooms, courgettes, onions etc, brush with some oil flavoured is nice and grill. Would be nice served with a dip such as garlic mayo, or a tomato salsa type thing or if you like it guacomole or any other that you can think of.

System

jcr16 wrote: »

fish, chip and peas.

But fish (and other seafood) is meat as well!

Pink.

Hi rachbc,

On meat free days we have pizza, omelettes, pasta with sauce, pasta bakes, veg lasagne, veg curries, veg chilli, mushroom risotto, soups or salads with crusty bread, pannini or a cheap night eg beans, mushrooms or scrambled eggs etc on toast.

This recent thread may give you some ideas:

Best vegetarian recipes for non-vegetarians?

Or have a browse through these for inspiration:

Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

Gingham's Vegetarian Meal Planner

Gingham's vegetarian meal planner - SUMMER

Gingham's vegetarian menu planner SPRING

Vegan and vegetarian food on the cheap

A vegetarian meal planner, please

Vegetarian OSers

Cooking for the freezer - vegetarian

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

rachbc

leftover day has been pushed to Tuesday now Val!

I like the idea of soup and udding night but think I might have a piot on my hands from ds and dh asking what was for dinner!

This months 5 mondays are

mexican lasagne (Nigella recipe using totillas to layer veg and cheese and beans)
pasta with creamy tom sauce
spanish omlette with garlic bread and salad
pizza with veg toppings
hm veg burgers (prob a spicy falafel type job) with flat breads and dips

Will have a look through the treads for more inspiration - thanks all

kochi1

How about a risotto of some sort - maybe mushroom, or prima vera? Good way to use up some left over veggies too.

valk_scot

rachbc wrote: »

I like the idea of soup and udding night but think I might have a piot on my hands from ds and dh asking what was for dinner!

Well, there's soup and pudding, and there's Soup & Pudding. Don't think consomme and yoghurt, think thick stew type soups such as chowder with smoked haddock or lentil & vegetable with bits of leftover chicken, or pea and ham with meaty shreds. I know, not exactly meat free but it might make the transition easier. Home made or crusty bread with it of course. And for pudding go for good old fashioned treat puddings like pineapple upside down cake, Eve's Pudding or sticky toffee pudding. With custard. The sort of pudding that no-one has room for after a meat & two veg main couse!

Worth trying one night anyway. My OH used to roll his eyes at the thought but he never fails to scoff the lot down and admit he's totally full after.

Anyway, I have this system in this house: If I've gone to the trouble of planning, shopping for and cooking a meal for the family then they can bloomin' well shut up and eat it. (I don't make stuff they really hate of course....no liver!) If they do start moaning then I suggest they can get off their rear ends and cook for themselves next time. I don't get many moans here tbh.

Whitefiver

For me, it would be egg(s), beans and chips. (Assuming eggs would be OK, of course.)

Otherwise a good vegetable curry selection, with Nan breads. Bombay potato with an okra curry, and carrot poriyal would do very nicely.

I'm getting hungry now....

Regards,

White.

adelight

I love the meatfree monday idea! I started doing it a year or so ago and it led to a brief stint of being almost vegan(meat one day a week and no dairy!!), good for the health, the pocket and the planet
I think of meatfree food as being different to meaty meals, like I wouldn't try to replicate a meat meal or texture, just make the most of those under-rated foods like beans and lentils! or quiche? mmm!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I have been a vegi for about 26 years and there are loads of great things to cook. I do not eat fish or seafood as these are not vegi, but if you are just trying to go meat free then I am sure there are some good recipes out there for fish too. I also never buy fake meat stuff either.

Some ideas include :

Roasted tomato and roasted pepper sauce
Put tomatoes and red peppers in olive oil and roast. Add garlic, basil, black pepper, chills etc towards the end of cooking. Eat with pasta and a green side salad.

Fake risotto
Take an oven dish with a lid. Place brown rice in the bottom, add chopped tomatoes, sliced red onion, sliced peppers, green beans, garlic, peas etc. Add enough stock to cover everything very well. Pop the lid on and then cook for about 45 minutes.

Salads
Garlic potato and feta cheese salad (miss the feta off for your husband)


Mushroom risotto
Cook a chopped red onion in olive oil, add chopped mushrooms (and a little butter for taste) and cook until their juices run. Add lots of black pepper, herbs, garlic and cook for a further 10 mins of so. Remove from heat and add a little sour cream. Serve with veg and brown rice.

Soups
Tomato and garlic with black pepper
Leek, celery and potato
Roasted French onion soup (onions baked in the onion, stock, pepper etc)

A few other ideas include
Roast veg in tomato sauce with herby cous cous, ribolitta (need to make this with the garlic bread in it and it is delicious) just look for a recipe on the internet.

A couple of good recipe books I can recommend to borrow from the Library are :

The Seasoned vegetarian by Simon Rimmer
The Good HouseKeeping Step-by-Step vegetarian cookbook.

A lot of vegi cookbooks are awful, but the Good Housekeeping one is excellant. The Simon Rimmer one is good for 'posher food'.

Enjoy.