Vegetarians. There doesn't seem to be a food/drink forum, so . .

love_lifer

Curries are fantastic. Added bonus is you can chuck in any veg that needs using up. Prashad cookbook is worth its weight in gold- I no longer bother with take aways as I can make authentic delicious curries thanks to prashad.
I've been veggie 36 years and find its mindset re missing meat. Once you embrace it there's so much you can do with a bit of imagination. BBC good food website is great when you have an ingredient but don't know what to do with it.
And soya is super healthy, more so than quern, and can be infused with flavour.
Enjoy the healthy living

Justamum

ShoestringJane wrote: »

See if you can find some of the old style Cranks recipe books on-line somewhere. I have had mine for years and they are pretty much falling apart. They are brilliant! Also good is Vegetarian Kitchen by Sarah Brown. Again very old - I like to get value from my cookery books. I can't stand Quorn actually. It is convenient and quick though. Much cheaper to use pulses and nuts. (Having said all this, I am not actually a vegetarian, but I do like to leave out the meat fairly regularly - cheaper and healthier in my view).
Jane

I doubt the older ones would still be available. There are far more recent ones which are better. There's also Rose Elliott and many of her books are still available. Not to mention Google - there's a wealth of vegetarian/vegan recipes online.

VfM4meplse

Caterina wrote: »

Sunday was lentil and quinoa veg soup with felafel and salad, yesterday Italian Pasta and Bean soup with HM coleslaw vinaigrette, stewed apples with soya yogurt for pudding.

Tonight tofu and mix veg stir fry, brown rice and sliced banana with vegan custard.

Planning a nice veg curry, bean burgers and a chick pea stew with dumplings.

Come to London and cook for me!

Yesterday my brother was suitably impressed when I announced I had eaten a meal - my first in 4 weeks, due to ill health. He asked what it was and laughed in my face at the answer.




(A: sandwich and crisps).

Caterina

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Come to London and cook for me!

Yesterday my brother was suitably impressed when I announced I had eaten a meal - my first in 4 weeks, due to ill health. He asked what it was and laughed in my face at the answer.




(A: sandwich and crisps).

I am in London!

Hope you feel better and can get more nutritious food, so your brother does not laugh at you - as a good brother, he ought to cook for you while you are unwell, not laugh at you!

Prudent

PasturesNew wrote: »

For Xmas dinner, I can thoroughly recommend the Cranks' Nut Roast.... it used to be on their website, but has disappeared during a re-jig, luckily I found it on archive.org https://web.archive.org/web/20141010235634/http://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/view/brazil-cashew-nut-roast/print - we had a veggie in the family who makes this every year. We loved it, as meat eaters - and the veggie stopped being one after 20+ years and still makes it every year.

Here are their general recipes: http://www.cranks.co.uk/gb/recipes

Brilliant PN I make the more everyday (cheaper!) cranks nut roast regularly. Do you know if I can make this in advance and freeze it?

Kaloloke

Hi OP Before you just swap meat free substitutes for meat please research into whether it is good for your health. Personally I wouldn't touch the stuff.

You can make some very delicious meals using beans and pulses. I use lentils, mung beans or whatever else I have in a tomato sauce for pasta, chilli, moussaka and lasagne. Mushrooms are also very versatile. Dried pulses and beans are also very cheap especially in bulk. Burgers from chickpeas or other beans are fab. Also falafels are yummy.

Stuffed peppers, fritatas, veggie pies with pastry or potatoes all go down well too.

Enjoy your discoveries.

kboss2010

NewShadow wrote: »

Hi guys,

I didn't want to make a new thread, but not to thread steal - I'm looking at trying to be meat free three or four days a week - both for a health and money boost.

Trouble is I'm stumbling against two (common) problems:

1. A meal doesn't feel like a meal - somethings missing

2. It only seems like a meal if I dump half a block of cheese on top...

I make a really nice lasagne with mushrooms and aubergines (and lots of cheese), epic mushroom, pepper (and cheese)omelettes, and an awesome chilli with TVP (and a sprinkle of cheese on top...maybe with nachos). Unfortunately I can't eat the same things every week.

I've tried a load of recipes, and I'm really trying not to just give up, so I was wondering if you could suggest your favourite meals that aren't heavy on cheese and ideally are quick/easy/transportable for lunch at work?

Oh, and I'm allergic to nuts.

Thank you kindly (and sorry for the hijack) :A

Butternut squash and butter bean risotto:
Risotto rice (1/2 cup per portion)
Vegetable stock cubes (1 for every 2 portions)
Boiled/steamed cubed butternut squash
Tin of butter beans
1 cup of frozen peas
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan (you won't taste it as cheese, it just adds to the flavour)

Bettie

kboss2010 wrote: »

Butternut squash and butter bean risotto:
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan (you won't taste it as cheese, it just adds to the flavour)

:eek:

maybe substitute a vegetarian Italian hard cheese instead

thriftwizard

But I dont get extra money for vegetarians and vegans! I wish!

It's always puzzled me too. I can only assume that where we live (small semi-rural market town, surrounded by farmland) vegetarianism is considered so off-beat that they have to bribe us to do it! And listening to some of the other hosts, their repertoire is limited to off-the-shelf pizzas & McCartney sausages, which would work out expensive. One of them told me when I first started not to bother cooking anything much as the students would only eat pizza anyway. Luckily mine have been rather more adventurous!

Caterina

Well, vegetarians are not more expensive because that's how we eat, however vegans are because I had to buy extra items that I dont normally eat, dairy free marg, soya yogurts for puddings, I could not find chocolate biscuits for packed lunch (even the nicest healthiest bars contain honey) so had to get the fancy Nairn oat coc chip biscuits. Now I have discovered the sesame bars too, which I will alternate.

If I get given enough advance notice (which I was NOT! On this occasion. Grrrr...) also vegans are not more expensive because I would plan for all of us to have the same vegan things e.g. Muesli instead of granola (the non-fancy, regular stuff contains honey), vege sausages (some contain egg), arrange a few vegan puddings in advance etc.

Generally the meat eaters are more expensive to me because I have to buy "special" stuff for them, a bit like a meat eating family would have for vegetarians and vegans. But I don't get any extra payments. Mind you, the current agency pays a little more than average so I am not too bothered. These days ham costs as much as sliced cheese, and all I need is the main courses other than that. I get ready made meatballs on offer, or burgers (although I GAG when I cook those). Or ready made lasagna, or put a few slices of ham on pizza. Sometimes they like fish fingers (which we eat occasionally too), but not all. I always have salad and a veg at least so that's not a big extra expense.

All in all I always make a bit of money from it and mostly it's worth it, except when I have unpleasant teenagers, which make me feel "to hell with this". I had a couple of snooty princesses last week, I could have thrown them out of the window. This week I have two lovely, pleasant, funny and very normal girls.

In general I agree with the not cooking too much, with the meat eaters I keep to the basics, but the vegetarians and those of an open mind and an older age (17-18) sometimes love my cookery. However I have learnt that for the most part I needn't go to town on packed lunches as a lot of them throw them away and but a Mac donald!

I am now looking into having a Monday to Friday lodger instead so I don't have the aggro of having to be here every evening to cook, get up early to make breakfast etc. Less money but at least it is regular and hopefully we get someone who works all hours and we font see them much.