Vegetarian

[Deleted User]

we were veggies for many years and I could always rely on books by Rose Elliot. Non veggies loved her food and the recipes are very nutritious and easy

we still eat veggie food by choice but now also eat fish and meat. At my time of life cheese is not as good for me as the first class proteins but I still use a few nuts now and then and beans regularly

Go for it op!!

I wouldn`t try to copy too many of the old favorites but go down the new route ie a top favorite with the whole family was butterbean and tomato pie with cheesy crust followed by grated apples and nuts in a little orange juice or lentil and onion fritters with mint sauce follwed by quick chocolate mousse made with plain chocolate

Seakay

I second Kittie in nominating Rose Elliot - Cheap and Easy and The Bean Book are particularly good if you are starting out as they have explanations etc. The Bean Book talks a bit about how to combine certain foods to make suure that you are utilising all the available proteins etc, and the recipe for Continental Lentil Loaf has had meat eaters fooled! Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking also has some great ideas, which are not as expensive as they sound, or which have alternatives to expensve pine nuts listed.
Definitely suggest a trip to you local library to borrow any of these books before you buy - if they are not on the shelves then do ask because they may well be available to order.
I'll put some recipes up later - bit of a rush right now but had to have a look as this is the first time that I've been able to see MSE for 3 days!

anniestar

My DH is a veggie and as there are onlty two of us we always eat a veggie diet. One dish that is popular with friends ( meat eating) is as followsboil some potatoes and a large cauliflower. Place in a large buttered ovenproof dish cover with a thick cheese sauce(I normally use a couple of different cheeses) mix well. Then I usually cover with either dried cheese(in a tub from ASDA), wenslydale or some scrunched up crisps, bake hten EAT. Yummy and real comfort food. Also try the new "beef" style Quorn chunks. I also do a lentil loaf as I would rather eat my elbow than eat a nut in any way shape or form. Its much easier to get nice stuff now (the Quorn range of sausages are great) I remember the great joy(!!) of trying to source vegie Double Glouster some 15 1/2 years ago (for that all important "first meal for the new boyfriend"- still we got married so I must havedone something right!) Good luck I bet you enjoy the new challenges. You will get LOADS of ideas on here. Gingham is fab and a great source of inspiration.

lolarentt

Most of it's been said but I'll echo Rose Elliot, also most of the popular chefs (Jamie, Nigella, Nigel Slater) have plenty of veggie stuff in their books - or recipes where you can substitute a veg product for the meat (quorn, soya, lentils, aduki beans etc). All the supermarkets have veggie shelves with Quorn ready meals (thousands of different flavours of sausages, cottage pies, lasagnes, hot-pot (new), deli stuff, bacon etc), and supermarket own brand meals etc if you don't want to cook yourself all the time - also lots of stuff in the freezers. Curries are excellent (once you get over missing the chicken!) and Madhur Jaffrey has an excellent big book on Eastern Vegetarian Cookery (not sure if it's still in print).

kianicky

i've been veggie since i was 15 and i'm 31 now. i used alot of quorn products in my meals. i find that asda has a good selection of own brand veggie products too. i also enjoy the redwood products as well.

lolarentt

kianicky wrote: »

i've been veggie since i was 15 and i'm 31 now. i used alot of quorn products in my meals. i find that asda has a good selection of own brand veggie products too. i also enjoy the redwood products as well.

Waitrose have just introduced Wicken Fen products, which were available years ago in Tescos and were always very tasty. Just had a look on the Wicken Fen website and it seems Sainsburys also stock their stuff - but only in Scotland for some odd reason!

r.mac_2

I justed wanted to say that I thought your post was lovely - that you and your OH want to support your daughter in her decision to be veggie and are going to try it too. What a lovely mum you are x

redcherry_girl

Hi!

I've got a couple of bits of advice for you. Rose Elliot cook books are fantastic. I'd especially recommend "Vegetarian Meals in Minutes", everything sounds very appealing! Also "Cheap and Easy" if you're cooking on a budget. Having a root round your local library for any books by her would be a very good idea. She's great at more interesting veggie food. But, having said that, the old Cranks book has a FANTASTIC recipe for nut roast in it although the rest of it isn't quite as exciting.

The other thing I have found is that (and I still do this) Quorn mince generally doesn't really add anything to veggie recipes. You can make a stunning vegetable lasagne without any quorn. You can make delicious shepherds pie using lentils or beans. It is far too easy to rely on processed meat replacement products and carry on near enough as before.

Things like Tofu (despite it's very bland and boring reputation) can be turned into very tasty dishes. My mum used to replace the meat in indonesian recipes with tofu. This worked very very well as Tofu will soak up pretty much any flavour you throw on it. And it is very healthy as well. It's worth persevering. My housemate gave up on tofu because she said she "couldn't" cook it. I get the feeling she just didn't really know how. One of my other friends swears that no one can get enough of her Thai Green Tofu Curry.

Anyway, I hope these small pieces of advice will help and encourage you.

redcherry

Rossy2692

r.mac wrote: »

I justed wanted to say that I thought your post was lovely - that you and your OH want to support your daughter in her decision to be veggie and are going to try it too. What a lovely mum you are x

Thankyou so much for these kind words, that was really kind of you! x

Michaela

lolarentt

r.mac wrote: »

I justed wanted to say that I thought your post was lovely - that you and your OH want to support your daughter in her decision to be veggie and are going to try it too. What a lovely mum you are x

My veggie beginning was similarly inspired - we were travelling across to France overnight with Brittany Ferries and were kept awake all night by the heartbreaking plaintive mooing of the calves taken from their mothers and on their way to be slaughtered in France. Having explained to my 3 girls (then ages around 3, 6 and 8) what it was all about, they all decided immediatley that was it - no more meat! We all agreed to do the same after the holiday, the kids went veggie and we gave up meat (still eat fish though).
Just to give you some encouragement Rossy that was over 30 years ago, and the girls are still veggie as well!