Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

Maitane

Oooh, try butternut squash soup. I go on about it - I know.

• Whatever quantity of butternut squash you have/want.
• An onion
• Some stock/water
• A splash of white wine if you want to be fancy
• Some cream/yoghurt/milk/quark - again for fanciness.

Brown the onion and cubed squash for flavour. Once browned, add splash of wine if using to get all the nice brown sticky bits from the pan. Add the liquid and cook until the squash is squishy. Then blend (with the creamy stuff, if you fancy it).
With this, if his lordship is being picky I'll fry some small cubes of bacon - or even better, chorizo if we have some - and put them on the top and hey presto, he's delighted.

Bubble and squeak with a poached/fried egg on top - If you're counting eggs as okay, that's always a winner.

For something snacky yet really good - plus it has a foreign name so it looks good, I make something I learnt in Barcelona - Croquetes i pa amb tomaquet (croquettes and tomato bread).

The pa amb tomaquet (never ever pan con tomates!) is simply some bread - I use Mr T's value part baked baguettes - toasted with a garlic clove then a tomato rubbed on it with salt and olive oil. You can whizz it all in a blender and spread it too.

Croquetes can be made with absolutely anything, quite often chicken and ham (pollastre i pernil) but anything you have knocking about - they were invented to use up bits from the Sunday roast meat. I will use cheese and spinach as an example here.

Make a white sauce using three tablespoons of olive oil, three tablespoons of plain flour and 360ml of whole milk. Then add the same (360 ml) of stock, little by little. Cook the sauce out for 10-15 minutes, it needs to be good and thick. Add in your bits - 60g of spinach, washed and dried well (if cooked, squeeze the water out well) and 60 - 90g of whatever cheese (I personally like to use blue cheese if I'm choosing as opposed to using stuff up), season well.

Pour the mixture into a metal baking tin and leave to come to room temperature, cover with cling film and pop in the fridge overnight so it congeals into a thick paste. Then cut it into 2 inch by 1 inch sticks and roll into little log shapes, egg and breadcrumb (or flour) them well. I double dip them and then shallow fry for around three minutes until they are golden brown - do NOT overcook them!

The problem with these is they are moreish, I have on more than one occasion found myself cooking triple portions 'just in case friends come for drinks'..:rolleyes:

winniepooh

wow thanks everyone all these recipes look fab. i'll be defiantly trying them all out. Keep them coming

ivfmummy

Spicy bean burgers

1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 carrot finely grated
225g kidney beans
1 teaspoon mild curry powder/paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons plain flour

Mash kidney beans. Fry Onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add grated carrot mashed beans and curry powder. Add flour and mix well. Leave to cool.

When cooled mould into burgers, this makes 4 large burgers.

Put in oven at 200 for about 10 mins. Put mozzarella or cheddar cheese on top and return to the oven for 5-6 mins until cheese melts.

(I got this recipe from big cook little cook and it's yummy!)

ivfmummy

I know the cashew are a bit expensive but it lovely and might inspire someone and I've just typed it out and thought I add it here.
This is so tasty and really easy and suitable for vegans as well but it it's nice made with butter. I have this every christmas it's delicious with homemade cranberry sauce.

Cashew nut roast

2 oz Butter or vegan margarine
1 large Onion; sliced
8 oz Unroasted cashew nuts
4 oz White bread; crusts removed
2 larges Garlic cloves
7 fluid ounce Water or light veg. stock
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated nutmeg

Stuffing ingredients
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
4 oz White breadcrumbs
2 oz Butter (or margarine)
1 small Onion; grated
½ teaspoon Thyme
½ teaspoon Marjoram
1 oz Parsley; chopped
Parsley sprigs

Set the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and line a 450 g/1lb loaf tin with a long strip of nonstick paper; use some of the butter to grease the tin and paper well. Melt most of the remaining butter in a medium sized saucepan, add the onion and fry for about 10 minutes until tender but not browned. Remove from the heat. Grind the cashew nuts in a food processor with the bread and garlic, and add to the onion, together with the water or stock, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg and lemon juice to taste. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together. Put half the cashew nut mixture into the prepared tin, top with the stuffing, then spoon the rest of the nut mixture on top. Dot with the remaining butter. Stand the tin in another tin to catch any butter which may ooze out, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned. (Cover the roast with foil if it gets too brown before then.) Cool for a minute or two in the tin, then slip a knife around the sides, turn out the nut roast and strip off the paper. Decorate with sprigs of parsley and small slices of lemon, and surround with roast potatoes, if you're serving them.

This is a Rose Elliott recipe.

SavvyStudent_2

Hello all!

OH and I realised today that we eat a hideous amount of meat (mostly mince, sausages, bacon, rubber chicken etc). Not good for our cholesterol OR our bank account..! Plus, we're sick of eating the same old stuff, it tended to be a revolving cycle of chilli, pasta with mince sauce, sausages and mash, curry and other really heavy foods. I'm finding chicken breast etc very 'dense' lately if that makes sense! The food seems to sit quite heavy in us and we end up all exhausted and lethargic.

Anyway, long story short we've decided to try to eat lighter and mostly vegetarian food (with a little seafood) for a bit, with the odd meal with *a little* meat along the way, to see what effect that has on our health, wealth and happiness!

Tonight we made falafel with a chopped tomato salad and it was DELICIOUS. And cheap (works out less than £1 for the 2 of us!). And allowed me to exercise a few of the lesser used spices in my rack!

Please help us out with more ideas - what OS vegetarian suppers do you cook to save your cash?

Savvy x

PasturesNew

Cheese/potato/onion pie and baked beans
Egg and chips
Spanish omelette (omelette with random things in it like sliced potatoes, veggies, cheese)
Egg curry and rice
Cheese omelette and chips and beans
Veggie chilli and rice

lostinrates

My italian huband is happy with any number of vegetarian/mainly vegetarian pasta dishes, pasta with steamed broccoli and a little parmesan or grana, or even some mozzeralla, and black pepper, maybe a little oil is a brilliant meal. It tastes fresh but warming. It gets away from monotonous tomato sauces, you can steam the broccoli over the pasta, and its very quick and inexpensive

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

-macaroni cheese and beans
-pitta bread (hot) stuffed with tasty leftovers and salad
-black eyed beans and spinach drizzeld with olive oil
-scrambled egg and tinned spaghetti on toast
- jacket spuds, cheese and beans
-toasted sarnies (cheese) and salad
- pizza (homemade base, mozzarella cheese and tomato puree sauce) and salad

balmaiden

Macaroni and brocolli cheese.
Veg chillie
Veg curry
spag bol using lentils instead of mince.
lasagne again using lentils instead of mince
Homity pie and baked beans
baked pots with cheese/beans/ or just with butter and a salad and h/m coleslaw

mrsgreentoad

hi what is homity pie sounds fun thanks