Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

Baglady_2

Thought I'd say I've discovered a new topping for my repertoire. I had a left-over Naan bread, the garlic coriander one. I whizzed it up to make breadcrumbs and topped off a sunday-dinner leftovers casserole. It was surprisingly good!

Money_Saver

Am thinking of doing some vegetarian meals for dinner times. Havent got a clue where to start but am thinking of using, brocolli, cauliflower, cheese, pasta, leeks, etc etc. Any suggestions of putting it all together? I am not a vegetarian, but something low calorie, high fibre, and maybe protein?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Flyboy152

Penne Á La Provencale



Serves 2/3

• 500g Fresh penne
• Two tins of whole tomatoes-chop when taken out of the tin (Do not used tinned chopped tomatoes)
• 1 medium onion-finely chopped
• 75g (approx.) Tomato puree
• 2 cloves of garlic-finely chopped
• 1tblspn chopped fresh basil
• 1 dstspn fresh (½ tspn-dried) marjoram/oregano
• ½ tspn paprika
• 1 Med courgette
• 250g Broccoli florets
• 200g mushrooms-quartered
• 100g Asparagus spears
• 200g red pepper
• Olive oil
• Freshly milled black pepper and salt to taste.

Poach pasta in boiling, salted water with 1 tblspn of olive oil. When pasta is tender but firm (slightly underdone), drain and refresh in cold water.

Blanche the broccoli and asparagus in salted, boiling water; drain and refresh in cold water.

Sweat onion, garlic, red pepper and mushrooms in a thick bottomed pan with the herbs and spices.

Add tomatoes and simmer until juice has reduced by half, add as much tomato puree as you need, to thicken the sauce.

Add remaining vegetables and simmer until vegetables are tender then season to taste.

Put the cold pasta into boiling water to re-heat, then drain.

Place in pasta bowl, drizzle with olive oil and pour sauce over pasta (alternatively, mix sauce into pasta).

Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil to garnish. Serve with green salad and a light balsamic vinaigrette.


To drink I would recommend a Zinfandel, perhaps a Beringer, for a light refreshing compliment, or if you prefer something more substantial but still not too full, a Chilean Merlot.

Enjoy.

debbym

I am going to start charging Weezle for this I swear.....
Weezl started a website called cheap family recipes
Option 2 of the meal planner is veggie and all the recipes are included on the site.

Hardup_Hester

Lentil Roast
Mug of red lentils, cook till soft, drain & then add one or two crumbled up weetabix, a handful of grated cheese, one beaten egg & a teaspoonful of Marmite. Cook in a pyrex dish until firm, approx temp 180 for 30 mins. Serves 4 to six, serve with pots & veg or with a salad.

ubamother

omelettes - cheese/mushroom etc with home made jacket wedges, pasta with tomato and veggie sauce, topped with a cheese sauce and baked. mushroom stroganoff type affair - saute onions, garlic, add mushrooms and cook until dry (this takes a while as they can give off a lot of liquid) stir through with cream/creme fraiche, serve with rice and veg - broccoli is nice with rice. Risottos - mushrooms again, spinach, courgettes, leeks or whatever you have. Mine love a mixed veg bake - root veg and onions cut up and cooked - cheese/white sauce poured over, breadcrumbs and/or cheese on the top and baked - really good if you pop some thyme in with the veg.

justin1972uk

On a low-fat or low-calorie diet? Try this...

Ingredients

• Sachet of ASDA Meat Free Bolognese: Cost, 65p; Fat, 1.8g; Calories, 370
• Sachet of ASDA Smart Price Golden Savoury Rice: Cost, 28p; Fat, 2g; Calories, 234
• Can of ASDA Smart Price Peeled Plum Tomatoes: Cost, Cost 31p; Fat 0g; Calories, 64
• One large white onion: Cost, 17p; Fat 0g; Calories, 63
• One large open-cup mushroom: Cost 33p; Fat 0g; Calories, 22
• Birds Eye Frozen Field Fresh Garden Peas (40 grams): Cost 25p; Fat 0.3g; Calories, 22
• Kallo Organic Vegetable Stock Cube: Cost, 17p; Fat, 0.4g; Calories, 7
• ASDA Smart Price Bolognese Sauce (quarter of a jar): Cost, 9p; Fat, 2.9g; Calories, 42
• Salt, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Garlic Granules, Dark Soy Sauce, Fry Light: Cost, negligible; Fat 1g; Calories, 5

Total Cost, £2.25; Total Fat, 8.4g; Total Calories, 829.
Cost per serving, 75p; Fat per serving 2.8g; Calories per serving, 276.

Preparation

1. Before you do ANYTHING else, fill a kettle with a 3/4 pint of water.



2. Wash and peel one large open-cup mushroom. Open cups are easier to peel, and you'll need to peel it because microwaved mushroom skin goes tough and rubbery, unless you dot with butter (which we're not going to do).



3. Once you've sliced the mushroom in half, just trim the end of the stalk. The end of the stalk can be woody and chewy.



4. Slice the mushroom thinly and arrange on a plate. Sprinkle with salt, garlic granules and WHITE pepper.



5. Place in the microwave for about a minute. Mine is 800 watt, so I'm zapping them for 1:15. Once they're cooked, just set them aside for later.



6. Empty the Savoury Rice into a large bowl.

justin1972uk

7. Open the can of peeled plum tomatoes and sieve the juice into a jug. This is partly the reason why we're using peeled and not chopped. The other main reason is that chopped cost 3p more!!!



8. Set the sieved tomatoes aside in a small bowl, and dilute the juice with boiling water, up to the 3/4 pint mark.



9. Pour the diluted tomato juice/boiling water into the rice and cover.



10. The cooking instructions on the sachet of Smart Price savoury rice only give one method of cooking; boiling on the hob with cold water added. Well, it's lies! You can microwave it, just like the pricier savoury rice. Just use 3/4 pint of BOILING water, cover, and microwave for 15 minutes. That's what we're going to do, here.



11. Spray a large wok or big saucepan with five or six squirts of Fry Light and heat gently.



12. Empty the Meat Free Bolognese mix into a saucepan and add 3/4 pint of cold water. The instructions state a pint of water, but just add 3/4 pint.

justin1972uk

13. Peel and wash one large white onion. Dice coarsely - not too thinly.



14. While the soya mince and water boils, add a good dash of dark soy sauce. Yeah, I know it's not very authentic, but neither is textured soya protein. I just think that soy sauce adds a sort of meat-like tang to soya mince. Don't be tempted to add dried Italian Seasoning; this is cooking quickly, so it would remain twiggy and hard.



15. Fry the diced onion in the wok, with salt and black pepper. You want the onion to brown, not burn. If the wok starts to smoke, add a splash of water, not more oil.



16. Add a veggie stock cube to the soya mince. My favourite veggie stock cubes are Kallo Organic. They don't place them near the other stock cubes at ASDA; you have to hunt for them. I think they might be on the World Foods aisle. Don't use Oxo Vegetable stock cubes - they're terrible. They just make everything taste like burnt celery.



17. Remember the sieved tomatoes we set aside? Well, get a pair of scissors and snip them roughly. A dozen snips should do it. You've just saved yourself 3p by not buying chopped. :-) Add the tomatoes to the pan of soya mince. This is the reason why we added 3/4 pint of water to the dried soya mince and not a pint as recommended on the sachet. The tomato juice will constitute the other 1/4 pint. Just keep your eye on the soya mince and keep stirring so it doesn't stick.



18. Check your onions are soft, by tasting a little. They should be browned by now, but if still hard, add a little more water and "fry" a little longer.

justin1972uk

19. Add the microwaved savoury rice to the wok full of fried onions. Stir through for a minute and then remove from the heat until the soya mince is ready.



20. You'll know the soya mince is ready, when it's boiled down to a bolognese-like consistency. Once it has, add it to the wok. Stir it through, so it's all mixed in.



21. Add a quarter of a jar of Smart Price Bolognese sauce to the wok. This will add the herbiness that's been missing up to now (the bolognese-style soya mince isn't very herby at all) and will also help to thicken your rissotto.



22. Put the microwaved mushrooms into the wok and add 40g of frozen peas. Stir through until any liquid reduces. By this point you'll realise that this makes a LOT...



23. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for ten minutes while you wash some dishes, have a cig or check Facebook. It tastes so much better when it's cooled-down a little, and it will also thicken a little more if left alone for a while.

And voila!!! It makes three big plate-fulls like this.



Split it three ways and you're eating 2.8g of fat in each serving. By comparison, an average packet of crisps has about 6g of fat; an average choc-chip cookie has 4g of fat.

It obviously isn't low-carb; just low-fat and low-calorie. So, I wouldn't eat this more than once or twice a week if you're on a low-carb diet.

Bon appetit!