Vegetarian dinners?

[MorgnsGrl]

We've been cutting back on the amount of meat we eat, but I'm getting sick of pasta and veggie burgers. What are some of your favorite vegetarian/vegan meals? Or even just recipes for combinations of vegetables cooked together (which I'm at a loss for how to do. I can cook a vegetable on its own just fine, but that's kind of dull.)

[Kathy]

We've been cutting back on the amount of meat we eat, but I'm getting sick of pasta and veggie burgers. What are some of your favorite vegetarian/vegan meals? Or even just recipes for combinations of vegetables cooked together (which I'm at a loss for how to do. I can cook a vegetable on its own just fine, but that's kind of dull.)

I love dal and usually have it with basmati rice and some kind of Indian spiced vegetable (cabbage cooked with mustard seeds and chile is really nice). We also do bean and cheese burritos pretty often, usually with some salsa and chopped onion. I like fried rice with lots of vegetables and some egg (carrots, peas, bits of greens, onion, cut up green beans are all good here). Pizza is wonderful with a mixture of cheeses, with roasted vegetables on top, maybe with caramelized onion (mmmmm). Baked potatos are great topped with cheese, vegetarian chili, and a bit of sour cream. Breakfast for dinner is easy to do without meat - scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, and waffles are all nice (the last three I usually top with apple sauce or frozen berries and some lightly sweetened yogurt).

[Peggyann]

I don't like beans at all, but I LOVE these!


Sloppy Lentils
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 med. onion, chopped
1 small red or green bell pepper
1 Tbs. chili powder
1.5 cups dried brown lentils
1 14.5 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. mustard
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Saute onions in olive oil, add the bell peppers, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chili powder and stir to coat.

Transfer the onion mixture to slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours.


~PA~

[ADDled]

We've been cutting back on the amount of meat we eat, but I'm getting sick of pasta and veggie burgers. What are some of your favorite vegetarian/vegan meals? Or even just recipes for combinations of vegetables cooked together (which I'm at a loss for how to do. I can cook a vegetable on its own just fine, but that's kind of dull.)
I make Johnny Marzetti and Sloppy Joe with soy crumbles instead of meat.
I like Debra's tofu "meatloaf" and I'm going to try her sticky crockpot tofu very soon.
We buy cakes of marinated tofu at Trader Joe and serve sliced over rice with a jar of General Tso's sauce (also from Trader Joe) and shelled steamed edemame. This is what I do. Mike gets all fancy with the stir fry and makes up his own stir fry sauces and tons of fresh veggies all sauteed up when HE cooks LOL!
We make Amanda's veg chili. (are you getting the idea I wasn't veg when I came to AMU and you all helped me get there? LOL!)
I make Jill's black beans now very frequently. I make red beans and rice. I like the shepherd's pie in the LLL cookbook but with crumbles instead of ground beef.
For quick nights when I don't want to make anything, I'll do Quorn (they look like chicken nuggets but are made of wheat, I think) for the boys and just whatever I can find for myself, or also soy dogs for the kids are a big hit. Oh, and the kids just like refried beans spread on a tortilla and heated up - I love nachos and Mike makes some killer ones for me. I also make baked beans in the crockpot and the boys like a chopped up soy dog in their portion (I, personally, think they're vile LOL).
On the day before grocery day every couple weeks, I'll kind of clean out the fridge and make some soup. Any broth I opened to make a dish and didn't use up, any veggies that are on their last legs and need to be eaten up, a handful of rice or barley or something, a handful of lentils or if we have some leftover beans (Jill's beans work well for this when we're sick of eating them all the other ways LOL).
All that is simple stuff I can do. Mike can make Indian food or Thai food or something, which is really what I love, and there's lots of variety for a vegetarian, but I don't bother with all that chopping and cooking and shit LOL!

Personally, I have to have protein, even though I'm veg, or I'm a very grumpy mommy. Plus, I'm hungry all the freaking time if I don't have some protein. So we know a million and one ways to cook beans and tofu.

[Nicke]

Saute a chopped onion with a couple of garlic cloves, add a can of diced tomatoes (with the juice) and some sliced zucchini. Add a 1/4 t. of crushed red pepper flake. Simmer until zucchini is to desired tenderness. Serve over rice.

I got this from Fast, Fresh, and Spicy Vegetarian by John Ettinger. I really like this dish because it's beautiful with the red, green, and white. It's sweet, crisp, and with a little kick from the red pepper flake.

[collier]

We've been cutting back on the amount of meat we eat, but I'm getting sick of pasta and veggie burgers. What are some of your favorite vegetarian/vegan meals? Or even just recipes for combinations of vegetables cooked together (which I'm at a loss for how to do. I can cook a vegetable on its own just fine, but that's kind of dull.)

Well, we are vegetarian so very night is no meat. ;) Here is what we had last night (because tonight we had french toast, which I suspect you can do!). This was originally designed to have egg and no tofu, but we tried it without and it worked well.

No-Egg Frittata

Pre-heat oven to 375

1 onion, chopped
5 small potatoes cut into small bites
1 head broccoli cut as large or small as you like
1/3 cup feta crumbled or cubed
1 cake tofu cut small -- cubed-ish
Salt and pepper (other spices like basil would be nice too)

Steam the potatoes and broccoli (you want the potatoes to be small enough that they cook with the broccoli -- or steam together, take our broccoli, then steam the potatoes a few more minutes, until you can easily pierce with a fork).

In a skillet (I use cast iron, but any pan that can do both the oven and the stove works), heat a drop or two of oil and then cook the tofu and onion -- just leave in the pan moving around a little bit every so often.

When tofu and onion are cooked, add broccoli and potatoes. Then add the feta (or skip, but it does make the dish richer).

Stir around. Place in oven. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

I like this with ketchup, but Raymond thinks that is disgusting! Also, toast is a nice add to this. It's a little like home fries, but with lots of really good things.

This is a very easy and nice dish, imo.

Best!

[Nicke]

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/food-and-wine/42D32D06-8A3F-4BA9-B24F8231BC8C5B1C/baked-ziti-with-pesto

I used jarred marinara instead of making my own sauce. I also used cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Everyone loves this...even kids.

[Christi]

We enjoy seitan stroganoff around here. I just made it tonight, in fact. Sauté some slices or chunks of seitan with garlic. You could also put onions and/or mushrooms in the sauté. Then make a basic stroganoff sauce - I sub plain yogurt for part of the sour cream. Let me know if you'd like an exact recipe, and I'll type it up for you. It's really easy and quick.

This is good over noodles or rice.

[collier]

For quick nights when I don't want to make anything, I'll do Quorn (they look like chicken nuggets but are made of wheat, I think) for the boys


I think it is some sort of fungus! And I love these so much! :-)


Oh, and where do you buy your soy crumbles? Is it Morning Star or something more "hippie?"

Best!

[collier]

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/food-and-wine/42D32D06-8A3F-4BA9-B24F8231BC8C5B1C/baked-ziti-with-pesto

I used jarred marinara instead of making my own sauce. I also used cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Everyone loves this...even kids.

You can also sub tofu for the ricotta. If you do, mix the marinara and tofu together, after you have crumbled the tofu with your hands (just squeeze through your fingers).

Best!

[Nicke]

Again, more pasta but this has protein from cheese and eggs.

Combine the following ingredients:

1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
2 1/2 cups milk (below)
1 1/2 cups liquid egg
1/4 cup sun dried tomato pesto
1 lb. cheese ravioli

Pour into a greased casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350. Bake casserole for 40 minutes or until set in the center. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon dried basil. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

[ADDled]

I think it is some sort of fungus! And I love these so much! :-)


Oh, and where do you buy your soy crumbles? Is it Morning Star or something more "hippie?"

Best!
I actually buy almost everything we eat in the wintertime at Trader Joe's - and I can't remember what it's called but it comes in a white tube and you have to cut it out of there and brown it. When I'm not trapped under a sleeping baby I'll try to remember to check the fridge and post back.

When I'm actually at Kroger I buy the crumbles you don't have to brown, they come in a clear plastic wrapper wrapped in a cardboard thingy - I wish I could remember the brand names LOL!

And for Amy. . .because I'm too lazy to edit my post above - I just remembered one of our favorite recipes is a chicken salad recipe from the LLL cookbook (Whole Foods for the Whole Family) - we make it exactly like it says, except we use cubed tempeh instead of chicken. It has pineapple in it. It's so freaking good, we just devour it.

[hamamelis]

We like chickpea curry with rice here. Sweet potato wraps are another good one- with black beans and spanish rice on the side.

[Nicke]

You can also sub tofu for the ricotta. If you do, mix the marinara and tofu together, after you have crumbled the tofu with your hands (just squeeze through your fingers).

I've used half silken tofu with ricotta in lasagne and stuffed shells. I don't know why it wouldn't work with this recipe either! :)

[sarahs]

We eat a lot of pasta too but here are a couple super easy things I do that don't involve pasta.

I get a jar of Korma simmering sauce and add in chunks of potatoes, onions and carrots and simmer away. I cut up a thing of tofu into chunks and fry it for a bit so it holds together. I throw that into the simmering sauce when the veggies are almost soft. Heat a bit more and serve over brown rice.

We also love cabbage risotto here and you can make it in the microwave!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14178236

We are very boring with our vegetables here, usually just a single vegetable sauteed with garlic and oil.

[sarahs]

We enjoy seitan stroganoff around here. I just made it tonight, in fact. Sauté some slices or chunks of seitan with garlic. You could also put onions and/or mushrooms in the sauté. Then make a basic stroganoff sauce - I sub plain yogurt for part of the sour cream. Let me know if you'd like an exact recipe, and I'll type it up for you. It's really easy and quick.

This is good over noodles or rice.

Tofu-Mushroom Stroganoff is a big favorite here.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/mushroom-tofu-stroganoff-recipe.html

[sarahs]

One more. Crockpot Enchiladas. This is from YAAPS, maybe Seppie? But I found it elsewhere.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/11910/vegetarian-crockpot-enchiladas.html

I don't make it vegan though. We put lots of cheese in the layers.

[Hobbes]

We've been cutting back on the amount of meat we eat, but I'm getting sick of pasta and veggie burgers. What are some of your favorite vegetarian/vegan meals? Or even just recipes for combinations of vegetables cooked together (which I'm at a loss for how to do. I can cook a vegetable on its own just fine, but that's kind of dull.)
We've cut our meat consumption to 3 meals out of 21 a week, all suppers.

Our favorites?

Lentil Chili (has added advantage of being really cheap)

Mushroom Stew w/ Polenta

and though not quite vegetarian...

Almost Everything but Meat Loaf

I'll go get the recipes in a bit.

[Gargoyle]

My mom used to make baked potatoes, hot vegis and salad for dinner. She'd have a bunch of stuff ready to go for toppings. You could do the same thing with meatless tacos.

For Lent, we got some recipes and there are a couple I want to try. The one I'm trying on Friday is potato curry. (I'm not going to add the jalapeno though. My kids would kill me)

4 large potatoes, cut into cubes with skin on
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 jalapenos, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, diced
2 TBSP oil
Salt to taste

Boil potatoes till soft, drain water and allow to cool. Mix all dry spices and lime juice in a bowl with potatoes and set aside.
In a large pan, saute garlic, onions and red peppers and jalapenos in oil until tender. Add tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Add seasoned potatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until mixture is hot. Add salt to taste. Serve hot. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

The other one I wanted to try was Jollof Rice (it says it's from Mali)

Vegetable oil for frying
3 dried chilis, minced
3 cups assorted vegis
2 TBSP tomato paste
3 cups vegi stock
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 yellow onions, minced
2 cups long grain rice
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, fry the onions, garlic and chilis in oil until golden. Add tomato paste, half combined vegis and 1 cup stock. Stir well, season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low for 5-7 minutes. Add 2 cups vegi stock and 2 cups rice to pot. Stir in rice. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes. Arrange remaining vegis on top fo rice and continue to simmer until rice absorbs all the stock and is cooked. You may need to add additional water to help the rice cook. Serve hot.

[Gargoyle]

Yum Yum. Sloppy Lentils are wonderful!

[bannanabette]

The Washington Post had an article today on 36 quick pantry soups and most of them were vegetarian.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021901619.html?hpid=topnews

[Christi]

I'm going to post my stroganoff sauce recipe. Not because anyone asked for it, but because it's so good and so simple, and I think you all should have it. LOL

So you've got your seitan (or beef, or tofu, and any veggies you may want to use) sautéed. In a bowl, whisk together:

8 oz. sour cream (I use a sour cream/plain unsweetened yogurt mixture)
½ cup stock or water
2 Tbsp flour
salt or tamari to taste
pepper to taste

Or, if you want extra gravy like we always do, do more than the above recipe. I usually do 1½ times the above.

Add this to the sauté pan, stirring occasionally over low-medium heat until the sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice or egg noodles.

[Nirinjan]

I only have a sec, but there's some ideas on my blog. :-)

http://nirinjanskitchen.blogspot.com/

[Nicke]

I just thin out leftover mashed potatoes with milk and stock, then add a bag of frozen chopped broccoli and sharp cheddar cheese.

[Bickery]

http://www.recipezaar.com/195101
Mushroom Moussaka
(Last time I made it I skipped making the white sauce and just put a blend of "Italian" cheeses on top.)

Rice and beans!

Veggie chili, with or without beans.

An italian sausage soup either with boca ital sausage or just the great northern beans:

Zuccini
onion
garlic
spinach
broth
wine (optional)
italian seasoning
can of tomatoes or diced tomatoes
can of great northern beans
boca ital sausage if you wish
make it like soup! It helps to slice the sausage into coins and saute it in olive oil, then adding the garlic, onion, & zuccini to saute before adding the other liquid.

[MorgnsGrl]

(And keep 'em coming if you have recipes and ideas to share!)

This is awesome. Thank you!

[Bickery]

Quiche!

Breakfast for dinner (eggs, pancakes, breakfast soy-product "meat" -- etc.)

ETA: Eggplant parmesan!

Falafel or natureburger. (We like this in a whole wheat tortilla spread with humus.)

[Bickery]

On the day before grocery day every couple weeks, I'll kind of clean out the fridge and make some soup. Any broth I opened to make a dish and didn't use up, any veggies that are on their last legs and need to be eaten up, a handful of rice or barley or something, a handful of lentils or if we have some leftover beans (Jill's beans work well for this when we're sick of eating them all the other ways LOL).


I made an amazing soup a few weeks ago by cleaning out the veggie drawer, adding some Rapunzel bullion, and throwing in a couple handfulls of lentils. I'd never had lentils except as dal, but this was amazingly good!

How about pizza with lots of veggies.

[Debra]

I think it is some sort of fungus! And I love these so much! :-)


Oh, and where do you buy your soy crumbles? Is it Morning Star or something more "hippie?"

Best!

We love Vege-Burger as a ground beef substitute. It's much better than the Morning Star Veggie Crumbles, IMO. I scrape it out of the can with a fork so it crumbles more, and then season it with pepper, garlic salt & onion powder. Then it gets added to whatever - marinara, hamburger helper, tacos, sloppy joes, etc. The options are endless when we have Vege-Burger in the house. :D We did grow up on this stuff though so we may be a tad biased.

http://www.amazon.com/Loma-Linda-Vege-Burger-19-Ounce-Cans/dp/B000AYFAO2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=grocery&qid=1203646174&sr=1-4

There are a lot of vegetarian meat substitutes. Most of this stuff is a lot better than the Morning Star foods, even though we buy a lot of those. Last year we discovered the Amazon grocery store sold these by the case, so we always have a couple cases in the house now and rotate which ones we buy. Here is what Amazon has (look for the brand names Loma Linda or Worthington Foods).

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-alias=grocery&field-brandtextbin=Loma%20Linda

Our favorites:

vegeburger
tender rounds
skallops
linkettes
frichikThe skallops are basically gluten steaks, the tender rounds are kick ass meatballs, the linkettes are our very favorite hot dogs, and the frichik is a great chicken substitute. I love it for vegetarian chicken noodle soup.

[collier]

c. The options are endless when we have Vege-Burger in the house. :D We did grow up on this stuff though so we may be a tad biased.

http://www.amazon.com/Loma-Linda-Vege-Burger-19-Ounce-Cans/dp/B000AYFAO2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=grocery&qid=1203646174&sr=1-4



Thank you Debra. I remember you posted about this years ago and I couldn't find it. Now I have a picture and a link. I will see if our co-op carries it and give it a try.

Best!

[Nicke]

ARROZ CON POLLO

Step 1: Spray a large pan with cooking spray.

Step 2: Layer the following ingredients in the pan, in the order listed:

3 cups cooked white rice
2 cups black beans
1 cup corn

Step 3: Sprinkle 3 C. cooked and diced chicken over the rice mixture. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Step 4: In a mixing bowl, combine the following ingredients thoroughly:

1 cup salsa
1 cup marinara
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup chicken broth

Step 5: Pour sauce mixture in pan.

Step 6: Sprinkle with 1 cup cheddar cheese.

Step 7: Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake 15 minutes longer, until casserole is heated through and cheese is melted.

[Sue]

Giant Baked potato with Cheese and Broccoli
Homade mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes
meatless chili over rice

[Bickery]

Giant Baked potato with Cheese and Broccoli


Yum! I ate that for lunch just about every day of high school (when I was a vegetarian). I think that imitation bacon bits are meat-free so you could add those.

Did anyone say grilled cheese?

A tomato bisque soup with parmesan and yummy bread is one of my favorite dinners when I'm alone watching tv and knitting. Some soft cheese with the bread can be good too.

[jools42]

A family favorite here ~



Walnut Rice Roast:

1 c. cooked rice (I've only used white rice in this, but you can use brown rice)
1 c. bread crumbs
1 c. liquid (original recipe calls for milk...I have used water, milk, soy milk, and broth. Tastes great with any of these)
¾ c. finely chopped walnuts
½ c. finely chopped carrots
1 c. finely chopped onion
3 T. oil
(original recipe calls for one egg, I've done it with and without and noticed no difference so now I leave it out)
1 t. salt/to taste
fresh ground pepper
1-2 T. fresh chopped parsley

Combine all ingredients and place in an oiled loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 45 minutes.

[Debra]

A family favorite here ~


Hey Julie, it's really nice to see you. :) And OMGosh, your youngest can't be that big already!! Your boys are just adorable.

[collier]

Admin question -- can this be moved to recipes? I would love to have this saved there.
:)
Best!

[Debra]

Admin question -- can this be moved to recipes? I would love to have this saved there.
:)
Best!

Do you guys want just the recipes copied into the Recipe forum? The entire conversation? This is something we'll need to figure out. :)

[collier]

Do you guys want just the recipes copied into the Recipe forum? The entire conversation? This is something we'll need to figure out. :)

I personally think the conversation is important. People suggested alternatives and other ways of making the same thing. I would like to have all of it.

Best!

[MamaAnnie]

I love how you used the leftover mashed potatoes. We don't usually eat mashed potatoes, but I'm way into making entirely new food out of leftovers, so I might have to make them, just to have leftovers. LOL Great idea!

[Nicke]

mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes

I like mac 'n cheese with Rotel (tomatoes and green chiles)!

[Nicke]

[QUOTE=Bickery;7278]Yum! I ate that for lunch just about every day of high school (when I was a vegetarian)..[/QUOTE

When I was preganant with Claire, there was a Wendy's by my office. I ate baked potatoes for lunch several times a week. I would steal a scoop of cottage cheese from the salad bar to put on top.

[ADDled]

Oh, and where do you buy your soy crumbles? Is it Morning Star or something more "hippie?"

Best!
I looked - it's called "Gimme Lean" (the ones from Trader Joe's).

[threecubs]

A family favorite here ~





That's a favorite here, too. I am making my shopping list and haven't made this in a while. Thanks for reminding me!! :)