Just gone veggie - any tasty everyday recipe recommendations?

[Jayyfa]

Hi all, have just decided to go veggie for variety of reasons, but struggling to overhaul my recipe collection fast enough to prepare meals for me and 9 month old baby (who is a good eater). Any tried and trusted protein rich recipes you could throw my way (have tried the library!)

Yours every so gratefully!

Jenni x

[Jayyfa]

P.S. am still giving baby meat meals at the moment as can't find good enough replacements quick enough!

[monniemae]

Veggie chilli

fritatta with sides of garlicky butter or cannellini beans (can mash up)

Dahl made with red lentils (stir in yoghurt for protein and to take edge off chilli)

Broccoli pesto pasta - cook broccoli, chilli, garlic, oil, mash up/blend and add parmesan/creme fraiche or other dairy, mix with pasta

Quesadillas are great for little ones - dice or grate veg, add grated cheese, serve with guacamole/mashed avocado

Pesto beans on toast - pesto and cannellini beans - easy and quick for babies

Baked eggs / shakshuka - peppers, eggs, peppers, onions, tomatoes. Loads of recipes online

[Jayyfa]

Thanks Monniemae, I appreciate that. Sometimes I go round and round in circles online! This is great, thanks.

[NannyAdelle]

Do you want some vegetarian cook books.. I have a couple from my veggie days. There are some delicious recipes in them.

Adelle

[canela]

you need to make friends with pulses....start them young and your little vegi will be happy as larry with lentils, chick peas, beans of any kind. mix them with rice and you have a complete protein.

[bawdy-nan]

Sweet potato and chick pea tagine - very easy - chop and cook an onion in a pan (with a little oil), peel and chop into smallish chunks some sweet potato, put in pan with the onion add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, teaspoon of ground ginger and some saffron (if you have it, doesn't matter if not), cover with vegetable stock (from a stock cube) add a tin of drained chickpeas, cover and cook gently until the sweet potato has gone soft. It will go slightly mushy (nice!). If it is too wet take the lid off and let it reduce a little.

You can add peppers at the sweet potato stage, and/or chopped aprocots, honey, small new potatoes, almonds (if for older children / adults). You can stir in a handful of spinach at the end if you want, or put in some frozen peas for texture / a change. You can sprinkle it / the cous cous with pomegranate seeds if you're feeling fancy and / or drizzle on a bit of pomegranate molasses or just keep it plain. Serve with cous cous and, add harissa (very hot paste) to your plate (not your babies!) if you want it. Very easy, very tasty.

Great to freeze too for a homemade ready-meal.

[yeknomyeknom]

A simple and quick meal I pull together is a tin of cooked lentils (Biona are fab)with beetroot and feta cheese. All have a long shelf life so handy to keep in the fridge. Delicious as a combo with a bit of homemade vinegarette on top.

[Jayyfa]

oh that's so kind - where are you based? Maybe I could wander over and pick them up at some point?

Jenni

[bawdy-nan]

also - good recipe books at the library - worth a browse for ideas

[puwetter]

Quorn or Linda McCarthy foods are great.

[Jayyfa]

Thanks everyone, this is great - am definitely going to try the tagine, the veggie chilli and the lentil and beetroot combo this week!

[goldilocks]

can recommend the Anna Jones 'a modern way to eat' cookbook too - its my current 'everyday' cookbook. Doesn't focus heavily on mushrooms or cheese like vegi recipe books from years ago

[bawdy-nan]

Another idea is to make a big batch of rataouille and then use it as the basis for lots of other things:

cook in olive oil 1 x onion and couple of cloves of chopped, crushed garlic (or more if you like it), when soft add 2 x peppers sliced and, say, 5 chopped courgettes (aubergine too if you want / have it) - cook a little, add 2 x tins of chopped tomatoes, add a bay leaf (you can tie it to a little bunch of thyme or rosemary too if you have it) cover and cook slowly for an hour or so. Take lid off and let it reduce a little until it's thick and glossy.

You can freeze this in portions (make double the quantity) and it can be the base for all kinds of things:

- pasta sauce - top with cheese and / or stir in a tablespoon of pesto

- pasta sauce #2 - add some sliced mushrooms and top with cheese

- use as a topping for a baked potato

- add a tin of butter beans put in a baking tin/dish and top with breadcrumbs mixed with cheese and bake in the oven for 35 mins or so

- cook another chopped onion, stick of celery and a diced carrot til softened, add the ratatouille mix and a handful of tiny pasta shapes, and/or small tin of lentils or mixed beans, thin with stock or water for a lovely minestrone soup

- use as the basis for a chili non carne - add mushrooms, red kidney beans (and aduki beans if you want), and a chili spice mix (paprika, cumin, dried oregano or marjoram and cayenne pepper or leave the cayenne out if its for you and your baby - you can add some tabasco to your separately) - serve with rice and salad , and other bits: grated cheese or avocado guacamole or sour cream or plain yoghurt or tortilla chips or salsa or a any of these in combination

[bawdy-nan]

oh - sorry, I'll stop in a minute. An absolute cupboard veggie classic for us is baked burritos:

small tin of refried beans will do for 4 of these.

In a plain tortilla wrap plop a spoon of refried beans (the spicy ones are nice or get plain and mix in a little garlic paste and a chopped spring onion), add halves of a cherry tomato and pieces of pickled jalapeno pepper slices (3 of each is what we like - obvs no chillies for a a baby) in an alternating line, add a tablespoon of grated cheese (or not), roll up, tucking in the ends and place in a baking dish. Bake for 20 mins and serve with salad and tsatsiki (grated cucumber and natural yoghurt witha bit of garlic, lemon juice and oive oil if you fancy it).

Basically, you can put almost anything inside.

[sylviamaria]

Also tarts are great, as well as baked aubergines in tomato sauce, pasta and pizza (I personally think that both pasta and pizza are better as veggie options!), roasted vegetable salad with warm goats cheese, Greek spinach pie or cheese pie, as well as Greek spinach and rice (google spanakorizo). :)

[Mustard]

Oatmeal and cottage cheese pancakes.

For one serving, take half cup porridge oats, half cup cottage cheese, 2 eggs, or 4 egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla, or other flavouring, like almond, lemon etc. if preferred, mix in bowl or whizz in liquidiser, drop spoonfuls in non stick pan/spray with cooking oil, and cook, watching carefully. Add fruit like blueberries if desired. Can eat plain or with toppings.

[LouLouMoving]

During research for a veggie diet I was amazed at where you can get protein from non-animal sources. Cottage cheese is particularly high, as are beans. I often sit with a bowl of edamame beans watching a movie, etc.

One favourite is marinated tofu then flash cooked in a frying pan. Cut into inch thick strips soft white tofu and marinate for 15mins in tbs soy, tbs balsamic vinegar, tsp onion powder and tsp ginger. Serve with whatever you have in your fridge!

Check the Ottolenghi cookbooks for more adventurous and tasty veggie meals.

[Nunheadfamily]

Great posts here! Feeling inspired.

[yeknomyeknom]

The Genius Cookbook from the guys at Food52 is amazing for recipes. Whole roasted cauliflower etc. food52 is the best recipe site out there. Check it out everyone. Exciting recipes,that can be simple and unique. No I don't work for them.

[Specklemum]

Loving this thread, loads of good ideas!

I'm the only veggie in our house but find Indian inspired veggie dishes seem to go down well with the meat-eaters too. Paneer cheese is yummy thrown into curries and our favourite is a take on kitchiri - kind of like an Indian risotto with lentils. You just fry off an onion with garlic (chopped chilli optional) then add a cup of basmati rice and the spices (a couple of cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and 2 tsp each of cumin seeds & ground corriander). Then add a litre of low-salt stock, a squirt of tomato pur?e and cooked lentils (we use a cup of dried split peas cooked for 40 mins first but tinned would be fine too). Simmer for around 15 mins then serve. You can also stir in some fresh chopped corriander before serving if you have it.

[Gubodge]

We're not veggie but a favourite supper is quick tarts. Use ready rolled puff pastry and top with mushrooms and/or leeks fried with thyme and plenty of pepper. Top with cheese (taleggio is best)and bake for 25 minutes in a hot oven and serve with a green salad. We also do a version with halved cherry tomatoes, but you could use pretty much anything.

[Jayyfa]

Wow, this is so great, thanks all, I started the week a bit nervous about my decision but now feel totally able to do it! Thanks!

[Curmudgeon]

Greek yogurt for protein too

[uncleglen]

Quorn frozen 'chicken' pieces go down well- none of my kids liked cheese until they were grown up