Veggie meals

[Perkino]

With the new year arriving the wife has decided that we both need to lose some weight. An idea that we have talked about is to have 1 dinner each week where we don't consume any meat.

However after beans on toast, cheese & tomato pizza and Jacket potatoes i ran out of ideas for acceptable meat free meals for dinner. Do the wonderful people of NSC have any suggestions of meat free food we could add to our menu without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute.

Thanks in advance

 

[carteater]

I'm not a veggie but a good lentil curry is a great meat free meal.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I'm not a veggie but a good lentil curry is a great meat free meal.

Chicken dhansak, without the chicken.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I have been veggie for 3 days now. Did a stir fry vegetables with chicken quorn pieces, garlic sauce and egg noodles. It was lovely

 

[Withdean11]

Cutting out meat from you diet won't do anything to help lose weight.

Keep the chicken, cut out the toast, pizza and potatoes.

 

[Bigtomfu]

With the new year arriving the wife has decided that we both need to lose some weight. An idea that we have talked about is to have 1 dinner each week where we don't consume any meat.

However after beans on toast, cheese & tomato pizza and Jacket potatoes i ran out of ideas for acceptable meat free meals for dinner. Do the wonderful people of NSC have any suggestions of meat free food we could add to our menu without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute.

Thanks in advance

We do veggie Tuesdays and it's actually been an uplifting experience as it's easier than you'd think but don't necessarily expect to lose weight as a result. It's not a panacea, you'll have to do more exercise too.

Some favourites from our Tuesdays include:

Mediterranean roasted vegetables - onion, courgettes, garlic, peppers and tomatoes with garlic and oregano with couscous.

Roasted feta, onion and peppers - drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread.

Stuffed peppers - onion, garlic, rosemary, tomatoes and served on a bed of rice.

Vegetable curry or dhal with rice and chapattis. (Helps that my Mrs is Indian and can cook a bit...)

Some ideas to get you going!

 

[Hillian1]

I have been veggie for 3 days now. Did a stir fry vegetables with chicken quorn pieces, garlic sauce and egg noodles. It was lovely

What part of " without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute" are you struggling with?

 

[Albion in the north]

Hi. A couple of years ago I set up a healthy eating website for students. All veggie recipes except 1. Your welcome to have a look! Spicy Tomato, Baked eggs and Chapatis is my fave.
http://www.yourstudentbox.co.uk/blog/

 

[nigeyb]

Anna Jones is your friend.

Some recipes here. Some more here.

She'll change your life!

Her book is great

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Cutting out meat from you diet won't do anything to help lose weight.

Maybe not, but it won't do him any harm, even if he went full veggie (which I don't think he's aiming for).

To the O/P:

I cook a cauliflower & chickpea curry regularly, which is WELL nice

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

What part of " without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute" are you struggling with?

None, I was pleasantly surprised. No need to eat meat really

 

[Perkino]

Thanks every one, well most of you, a good few meals to start with.

For what it's worth I don't think we need to lose any weight, as she likes to tell her friends I still wear the same clothes I did as a 15 year old.

 

[Bozza]

I have been veggie for 3 days now. Did a stir fry vegetables with chicken quorn pieces, garlic sauce and egg noodles. It was lovely

Presumably that's exactly the same as you regularly make anyway, but you just swapped Quorn in place of real chicken?

We eat a LOT of Quorn stuff in what would otherwise be meaty meals:

Mince - shepherd's pie, chilli, spaghetti bolognese
Chicken pieces - stir fry, fajitas, curry (both Thai and Indian)
Meatballs - paste and meatballs
Sausages - toad-in-the-hole, weekend breakfasts
Burgers - errrm, burgers

Going back to the OP, you can make bolognese, chilli or shepherd's pie without a meat substitute. Finely dice (I use a hand blender thing) carrots, onions, mushrooms, peppers and mushrooms and fry off until soft, add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and season and spice according to which dish you want to make (and red wine for bolognese, kidney beans for chilli etc).

Other substitute-free things we've had this week:

Gnocchi with roasted veg (roughly chop any veg you have. We use: butternut squash, courgette, aubergine, peppers, onions and mushrooms), roast in the oven with some olive oil. Cook the gnocchi (or pasta) and then mix. Add tinned tomatoes if you want.

Black bean soup. A staple here, particularly in the Winter months, and I'm making it tonight. Recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/12999/black-bean-vegetable-soup/ I add 50g of brown rice to thicken it up and make it into a really decent filling meal.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

What part of " without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute" are you struggling with?

I'm not a veggie, but cook plenty of stuff without meat. I've not tried any of Linda McCartney's stuff- to be honest, veggie sausages always look a complete let down, but I think it's a bit of a myth that vegetarians exist on Quorn and meat substitute products. The only Quorn product I've used is the mince, and it's all about what you flavour the dish with. It makes a perfectly decent chilli or spag bol, so long as you season and flavour it properly. As I previously mentioned with the cauliflower & chickpea curry, loads of Indian dishes, for example, are vegetable based. I've never found myself sitting there thinking "what this REALLY needs is lamb".

Each to their own, of course

 

[Waynflete]

With the new year arriving the wife has decided that we both need to lose some weight. An idea that we have talked about is to have 1 dinner each week where we don't consume any meat.

However after beans on toast, cheese & tomato pizza and Jacket potatoes i ran out of ideas for acceptable meat free meals for dinner. Do the wonderful people of NSC have any suggestions of meat free food we could add to our menu without resorting to Quorn or some other nasty meat substitute.

Thanks in advance

Have you actually tried Quorn? If not, do. Seriously, it's good stuff in my opinion. You can substitute it in for mince or chicken and make the same food you'd usually make (curries, pasta sauces etc.).

Other favourite is anything with Halloumi (but that won't help with any weight loss).

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Black bean soup. A staple here, particularly in the Winter months, and I'm making it tonight. Recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/12999/black-bean-vegetable-soup/ I add 50g of brown rice to thicken it up and make it into a really decent filling meal.

Oooh <bookmarked>

 

[Hotchilidog]

Curries, chillies, stir fries etc are all good if you want to stay on familiar ground. The internet though really is your friend here. I've recently been cooking quite a lot of recipies from Bosh!, which are superb. There are loads of really good veggie meal sites on the net, you'll never need to buy a cookbook again.

It's all about the spices for me and experimenting with different flavours. If you don't want to go down the tofu route you can use beans, chickpeas or lentils.

 

[CHAPPERS]

You eat meat EVERY day? **** me.

 

[SAC]

Delia Smith's recipes are usually easy and very tasty. http://www.deliaonline.com/search?s=vegetarian

 

[brighton_girl87]

BBC Good Food has lots of great recipes - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/category/vegetarian