Reducing meat...need help changing mindset on main dish

LZMiner

I want to reduce the amount of meat I eat/serve for meals. I was raised with meat being the centerpiece of every meal and do my meal planning for my family the same way. Any suggestions for how to switch that thought process or hearty meatless main course ideas? I feel like I’m ending up with all side dishes! (And I’m not giving up meat...just want to reduce intake for personal reasons.)

estherdragonbat

Vegetarian here. You might want to look at meatless chilis. Those generally run filling and hearty. Ditto for lasagnes.

As far as meat ideas, try dicing or cutting meat into strips and using in a stir-fry with loads of vegetables.

serindipte

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipes/265/everyday-cooking/vegetarian/main-dishes/

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/course/vegetarian-recipes/vegetarian-main-dishes

https://www.marthastewart.com/362260/quick-vegetarian-main-course-recipes

NovusDies

I wouldn't completely dismiss the side dishes either. I personally love a meal composed of several side dishes. Not all the time of course.

In addition to the above helpful suggestions don't forget that you can serve breakfast for dinner too.

If your family like mushrooms you can certainly use less meat if you add them in to your regular dishes.

nickssweetheart

NovusDies made me think of this:

Savory Mushrrom Stew

Hearty and low cal. Even heartier served over mashed potatoes, but not quite as calorie friendly.

amusedmonkey

You could start by introducing more "accidentally vegetarian" dishes. Dishes that are not explicitly designed to be vegetarian, but just are. Cheese ravioli, pancakes, pizza margarita, pasta e fagioli (in fact, many authentic Italian pasta dishes are vegetarian), Indian curry, eggplant parmesan, many salads (potato salad is pretty filling), avgolemono, hummus and falafel wraps, most frittatas, mushroom chow mein, all kinds of porridge... and the list goes on, there have to be normal main dishes you like that don't contain meat.

If you feel like you are eating normal dishes and not trying to bend over backward to reduce meat, you may have an easier time accepting meatless main dishes as normal.

acorsaut89

Eggs! Eggs are my go to meatless protein meal thing. Meals like quiches or fritatas (sp?? lol). I eat eggs every day and you can easily make a veggie omelette.

Stirfrys are another way to have a "meal" without a lot of meat - lots of veggies, and if your family likes tofu you could sub it in there too to beef it up a bit without meat being the main attraction. You could always grill one or two pieces of chicken, or one or two steaks and make it just a sprinkling rather than full on. This will also make any meat purchases you make go further as quality meat is definitely not a cheap part of groceries.

Burrito bowls, just without meat or less meat. Rice, quinoa or rice noodles as the base. Add chick peas, black beans, corn, grape tomatoes, avocado, some green onion or red onion and boom great veggie burrito option. You could also grill up some chicken to have a few pieces of chicken without it being the "main" attraction in your meal. There's also some great recipes for home made burrito sauce on Pinterest. I personally make one with sour cream, lime juice and taco spices. You can even make your own guacamole if you prefer it, by blending avocados, red onions, pico de guyo and lime juice.

The conventional idea of a "meal" doesn't have to be what you serve your family; just because you grew up with meat, potatoes and a vegetable on your plate doesn't mean it always has to be that way. There's some great recipes on Pinterest for summer salads - like ones that use berries, peaches, mangoes, nuts and seeds and all of them are without meat. They can just consume a bigger serving.

Lounmoun

When I wanted to have more meatless meals I made a list of foods my family liked that did not have meat.

If you want to reduce the amount of meat at a meal you might try cutting less up than you would normally have and putting it in something like soup or a casserole with lots of other ingredients.
Start using half meat half beans/lentils in recipes.
Side dishes can be meatless main dishes.
Potatoes are filling. Beans and lentils can be very filling. You can eat large volumes of some vegetables. Have a big salad with meals. Add things like more raw vegetables, roasted potato slices, beans, nuts, seads, cheese, quinoa to make a salad more filling.
Bread can help a meal to be filling.
I don't find pancakes or eggs filling on their own. Combined with bread, cheese, beans, fruit or vegetables they may be filling meals.

Baked oatmeal
Cottage cheese vegetable salad
Stuffed baked potato
Falafel
Pasta with marinara sauce, pasta with vegetables, pasta with cheese, pasta with beans
Hummus
Minestrone
Chili without meat
Fassolatha soup
Beans and rice, lentils and rice (mujaddara is very tasty)
Lentil soup
Bean and cheese burritos
Spanakopita
Veggie burgers
Cheeese ravioli, lasagna, manicotti, tortellini
Black bean empanadas
Black bean potato nachos
Veggie burgers- I like to add cheese or guacamole as toppings.
There are lots of recipes from India without meat.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10020804/looking-for-vegetarian-recipes#latest
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/03/35-meatless-meals.html
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/favorite-recipes/
http://www.lentils.org/recipes-cooking/recipes/

mutantspicy

I intend to tackle this recipe tonight.

https://minimalistbaker.com/moroccan-lentil-stuffed-eggplant/

amusedmonkey

mutantspicy wrote: »

I intend to tackle this recipe tonight.

https://minimalistbaker.com/moroccan-lentil-stuffed-eggplant/

It's ridiculously good. I made it before. I have the nutrition label for it if you wish to save yourself the trouble (one out of 4 servings). Keep in mind I used real parmesan and regular breadcrumbs. It shouldn't affect the nutrition by much. What would affect it is that I used the eggplant pulp and cooked it with the lentils. It was very filling, one of the most filling things I have ever eaten. Could have done with half an eggplant just fine.

LZMiner

Omg... thank you all so much! Lots of great ideas and links to browse through!

lfdlfd

Hi. I'm a vegan who's family is not. Its fine. We work it out. I think you answered your own question when you said you need to change your mindset. In the last 3 years since switching to a vegan diet I just told myself its doable. You still want the meat though so I guess you can serve the same meals just bulk up on the veggies and use lots of tasty sauces at the same time reduce the meat . That way you still get the meat flavour carried in the sauce. Also after a while you will adapt to your meals just looking a little different and not do meat dominant.

toxikon

Try some Indian recipes, they are excellent for main courses without meat.

I like this website, she does a lot of ethnic recipes and has lots of vegetarian ones: https://twosleevers.com/recipe-index/?fwp_dietary_consider=vegetarian

https://www.skinnytaste.com is good too.

mutantspicy

amusedmonkey wrote: »

mutantspicy wrote: »

I intend to tackle this recipe tonight.

https://minimalistbaker.com/moroccan-lentil-stuffed-eggplant/

It's ridiculously good. I made it before. I have the nutrition label for it if you wish to save yourself the trouble (one out of 4 servings). Keep in mind I used real parmesan and regular breadcrumbs. It shouldn't affect the nutrition by much. What would affect it is that I used the eggplant pulp and cooked it with the lentils. It was very filling, one of the most filling things I have ever eaten. Could have done with half an eggplant just fine.

Thanks for that! Yeah I intend to do the same. Regular bread crumbs, parmesan. Yeah I was wonder what to do with the egg plant pulp. I may do that or may just save it for baba gnoush type thing.

bisky

I like to make a veggie bowl starting with either quinoa, brown rice, faro (?) or lentils, then add roasted or stir fried vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms, onions, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, etc...what ever I have on hand plus either black beans or garbanzo beans and then before serving add some balsalmic glaze, seasonings, sunflower seeds and avocados. Depending how big you make it, it can be a main meal. We do veggie burgers once in a while with all the trimmings. Pasta or zucchini noodles with toppings are always good. I just started making veggie pizzas with roasted vegetables and Trader Joes pizza dough. For quick meals, I have Trader Joes frozen vegetable and grain mixes on hand and to those I add more chopped vegetables and beans. Last night I tried the cauliflower rice mix and it was delicious and low in calories.

kam26001

Beyond Beef Crumbles
Black bean burgers
Gardein products are good too.

AnnPT77

Just an observation: One of the things I often advise new vegetarians - based on my having been one for nearly 44 years - is something you mentioned as a problem/challenge. That's ending up with "all side dishes".

Personally, I think one of the best ways to get adequate protein on a well-rounded meatless diet is to think in terms of getting some protein in most of the foods I eat. The "one big protein main dish" mindset that's very common among omnivores seems less helpful to me as a vegetarian. ("What's for dinner?" "Pork chops." "Hamburger." etc.)

Usually I focus on making one dish larger volume, sort of a centerpiece, but weaving protein through the meals and snacks. There isn't much difference between a main dish and a side, other than volume, in my way of looking at it. Sometimes my "main dish", though high-volume and filling, isn't necessarily even a great protein source. For example, I might have a main dish of roasted cauliflower with a mustard or spicy dressing, and a side that's more protein focused, like an edamame salad, or chickpea pasta with mushrooms and green peas.

Just a different way of looking at it - won't work for everyone, I'm sure.

apullum

The first thing I did was substitute meatless "beef" or "chicken" in place of the meat in foods I already liked. That made it easier for me because I didn't have to completely change everything I cooked. I was also finishing college at the time, so it wasn't like I was cooking complicated dishes--I was just doing stuff like heating up a Morningstar patty instead of a chicken patty. Once I got comfortable with that, I started branching out into proteins that weren't marketed as "faux meat," like tofu or tempeh.

mjbnj0001

I made turkey-veggie eggplant boats tonight for the family. You can de-throne the meat (turkey) by adjusting the ratio of veggies (assorted - almost anything goes - tonight I used onion, green peppers, broccoli, no-salt canned crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, and of course, the chopped eggplant pulp from the "shells" [the eggplant "boats"]). There are lots of variations of this recipe online.

hipari

I've been reducing meat as well. I found it helpful in my meal planning to continue starting with the main protein source of the meal, and then expanding from there. Like "lentils", "halloumi cheese", "eggs", "tofu" etc, and then thinking what I could do with that. Sure, it helps that over the last year or so I have built a stack of regular recipes from which to choose from. Here are some recipe ideas:
- tofu stir fry
- lentil and spinach curry
- lentil and tomato pasta
- halloumi salad
- halloumi pasta
- baked eggs in marinara sauce

Another thing I do: add some veggies to anything and everything. I like onion, frozen spinach, cherry tomatoes. Every dish with a "protein-in-sauce" structure (like pasta, chili, curry etc.) gets some extra veggies, that sort of "dilutes" the meat percentage.

Cassandraw3

Another thing I like to do are "skillet" dishes. It seems easier to make them more veggies than meat and they can be delicious. Here are a couple that I really like.

https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/healthy-chicken-zucchini-skillet-corn-low-carb/

https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/one-pan-healthy-sausage-and-veggies/#_a5y_p=5830687

VUA21

Start by reducing the amount of meat you actually cook. This can be done easy enough by having main dishes that are meat, veggie, and starch. Make a beef & green bean stirfry and just use less meat, increase the green beans and no one other that you will know. Once a week, make an accidental vegatarian dish, such as bean & avocado tostada's, meatless lasagna, or eggplant parmesan.

lemurcat12

Explore other types of cuisine with more vegetarian dishes to help with the mindset that it's not a meal without meat. Indian was mentioned above, various East Asian options (nothing easier than a stirfry with tofu), various Italian and even Latin American options (you can easily do a vegetarian meal based around bean and rice, for example). Ethiopian is great for 100% plant-based meals, so on. Find websites or check out or buy cookbooks. Good excuse for a dinner out, too!