Simple Flavorful Vegetarian Meals?

BossMomma16

My husband and I are vegetarian (me newly transitioned) and I'm struggling to come up with healthy meals. Google and Pinterest give stuff that either doesn't look good or is very complicated. Also best foods to eat for Weight loss?

jgnatca

Start with your protein base and have a go-to recipe for each one.

This is my favourite way to eat tofu.

https://pin.it/pfmyf32rc4bgc2

If you allow dairy this is awesome for chickpeas.

https://pin.it/ss7jteidwhxe4z

Spicy black bean soup.

https://pin.it/a5zm3qcnbh7yu2

As for weight loss, it’s not about what you eat as how much. So all foods are on the table. Weigh your portions and stay within your calorie goal. After a few weeks of logging you will have a much better idea what an appropriate portion is.

acpgee

Gado gado. Skip the shrimp paste and replace fish sauce with soy sauce.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/gado-gado-salad

Sesame noodles.
https://www.recipetineats.com/sesame-noodles/

Mejadra. But to keep it simple don't bother deep frying the onion and use ready made deep fried onions or shallots.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/09/mejadra-recipe-yotam-ottolenghi

jgnatca

I’m going to try that Mejadra. I’ll use my Actifry for the crisp onions.

acpgee

There are a lot of very easy Italian pasta dishes that are vegetarian where the sauce is made in the 10 minutes needed to cook the pasta. You will need a veggie side or a salad to make these a balsnced meal. You can also replace 30%-50% of pasta with spiralized squash or courgette to reduce calories without detriment to texture of original recipe.

Spaghetti aglio e olio
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/222000/spaghetti-aglio-e-olio/

Spaghetti cacio e pepe
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/nov/03/how-to-make-the-perfect-cacio-e-pepe

nynjcitygirlelaine

Check out vegetarian times website. Great recipes, have been using them for many years.

costaricavacation

The person who said it’s not about what you eat but how much you eat, of course, has a good point. However, you can eat as much steamed broccoli, celery, spinach etc as you want. Sometimes it just feels good to eat a lot of food.

cwolfman13

One of my favorites...

https://detoxinista.com/vegan-lentil-sweet-potato-curry/

Love_2_Hike

https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/tags/vegetarian

Have a scroll through here. All my dinners this week are from here!

Querian

acpgee wrote: »

Mejadra. But to keep it simple don't bother deep frying the onion and use ready made deep fried onions or shallots.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/09/mejadra-recipe-yotam-ottolenghi

I made this last night and even my 4 year old who hates beans and lentils liked it. I cooked the onions in the air fryer with just a little oil until they were basically caramelized instead of using fried onions. I cooked the lentils first in an instant pot then cooked the rice and spices then blended it all together with the onions.

Querian

I have many favorite recipes I rotate through:

Noodles and Sauce
I make homemade marinara sauce with noodles. My kiddo’s favorite. Sometimes I add tvp or lentils or make “bean balls” or make sautéed mushrooms with it. I serve it with a green salad. I put half a batch of sauce in the freezer for another meal it to use with homemade pizza.

Seitan
Here are two favorite Seitan recipes:
Sausages can be eaten alone, served on a bun or sliced up and added to recipes like soup or pasta: https://www.isachandra.com/2012/01/vegan_sausage/
BBQ Ribs - I love these and usually make a double batch. Sometimes I substitute an Asian marinade in place of bbq sauce for a different flavor profile: https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/barbecued-seitan-ribz.html

Mushroom Stroganoff
I am obsessed with this lately. I usually skip the pasta and serve this over rice: https://frommybowl.com/one-pot-mushroom-stroganoff/

Other favorites are:
Tofu Jerky
Chickpea Curry
Veggie Reuben
Tacos
Chili
Lentil soup
Stir fry with tofu
Hummus
Quinoa tabbouleh

I could go on and on

nooshi713

I love rice and beans. Red beans cooked Haitian or Puerto Rican style or Cuban style black beans. Nothing better.

Dianna__

https://youtu.be/X4gwxDpzqhs try Indian food, I've made my own at home. Following the recipe and also making it without the extras that u maybe can't find and it comes out great. They use a lot of spices and most are vegan or vegetarian so they have a lot to offer. Yesterday I made a recipe similar to this excluding curry leaves and one or 2 spice was missing along with me using a different onion but it was so good. I added corn and broccoli

Dianna__

Also I use little red potatoes. I only buy those because they are the original potato and others are just man made .

Dianna__

Also canned jackfruit in place of meat for tacos or anything really. Look up recipes on youtube!
https://youtu.be/vehbmvL3mtA.

https://youtu.be/KdZspNPcwnI
https://youtu.be/SW0atW-xxCE
https://youtu.be/xv_nUE_9drw

acpgee

Google porcini risotto and lemon risotto.

acpgee

Not exactly low calorie, but we were at a restaurant tonight where the french woman at the next table ordered a baked camembert for dinner. She was dipping melba toast into the melted cheese. A more balanced meal would be to dip raw and blanched veggies such as green beans, asparagus spears, snow peas, tender stem broccoli into the melted cheese.

Along the same lines mac and cheese is an easy flavourful veggie dinner. I lighten mine by stretching macaronni with 30%-50% cubed courgette. Instead of traditional cheesey bechamel, I blitz no fat cottage cheese in the food processor and stir in some grated hard cheese (cheddar, parmesan, or pecorino) to taste. Pop cooked pasta and lower calorie cheese sauce into a casserole dish, top with bread crumbs and extra grated cheese and bake until bubbling.