vegetarian meal plans...

agibsonky

For lent our church is giving us a challenge each week...This week's challenge is to forego meat for a week...I already have a pot of white beans soaking and I'm planning to make some pumpkin ravioli...Any other ideas for (picky kid friendly) meatless meals?

Thanks!

abyt42

Yam gratin:
layer raw yam slices, yellow onion, shredded smoked cheese (about 2 yams, 1 yellow onion, small amount of cheese) in a baking dish. Cover with foil.
Bake at 350 until tender, then bake without foil to make the cheese crispy.

Vegetable lasagne
(omit meat from your favorite recipe, and layer in zucchini slices, tomato slices and mushrooms between your noodles.)

Broccoli cheese soup (I use a recipe from Vegetarian Celebrations that my kids love)
Baked Potato Soup (from Follow Your Heart cookbook...)

Chili (I use Cooking Light, and omit meat)
Crockpot enchilada casserole (from crockpot365.com)

Loaded potatoes
Scoop out 4 large baked potatoes, mix guts with sauted broccoli, red bell peppers, onions, mushrooms,roasted garlic cloves, pepper and about an ounce of shredded cheddar. Refill the shells, sprinkle the potatoes with about 1/2 oz of shredded cheddar, and bake until they're toasty warm.

sara_m83

Vegetarian lasagna
Quesadillas (red & green peppers, mushrooms & cheddar cheese)
Veggie pita pizzas (tomato sauce on pita bread, fresh herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, mozzarella & parmesan cheese)
Chickpea burgers (check out the recipe on EatingWell.com - soooo delicious).


Feel free to use veggie mince/sausages/etc in place of your favourites as well if you're concerned about your protein/iron intake for the week. Otherwise, all your favourites can generally be made meatless pretty simply.

godblessourhome

cheese enchiladas
black bean burritos
breakfast burritos
minestrone soup
veggie kabobs
tokyo-joe style veggie bowl with brown rice
grilled cheese and tomato soup
fried egg sandwiches
egg salad sandwiches
eggplant parmesan
fetticini alfredo with broccoli
baked mac and cheese
strawberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast
chili relleno casserole
red beans and rice
spanikopita
loaded baked potatoes
loaded baked potato soup
five-layer dip with blue corn chips
four cheese pizza

agibsonky

Chili is a great idea! My family doesn't really care much for pasta, so I don't think the lasagne weould go over well...They might eat the potato soup...

eating4balance

Black bean burgers
Mini pita pizzas
Tofu Chicken Nuggets
Veggie Lasagna

http://www.neverhomemaker.com/

Most of their recipes are vegan (occasionally there is fish and eggs)

shaeprater

I'm a vegetarian and I NEVER get bored! Then again, I'm not a picky kid. :-) I eat a wide variety of food, from cajun (red beans and rice) to Indian to good ol' southern soup beans and corn bread, but I have a couple of suggestions:

The internet is your friend this week. Don't limit yourself in what you eat; just find a vegetarian replacement! There are some really creative people out there that have already done the legwork for you!

It's really easy to find "analogs" for meat products when you're a vegetarian. Just do a quick internet search. If you want a tuna salad sandwich, you'll find that canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) mushed up are an acceptable tuna replacement. Same goes for the Tuna Helper prepared meals. Boil your chickpeas for a little while to soften them up and use the juice as a replacement for the water in the recipe and you couldn't tell the difference.

Of course, I've been vegetarian for a few years. :-)

If you find a recipe, make sure it's a highly rated one. I've taken many of my recipes from this blog: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

I'm a very busy person and LOVE peanut butter on whole wheat (Nature's Own Double Fiber) sandwiches with a banana. Vegetable soup, chili with LOTS of beans, veggie burgers... There are some garden variety "meat analogs" that should be in your grocer's fridge/freezer. You can make taco's with the "Gimme Lean" brand "ground beef" that comes in a roll. The "Gimme Lean" sausage ("soysage") is also good for breakfast. I always make soysage gravy and biscuits on the weekends. However, just like every packaged food product, you just have to be aware of the sodium.

agibsonky

These are some great ideas...there are a few on here that my family might actually touch...I live in a house of carnivours and it will be difficult to satisfy them this week...They also don't like any casseroles or foods that are all mixed up...like pasta with sauce, enchiladas, etc. They will eat Pizza, though (I guess they don't count that as mixed up ) I am hoping for a good response on chili, but they aren't particularly good soup eaters, either. It will be an adventure!!!

Thanks everyone!

cassiopeia2713

I've been vegetarian for a long time and I grew up in a meat-and-potatoes kind of family. I never went hungry though.

Homemade MacNCheese when done right always goes over well (baked or otherwise). Not the healthiest, but can be made healthy with a couple changes. Who doesn't love MacNChz?

Chili can be made quite hearty and less soupy (three or four bean chili). Very filling and healthy choice!

Stuffed Peppers are ALWAYS a treat and meat can easily be omitted from any recipe you find online

It may be a stretch for picky eaters because for some reason people have this weird dislike for eggplant... but Eggplant is DELICIOUS. I usually marinate it in balsamic vinegar and grill it. I then use it to replace meat on a sandwich with light mayo, onion, and lettuce. Eggplant parmesan is also really tasty and the eggplant can be baked instead of fried as a healthy alternative.

I'm drawing a blank as to other ideas for no apparent reason, but hopefully your meatless week goes smoothly! My best advice is take what you know and be creative in replacing the meat!

fantomette

I've been vegetarian for a long time and I grew up in a meat-and-potatoes kind of family. I never went hungry though.

Homemade MacNCheese when done right always goes over well (baked or otherwise). Not the healthiest, but can be made healthy with a couple changes. Who doesn't love MacNChz?

Chili can be made quite hearty and less soupy (three or four bean chili). Very filling and healthy choice!

Stuffed Peppers are ALWAYS a treat and meat can easily be omitted from any recipe you find online

It may be a stretch for picky eaters because for some reason people have this weird dislike for eggplant... but Eggplant is DELICIOUS. I usually marinate it in balsamic vinegar and grill it. I then use it to replace meat on a sandwich with light mayo, onion, and lettuce. Eggplant parmesan is also really tasty and the eggplant can be baked instead of fried as a healthy alternative.

I'm drawing a blank as to other ideas for no apparent reason, but hopefully your meatless week goes smoothly! My best advice is take what you know and be creative in replacing the meat!

Stuffed peppers are such a good idea! I love them with a tomatoes-rice-cheese mixture in it! So yummy!
As for eggplant I like them the same way you would make a lasagna.

Do your kids like tacos or fajitas? I cook them without the meat quite often. Put all the fixings in little bowls and they can make their own it's pretty good.

...you know they are selling pretty good veggie sausages, veggie-fake-chicken fingers and things like that? Some are really delicious.