Low fat vegetarian meals

Candice83

hey guys im giving the vegetarian thing a go. Purely to see if i feel healthier through it. Any good recipes would be greatly appreciated as ive always been a meat lover and have no idea what im doing!

NZGYMCHICK

Ratatouille - slice up 1 large courgette (zucchini?) into thin slices, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, peel 2-3 medium tomatoes (plunge into boiling water for 1 min then into cold water, skins peel right off - or use 1/2 -1 can of tomatoes), crush a couple of garlic cloves, and chop 1/2 -1 red or brown onion. Saute the onions, garlic, courgettes in a small amount of olive oil, when everything starts to cook, add in the tomatoes and if you like some fresh herbs (basil, oregano & parsley go very nicely)... let simmer til vegetables soft but not mushy. Very delicious! (Above enough for about 2 serves).

doxyeggs

You'll do great! A stirfry is always good and easy. This is really what I make almost every day, because the process varies so much depending on my mood and what's available. The plus side is that no matter what, it's always blinking delicious. You'll need:

Medium firm - firm tofu
Soy sauce (there are organic and low sodium/no sodium options out there that are lovely)
Whatever other sauces you have in your fridge, plus probably fruit juice
Every kind of veg you have in your fridge, too
Extra virgin olive oil
One or two frying pans of whatever size you choose
A bowl
Sesame seeds, nuts and spices to taste

Cut the tofu into cubes, between a centimeter and an inch wide. Put the tofu cubes in a deep bowl. The fill the bowl with the sauces you found in your fridge - start with a solid amount of soy sauce, and then add the rest (I like a bit of worcestershire sauce, a drizzle of hot sauce, another drizzle of hoisin sauce and a bit of fruit juice). Add flavours and liquid until you cover the tofu almost completely, mix it up with your hands a bit, grind some pepper on top... and then forget about it. It's marinating.

Then chop up the entire contents of your veggie drawer. When you're done, put as little olive oil in the pan as you can to sensibly cover the bottom of whatever size pan you've got. Then you start throwing in your veg, onions first because I'm assuming you have onions because yes. Start throwing in your spices earlyish in this process; they're easier to spread around then.

Once you think most of the veg (and the nuts, if you like) are properly taken care of, turn off the burner and start the other pan. Another teeny weeny bit of olive oil and you can pull out the tofu, saving the marinade in the bowl. You just want to start seeing a tiny bit of colour on that tofu, really, to make it extra lovely. (If you don't have another pan, you can skip this step and just chuck in the tofu - make sure to leave the marinade in the bowl, though, for more control over how much sauce you have.) At this point you can literally dump it right back into the veg pan, turn the heat back on, mix it up and pour on however much marinade you think is necessary to make a sauce on top.

Voila. Suddenly: deliciousness, and it wasn't even difficult. Serve with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top and deliciousness everywhere.

A tip: Spinach is delicious just barely wilted from warmth, and it adds precious nutrients and gorgeous colour to about anything. Throw on a big pile of spinach about a minute before serving and stir it in until it's just begun to wilt, and I swear your stir fry will be perfection.

angevee

Soups are great. I do one which is a onion, a pepper, a can of chopped tomatoes, a can of beans in a chilli sauce, vegetable stock and tabasco. (If you don't add the stock to this one then you can have it with rice or a wrap like a quick bean chilli)

or root vegetable soup which is three parsnips, an onion, a couple of carrots and some stock. Wizz it up and it's lovely.

An onion, three leeks and a large floury potato with some stock all very easy, quick and filling.

Essentially most vegetarian food is low fat, it's when you add in the cheese!

fairymarie02

try the gaspacho it a easy to make recipe if you have a blender. 1 kg of tomatoes 1/2 cucumber , 1 red onion 1 ( or more depending how much you like it ) clove of garlic and onr red pepper. put every thing in the mixer until it's look like a soup. eat whith a little bit of bread. it is extremly low in calorie, an like the main ingredient is tomatoes ( low in GI) you don't fell hungry for the next 4 to 5 hours. Now the recipe is for 4 peolple.

cherry_blossom55

learn to love tofu! it's low fat, full of protein, so good for you and SO CHEAP. I use tofu in soups, pasta, stir fry, tacos/burritos, sandwiches, or just baked or fried on its own with some seasonings. In any given meal, if you replace your chosen meat with a piece of tofu, you'll decrease the fat content of that meal.

Also, don't buy store-made veggie burgers, look up recipes for chickpea patties if you want a "hamburger" type sandwich. They are delicious and versatile and very healthy!

PlunderBunneh

Bump! I want to see more recipes, these sound so tasty. While we aren't vegetarians, we are, as my husband words it, consuming less cows these days. Lols. I manage to sneak in one or two meatless meals a week, but I'd love to bump that up.

sara_m83

My favourite is my own creation veggie lasagna. Very simply. Just slice some veggies and alternately layer:

pasta sauce
lasagna sheet
eggplant
spinach
cottage cheese
mushrooms

until your baking pan is full. Then top with a layer of pasta sauce and some mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake for about an hour (I usually cover for the first 40 minutes so that the cheese doesn't over cook, then uncover for the last 20 so it browns nicely) on about 180 degrees or according to the directions on the pasta box. HUGE serving comes out to about 500 calories.

Candice83

Can i bump my own post?