EASY healthy vegetarian main dishes?

I rely heavily on canned beans and lentils. Use garbanzo beans to top green salads. Also mash them up with celery/chopped pickles/spring onions and light mayo and put it in a pita. Use lentils to top green salads and make quick soup--chop and soften carrot-celery-onion mixture then add can of cooked lentils and veggie broth.

Eggs make a very quick, low-calorie, protein-rich meal. Stir fry veg, throw a couple eggs in and stir it all around.

I make one batch of pizza dough (I use this recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/316808/whole-wheat-pizza-dough but omit the oil), break it into six separate balls and freeze it. When I want pizza I take a ball out of the freezer in the morning and its ready to go by dinner time. It's approximately 330 calories per serving. Some dieters use pita bread as a pizza base to save time and calories.

This week I made a huge batch of marinara sauce on Sunday and used it for four meals--pizza (as sauce), roasted veggies mixed and baked w/ sauce over polenta (you can buy pre-made polenta in tubes at Trader Joes and I imagine at many other grocery stores), as "pasta" sauce (I used a veggie peeler to create ribbons of raw zucchini and use that as my pasta), and tonight where I used the last of the marinara by throwing it with green peas, fresh spinach and cooked pearl barley into a small baking dish, topped it with parmesan cheese and popped it in the oven which resulted in a strange but delicious veggie bake thing. These dishes all still work with store bought marinara, of course.

Mexican food can be quick and healthy. Tortillas and black beans with veggies (I use peppers, onions and mushrooms and prepare like you would a stir fry but season it with chili powder and cumin) for tacos or burritos. Top with salsa and avocado. Veggie chili can also be very healthy and filling--canned or homemade.

I find that when eating vegetarian (I sometimes eat seafood) I have to really load up on the vegetables to keep myself full. My husband is a meat eater and he will serve himself like a half cup of broccoli as a side dish for dinner. I have to at least triple that to keep myself full. I also add canned beans to whatever I can to add substance and protein to veggie meals. I still haven't figured out how to add protein to pizza though.

Here are some sites that might be helpful:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/
http://foodgawker.com/
http://summertomato.com/

I hope this helps! Good luck : )

I find that when eating vegetarian (I sometimes eat seafood) I have to really load up on the vegetables to keep myself full. My husband is a meat eater and he will serve himself like a half cup of broccoli as a side dish for dinner. I have to at least triple that to keep myself full. I also add canned beans to whatever I can to add substance and protein to veggie meals. I still haven't figured out how to add protein to pizza though.

I have a pizza recipe somewhere that uses pureed canellini beans as a white pizza sauce. I made it a couple of times because why not... and I guess that's one way to add protein! Texture leaves something to desired, as you might imagine.

I like spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and loads of veggies – mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions, whatever. A lot of volume, very filling and low in calories. I like to mix in some Upton's Naturals Italian Sausage style seitan.

I just googled cannellini sauce and found this recipe. I'm so making this! Thank you so much for the idea!
http://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.ie/2012/09/cannellini-cauliflower-alfredo-sauce.html

You can have a look at my diary, if you want to.

I love to prepare indian dishes like palak paneer or paneer with cauliflower and potatos. also indiam noodles (Papadams) with tomatosauce are great. I can send you some recepies, if you want to.

Best
Mimi

I am not a vegetarian but I do make a lot of vegetarian meals. I mostly get my recipes from All Recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/vegetarian/?vm=l&evt19=1&p34=HR_ListView#recipes

Some of my favorites are
Black bean veggie burgers
black bean burritos
black bean and salsa soup
vegetarian chili
Baked Falafels

I also really like Soy Glazed Tofu and Asparagus
http://www.food.com/recipe/soy-glazed-tofu-and-asparagus-64829

I had stuffed peppers for dinner last night:

Stuffed peppers per person:
45g(dry weight) brown rice, cooked
tbsp sunflower seeds
few sun dried tomatoes, soaked for 20mins then chopped
cup spinach diced
1/4 -1/2 avocado diced depending on your calorie limits
handful of basil
garlic clove crushed
2 spring onions diced
1/2 tbsp tamari
1/2 tbsp lime juice
pinch ground ginger
1/2 tsp cumin
2 Bell peppers

Core and bake the peppers in a hot oven for 30mins, mix everything else together and stuff the pepper...easy


My favorite veggie burgers - These are AWESOME:
http://www.womanandhome.com/recipes/534348/spicy-mexican-bean-burgers-recipe
I use half mixed beans half butter beans

Easiest healthy vegetarian meal I can think of is Pasta Marinara

Recipe for my Veggiebobble pasta
THE EQUIPEMENT

THE INGREDIENTS
pasta 2oz
passata 1l
peppers 3
red onions 3
cherry tomatos 15
garlic 10 cloves
cheese 30g

chop all your veggies to the sizes you like

brown your peppers then add in your onions and passata, let it settle for a minute or two then add in tomato's and garlic

while thats simmering boil your pasta and grate your cheese

seperate your sauce into seperate containers if you are going to serve on seperate occasions

serve your meal and top with cheese

or if your like me mix it all in together


this has been made in bulk but you can just make the one serving if you want. depending on the cheese used it works out at under 400 cals

Slenderkitchen.com and skinnykitchen.com are two of my favorite sites for vegetarian and low cal recipes that are also fairly easy. My favorite "go-to's" are homemade black bean burgers and then freeze them for easy and quick meals, zucchini pizzas, and small portions of pasta loaded with sauteed vegetables and beans. I've been a vegetarian for 20 years so meals can get boring after a while and I'm always looking for something new to try. Those quinoa fajita burritos sound awesome!!

I rely heavily on canned beans and lentils. Use garbanzo beans to top green salads. Also mash them up with celery/chopped pickles/spring onions and light mayo and put it in a pita. Use lentils to top green salads and make quick soup--chop and soften carrot-celery-onion mixture then add can of cooked lentils and veggie broth.

Eggs make a very quick, low-calorie, protein-rich meal. Stir fry veg, throw a couple eggs in and stir it all around.

I make one batch of pizza dough (I use this recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/316808/whole-wheat-pizza-dough but omit the oil), break it into six separate balls and freeze it. When I want pizza I take a ball out of the freezer in the morning and its ready to go by dinner time. It's approximately 330 calories per serving. Some dieters use pita bread as a pizza base to save time and calories.

This week I made a huge batch of marinara sauce on Sunday and used it for four meals--pizza (as sauce), roasted veggies mixed and baked w/ sauce over polenta (you can buy pre-made polenta in tubes at Trader Joes and I imagine at many other grocery stores), as "pasta" sauce (I used a veggie peeler to create ribbons of raw zucchini and use that as my pasta), and tonight where I used the last of the marinara by throwing it with green peas, fresh spinach and cooked pearl barley into a small baking dish, topped it with parmesan cheese and popped it in the oven which resulted in a strange but delicious veggie bake thing. These dishes all still work with store bought marinara, of course.

Mexican food can be quick and healthy. Tortillas and black beans with veggies (I use peppers, onions and mushrooms and prepare like you would a stir fry but season it with chili powder and cumin) for tacos or burritos. Top with salsa and avocado. Veggie chili can also be very healthy and filling--canned or homemade.

I find that when eating vegetarian (I sometimes eat seafood) I have to really load up on the vegetables to keep myself full. My husband is a meat eater and he will serve himself like a half cup of broccoli as a side dish for dinner. I have to at least triple that to keep myself full. I also add canned beans to whatever I can to add substance and protein to veggie meals. I still haven't figured out how to add protein to pizza though.

Here are some sites that might be helpful:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/
http://foodgawker.com/
http://summertomato.com/

I hope this helps! Good luck : )

I am the worst cook...ever. However, I need to eat. I am a vegetarian and am looking for ideas or recipes for main dishes?

I seem to always find myself hungry/unsatisfied after dinner. I will generally do one of the following:
- a rice and veggie stirfry
- a rice and tofu/veggie stirfry
- canned soup
- quinoa salad

Any suggestions on new things I can try? I need it to be filling and under/around 600 cals! Recipes would be awesome but ideas are also great Or ways to make my existing meals have more substance?

:flowerforyou:

I am the worst cook ever, too. I eat brown rice, 1 cup lentils, and steamed, stir fried, or blanched veggies all the time. A cup of lentils has the protein of 3 eggs. They taste somewhat bland, but take on the flavor of whatever you cook with them.

Sample meal:
1/2 cup brown rice (cook ahead of time in a rice cooker)
1 cup lentils (boil and simmer for 30 minutes. I cook a big batch twice a week).
1 cup steamed butternut squash
1 cup steamed kale or collard greens
For the lentils, you can cook a big batch in a pot and season at the table with sea salt, Tamari, or toasted sesame seeds. Or stir in a pan with a little olive oil or vegetable broth.

Lentils are also good with sweet onions, tomatoes, any kind of squash, avocado, and just about anything else.

Hiya, mixed bean chilli, pasta and passatta sauce, spinach and lentil dhal, pea and asparagus risotto as well as lots of other pasta dishes. If you want any of the recipes just contact me x