I want to try to greatly reduce my meat consumption for the month of January in an effort to make myself cook more at home and see if changing up how I eat helps my energy levels. So does anyone have any tips on making a switch to a vegetarian diet?
What are some of your favorite or go-to vegetarian(ish) recipes? I’m not opposed to using things like chicken broth or even a small amount of meat for flavoring.
Chicken broth and minced vegetables make a great soup. Thicken a little with some rice or starch. Just add in whatever you like, or even some things you might not like, because minced tiny, individual vegetables tend to just disappear. Crack an egg or two into it to add some protein, maybe a can of beans. Slow cooker works great for this.
Impossible “ground beef” cooks just like the real stuff. Whatever you would do with the real stuff, you can do with that.
My daughter and son-in-law are vegetarians. When i cook for them I make Indian food. Chana masala (savory chick peas) is quick and easy. Use canned chickpeas.
I also love Gobi Manchurian (battered cauliflower in a spicy sauce). I make the sauce stove-top and the battered cauliflower in the air fryer.
If you like eggplant, you can make eggplant lasagna, stuffed eggplant (stuff with mixed veggies), Baba Ganoush, pasta topped with roasted eggplant in sauce, etc.
We like Field Roast plant based products and Tofurky products. I roasted a tofurkey “ham” that included an ale glaze that was fantastic. And used chipotle flavored field roast sausages in a pasta bake. Both were well received by the carnivores in the family.
Tofu in soups works really well. Try a silken tofu soup with chili crisp oil.
So many great recipes out there
I like seitan a lot for stir-fry recipes. It has a good texture without trying to be meat. You can also do a lot with mushrooms. I have one very quick recipe that comes to mind:
Oyster Mushroom and Spinach Orecchiette with Garlic and Lemon
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
14 ounces oyster mushrooms, chopped
6 ounce bag fresh spinach leaves (about 4 cups)
1 pound orecchiette pasta, cooked according the package directions
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Shaved Parmesan for serving, optional
Pour ¼ cup of the olive oil in a small saucepan and heat until warm over low heat, about 2 minutes. Only warm the oil, do not
allow it to bubble or simmer. Remove from the heat and add the garlic cloves. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high. Add the mushrooms and cook
for 3 minutes, until they become tender and liquid becomes visible in the pan. Add half of the spinach and cook for 2 more
minutes, until wilted.
Stir in the pasta and cook for 1 more minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining spinach. It will wilt only slightly.
Next, discard the garlic cloves and pour the oil over the pasta. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss all
ingredients to mix well.
Serve warm, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
Because I love garlic and subtlety is often lost on me, I don’t discard the cloves. I mince them up and toss them in with the pasta. In fact, if I’m in a hurry or don’t feel like bothering, I’ll just saute the garlic instead of messing with infusing the oil.
I make these simple (no measuring) veggie scramble breakfast tacos a couple times a week: Chop 3-4 brown mushrooms (with or without the stems, depending on size), a bit of onion or shallot or 2-3 green onions (depending on what I have), a handful of cherry tomatoes, and about a half a Jalapeno chile. Sauté with olive oil until the onions are browned - add a shake or two of salt to your taste. When the veggies are cooked, pour 1-2 scrambled eggs (or about a cup of eggmix from a carton) over it all and stir until the eggs are fully cooked and the veggies are mixed thru-out. In another heated pan, warm a flour tortilla until bubbly and steaming (depending on the size, you may have more), then spoon the veggie scramble onto the hot tortilla. Add a little cheese or hot sauce to your taste. If you don’t have or want tortillas, a slice or two of grainy whole wheat toast also works.
While my GF is not vegetarian she leans that way so I have had to learn a few vegetarian recipes.
Here is one we both enjoy (and, personally, I am not a big fan of tofu but this is good):
If you are willing to do fish this is a good one:
A vegetarian once cheerfully explained to me that, if not for pasta and peanut butter, she’d be dead.
I figure she wasn’t being serious, but wasn’t not being serious.
This is similar to my dad’s recipe, but he uses dried beans (black, lamoa, or pinto) and fresh bell peppers instead of chipotle. Even my meat-loving husband enjoys it.
Indeed. We have a vegan friend who visits for dinner once in a while; I’ve made TVP chili in the Crock Pot for us. Pretty sure I used McCormick’s recipe without the tomatoes.
Department of snacks (or light lunches) here: There are recipes out there which oven bake things you would normally fry. Here are a couple I use:
Healthier (less fat) and less messy. I’ve also seen and been intrigued by (but have not tried yet) recipes for oven baked arancini
You can make a fine pumpkin soup by roasting pumpkin with some onion and a little garlic, and then whizzing it up in stock with some chili powder. The trick is to add the rough chopped onion to the roasting (chopped) pumpkin after a half hour or or so, and the garlic ten minutes or so after that, so that they brown up but don’t burn. (A touch of charring is good for the flavor).
Here’s another whole-meal soup:
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Thank you everyone, these all look like delicious recipes to start out with! Please keep them coming!
I cried when I read this
Okay you redeemed yourself!
I make this vegetarian split pea soup several times per year:
Hearty Split Pea Soup (No Meat). Recipe - Food.com
(The lima beans specified in the ingredients should be dried.)
Quiches are a good choice for vegetarian dishes as long as you’re down with eggs (obviously) and dairy.
This is one of my faves:
Spinach Feta Tart
2TB. grated Romano or parmesan cheese (can sub nutritional yeast if desired)
1 9-inch pie shell (deep dish if store-bought), preferably parbaked and cooled
5 oz. fresh spinach, chopped (can sub one package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out)
8 oz. ricotta cheese, preferably whole milk
6-8 oz. sheep’s milk feta, crumbled (drained and rinsed if in brine)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¼ cup milk or half n half (can use cream too)
1 tsp. oregano
Pepper to taste if desired
Oven 375 F.
Sprinkle the grated parm/Romano/yeast into the bottom of the cooled pie shell.
Mix the chopped spinach, ricotta, feta, eggs, milk, oregano and pepper in a large bowl until well blended. If using fresh spinach, mixture will be thick and mostly spinach. Spoon into pie shell and bake 50-60 minutes or until center of tart is firm and top is slightly browned (there should be no liquid from the spinach left on the top). Cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.
Beans are also make a good vegetarian meal. This is one of my favorite bean meals; it’s Tuscan and the title translates to “beans in the style of a small bird.” Game meat is traditional in that region and the seasonings are what you’d use for game birds.
Fagioli All’uccelletto
1/2 pound dried white beans (Great Northern or navy), picked over (use 2 cans if using canned beans*)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 TB. olive oil
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes including juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried, crumbled
For dried beans: In a large saucepan soak beans in enough cold water to cover by 2 inches at least 8 hours or overnight.
Drain beans in a colander and return to saucepan with cold water to cover by 2 inches. Simmer beans, covered, until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid and drain beans in colander.
*For canned beans, start here.
In a heavy kettle cook garlic in oil over moderate heat, stirring until softened. Add beans, tomatoes with juice and sage and stir. Add reserved cooking liquid or ½ cup chicken broth if you want the mixture thinner. Add and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, until thickened to taste, about 25 minutes.
NOTES: You can add spinach to this at the end. Add red pepper flakes if you want heat.
You can serve both of these dishes with crusty bread and a green salad, or fruit salad.
As we’re eating Christmas leftovers, one more occurred to me. Posole is a traditional stew you see in New Mexico, especially near Christmas. It’s made with pork, red chile, and hominy, and obviously is not vegetarian, so I came up with a version that is.
Fauxsole
2 cups dry hominy (soaked overnight)
1 cup dry pinto beans (also soaked)
7 cups vegetable broth
2 Tbsp Cooking oil
Diced onion (1/2 - 1)
Minced garlic (4 - 8 cloves)
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup red chile powder
Oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, and cumin (to taste)
Bay leaf
Salt & pepper to taste
Soften onions in oil, stir in flour to make roux. Add garlic, then red chile powder and spices when garlic is soft (red chile burns very easily, so add it just before the liquid).
Stir in vegetable broth slowly
Add drained beans and hominy
Add bay leaf, cover, and simmer for 2 hours or until tender
Salt and pepper before serving
You can choose whatever heat level of red chile you prefer and adjust the amount to your taste.
Italian is pretty easy to go vegetarian (and if you eat cheese, even easier). here’s one from Kenji on Cacio e Pepe
Falafel but you need to avoid canned chickpeas and make from scratch. Prohomecooks has a simple recipe and shows how to cook in an air fryer: falafel part starts at about 1:10.
There’s a lot of meat substitutes out there now and I prefer the “impossible” ones.
If you’re cutting out meat but still do fish, then salmon steaks are a pretty good choice for most people