Just curious. I was putting together the menu for next week and realized we only ever have one vegetarian option. It’s a roasted red pepper bisque, with grilled cheese on the side. Even a ravening carnivore doesn’t mind eating that once in a while!
Absolutely. We’re meat-eaters but try to eat a lot of vegetarian, or low-meat, meals. Right now I’m eating lentil soup, but it’s made with chicken broth. This week I’ve also eaten mushroom pasta and dal. Next week we have bean burritos, twice baked potatoes, and hummus on the menu, and we may or may not put meat in our spaghetti sauce.
Cooking without meat can be pretty easy and tasty. Now, if you asked me to go without dairy, that would be a non-starter.
We aren’t vegetarian, but we do eat plenty of meals that are vegetarian friendly. Pasta dishes, roasted root veggies, gazpacho, humus, etc. I could easily go a few weeks without any meat.
Not in regular rotation, but we do on occasion end up dining on grilled cheese and home made tomato soup. Otherwise we also episodically do something meatless when the Mrs. wants to try such a recipe. No big deal.
The lentils recipe I posted a couple of days ago. I usually make it with sausage, but the original version is meatless, just as I posted it.
Garbanzos are another stewed-bean dish that works really well without any meat:
carrot
small onion
tomato
leek
1 clove garlic
bay leaf
1 red bell pepper
ground cumin
paprika (smoked if ya got it)
salt
high-grade olive oil
garbanzo beans soaked 12 hours.
green beans
squash
I use a pressure cooker; regular pot with lid works fine (takes longer). Clean and prepare vegetables: chopping not necessary, except for carrot, which is peeled and halved. Boil an inch or two of water, add everything except garbanzos, green beans and squash. When liquid boils anew, add garbanzos. Cover with lid and cook for 10 to 15 minutes (longer in regular pot). Run onion, leek, bell pepper and tomato through food mill (or use blender) and return to pot. Prepare green beans (remove any fibrous strands), cut into bite-sized pieces and add to pot. Cover and cook another 5 minutes (a bit longer in regular pot). Remove lid and, when garbanzos are almost tender, remove squash rind, cut into pieces and add to pot. It needs only 5 minutes or so to become tender. Instead of stirring with spoon or whatever, hold pot firmly by handles and carefully jostle ingredients to mix them (do this several times toward end of cooking process). Check tenderness of squash and saltiness of broth.
The only tricks are to use good ingredients, add them at the right time so they’re neither undercooked nor overcooked by the end, and to maintain just enough liquid in the pot (not too much). I think thyme or saffron would be nice additions, although probably not both in the same batch.
I’m fairly carnivorous, but aloo gobi is one of my favorite side dishes. I’m pretty fine with a lot of vegetarian fare really. Less so vegan.
Sounds great! My husband is the ravening carnivore; I might have to slip him the sausage.
That did not come out right.
Occasionally I get a vegetarian pizza, but mostly when I am out with Muslim or vegetarian friends.
Nope. There are occasional vegetarian meals that make it into the rotation but I always end up hungry before bed time on those nights. We’re much more likely to have a steak and nothing else.
That’s for dinners for breakfast today I had shredded wheat and Ramen for lunch so no meat so far.
Yes. I think of myself as a carnivore, but there are several vegetarian and vegan “main dishes” i enjoy regularly:
Lentils
Chickpeas with rice
Pasta fagioli
Cheese pizza
I also make a nice soup with three beans and pasta. I usually use chicken broth, but it’s easy to use vegetable broth of I’m serving vegans. Oh, and my husband makes a cauliflower, lentil, and potato stew regularly. I don’t love it, but he and our daughter do. So it comes up pretty regularly.
And if I’m serving vegans, i may also do falafel and roasted root vegetables.
And i often eat vegetarian for lunch. PB&J is an easy and satisfying lunch. So are grilled cheese, an omelet, or a frozen cheese pizza.
Pretty much the same as us. We don’t set out to have a vegetarian meal but we also don’t say “This can’t be dinner, where’s the meat?” either. Tomato or vegetable soup, salads, portobello mushrooms, pasta, spaghetti squash, etc might all be a basis for the main course. We just don’t make any point of it.
A big can of Campbell’s tomato soup, black beans, red kidney beans, corn, baby spinach, and (cooked) pasta shells. Let it all simmer then have at it.
I call this my “guilt” meal. I usually make it when I’ve been eating like crap for a few days and start to feel drained of energy. Better load up on veggies!
Oh, yeah. We also do black bean soup, to which I like to add some sour cream. We also do split pea soup, but I usually use some meat in the broth. Duck broth works nicely now that my family doesn’t eat pork.
Mrs T has never liked much meat, especially red meat. It was a bit of a bone of contention (heh!) but then I was hit with dietary restrictions that cut out red meat and limited me, meatwise, to (fish and) fowl. That gets old real quick. So she won and yes, we do eat quite a bit of vegetarian.
Purely vegetable would be a variety of soups (pumpkin, leek and potato, runner bean); vegetable stews (basically the stew with lentils replacing the meat); baba ganoush, hummus; various dalls and curries; miso aubergine; vegetable tagine; veggie burgers and the like.
Dishes without meat or fish would be quiches, roast vegetable lasagne, eggs done a number of ways. Or a baked potato with cheese.
Tofu I cannot cope with. not only does it taste of nothing, you can’t flavor it AND it sucks the flavor out of anything that comes near it - avoid.
j
Often, a few main dishes off the top of my head…
Pizza with peppers, onions, mushrooms
Eggplant parmigiana
Black bean stuffed peppers
I don’t do “vegetarian” but I do do dishes that do not contain meat. I have a few soups that I make, black bean soup, cream of broccoli, and just a straight up vegetable soup that go over pretty well.
Eggplant parmesan is a pretty good one. Most people don’t even realize it doesn’t have meat in it. I can make a pretty good spaghetti sauce and bread, I prefer it with meatballs, but I don’t always make them.
Thanks, I forgot that I make some awesome twice baked potatoes. I’ll have to put them into the rotation.
I meant to add, as much as he annoys the hell out of me, Jamie Oliver has many a fine menu including a vegetarian range:
Enjoy.
j
Not really, because “regular rotation” isn’t that much of a thing around here, but there are plenty of no meat or low meat foods that I enjoy.
I almost never cook a big chunk of meat, but my Dad really enjoys grilling, so I get plenty anyway.
As I’ve said before on these boards (a long time ago, actually), I am a vegan in principle, but a carnivore in actual practice.
But at the present time, I am actually mostly vegan or vegetarian. Because have you seen all the vegan/vegetarian options in the stores today? I know where I live (Detroit, MI) every supermarket has a section for it. Interesting. Amy’s entrees is my favorite, if you were wondering.
And I have to say while I get the chance, meat eating is disgusting. Immoral, yes. But I also find it disgusting. What more can I say?
Pasta Salad. Beans and cornbread. We also do grilled cheese. veggie soup