[Orange Underpant...]

Any great recipes that will mean that I don't have to cook two dinners every night? I've always wanted to be nearly veggo but have compromised because eveyone else around here prefers meat.

Hmmm... thinking caps on...

[BadKitteh]

Bumping for you. I'm curious as well.

[Orange Underpant...]

Upon further reading the vegetarian toddler thread there are a lot of ideas there. A few good links, worth a look!

[icekool]

I use to cook the usual meal n not eat the meat bits. ie meat in the pasta, stir fry, curry

[kpingitquiet]

I'm a big fan of splitting recipes in half at one stage and adding meat to one side and lentils, chickpeas, beans, or mushrooms to the other side. It's handy to keep cans of these around or pre-cook large batches of beans/lentils and freeze them in single-serve packets.

When cooking for a mix of eaters I tend to have three pans on the stove (1 large for master recipe (curry or sauce or veggies, etc), 1 small for meat component, 1 small for veg protein component) and one big bowl on the counter for combining half the master recipe with the veg protein. I add the meat component to the master recipe remaining in the large pot.

[kpingitquiet]

Btw, even meat eaters don't need meat every night Maybe 3-4 meals per week can simply be meat-free. That opens up a LOT more options as most vegetarian recipes I love are not designed to "substitute" the meat factor with veg protein, but rather to create an entirely vegetarian dish that stands alone. Stuffed eggplant/capsicum comes to mind, many soups and stews, vegetable gratins, roasted veg and nut salads, eggplant parmigiana, the many vegetarian Indian and Chinese dishes out there, etc.

[Orange Underpant...]

Btw, even meat eaters don't need meat every night Maybe 3-4 meals per week can simply be meat-free.

hahaha Tell that to my DH! He'd burn me with his laser vision!!

[BadKitteh]

Btw, even meat eaters don't need meat every night

I agree. We're eating a lot less meat this year as a healthier way of eating. However, I'm cutting back to virtually no red meat at all. DH isn't keen to give it away completely and go vegetarian so, we've compromised.

[BadKitteh]

I'm also trying to extend my veg cooking repertoire to include more curries. I even made naan from scratch yesterday, it was a disaster they were lovely bread rolls though

[JBH]

We do lots of dishes like this. Some examples below.

Salad or brown lentils (tinned), roast beetroot, baby spinach and feta with lemon mint vinaigrette. Sliced grilled lamb on top for those who want it.

Lentil dhal with grilled marinated chicken for those who want it.

Stewed eggplant and zucchini served with couscous and crumbled bacon for those who want it.

Deconstructed bologaise - serve separate dishes of cooked mince, fried eggplant, tomato based sauce, basil leaves and pasta to mix as people please.

By the way, this is delicious and requires no meat, although bacon would go well for those who insist:
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/...0218-2em6i.html


This post has been edited by JBH: 22/02/2013, 05:57 PM