Vegetarian Recipes

JLMcWeeney

I have decided I want to go vegetarian, and I would love if people would share recipes with me. I have had a hard time preparing raw meat since my pregnancy. The more I think about going meat free the more I know it is the right thing for me to do.

If anyone has any tips to share or advice about going vegetarian please share as well. I need all the information I can get!

RoosterWrangler

This recipe was one of my favorites before I became a vegetarian.

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cheesy-chicken-enchilada-soup/101433de-6049-4e50-8c49-db1d35f5cca9?src=SH

Once I stopped eating meat, I couldn't let it go, so I just "vegetarianized" it and it tasted just as good as the meat version! All I did was replace the cans of cream of chicken soup with cans of cream of mushroom soup and used fake frozen chicken cooked up in a skillet and seasoned with some paprika, cumin, and garlic salt instead of the real deal. The fake chicken I use is in the frozen food aisle at our grocery is made by Gardein - "Teriyaki Chick'n Strips" - I just throw away the teriyaki sauce included in the package and season the strips myself. We eat this soup at least once a week.

Lesley726

I have been a vegetarian most of my life...the texture and smell of meat has always bothered me. So many people ask me how I keep up my protein intake but in all actuality our society eats way more then we truly need. I get a lot of my protein through nuts and the "fake" meat substitutes. Morning star makes great products...my husband (who is a HUGE meat lover) even likes those. My favorite is the buffalo chicken patty.

As far as recipes, if you have current meat dishes that you love I always just try to sub it out with something. So for example with chili, I would use extra beans or soy crumbles.

My fav recipe these days is "chicken" lettuce wraps. I just use the soy crumbles or tofu. I use really any veggies that I have on hand...typically mushroom, snow peas, peppers, onions, shredded carrots ect...I sauté all that in teriyaki sauce, heat up some brown rice and put it all together in butter lettuce. YUM!!

Kristonita12

Read vegetarian food blogs! That's how I did it. I do not care for fake meat on the market, but I love subbing for tofu, soy crumbles, and seitan. all delicious.

eyris

I've been a vegetarian for about 16 years.

Some of my favorite (easily adaptable from meat recipes) things are:

Pastas - pretty much all pasta can be made veggie easily if the recipe isn't already.

Veggie Chili - veggie "beef" substitute is your friend!  I like the GimmeLean kind in a tube, but MorningStar and Boca make frozen crumbles which are good too.  You can pretty much make any ground beef recipe with these - if it's a recipe that calls for fattier ground beef you can add a bit of oil or butter to make up for it.  I even make Polish Golabki (stuffed cabbage) with the GimmeLean stuff and my meat-eating family members love them.

Stir-Fry - there are so many good sauces and veggie combos.  Just sub meat for tofu or veggie chicken strips or just have veggies.  Careful with tofu if you've never cooked it, it can be a little tricky to get right at first but don't let it scare you off.

Black Bean Tacos - I make them just like regular tacos but I add the taco spice to black beans instead of meat and smash them up a bit with a potato masher so they're kind of a refried bean consistency.

On that note, Morningstar black bean burgers are really good, too.  I make them with BBQ sauce or mayo.  It's a nice easy dinner to pair with a salad or other veggies.

We also eat what my husband has named "Quesadilla Salad"  I'll make a big salad and pair it with quesadillas.  Either just cheese or you can add beans, veggies, whatever you want.

Soups - so many good soups!  Black bean, lentil, cabbage, veggie -- a lot of soups are easy to adapt, too, by using vegetable stock instead of chicken or beef.

If you're still going to eat eggs, omelettes and fritattas can be quick and easy for any meal of the day as well.  I like feta and tomato myself.

Good luck going veggie!  It's hard at first but 16 years in it's just my life, I don't even think twice about it most of the time.

TKtravels

I have loads of vegetarian and vegan recipes binned on my food board, if you're a pinterest user. 

We're having egg foo young for dinner tonight.  I'm using this recipe, but as I don't have any konbu dashi on hand, I'm improvising a mushroom, soy, and sesame oil gravy.  And I'm serving it over quinoa instead of rice because H prefers it that way.  

Egg Foo Young

Ingredients:

6 eggs, beaten

1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup grated carrot

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced bok choy

1/2 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms

1 1/2 cup bean sprouts

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced ginger root

gravy:

3 cups water

1 packet dashi powder, or 1 teaspoon

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce) and mirin (Japanese sweet cooking sake)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Put all the vegetables into a bowl, except the cilantro, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

To make the dashi gravy, put a dashi packet into 3 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to simmer. Add shoyu, sugar and mirin. Mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with a little bit of water to make a slurry, and add to the gravy mixture when it boils, stirring constantly and adding a little at a time. Stop when the gravy has reached its desired consistency. Turn down the heat and keep warm until the egg foo young is done.

To make the egg foo young, pour off any water at the bottom of the vegetable bowl, crack the eggs into a bowl, beat them, and add them to the vegetable mixture along with 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. Mix well.

Heat a frying pan and add about 1/2 teaspoon of canola oil into the pan and spread it evenly. Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of the vegetable-egg mixture, keeping the egg from spreading out by pushing the little egg fingers back into the circle with a spatula. Turn the egg/veggie pancake over when the egg on the bottom is set and the bottom is golden brown. Cook for a few more minutes, and remove to a platter. Repeat until all the veggie/egg mixture is gone. You can scramble any leftover egg at the bottom of the bowl or discard.

Serve with dashi gravy over hot rice and garnish with green onions, cilantro, bean sprouts and/or mushrooms.

JLMcWeeney

Thanks everyone so much for the ideas. I'm really excited to become a vegetarian. My husband isn't thrilled, but I think there are plenty of good recipes out there that we both will enjoy.