Dear Jenny,
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Last winter, my 10-year-old, who is a voracious and wonderfully appreciative eater, started making noises about becoming a vegetarian. We engaged the conversation, of course, which then piqued the interest of my 8-year-old. They both decided that, because of their feelings about animals, they wanted to become vegetarians. My husband and I totally supported this, but told her that we wouldn’t have the family go full vegetarian because a) our 4-year-old loves meat and b) we like meat. But we agreed that all meals would have a vegetarian base and possibly some meat on the side, which they could choose to eat or not. They both felt comfortable with this.
So, here’s my question. I have really tried to expand my beans and lentils repertoire but I feel like I’m running out of new and exciting ideas for vegetarian meals. I feel slightly overwhelmed by tofu and frankly grossed out by tempeh. So, any good dishes that we could all eat would be a life saver.
Love,
Kate
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Dear Kate,
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten some version of this letter. A few weeks ago, at one of my talks, a mom raised her hand and outlined a very similar story then asked for advice. Frankly, I’m stymied, too, and I have a hard time coming up with anything beyond my usual one-word answer: Pizza. (I was grateful when another mother in the audience took over and started giving advice; her recommendation to visit Oh She Glows was validated by many head nods around the room.) I’m not going to leave you totally high and dry, though. I recommend picking up a few cookbooks that will be key in the inspiration department. Start with these:
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- Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (The Classic) by Deborah Madison
- Super Natural Everyday (The Modern Classic) by Heidi Swanson
- How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (The Tome) by Mark Bittman.
Next, I’ve rounded up a couple vegetarian favorites in my house, focusing on the ones that are flexible, i.e. they can be easily doctored to suit all tastes without a lot of work on the part of the cook:
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- Vegetable Fritters – They’re like pancakes for dinner; literally your golden ticket
- Burrito Bowl – Your two vegetarians can opt out of the chicken
- Salad Bar Night – A medley of fresh salads and leftovers
- Spaghetti with Mint-Pea Pesto or Regular Pesto
- Vegetable Dumplings – feel free to brown a quarter pound of ground pork, and stir into a separate bowl with the vegetable filling. Then the vegetarians and the meat-eaters will both be happy. Note: Do not attempt this on a weeknight when you are pressed for time; you will swear off DALS for all time.
- Pizza – The Dinner Elixir; try Salad Pizza or, since ramps will only be in season for another hour or two, this one.
Lastly, I feel certain there are DALS readers out there who are dealing with similar issues around the dinner table, and I feel certain they will share their support, their wisdom, and their recipes.
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Good luck!
Love, Jenny
I love the cookbook Super Natural Every Day. We are not vegetarians but make tons of use of this cookbook. Mexican and Indian foods are also delicious and filling as vegetarian dishes. Find a few you like.
Highly recommend The Flexitarian Table by Peter Berley. Exactly designed for this case–you start a meal, split it into potions, then add the protein–veg or not. Super yummy recipes, and great starting points for a ton of other ideas.
Enjoy!
I would wholeheartedly recommend the Quick Vegetarian Pleasures cookbook . It’s a golden oldie from the 90s, but has great, simple recipes that truly are quickly made.
One of my favorite recipes from my childhood was something my grandfather created, which he appropriately named Pasta Picasso. It sounds strange, but bear with me! The base is fresh fettuccine, either plan or with spinach (often we got those Butoni packages). Next is a dollop of sour cream (or plain yogurt), and then everyone gets to choose from themselves what goes on it from little bowls that you set out… the possibilities are endless, but we ALWAYS had sliced black olives, cubed ham, grated swiss and cheddar cheese, green onions, bacon crumbles, tomatoes, sliced radishes, sliced mushrooms, sunflower seeds, and even fried chow mein noodles! The beauty of it is that everyone gets to make their own little work of art 🙂 Always a favorite.
I recommend “The Meat Free Monday Cookbook”. We’ve been trying to have a couple meat free meals a week and I didn’t know where to begin. This book had lots of great ideas and I could get it from the library!
I was a vegetarian for many years but now I try to limit the meat I eat. At home my husband and I eat mainly veggie meals with the occasional chicken dish.
Since we love spicy food Indian is one of our go to cuisines. Biriyanis are great: you can add meat later for the meat lovers or just keep it veggie all the way since this can be a hearty dish too. If you are starting out I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Vegetarian-Cooking-Healthy-Cuisine/dp/1570670048/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399336151&sr=1-5&keywords=sunetra
We also enjoy Falafel. This has lately become a favorite in my house: http://www.justataste.com/2011/08/homemade-falafel-with-tahini-sauce/
I am also a fan of Thug Kitchen. Just FYI there is a fair bit of swearing on the blog but the recipes are top notch.
http://thugkitchen.com/
Stamppot, a traditional Dutch dish, is great for the winter months. The varieties are endless and the meat is cooked separately. I also suggest adding some mild cheddar on top – yum. http://www.food.com/recipe/boerenkool-stamppot-kale-hash-33269
I have one child who doesn’t enjoy meat, and the other that claims he is a “meatatarian”. I recently put together a make-ahead meal ebook that offers up a bunch of veg options for freezer-friendly meals. This might be of interest? Here’s the link with the scoop:
http://fullplatecookinglessons.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-scoop-on-bonus-hours-faq-on-stock.html
Or, I try to label all of my veg recipes and you can feel free to scroll through them and pin or print any that catch your eye: http://fullplatecookinglessons.blogspot.com/search/label/vegetarian%20main%20dishes
My 12 year old, multi-sport (soccer +track), picky (read: spoiled rotten) and opinionated girl is a challenge to feed, but here is how I approach it: She loves vegetables above all else other than cheese, so I am constantly chopping and stirfrying. Pasta and parmigianno with Greek salad (no lettuce! Not authentic!) makes a good meal. TVP (textured vegetable protein) added to a marinara sauce makes pasta better. Lasagna made with said sauce and a filling of tofu mixed with spinach and egg/bread crumbs/garlic in place of the ricotta is delicious.
Asian noodles with sesame oil and stirfried vegetables are also good. Speaking of sesame oil, hummus made with that if you do not have tahini is delicious.
Good luck, and cheers to respecting your daughter’s wishes.
Loaded sweet potatoes are also a great switch from regular (Hummus is particularly good on a sweet potato as is sour cream and sauteed bell peppers).
How about a savory oatmeal (or a sweet one for that manner in the breakfast for dinner vein)?
At my children’s school, they make their own snacks in the early childhood and my kids always loved “Kindergarden Soup”- really just a mixed vegetable soup (onions, carrots, squash, potatoes, broccoli and kale) in a veggie broth with or without pasta.
Like another commenter above, I stopped eating meat as a young child. I was the only vegetarian in my family growing up, and am now the only one in my own family that I cook for as an adult.
I agree that there’s no need to replicate the place of meat on your kids’ plates. Growing up in a meat-heavy household, I enjoyed a lot of meals of buttered mashed potatoes, salad, and green beans (while my parents also ate pot roast). Don’t fret about the protein intake. Dairy products, eggs, nuts, even crunchy soy nuts offered as a snack will all boost the amount that your vegetarian kids will get from their veggies and carbs. Just cook what you usually do, make the meat an optional add-on if you can, and add an additional veggie side dish if you can’t.
Also, in addition to Peter Berley’s Flexitarian Table, check out Ivy Manning’s book The Adaptable Feast.
Three meatless favorites from our meat-eating but eating less of it family: Garbage Bowl–beans/rice/avocado/salsa/whatever else is in the fridge/Annie’s Goddess Dressing or the TJ’s knock-off equivalent/olives; omlettes with whatever you can find; tostadas (buy the crispy flat shells) with roasted sweet potato (mix in lime zest and lime juice), black beans, avocado, and a fried egg on top.
I’ve been a vegetarian all my life and so is my family. We are Indian and if you like Indian food at all and are willing to be adventurous – there is a plethora of options for vegetarian food that is anything but bland and dull. A good blog I often frequent is “One Hot Stove” – the blogger is Indian and vegetarian but lives in the U.S. and makes a lot of Indian/fusion dishes. She takes the fuss out of a lot of dishes and simplifies it. She also has a lot of non-Indian vegetarian recipes too.
I was squeamish about tofu until I discovered the seasoned baked (super firm) tofu – SoyBoy Tofu Lin is our favorite, but TJ’s also sells some. All you have to do is cube it and crisp it up in a pan with a little veggie oil and it makes a great, tasty addition to stir fries, etc.
One our our standby weeknight meals is stir fry with soba noodles. The soba noodles cook in about 6 minutes so they are even faster than rice, and full of good healthy stuff. I usually toss them in a bowl with a little dressing (either ginger-peanut sauce or some kind of soy-honey-sesame oil-rice vinegar concoction). In a separate pan, I stir fry some of the baked tofu and some TJ’s frozen edamame or stir fry veggies. The non-vegetable eater in the family gets soba noodles + tofu; the rest of us get them all mixed together. If I have more time I top with toasted peanuts, sliced scallions, and cilantro.
I tend to eat vegetarian whenever my husband travels, which is pretty often. Here is one of my favorite dishes…mexican quinoa!
http://a-life-from-scratch.com/mexican-quinoa/
ELISA – how come I have never heard of Thug Kitchen??? Just spent an hour reading that s**t and laughing out loud. Nice one!
Now that grilling season is upon us, kebabs are so versatile and easy. Press extra-firm tofu for half an hour before marinating. You can use the same marinade for tofu and meat (in separate dishes/bags, of course). Add veggies and grill.
I find tofu that has been pressed, frozen and thawed to have the best texture for grilling so if you buy a few containers to throw in the freezer, you will always have it on hand for grilling.
Vegetable fritters – what a great idea!
Another simple vegetarian dinner idea is to roast or stir-fry fresh veggies in any variety of flavorings, and mix with any cooked grains. One can even go a step further and top with pumpkin, sunflower or chia seeds.
Pasta is a great choice. You can do meatless sauces (marinara, alfredo, pesto) or toss pasta in a saute pan with roasted veggies and a little olive oil – very filling and yummy and changable by what is in season or what you have on hand. My mom always made lasagna without meat and served meatballs or italian sausage on the side. You could also make baked ziti without meat.
I have been a vegetarian for my entire life, but have spent the last 10+ cooking for a non vegetarian significant other. Many of the above dishes and cookbooks are ones I also use and recommend.
But I did notice someone say that you can’t do 1 pot dinners for both meat and vegetarians. But that implies that this has to be hard. I bet you could make almost any one-pot meal and wait to add the meat at the end, or start the base and then divide into two pots, one with meat and one without. Yes, then you have two pots to clean, but really is that so horrible? For example, start chicken cacciatore, divide into two pots, add chicken to one, white beans to another.
Also, I cook up some meat at the beginning of the week – ground beef, diced chicken, ground sausage, etc. Then I make a veggie dish, heat some of the meat on his plate in the microwave and then serve the vegetarian meal, mixing his meat into it. This works with almost anything – soup, stew, chili, curry, stir-fry, tacos, pasta, pizza, salad. (And leaves you with no extra pans to clean!)
Mild cannelinni beans are a great substitute for recipes that call for chicken. Whereas stronger flavored beans like black or kidney beans are good subs for beef.
For anyone becoming a vegetarian, it is good to become a label reader. There are many foods that have animal products that you would never expect. Just one example – many BBQ chips have beef fat. Reading labels is a healthy habit for everyone, not just the vegetarians. Its a great opportunity to teach your children about what they eat.
Gnocchi!! It is very mild and there are a variety of tasty things to do with it from Veggies to cheese, to even brown butter with sage- delish!
It is also kind of fun to make with the kids and they can “score”them and take pleasure in knowing they helped.
I like to make tofu stir frys by first cubing drained tofu and cooking it in a non-stick pan with some sesame oil until the outside it crisp. Then I stir fry it in a wok with lots of veggies and a homemade teriyaki sauce. Since most Asian cooking combines tofu with meat, this is an easy way to make it taste good sans the meat. The crispy exterior is really delicious and keeps you from wishing it was actually chicken. or steak. When I want tofu to taste REALLY good, I coat it in cornstarch and deep fry it to make agedashi tofu. But I wouldn’t bother for a weeknight meal.
My kids go crazy for these:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/05/japanese-cabbage-and-vegetable-pancakes/
We love this, and nobody ever wonders where the meat is:
http://www.marthastewart.com/331729/butternut-squash-baked-risotto
One-pot spaghetti, or this alternative, which we are trying for the first time tonight (I’ve heard it’s great with the sauce from DALS pizza spaghetti):
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/07/one-pan-farro-with-tomatoes/
Saag Paneer!!! (also, so, so fun to make your own cheese with your kids)
Green smoothies + grilled cheese sandwiches.
Spanish Tortilla with a big green salad (again, nobody ever complains that there is no meat).
Peanut sauce on noodles, served with cooked carrots.
A great vegetarian dish is home made tofu. It sounds complicated, but the process is quite simple. You end up with tofu and okara, the soybean solids, which can be used is hundreds of dishes. Mixed with a little flour, they make incredible pancakes. Here is in great detail how I make tofu: http://wp.me/p44c6k-b7
My eldest daughter became vegetarian 2 weeks before Thanksgiving in 8th grade (“Will there be any meatless alternatives?”) quickly followed by her younger sister, 5th grade. I made lots of stir fries (meat stir fried on the side). Extra firm tofu with Louisa Shafia’s Almond butter sauce (almond butter, soy, maple syrup, sesame oil and a hit of chile garlic sauce- YUM); the best fake meat is by Qorn, made from mushrooms. Rosti with fried eggs became a favorite.
Rice with curry peanut sauce (you can use sweet curry powder so it’s not too spicy hot) and an array of vegetables, whatever is in season. It’s really good with cucumbers on the side and topped with cilantro.
Bibimbap is delicious, too: Korean dish with sticky rice, tons of vegetables, a soft boiled egg and dipping sauce with soy sauce, sugar, green onions and sesame oil. Kimchi on the side of course. I never get this quite right so it’s best to get the actual recipe from someone who knows how to make it!
Both of these things are dairy-free which is nice if you’re trying to avoid loading up with cheese as a meat substitute every meal. And both can easily have meat added for those who want it-chicken with peanut sauce, Korean BBQ (bulgogi) with the sticky rice.