Dear Jenny,
.
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
.
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:
.
.
- 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:
.
- 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.
.
Good luck!
Love, Jenny
Oh, and falafel with hummus. Can’t forget that! Kind of a lot of work but so worth it, and you can bake falafel instead of frying it so it’s less trouble and less greasy.
We are absolutely not vegetarians, but I do find that more often than not, the meals I cook at home are vegetarian. My supermarket cart rarely contains meat. Maybe some bacon on occasion.
With that in mind, I have one word for you: Eggs. Egg salad, hard boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs. I make a lot of quiche and frittatas for dinner. They are a great way to get a lot of veggies in your diet, and they really don’t take a lot of time to make. Also very flexible because you can use whatever you want/have on hand to make them, provided you have eggs and some milk or cream. Also they make great leftovers (I often cook once and eat twice, so we eat the same dinner twice each week, maybe with a different side dish). Quiche is usually best made the day before and then heated up the next day – less watery that way, I’ve found.
I am wondering how many dinners each week the poster needs? For some of those, I would just settle into a routine and not worry about the “exciting” part. For example, every Monday do baked potato bar, every Tuesday do tacos/burrito bowls, and every Friday do grilled pizza. All 3 of those are super easy to have assorted toppings that can satisfy vegetarians and meat eaters. Then if you do take out or go out one night, you still have 3 nights to do more adventurous cooking.
If you need some more cookbook suggestions, I would take a look at the Moosewood restaurant’s collections:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=moosewood
Some truly delicious recipes (many that don’t rely on meat substitutes like tofu).
My girls always love abby & phoebe’s books suggestions! What are they reading now? We need a goody!
Thanks!
Tofu isn’t that hard! Buy extra firm, press it for a while in some paper towels under some cans (if lazy or pressed for time, don’t – it just sizzles more, you might have to open a window), slice into cubes or rectangles (more surface area for browning), saute in a hot pan. Then it’s a basic protein, use like chicken.
The Peas and Thank you blog isn’t up anymore, but the two cookbooks are fabulous and kid approved!
I recommend Pam Anderson’s How to Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals. Everything I have ever made from that book is a crowd-pleaser. Her books and DALS are my daily inspirations.
Definitely falafels.
I like these baked ones from Sprouted Kitchen – you can either use canned or cooked from scratch chickpeas.
http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2013/5/8/baked-herb-pistachio-falafel.html
(I’ve never included the pistachios)
Easy to put together, you can double up the recipe, and freeze the extras for when you’re in a hurry.
Serve with pitas, hummus, fried eggplant, salsa etc etc.. you get the idea 🙂
OK, what about
Cheese and mushroom omelettes
Spinach + asparagus quiche
Fish….or doesn’t that count?
Burgers using big field mushrooms instead of meat.
Pasta with olive oil and crushed cherry tomatoes and black olives
Pasta with pesto
Spanakopita
Pissaladiere
Margarita pizza
Pizza with spinach, feta and olives
Cheese souffle
Toasted cheese and avocado sandwiches
Vegetable soup
Eggs florentine
Chickpea curry and rice/nan bread
Potato cakes
Tomato curry
I could go on, as a fish eating veggie.
Ignore the lentils, they have their place but not as a main course. Except, of course, as dhal. With chapatti. Better go. Getting hungry….
I’m thinking:
Baked stuffed pasta shells with ricotta and spinach, topped with your favorite tomato sauce and cheese.
I’m surprised curry hasn’t come up in the suggestions. A wealth of options to explore (even if it’s just pre-made curries) I love the Mai Ploy curry pastes–yellow, green or red. They’re all good.
Root Vegetable Tagine – I used to work for a caterer. This was our go to main dish for vegetarians http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Root-Vegetable-Tagine-with-Sweet-Potatoes-Carrots-Turnips-and-Spice-Roasted-Chickpeas-361252
Eggplant Parmesan or Moussaka for a Sunday Supper option
Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup (substitute kale) this was a favorite at a restaurant I worked at. http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=lentil+and+swiss+chard+soup&x=0&y=0
Thomas Keller’s Mushroom Quiche – I’ll shout from the rooftops about this recipe. His quiche base is outstanding. Use a pre-made crust if time runs short (since this is for a deep dish quiche, you may be able to get two quiche from one recipe, using the premade pie crust shells) http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/over-the-top-mushroom-quiche
Besides the cookbooks noted above–all very good–I use the Passionate Vegetarian (James Beard award winning book) and have been delighted with the vegetarian recipes in “Ancient Grains.”
Also, one thought. At 10 years old, perhaps she/he could select their own recipes? Becoming a vegetarian is a big deal and requires additional research. Like all things, eventually you figure it out, but if they’re old enough to make ethical choices, they’re old enough to have some “skin in the game” — helping to choose and create vegetarian meals.