Favorite meatless meals

[tinkerdorabelle]

Omg this all sounds so good. Would love to see a veg thread on here with recipes

 

[RUDisney]

I make a mock eggplant parm.

I dice onions and eggplant and sauté them until they are cooked through with some garlic. Then I add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, some Italian seasoning and basil... salt/pepper, if needed. Finally, I add some seasoned breadcrumbs and stir it all together and serve it with some grated cheese.

It's delicious and easy.

 

[mrodgers]

I can't think of a meal without meat.

Me neither. A meal without meat is called a side, haha.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I'm a vegetarian but DH and the kids eat meat. For years, the bulk of my meals was pasta, rice, or bread because I simply didn't realize how many more options there were for a filling meal. Most meats can be substituted with fake meats, tofu, beans, or veggies. For fake meats, I prefer Morningstar, Boca, and Gardein. Lots of things like tacos, meatloaf, hamburger helper, burgers, sloppy joes, etc can be made with soy crumbles. There are lots of fake chicken products out there as well as fake lunch meat, fake fish, fake sausage and bacon, etc.

Outside of fake meats, I love any kind of meatless soup- potato leek, broccoli cheese, and veggie are my favorites.

Mexican food is easy to modify- bean, cheese, or veggie enchiladas, tacos, fajitas, etc. For a low carb option, I love taco salads (skip the taco bowl).

Asian food is also a great vegetarian option. Some of my favorites are:
-Vegetable egg roll with lo mein
-Stir fried veggies with riced cauliflower
-General Tso's broccoli
-Samosas and curry
-Gobi Manchurian and Dal soup
-Vegetable gyoza and agedashi tofu

Other meals I enjoy are:
-Shepherd's pie with loads of veggies, a bit of brown gravy and mashed potatoes (can use mashed cauliflower instead)
-Veggie loaf with mashed veggies and lentils
-Roasted veggies w/ a baked potato

 

[Patience]

I'm trying to cut back on our meat consumption without replacing the meat with carbs. Right now the main meatless meals we eat are some kind of pasta, rice and beans, or vegetable fried rice. I'm looking for some more ideas.

I am not a huge fan of meat and was a vegetarian for a while but found I was eating too many carbs as a vegetarian. I added chicken back in and I also eat seafood. I still make vegetarian meals from time to time that are usually pasta based. I also make a vegetarian chili (tomatoes, dark red kidney beans, chick peas, corn, green chilies, chili spices) that my family likes, although we like it served over rice and with cheese and sour cream on top so it's not terribly healthy even though it is vegetarian.

 

[jsmith]

Okay you said you wanted to cut back on meat-you didn't say anything about fish. We are not pescitarian as we eat meat but fish or seafood make up a major piece of our diet. I have a number of sheet pan dinner recipes that are centered on fish-two favorites are a provencal cod with potatoes and green beans topped wth cherry tomatos, olives and preserved lemon. Pioneer Woman's spanish roasted salmon, with additonal veggies added. Fish taco's. Thai scallop salad. Shrimp and grits, grilled salmon, shrimp ceviche, lobster rolls, crab cakes. Tons of options-Fish and a couple of veggie sides makes a filling, low cal meal and its versitile.

 

[mombrontrent]

My favorite meal with meat is Spaghetti with Meatballs

My favorite meatless meal is Spaghetti without Meatballs

I’m about to blow your mind with my vegan speghetti and meatball pizza I created a couple days ago. All homemade even the dough and “meatballs”.

 

[mombrontrent]

I’m vegan so all my meals are meat, dairy and egg free and I never run out of ideas. To have lots of variety I incorporate different ethnic foods into a lot of my meals. The different flavours and styles of cooking from different regions of the world make sure they is always lots of different flavours and variety. I love experimenting and trying new recipes and techniques so I don’t get in a food rut. I eat way more of variety of foods then most meat eaters.

 

[Alicefan]

My go to meal right now happens to be vegetarian AND Disney themed. I've been making Ohana Noodles! I buy Yakasoba noodles from the Asian market, stir fry a handful of coleslaw mix, add noodles, heat a few seconds and then drizzle with the homemade sauce that I got out of a Disney cookbook. Talk about super fast and simple. Once you make your sauce you just bottle it and use it whenever. When I'm feeling froggy, I add steak or pork or whatever I have around.

 

[PollyannaMom]

For fake meats, I prefer Morningstar, Boca, and Gardein.

How is the salt level in those? My DH is supposed to watch sodium, so sometimes processed swaps are out.

 

[Alicefan]

This is my most favorite cookbook of all time! Linda is a vegetarian that does a lot of meat replacement with TVP (textured vegetable protein) which is basically the stuff meatless meat is made of so it's really good for newbies who want the texture of meat, and with today's meatless options you can't go wrong with these recipes.

 

[etoiles]

I’m vegetarian and my husband isn’t but he eats vegetarian frequently. Here are our favorite meals.
Honey Lime Tofu
Cabbage Pancakes which I serve with baked tofu
Black bean soup
Split pea soup
Tomato Soup with Mozzarella
Asparagus Frittata - only takes 10 minutes to put in the oven
Seven layer taco salad - refried beans, black beans, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, crushed tortilla chips
Nachos - sometimes we use sweet potatoes or cauliflower instead of chips with vegetarian toppings
Spinach Quiche
Vegetable Fajitas - Basically roasted mushrooms, peppers, onions and butternut squash served in tortillas with black beans, salsa, avocado, etc.

 

[Snowysmom]

I make stuffed peppers. I bake a sweet potato , then mash up the potato and mix it with beans (either black beans or pinto). I add in a bit of chopped onion and low fat shredded cheese (optional). I wash and core the peppers, roast in the oven until just soft. Then I put the stuffing in the peppers and bake again until all heated through. This usually makes 2-3 peppers depending on the size of the peppers and the potato. So yummy.

 

[robinb]

My favorite vegetarian cookbook is this one:



One of my favorite recipes from it is "Zucchini Feta Cheese Pancakes". Basically, zucchini latkes.

 

[TavieP]

My husband and I are both meat-eaters but we love this recipe for vegetarian chili that uses bulgar wheat and liquid smoke instead of meat. Delicious.

 

[mombrontrent]

My favorite vegetarian cookbook is this one:

View attachment 521809

One of my favorite recipes from it is "Zucchini Feta Cheese Pancakes". Basically, zucchini latkes.

My son gave me this book for Christmas and I haven’t made anything out of it yet, I should get it out and take a look.

 

[robinb]

My son gave me this book for Christmas and I haven’t made anything out of it yet, I should get it out and take a look.

I also really like the tabouli and gazpacho too!

 

[aggiedog]

I was going to post a Moosewood link as well. I have every cookbook they've made. I like them because the recipes are true main dishes and not just glorified sides. Also, they don't usually require anything hard to get or any high level kitchen skills or utensils. Until recently, you couldn't even get tofu in my little town. Surely not TVP. There are also a LOT of just helpful tips on how to cook veggies and beans in general. They are fantastic entry level vegetarian cookbooks but with recipes good enough that I still come back to them 30 years later.

I'll also second any indian food. That will require some non-standard kitchen spices, or standard ones in volumes you've never used before. So good, though!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Scrambled eggs with cheese and veggies
Blueberry pancakes
I make breakfast for dinner every other week!

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

How is the salt level in those? My DH is supposed to watch sodium, so sometimes processed swaps are out.

I have no idea what the sodium levels in the meat equivalents are or what's considered high, but here's the sodium content for all of the fake meats in my freezer (despite the names, these are all vegetarian/fake meat):

Morningstar Farms
- Bacon (2 strips) 220 mg
- Maple Sausage Patty (1 patty) 250 mg
- Hotdog (1 hotdog) 430 mg
- Chipotle Black Bean Crumbles (2 oz) 200 mg
- Chicken Nugget (3 oz/4 nuggets) 370 mg
- Tex Mex burger (4 oz) 450 mg
- Mediterranean Chickpea Burger (2.4 oz) 280 mg

Gardein
- Beefless strips (3.5 oz) 250 mg
- Garden Veggie Burger (3 oz) 280 mg
- Fishless Filet (2 pcs/3.4 oz) 340 mg
- Turkey cutlet (1 pc/3 oz) 175 mg
- Crispy Chicken bites (3.5 oz) 260 mg
- Chicken strip non-breaded (3.5 oz) 330 mg

Boca
- Veggie Crumbles (2 oz) 210 mg

Quorn
- Meatless beef grounds (4 oz) 50 mg
- Meatless chicken pieces (4 oz) 200 mg

Tofurkey
- Smoked ham lunchmeat (5 pcs/1.83 oz) 310 mg