26 November 2009

Calling for your favourite vegetarian recipes

So after a few years of saying "I'd like to eat more vegetarian food and cut down on my red meat", but not doing much about it, I have finally bitten the bullet and started to seek out some vegetarian meals that are suitable for our family dinners.

I'm ashamed to say that I've known that beef and lamb are the big resource users, when compared with pork, chicken, and other types of protein, but in the end I got a scare this week when I read that more than 2 meals a week of red meat is a contributing factor to bowel cancer. It sunk in that my mother's father has had bowel cancer (and luckily survived it, but still...) and I should probably start making a bit more of an effort to diversify my diet. And there is a higher level of heritability with bowel cancer than with some other cancers.

Anyway - vegetarian meals in our household come with a few challenges:
- my 3-year-old is allergic to egg, sesame and cashew. NO HOMMOUS OR TAHINI!! boo hoo! no cashew stir fries! no scrambled eggs, frittatas or quiches!
- the jury is out as to whether or not we should be feeding him other nuts such as peanuts. Not clear whether or not this will increase his risk of developing other allergies.
- I need to eat tomato and chilli in moderation - too much and I break out in eczema.

I kicked things off tonight with Lentil Shephard's Pie which was delicious, but will take my son a bit of getting used to (they say you have to offer a toddler something as many as 10 times before they will stop turning their nose up at it). But it wasn't exactly quick and easy - more of a special occasion meal. I used french brown lentils, which don't require soaking prior to cooking.

I was just wondering - what are your favourite quick and easy vegetarian meals?

3 comments:

BSharp said...

Hi! I'm hopeless with actual recipes, just turning to wok-fry tofu and veg when I can't think of anything else. But just wanted to say - I think it's cute that you've put that the baby is a fan of Bach in the side bar. : )

alison said...

This may not be kid-friendly, but it is tasty and quick - a roasted mushroom. Drop a few drops of olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar and a mashed garlic clove into a field mushroom. Roast at about 200 for about 15 minutes. Chuck a handful of rocket and some grated parmesan on top, serve on a piece of toast.

Also, I have converted a few beef stew-like recipes to vego by substituting 300g tin of chickpeas for about 500g beef. Seems to work ok.

And I love that the baby loves Bach, she has great taste.

J said...

OMG let me count the ways!! Come over and I'll let you rifle through my fave cooks books.

Some top of mind tips:
- pan fry tofu 'steaks' that you make my slicing and marinating hard tofu blocks
- add lentils to things with spinach in them
- add sneaky white beans to blended soups (like potato and leek, cauliflower)
- chick peas are fab roasted in the oven - nice snacks or add to salads
- red lentils are the lazy veg cooks friend - no soaking! they dissolve into almost nothing.
- vegie patties - you can make these eggless quite easy, brown lentils are good, use grated vegetables - start with a basic vegan vegie burger recipe then ad lib.
- light ricotta, in canelloni or stuffed mushrooms
- brazil nuts are great for selenium
- try a bunch of seeds on salads - poppy, sunflower, pumpkin (maybe not toddler friendly this one but they do adjust)

When eating veg meals make sure every meal (or at least one meal every day) still has protein, use seeds as well to add calcium and minerals, and have lots of vitamin c to help with iron absorbtion.