Jesse has finally persuaded me to commit to one week of vegetarian dinners. I've made lentils and black bean soup, and also a tofu parmigiana which was pretty good. Click the link for the recipe. I'm searching for more recipes and have some ideas, but thought I'd ask my loyal readership for their vegetarian recipes. Vegan is fine, too, especially since cheese is an arm and a leg and cottage cheese will cost you two of each.
Do you have any fabulous vegetarian recipes? I can get most ingredients here, though it may be hard. I'm really hankering for something hearty right now. Ok, I really just want some meat for dinner, but for Thin Man (Jesse), I'm going vegetarian tonight!
i love the site http://www.theppk.com/recipes/
ReplyDeleteit's vegan. they have yummy desserts, probably not what you are looking for. anyway we love making pizza with veggies. you need cheese though. how about butternut squash ravioli, or butternut squash anything for that matter. better yet have j cook vegetarian for a week
You can make vegan ricotta with extra firm tofu, raw cashes, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and some salt. It actually tastes almost exactly like hummus, but hummus is already vegan. Anyway, we made a vegan meal the other night and we had that ricotta with canned pumpkin and herbs mixed with pasta. It's from Veganomicon, which is a very good cookbook, even for non-vegans.
ReplyDeleteI have made pasta just using squash as a base for a sauce, though, no cheese. It's really good. I've made some good peanut sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic-- on the stove until it thickens) and then put it over stir fried vegetables at the end of cooking. Anyway, I also saw eggplant and roasted tomato penne on smittenkitchen.com that I want to try this week. We've been trying to eat less meat too, actually. I used to NEVER cook red meat, because I was scared to cook it, but I think it was actually Damaris that showed me a few things and I've been using it too much ever since (not that it hasn't been GOOD). Reading "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats" has really made me want to eat vegetables. Just vegetables. They picture different families from all around the world with a week's worth of groceries. I'm pretty disgusted when I think of what ours would look like.
Hi Bekah- I'm a friend of Damaris' and I am a lover of meat, turned vegetarian. If you're stuck, see if the library has "The Moosewood Cookbook." It's very good, and all vegetarian. I second theppk.com, too.
ReplyDeleteFor any recipe that you normally make that has ground beef in it, substitute TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein). It looks weird, but hey, so does ground beef! I made Sloppy Joes the other day with TVP and they were delicious. (Ketchup, worcestershire sauce, onions, garlic powder, a splash of soy sauce, adjust 'til it tastes right, serve on a bun)
Try making lasagna with broccoli or mushrooms, or a hearty red pasta sauce with eggplant (crushed tomatoes, onions, lots of garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, basil, let it simmer for a loooong time and add the eggplant and a hearty splash of red wine, let it simmer, throw in some fresh basil and eat on pasta). Maybe try a vegetable soup with potatoes, other root vegetables, celery, any vegetable you can find, and barley or rice. Broccoli stems add flavor to the broth. Also tarragon, basil, thyme or parsley.
Good luck!
thanks for the suggestions. i've never really been a lover of meat, so actually i'm just looking for ways to get complete proteins. we might have trouble finding some of those things here, but if you have anything requiring wild asian ingredients, it shouldn't be a problem. thanks
ReplyDeleteI just posted two of my favorite vegetarian recipes on my blog! I don't know how available the ingredients are in Japan, but maybe you can modify them. Happy eating!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sites and recipe ideas. Jesse cooks a couple times a week, and always vegetarian. He's fabulous at conjuring dinner in 15 minutes. Good thing, since he works pretty late most nights. The kids are being pretty good sports with all these new foods we're introducing.
ReplyDeleteAah, I haven't seen a butternut squash since we got here. Of course there are kabocha, but they're spendy! I saw lasagna noodles once, but didn't buy them. Big mistake, haven't seen them since. Going vegetarian is hard here. Good thing I like a challenge
I had no idea Jesse wasn't that into meat. that should help the whole process. I don't think Christian could do it. Bummer about butternut squash. How about corn meal? you can make fried polenta or just baked polenta woth tomato sauce and zucchini on top. I like eating polenta with rice and beans. It makes a very hearty meal. You should post next week what you guys ate during the week. I think it would make for a good post and give us meat lovers a good idea of vegetarian dishes to make
ReplyDeleteI can't believe kabocha is expensive there! I have Harumi's cookbook here--- some veggie recipes--- chawan mushi (I hate it, though), carrot and miso soup (of course, udon is awesome in it), miso with wakame and potato, omelette with home rice (fried rice with ketchup, basically), rice with green peas, soba chirashi (soba with toppings such as grated daikon, ginger, mitsuba, chives, vegetable tempura)--- I really like chestnut rice, as well. You can do oyakudonburi without the chicken-- just use carrot and onion strips or any other vegetables. I love to have sushi night, where I just make the rice and put out a lot of toppings (mostly vegetables) and everyone makes their own rolls. I have two other japanese cookbooks so I'll look through those too.l
ReplyDelete