Easy and healthy vegetarian dinners

[Anonymous]

Recently had surgery and am returning to work mid next week. Looking for easy and healthy vegetarian dinners. Two adults and two kids. Looking for something that is not a soup or have pasta (one parent is diabetic and so does better when starches are not the main ingredient) as the base.

I like recipes from Cookie and Kate but it can be overwhelming amount of work on a weeknight.

I would love some new suggestions.

[Anonymous]

This is one of my favorites:

Sauté onion, mushrooms, garlic, some cumin. Add green lentils and appropriate amount of water, salt and cook. You want to add enough water to give it a slightly soupy consistency- you don’t want the lentils to absorb all the liquid. Add bunch of spinach to lentil mixture toward end of cooking.

Cook quinoa.

Serve the lentil mixture over a scoop of quinoa. Top with plain yogurt and golden raisins

[Anonymous]

Vegetarian, easy and quick, no pasta/carb base, and no soup is a lot of limits! What do you usually like to eat as a family? That might help with ideas.

Here's one my family eats a lot: https://nycsliceofrice.blogspot.com/2011/09/bean-curd-with-deliciously-spicy-sauce.html?m=1. (It's from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.) We usually add a full pack of green onions and serve with quick stir fried frozen green beans, or double the sauce and add the green beans to the same pot. We serve with rice but if there's something you use as a substitute, like quinoa or cauliflower rice or something, you could do that.

I am addicted to the NYTimes cheesy chili crisp white beans. There are several other "open cans of beans and maybe other cans, add spices and cheese, broil" type recipes on their site as well.

Instant pot sag paneer with chickpea flour pancakes.

Breakfast for dinner. Big veggie and cheese omelet for those who will eat it, plain eggs for those who won't. Salad; fruit, yogurt, toast all optional add ons.

[Anonymous]

Black beans, sweet potatoes, and fire roasted corn quesadillas.

[Anonymous]

Stir fry with tofu.
I get the bag of frozen stir fry mix vegetables from Costco but any store will have something similar. I use firm tofu and store-bought stir fry sauce, and add scallions at the end. Serve over rice.

[Anonymous]

Here are 3 of my favorites:

Sautee chopped carrots and chickpea peas with garlic and curry powder and tomatos. Serve with naan.

Stir fried rice with scallion, egg, peas, carrots, chopped peanuts.

Trader Joe’s soyrizo with black beans, scrambled eggs, cheddar, tomatos and guacamole on tortillas.

Fried egg and cheddar cheese on a bagel. Side of fruit or a spinach smoothie.

French bread pizza with a salad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are 3 of my favorites:

Sautee chopped carrots and chickpea peas with garlic and curry powder and tomatos. Serve with naan.

Stir fried rice with scallion, egg, peas, carrots, chopped peanuts.

Trader Joe’s soyrizo with black beans, scrambled eggs, cheddar, tomatos and guacamole on tortillas.

Fried egg and cheddar cheese on a bagel. Side of fruit or a spinach smoothie.

French bread pizza with a salad.

Shout out to Trader Joe’s soy chirozo. It’s SO good. We use it in scrambled eggs. But it is also delicious mixed with mashed potatoes- then put that potato filling in a corn tortilla with some chihuahua cheese (or pepperjack or Monterey) and cook the tacos in a skillet until a little crisp on the outside.

[Anonymous]

There are so many amazing iterations of rice and beans.

Mujaddara is probably my favorite. I lived in New Orleans so I love red beans and rice as well, and there are ways of making it vegetarian. Actually now that I think about it, one of my favorite things ever is the Moosewood (best vegetarian cookbooks ever) recipe for "Fat Tuesday's Skinny Red Beans" -- full of veggies and the flavor profile is delicious (dijon and brown sugar and herbs).

[Anonymous]

Easy chickpea curry. I adapted this a bit from this chicken curry recipe. https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/10/chicken-curry/

I saute some onion with garlic and ginger in a pot (you can add peppers or whatever veggies you like) and add either fresh tomatoes or a big can of tomatoes (any form depending on what you like, I like it chunky so do the whole romas and mash a bit). I add about a cup of Greek yogurt but you could do coconut milk to make it vegan. Then two cans of rinsed chickpeas. For spices I do about a teaspoon of turmeric, coriander, cumin, and garam masala and salt to taste. Just cover it and let it simmer on medium low for 20+ minutes (because the chickpeas are pre cooked you don'thave to worry about cooking until it's done). You can have it over whatever rice you like. I suppose you could add some spinach towards the end for extra veggies.

I realize this is a bit all over the place, this is one of my "make food with stuff I have around" meals so I often adapt this for whatever I have around the house.

[Anonymous]

Check out Live Eat Learn. SO many bean based recipes that are easy and flavorful. Marry me chickpeas, chickpea Caesar wraps, pesto beans, lemon pepper beans…. Just browse the site and see what flavors your family prefers. I find myself using many of them on repeat.

I usually add a side of roasted veggies (buy pre cut to make it even easier). And sometimes bread or rice (toasted sourdough is a favorite here).

[Anonymous]

Loaded vegetable omelet/frittata. You can add exactly what you want, including cheese.

[Anonymous]

Sheet pan baked feta with tomato, broccolini and lemon. Simple, gorgeous to look at and delicious.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021277-sheet-pan-baked-feta-with-broccolini-tomatoes-and-lemon?unlocked_article_code=1.BVA.xRhf.QXORNc1NGVH4&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

[Anonymous]

Lots of great ideas here:

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/g40850309/high-protein-vegetarian-meals/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mgu_ga_del_md_pmx_hybd_mix_us_18345007169&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18339119658&gbraid=0AAAAACq-IPwUiRgesM_Yes3EhpzmlzJ_I&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9t3KBhCQARIsAJOcR7x0M6663wBx5DfFVnHtWvtvRPxajIBKaPXO0ZRU044rSTEXh_3LeOsaAnKBEALw_wcB

[Anonymous]

Whole wheat pasta and couscous can be diabetic friendly to serve things over, like the aforementioned feta broccoli sheet pan recipe

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/leeks-and-lentils-fried-halloumi/

The above is fantastic - we add chopped raw cherry tomatoes at the end