What is your favorite vegetarian meal??

I am a new vegeatarian and i am getting sick of eating veggie burgers. Well not really sick of them, they are yummy but i am trying to look for new recipes that are vegetarian and that are quick and simple to make. Any suggestions??

I like brocolini or rabe sauteed with garlic :o)

Tempeh + vegenaise + sticky brown rice + steamed veggies = heaven.

I love going to Indian restaurants. Much of the food is vegetarian and delicious!

I don't like cooking, but I do make tacos with lime cilantro rice, black beans, a mild pico de gallo, a bit of cheese, and some lettuce or mixed greens. If anyone here is familiar with Qdoba Mexican Grill, I basically recreated their awesome veggie tacos at home.

For the lime cilantro rice, I mix 1/4 C of lime juice with 3 cups cooked rice and a bunch of fresh, chopped cilantro. I make the pico de gallo with chopped 3 tomatoes, red onion, and more cilantro. The black beans are straight from the can and cooked. I serve it on hard shell tacos with a bit of cheese and greens. Obviously, the recipe makes several servings.

Mexican:
    Burritos (refried beans, cheese, lettuce & tomato)
    Enchiladas (made w/ black beans & cheese inside)
    Taco Salad: lettuce, kidney beans, tomatoes, few fritos & diet                         french dressinig or salas)
    Soft tacos (Morningstar farms burger crumbles/taco seasoning)
         
Italian:
    Stuffed shells (spinach & ricotta, parmasan w/ sauce)
    Lasagna (ricotta, egg, parsley & parmasan w/ sauce)
    Bow ties w/ broccoli (saute broccoli in pam w/ onions & garlic)
       &nb sp;            use nonfat half & half and a little parmasan
    Pasta (any shape) w/ maranara sauce
    Rattatoulle w/ pasta (saute in pam: zucchini, onions, garlic,
                   peppers, mushrooms & eggplalnt...add sauce)

Indian:
    Vegatable Curry: (carrots, cauliflower & green beans w/ curry
                   paste, canned diced tomatoes, & then a tiny bit of
                   low fat coconut milk (about 1/3 cup for big pan)

Sandwiches, etc:
    English muffin pizzas ( toasted muffin, sauce, cheese--melt)
    Grilled cheese: (2 slices bread, nonfat american, spray pam)
   
Soups: (I make mine homemade)
    Potato (potatoes & onions w/ nonfat sourcream)
    Ministrone
    Vegetarian chili (1 can each: chili beans, black beans, kidney                         beans, diced tomatoes & chili seasoning packet)
    Borscht (carrots, onion, potato, diced tomatoes, cabbage, and                         fresh dill & nonfat sour cream...can add beets too)
   

   

I've been a vegetarian for about 15 years now and I think the best thing to do is to get a simple vegetarian cookbook or a vegetarian recipe magazine, there are some really excellent ones out there, and start cooking your way through it.  A caution though:  At first some of the recipes may taste "weird" to you because your tastes haven't changed yet, but try the recipe again after about 4 months of being a veggie, and they will probably be more palatable.  Good luck!!

Veggie enchiladas are my new favorite.

I grab a lowcarb whole wheat tortilla and chop up tomato, red pepper, and any others you want to include. I roll it up, cut in half, and put the two halves side by side in a dish. Then I pour tomato sauce mixed with hot sauce over the two halves. Add a slice of fat free swiss or American cheese, pop in the microwave, and you have a spicy, lowcal, filling meal!

I really love chili, and I like my own the best. Here's my recipe. My friend clairelaine kindly entered it into the recipe database. One thing - it's a bit high in sodium but it tastes just fine with half the salt. And twice the red pepper flakes will give it more zing:)

One salad that I found which is quite yummy is quiona, black beans {or any beans}, corn, any other veggie you like held together with your favorite salsa {as spicy or mild as you prefer} and a little veggie stock to thin it out, a bit. If you like extra flavor you can also cook the qunoa in veggie stock, though I have yet to find one that is really low in sodium.

I also make smoothies with almond/soy or rice milk, frozeen fruit, tofu {or for a shake a frozen soy "ice cream"} and a little bit of orange juice.

or a slurpee with frozen berries and orange juice in a blender. {can also add a splash of booze to make it an adult treat, but I rarely drink}

broccoli steamed in the mircrowave witha little vinegrette dressing on top instead of water.

I also make a great banana blueberry pancake using soy milk and soy yogurt, though I have yet to find anything to sub for the eggs.

How could I choose a favorite? I love food! Every meal is my favorite!

This weekend I made stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) with an aromatic combination of spices, nuts and dried fruit mixed into the rice. Served with various homemade Lebanese dips (hummus, muhamara, baba ganouj) and a rice/lentil dish, this was a luxurious Sunday dinner with lots of leftovers for our lunches this week!

Tofu steak is a quick, delicious weekday meal. Drain and press a block of tofu, slice it in half crosswise (like layer cake) then dredge the slices in cornstarch. Fry in a little oil. Sometimes I toss mushrooms into the pan and the after removing the tofu, deglaze the pan with soy sauce and mirin to make a rich sauce.

Indian curries are always a pleasure. I've learned to make balti sauce, a puree of cooked onion, tomato, garlic and ginger, and freeze it in portions. Balti sauce mixed with steamed or sauteed vegetables makes an almost instant curry.

Chickpea chili, chilled soba noodles in dipping broth, the joys of a huge salad. There are so many wonderful v*gan things to eat...

Thanks to Avesha for the baked tofu recipe - tried it yesterday and it's great!! I'm looking forward to experimenting with different marinades.

My favorite veg meals are also the easiest to prepare:

Top your own baked potato - I get those gorgeous huge bakers. Topping suggestions: shredded soy cheese, veg "sour cream", Earth balance "butter", steamed cauliflower, steamed broccoli, chili, salt and pepper, chopped fresh chives.

And taco salad: First I make a salad with mixed greens or romaine, chopped tomatoes and chopped green or red onions - then dress with italian vinegarette. I put it in each bowl and put a few spoonfuls of vegetarian chili in the center, topped with shredded soy cheese and salsa. I slide tortilla chips in around the bowl.

My very favorite lunch is onigiri (Japanese rice balls) stuffed with vegetable curry.  I bought a couple of onigiri molds to make those triangular rice balls, that made the filled ones much easier to make.

I find having a carb-heavy lunch wards off the three o'clock doldrums.  If I load up on protein or greens then I am dragging by three.  That might just be my own quirk though!

For dinner my favorite is skewers of pan-sauteed tofu, roasted carrots and sweet potato, and steamed broccoli and drizzle a sweetish ginger-soy sauce over it sparingly.  I serve that with rice too, I eat too much rice.  I can get my boyfriend to eat this one, but I think he would eat shoes off of skewers, he's such a kid.  :-)

Ellybell, do you have the onigiri recipe? I would love to try it.

I make onigiri just like this lady.

The only hard part is finding medium or short grain rice.  Long grain rice doesn't work very well and it's hard to get ahold of the others here at least.

I use any old vegetable curry for the filling, or any savory dinner stew I make.  I also fill with just chopped vegetables, yellow saffron rice, egg salad, etc etc.

An easy casserole that reheats very well:

Indian-styel Chickpea Casserole
From 'The Compassionate Cook'

Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 c onion 1 c brown rice 2 c canned chickpeas 1 can (14 oz) creamed corn Directions

1. Cook rice.
   
   
2. Saute onions in olive oil, add garlic, turmeric, cumin, and curry powder to taste.
   
   
3. Mix rice, onion, and remaining ingredients together.
   
   
4. Bake at 375 F for 20-30 min, until all bubbly.

I usually get 4 servings out of this, and the recipe analyzer on this site gives each an 'A' for nutrition, and about 445 cal/serving, 11 g of protein and 8 g of fibre - not bad!  Of course, if you get more servings out of the dish, then there are fewer calories.  ;-)

I might have the above with a nice salad for a meal.

Hope this helps!
--Mickey

i loooove pasta! especially spinach fettucini----soooo good! also, stuffed portebella mushrooms are yummy.  you can stuff them with veggies and cheese, or--if you eat fish--breaded clams.  the possibilities are endless.  another thing you could do is sautee mushrooms and veggies and put them over pasta or something.

i love mashing drained garbanzo beans/chickpeas with some mustard, relish, peas, corn, and any other small veggies i can get my hands on. chickpeas are a great source of fiber and protein, and im just simplistic like that. you can put them between two slices of whole wheat bread, and cheese if youre just vegetarian.

i also LOVE making vegan brownies.. but i cant really anymore because i always binge on them >_>.

How about a veggie wrap for those hot summer days?

I take a tortilla wrapper (whole wheat is better, or better yet get on of those flavored ones, those are awesome)

lather on a thick layer of Roasted Garlic Hummus

Lots of veggies, I like green pepper, sliced cucumber, tomatoe, and fresh spinach and whatever else you want,

Add some tofu if you like but it is fine without.

wrap it up and enjoy.

Ummm, ummm, so good. 

I have to post a variation on the "Eggplant parm"

I use stewed tomatoes cut up instead of the sauce.  I also use Feta cheese instead of Moz and I fry my eggplant in a grill pan with Coconut Oil.  The Coconut oil takes the bitterness right out of the eggplant and gives it such a fresh taste.  This receipe is my favorite. 

Lol once I had barely anything left in my fridge, so I tried pasta with tofu and then salsa as a sauce. Oh man, its so good, mainly because I just love salsa. If you fry the tofu in a pan first its awesome.

when i'm feeling really fancy i make a homemade tomato sauce loaded with onion and garlic and basil (commercial canned or jarred have waaaaay too much sodium) and make a "lasagna" using very thinly sliced eggplant instead of pasta and using tons of veggies (mushrooms, onions, peppers) in between the layers. i'm vegan but you could add some low fat cheese.

in the summertime it's nice to have something cool, so big green salads with a cup of cold kidney beans on top are always nice (and quick).