What did you have for dinner tonight?
I've been a vegetarian for the past 7 years now, but am becoming a little bored by my standard dinner recipes.
While I don't mind cooking, most nights I'm honestly not going to spend tons of time (more than 15-20 minutes?) preparing my food, and I find that most recipes that I'm interested in take a little bit longer.
So, all this is to say that I'm looking for some new and easy dinner options. My dinners average 400 calories so something in that range would be great.
I'm a sucker for eating out for dinner, but am trying to cut back on that (for both financial and dietary reasons). Aside from the frozen pizza bit, I'm not a fan of frozen food at all....and for no particular reason, I'm not a big fan of soups.
I hate a falafel wrap last night at a greek place. I normally like the pita bread, but the grilled wrap was really good.
Tortilla wrap, falafel, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, cucumber sauce, green leaf lettuce.
Yum.
I have no idea what the calorie count was, but I'm sure it was less than my friend's dinner choice of a plate of chinese noodles and meat in sauce.
Hi
Here's two recipes I just entered in the system
There are over 700 cooking videos for free on this web site:
http://www.suprememastertv.com/veg/
Some of them are in foreign language but many are English and many are by famous chefs.
Last night I had a nice big bowl of fried quinoa! It's made just like fried rice but with quinoa instead. Using quinoa (instead of the usual white rice) adds fiber, protein, and wonderful texture to the dish. An added bonus is that quinoa takes a lot less time to cook than rice!
Here the basic recipe:
While the quinoa is cooking separately, saute some onion and garlic in a wok or big frying pan. When the quinoa is almost finished, add frozen peas, carrots, fresh spinach or any other veggies you like in your fried rice to the wok (you can also crack an egg in at this point if you eat eggs). Add the quinoa to the wok with the veggies and combine everything with some soy sauce and a little more oil if it needs it. Then eat and enjoy!
It's one of my favorite go-to dishes because it's such a fast, easy, well-balanced dinner.
yeah, grilled wrap is always really good! maybe i'll try making falafel at home...
thanks for the new recipes!
I make quinoa stir fry all the time and it's soo good. I like to saute a whole bunch of veggies and season them with cumin. Then, I put them over the quinoa and top with salsa. It's so delicious!
Vegetable and chick pea dahl curry with a jacket potato.
I am not vegetarian, but my last two dinners have been meatless (but had dairy).
Dinner one: quinoa pilaf -- cook quinoa with 3/4 cup chick peas. heat frozen mixed veggies (or fresh mixed veggies, cut small). When quinoa is done, mix everything together. OPTIONAL: If you eat dairy, sprinkle a shredded or grated cheese of your choice on top of the hot mixture and let it melt. When melted, stir it up. The cheese acts as a great binding agent. :P
Dinner two: Raspberry vinaigrette chick pea and broccoli farfalle -- cook farfalle. cook broccoli and chick peas. Toss everything together and lightly coat with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. OPTIONAL: parmesan cheese
Both very tasty and filling, although that is probably due to the fact that I eat twice the serving size on the nutrition labels :P
Mac 'n' cheese with vege-links and kimchi.
I was lazy.
We had chicken chili ... very good ... very good for you and reasonably low in calories. It had a nice sweet yellow/red pepper taste with a spicy kick. It was very filling and only 304 calories per serving. If you are interested here is the recipe.
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions) 1/8 cup olive oil 1/8 cup minced garlic (2 cloves) 2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced 2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons kosher salt 56 ounce tomatoe puree 1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves 16 oz of chicken 1 Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to the pot with the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Let cool slightly. Separate the meat from the bones and skin and cut it into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with the toppings, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving.
You took a wrong turn at the door, Mr. Bacon. But thanks for thinking of us!
it being my day off i cooked at lunch and at dinner.
for lunch - red lentil dahl and veggie rice... yum yum
for dinner - chickpea and mushroom risotto... easy peasy!
Last night I was lazy so I had a food long 9 grain veggie sub, with no cheese. Some Olive chips (can't remember who makes them), with some baba Ghanoush (yes I mangled the spelling) and a kiwi.
Tonight I'm thinking portabella mushroom burger on whole wheat with onions and a side of oven fries and probably some stir fry veggies (I get the frozen ones and just heat up the veggies by themselves). probably some fruit after if I feel like something sweet.
Often I will put something in the crockpot before I leave so I'll have a hot dinner waiting when I get home. I find I get more legumes that way.
Bday dinner at the inlaws! they love me so they prepped a veggie option for me. Vegetarian enchiladas. Did you know they had vege refried beans?? me neither! i usually prefer to just you black beans so imagine my surprise when mommus pulls that out of the cabinet. anywho..
Whole wheat tortilla cover with bean mixture. Add sauted veggies ( last night was corn, broccoli, onions and peppers) add cheese and roll up. Lay in casserole dish that is smothered with enchilada sauce (or tomatoe or salsa) and cover with remaining sauce add cheese (reg or veggie optional!) bake for 30 min uncovered. Let stand for 20. It was a little salty (because of canned ingredients, I prefer making that stuff fresh.. but it was easy and yummy =)
Tofu vegitable stir fry with brown rice. Most of your time is spent chopping vegis unless you by pre prepared vegis, but it's soo good... I'm a sucker for vegi. stirfry though. Let your tofu crumble though instead of cutting into blocks, it will blend with your rice and it taste just like the vegis.
It was one of those "use up what you had in the pantry" days:
-1/2 avocado (140)
-1/2 cup whole-wheat couscous (210) with a pat of butter (36)
-1 slice firm silken tofu (60) with 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
-1 scallion (8)
-juice from half a lime (5)
Total: 459 calories
This takes all of about 10 minutes to prepare, since to make the couscous, all you do is pour boiling water over it and let it sit for 5-ish minutes until all the water gets absorbed. I then just mixed in the butter, sliced the avocado and fanned it across the top with lime and scallion, and put the tofu with soy and more scallion on another plate. Quick and very filling!
I had a Thai-style butternut squash curry, and it was delicious! A coconut milk and chili powder base, with big cubes of butternut squash mixed with chunky-cut fresh onions, peppers, basil leaves and carrot planks served over nutty brown rice...MmmMMMm :)
I had a burger pattie I made myself out of soy beans, crumbles, potato and oats. topped off with sourdough, lettuce, onions, and pickles. A side of baked potato wedges. lol, I could have been a lot healthier tonight.
Tonight for dinner I had one serving of black bean noodles, San-J's szchewen sauce and 2 portions of frozen stir-fried veggies, tossed together with half a broken up veggie pattie. It was surprisingly good.
A portion of vegetarian chilli that I make myself and freeze into portions, using kidney beans and tvp soya mince, with a wholemeal pitta bread, a handful of cooked green beans and 5 florets of cooked broccoli. :) then about and hour later I had 50g of dark chocolate as a sort of dessert/supper.
Oh, and countless cups of tea to drink!
