veggie meal ideas for partner who prefers 'traditional' veggies

(22 Posts)
gretagrape Tue 05-Nov-13 07:51:12

Hi. Trying to save money by going meat free on alternate nights - going well so far but I've pretty much run out of ideas after the first two weeks!

My husband has very traditional taste - he'd eat a roast dinner every night if he could choose, and likes veggies such as cabbage, carrots, swede etc (hates squash, sweet potato and generally the type of veg you'd make ratatouille with) and I'm finding it hard to find veggie recipes using the more basic 'traditional' veg.

So far I've done a mushroom and onion tart, spinach and ricotta lasagne rolls, cauli and chickpea curry, mixed veg curry and kidney bean and onion burgers. Tomorrow night is going to be cannellini bean and sage burgers, then it's back to the beginning of the list!

Any other ideas please?

archfiend Tue 05-Nov-13 08:03:29

I have made this for veggie friends for dinner and it is really good. Waitrose site has quite a few good veggie recipes.

archfiend Tue 05-Nov-13 08:05:15

Didn't necessarily use all organic ingredients though! Still tasted nice and we make it for ourselves every once in a while too.

Greenandcabbagelooking Tue 05-Nov-13 08:12:24

I had broccoli and cauliflower cheese the other night. With breadcrumbs on top. You could add pasta for a more complete meal.

Big flat mushrooms grilled, with peppercorn sauce and chips.

Shepard's pie with lentils/quorn.

Zombieminx Tue 05-Nov-13 08:14:33

I always find the BBC Good Food site a brilliant resource... How about this veggie pie?

lottiegarbanzo Tue 05-Nov-13 08:33:32

You can use combinations of green or brown lentils and soya mince to make shepherd's pie, bolognaise etc.

Look up a recipes for red dragon pie (I use Sarah Brown's), mushroom Wellington and good old nut roast.

You may find yourself investing in pulses!

Also look up ppk online. They're vegan and have some very imaginative things he wouldn't like but also some tasty variants on things like spaghetti and meatballs in tomato sauce (lentil balls), pies and the seitan might be worth a go.

gretagrape Tue 05-Nov-13 08:37:58

Mmm, thanks - they all sound really yummy! We use a lot of pulses anyway to bulk out meat dishes, so I just need to make them interesting enough to stand up to their own dish!

I must have borrowed about 9 or 10 books from the library and they all concentrated on very Mediterranean style dishes, lots of side dishes and salads, so I was losing hope, but I'll have a look at these websites. The curried veg pie sounds delish!

gretagrape Tue 05-Nov-13 08:39:40

ppk sounds worth checking as well - our son is allergic to dairy and egg, so once he's onto proper dinners I was going to get a stash of vegan recipes together for him anyway.

mum23kidz Tue 05-Nov-13 08:44:21

A great site for meal ideas of all sorts is I use it a lot!

SugarMiceInTheRain Tue 05-Nov-13 08:44:28

Bean chilli with rice or baked potato, or even use as a tortilla filling, line up a row of rolled tortillas in a rectangular oven dish , cover with tinned tomatoes and cheese and bake.

I stuff mushrooms with a mixture of stuffing mix and pate (in this case try using a vegetarian pate) and a squeeze of lemon juice, bake for about 20 minutes, delicious and really quick and easy

Snowlike Tue 05-Nov-13 21:10:03

Try the original cranks books - they are pretty traditional I think - lots of brown food. smile

mrspremise Tue 05-Nov-13 22:02:29

Look at Indian food, pots of lovely veggie things. Pav Bhaji is my absolute favourite now smile

gretagrape Wed 06-Nov-13 15:54:50

Yes, I've a feeling there will be lots of Indian on the menu - I usually do dal or sag aloo as side dishes with meat curries anyway so I'll start looking up other veggie curry ideas!

I forgot about Cranks - will look them up as well.


Dolallytats Wed 06-Nov-13 16:04:09

Macaroni cheese always goes down well. Would he eat quorn? Then you could do chilli, cottage pie etc. What about a veggie stew? Just use the same things as a meat one (pots, turnip, carrot, swede etc) but leave out the meat!! If you make dumplings to go with it the meat isn't missed.

Omelettes and jacket pots with cheese, beans and salasd are cheap and tasty veggie meals too. Doesn't have to be anything fancy!!

Carnivore dp is happy to eat:

- veggie chillis / tacos / burritos / enchiladas etc
- veggie curries
- any kind of pie (eg quorn and leek / quorn mince and vege / cheese and onion / feta and spinach)
- anything potato based, such as dauphinoisse with salad, or a veggie shepherd's pie
- anything in a gratin: last night it was celeriac and we had it with veggie sausages
- macaroni cheese and in fact any kind of cheesy or creamy pasta, especially if it involves mushrooms
- veggie toad in the hole - either with veggie sausages or with roasted mushrooms and shallots/red onions

You could make a nice Thai style curry using cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, cabbage etc.

Cranks - Homity pie. I think the Hairy Bikers have a recipe for it too.

We're raging carnivores also trying to eat less meat. I made a lentil moussaka (recipe card in Sainsburys this week), it was really lovely and didn't miss the meat. If DP wouldn't eat aubergine, replace with sliced potato instead?

MarianForrester Wed 06-Nov-13 18:56:32

This is delicious. It makes loads: I made one big one and froze four smaller ones last week.

golden veggie shepherds pie

hopeitsright Wed 06-Nov-13 21:35:49

Indian meals are generally roti, rice, dal and a veg curry or two, with some yogurt and salad on the side. Maybe some vegetable fritters, samosas, or baked dhoklas.
Nowadays European cuisine has a lot of vegetarian variety. Mushroom lasagne, asparagus risotto, broccoli quiche, artichoke frittata, spinach ravioli, veggie stuffed pastries and casseroles..
The Chinese too now serve veggie stuffed wontons, stirfries, spring onion pancakes, all sorts of tofus or bean curd.
Fifteen years ago, all you could get was potato chips and salad!

hopeitsright Sat 09-Nov-13 01:20:50

Just watch Jacques Pepin! Here are so many recipes!

hopeitsright Sat 09-Nov-13 01:24:13

Jacques Pepin vegetable risotto -
Get recipes at:

gretagrape Sat 09-Nov-13 12:01:31

Thanks -will look them up.

It's going well so far and I haven't had to repeat a recipe yet thanks to all your ideas - we had broccoli and cauli cheese last night with leek, mushroom and mustard in the cheese sauce, and tomorrow it will be curried veg and lentil casserole. So far, husband's comments have all been good and actually I think it's making me concentrate and cook better because I can't just rely on a hunk of meat to make my usual concoctions taste bearable!

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