It occurred to me the other day, that I have probably never gone a week in my life without eating some kind of meat or fish since I was a baby. I’ll bet my husband hasn’t either, and since they were weaned on to solids, my children certainly haven’t.
I quite like to set myself little challenges at the supermarket. Usually this is to see how little I can spend on my weekly food shop, but I’ve got this down to a fairly constant £35ish a week, and I’ve been getting a bit bored, so this week I’ve challenged myself to a vegetarian week.
It felt a bit weird not picking up a chicken to roast, or some pancetta to add to a risotto or pasta sauce, but we’ll see how it goes. Instead, I bought a copy of Vegetarian Living magazine for inspiration with the money I saved from buying meat.
So far I’ve planned a butternut squash risotto (without the pancetta, and substituting vegetable stock), a goat’s cheese and roasted vegetable tart, a sweet potato, lentil and aubergine curry, macaroni cheese with garlic and roasted tomatoes, and a random vegetable lasagne.
I am sure I could hash together a couple of other meals, but I’d love to know if you have any yummy vegetarian recipes I could try out! I refuse point blank to eat Quorn, and I am not a fan of tofu.
My plan is to blog my meat-free week, so check back for updates on our progress. Who knows, if this week goes well, it might become a regular thing Chez UFOs.
We’re the opposite in our house – we eat vegetarian meals most of the time with the occasional meaty meal. Vegetarian lasagne is good but my favourite is vegetable crumble and homemade bread. I recently bought Hugh’s Veg Every Day book, which is super – the squash and walnut toasties are amazing!
With a veg crumble do you just make it exactly how you’d make a fruit crumble, but minus the sugar? What veg would you use for that? And would you pop a bit of stock or a sauce in there too? x
Yep! I normally add butternut squash, courgettes, onion and pepper (and anything else I can find in the fridge) – part roast that and then mix in some chopped tomatoes, garlic and herbs, add crumble topping and finish off the cooking in the oven again. I usually add cheese and oats to the crumble topping which is yum! :)
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Have the macaroni cheese on Friday and SAVE some for me when I get there. Oh what a generous offer thanks!
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ok!
Chickpea & Tomato Bake (From The Times)
Slice
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 small courgette
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Tinned chickpeas
handful basil
2 handfuls breadcrumbs
grated parmesan
Lemon zest (only if you have one around)
Sweat veg in oil. Add tomatoes + pinch of sugar simmer 20 mins
Pour into baking dish
Sprinkle combined handfuls over top
Bake 20 mins 180C / Gas 4
———-
Always look at the ethnic shelves in supermarkets, often the chickpeas are far cheaper than the usual tinned veg shelves.
* add the chickpeas just before pouring into baking dish.
Yum! Thanks Chris. I need to nip to Saino’s tomorrow so that’s definitely one for the middle of the week!
This sounds lovely! I’m going to add it to my ‘to-do recipe pile’ :)
How about a mixed bean chilli? Use extra beans (I buy 2 cans of mixed beans), aubergine, courgette, peppers, mushrooms, really the list of veg is endless. We eat it regularly and the kids love it.
Ooh that sounds good, thanks Emma x
We eat meat about twice a week and no more, veggie the rest of the time. It’s SO much better for you (thus speaks the dietitian!) Don’t forget my Lentil Bolognaise recipe : http://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/2012/02/16/lentil-and-bolognaise-love/ and here is a yummy courgette lasagne: http://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/2012/02/04/courgette-lasagne-with-fresh-buckwheat-pasta/
We had lentil bolognaise last night. It was delicious, as ever, and the kids liked it :)
This is so bizarre! We are having a meat free week here too! Mainly because we’ve all been feeling super stodgy so want to avoid anything that is generally accompanied by potatoes or cooked in lots of oil! Good luck, and I’ll deffo be nicking a few of your ideas! x
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Suave! It’s going ok for us so far, what about you? I’ll post anything I make that’s delicious x
It’s so funny that you’re doing this as when Matt and I finally have our own place I’m planning on us only eating meat three days a week, both to save money and to eat more healthily.
I recently bought Hugh F-W’s Every Day Veg book and it’s jam packed full of amazing recipes, I’d highly recommend buying this book if you’re looking to eat more meat free meals in the future.
Oooh thanks Cheryl, you’re the second person to recommend that book to me today, and I do love a bit of Hugh F-W. I’ll pop it on my wishlist!
*Shameless blog plug alert*
I’ve been virtually meat-free for a while now. Similar reasons to you, to save some cash but also to live a bit healthier. I’ve posted some yum recipes over at estrellashine.blogspot.co.uk if you fancy a squiz.
Good luck in your meat-free-ness. And enjoy! xx
Thanks Lydia, I will check it out now :) I like a good blog hop!
These pea and mushroom pies are EPIC http://morethantoast.org/2011/12/mtt-mushroom-pea-and-tarragon-pot-pies
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They look BUFF! I haven’t made a pie in a while so I’ll definitely give this a go! Thanks hunbun!
Hey,
I have been veggie for 21 years now. Missed bacon rolls and Hoisin Duck when I first gave up meat and fish, but don’t seem to crave either any more!
My children Amy (18) and Kiran (14) have never eaten meat and for now seem quite content with that. Amy is off to university in September and has asked me to write her a book of all her favourite recipes; it’s turning in to a bit of a labour of love. A lot of our food at home has an Indian twist, but we like Mediterranean food as well. This is such a quick and tasty recipe, and Amy loves it.
Pan Fried Halloumi with Lime and Chilli
20 ml Olive Oil
1x250g-300g block of Halloumi Cheese
15 ml lime juice
30 ml sweet chilli sauce
flat leaved parsley to garnish
1. Take the block of cheese and slice into 7-8mm thick slices.
2. Put oil into a good non-stick frying pan and heat to medium hot.
3. Add the slices of Halloumi and fry until the underside is golden brown. Turn the slices over.
4. At this point add the lime juice and the sweet chilli sauce.
5. Cook until the second side is golden.
6. Stack the cooked Halloumi in a plate and spoon over remaining juices. Garnish with the parsley.
Serve with your favourite leafy salad and your favourite crusty/rustic bread.
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Wow thank you Karen! This sounds lovely! I absolutely adore halloumi so this is something I’ll definitely be trying out. All these recipes I am getting makes me think we’ll be eating meat-free a lot more often! x
Vegetable curry.
1tbsp veg oil
1 large onion
2tbsp tikka masala paste
200ml reduced fat coconut milk
200ml vegetable stock
half a butternut squash, deseeded and cubed.
250g green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1, Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion over a medium heat for 5 mins until softened. Stir in the masala paste and cook for 1 min. Turn down the heat and pou in the coconut milk, stir well.
2, Slowly pour in the stock. Add the butternut squash and bring to boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 mins.
3, Add the beans and chopped pepper to the pan and cook, covered, for another 5- 10 mins until the squash is tender. add yogurt if needed. cook rice.
Sounds yummy, thanks Hannah :)
we found if we added yogurt in as well Joshua loved it.
If you go in for this for the long run, I highly recommend River Cottage Veg Everyday, it is such a good cookbook, you might even be able to loan it from the library if you have a good one!
There are lots on here from the book too!
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/river-cottage-veg-recipes
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