Vegetarian Recipes and Meal Ideas

[Rainraven]

I've been vegetarian for over 2 months now and absolutely love it! :D Only problem is coming up with new healthy meal ideas, so I thought I'd recruit the Apricity team and hear what you all have to say. Any advice on being vegetarian and getting all the protein/iron etc. that's needed is also welcome.

I'll start things off with a recipe for Pumpkin and Spinach Cannelloni:

Ingredients (serves 4)
1kg pumpkin, deseeded, peeled
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
800g diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of sugar
Salt & freshly ground pepper
250g frozen chopped leaf spinach, thawed
350g fresh ricotta
Pinch ground nutmeg
Cannelloni tubes
1/3 cup (35g) finely grated parmesan

Method
Cut the pumpkin into 3cm chunks, then steam or microwave. Drain and mash.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 4-5 minutes until soft. Add the tomatoes, oregano and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Reduce to a medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Squeeze handfuls of the spinach over a bowl to remove the excess liquid. Combine the pumpkin, spinach, ricotta and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread 1 cup (250ml) of the tomato sauce over the base of a 2 litre rectangular ovenproof dish. Carefully fill the cannelloni tubes with the pumpkin mixture. Pour over remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle with the parmesan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tender.

A nice touch is to also add pine nuts on top before baking :)

[Tabiti]

Try quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and another grains and pseudograins. They contain lots of proteins, iron and calcium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat
Also eat more beans. Soya contains lots of proteins, however I'm against it's daily use due lots of reasons. One of them is that the most soya and soya products are GMO.

350g fresh ricotta
I see you aren't vegan, so just eat more dairies and eggs, so there will be no problems gaining enough proteins, iron, B12, etc.
BTW, I'm the same. Well, I can consume some meat, but quite rare since I don't like meat since I remember myself.

P.S. I can't cook, so don't ask me any recipes;)

[Sigrid]

I don't know if it's so much of a great recipe, but it's very filling and easy to make. All you have to do buy a can of black beans, canned or frozen corn (NOT creamed corn), cut up some onion, an orange or red bell pepper, jalapenos (sorry - don't have the "tilda" for the n!), and green chiles. You put it into a pan on your stove and put it on medium/medium high heat until thoroughly heated, scoop some onto tortillas (buy wheat ones - they're tasty and better for you than the white ones) and add some cheddar cheese.

I find it's really tasty and very healthy for you (as long as you don't overload it with cheese).

[Fortis in Arduis]

Dear Rainraven,

Congratulations on your new choice of diet. I want to share with you this little nugget:


Khichari (pronounced "kitch-eri") is such an important dish for vegetarians that I have included a different recipe for it in each of my cookbooks. The flavoursome, juicy stew of mung beans, rice and vegetables is both nutritious and sustaining. It can be served anytime a one-pot meal is required You can practically live on khichari, and in fact, some people do. I eat it accompanied by a little yogurt, some whole-wheat toast, lemon or lime wedges and topped with a drizzle of melted ghee. Bliss! Serves 4-6

• ½ cup split mung beans, washed and drained
• 6 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.5cm (½-inch) chunk ginger, chopped fine
• 1 small green chili, seeded and chopped ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• 1 cup Thai rice, or other long grain rice of your choice
• 1 packed cup each broccoli, potato cubes and quartered Brussels sprouts, or vegetables of your choice
• 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• small handful curry leaves
• ½ teaspoon yellow asafetida powder
• ½ cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

wedges of lemon, some chilled yogurt
and extra ghee for serving.

Bring to a boil in a saucepan the mung beans, water, bay leaf, ginger, chili, turmeric and coriander, then reduce to a simmer, and cook, partially covered, for about 15 minutes, or until the beans start to break up.

Add the rice, vegetables, tomatoes and salt, increase the heat, and stirring, bring to a boil, then return to a simmer, covered. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10-15 minutes, or until the rice is soft.

Season: heat the ghee in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Sprinkle in the cumin seeds, fry until a few shades darker, and add the curry leaves - careful, they crackle. Sprinkle in the yellow asafetida powder, swirl the pan and empty the fried seasonings into the khichari. Stir the seasonings through, then return to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes or so, or until the rice is fully swollen and soft. If you desire a moist khichari, add a little boiling water now.

Serve: fold in the fresh coriander, and serve the khichari piping hot with a drizzle of warm ghee, and the accompaniments suggested above.

http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/Vegetarian-Recipes/Kurma-Vegetarian-Recipes/Mung-Dal-Khichari.htm

This is but one recipe. One actually can live on khichari as a staple food. I cook a pot in the morning with about 150g of rice and 150g of mung dal, and I find that I have enough for the whole day. If you count the calories and the cost you will see that this does not amount to very much. Oh, and that takes 2 litres of water in a pressure cooker, cooked for a generous 20 mins. Very soft and easy to digest.

I eat some every two hours and if I am going some where, I put some hot into in a little bento box container that I bought from Muji:

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=11&Sub=110&PID=3203

I am sorry that the recipe is in cups, I much prefer metric measures.

There are unlimited variations of khichari, you can add soaked white poppy seeds if you have a cold, (smack my bitch up :D) and you can cook it with cracked wheat (dalia) instead of basmati rice.

It is possible to make khichari with black urad dal, which contains iron, and the same amino acids as flesh. However urad dal takes three hours to cook on the stove in an ordinary pan, so you really will need a pressure cooker. This khichari is my favourite and I spice it only with salt, cloves, ginger and asafoetida.

One great benefit of following a khichari based diet is that it is gently detoxifying, gentle on the stomach, suitable for babies and the very elderly and very very cheap.

Some recipes use onion and/or garlic, but I do not recommend these foods even if you have a cold, even leeks, or chives are 'for the birds'.

That is because I am a snob.

You would only discover the true benefit of avoiding the allium family after several months of abstinence.

One benefit is that pungent and unpleasant smells become more easily discerned by someone following a pure vegetarian diet. The tastes become more refined.

I advise you to leave the garlic and onion eating to the macrame-making sandal-wearing vegetarians with dreadlocks and rainbow jumpers who overly concern themselves with the welfare of fluffy animals.

xxx

If you 'love' garlic, I suggest that you become used to cooking asafoetida/hing, because it has all the flavour with none of the stink, nor the effect on refined mental processes.

(Humans can process the thiosulphates in the allium family, just, but if you gave some to your dog or cat you would poison him. For us, it just disrupts left-right brain co-ordination.)

Yours very sniffily and snobbishly,

Fortis.

[Tabiti]

A chick-pea cream with garlic, Hummus, Oumos, or Humus
A delicious and healthy mediteranean recipe, easy, cheap and fast to make (10 min).
Hummus is a cream of chick peas with garlic, lemon and olive oil, from Lebanon.

- Take a can of chickpeas (standard, 850ml 530 g), also called garbanzo beans. Wash the peas (4 holes on one side, open the other, put in a sink and rinse under a water flush)
- Put the peas in a blender (food-processor, e.g., Magimix).
- Add 100 ml of lemon juice (one glass or half a cup, unsweetened, e.g., Pulco, or two lemons)
- Let it turn for a while. When it becomes “creamy”
- Add 100 ml of olive oil (one glass or half a cup. Better to replace ¼ of the glass with canola (rapeseed) oil, for fatty acids balance)
- Some people prefer less lemon (50ml). Let the mixer turning until the cream is “perfect”. While it turns:
- prepare four big garlic cloves (two cloves are enough for most people),
- Stop the blender, crunch the garlic with a garlic-cruncher on top of humus, wait 2-3 min for garlic to “mature”, and mix again the humus (why should you wait? Why should garlic "mature"? see the explanation in the Gaspacho recipe).
- Serve it cold, with mint leaves as ornament (optional). Spread it on bread (or take a spoon!)

That's just wonderful!

[Fortis in Arduis]

That's just wonderful!

Yes, but if she wants to avoid peasant-breath she can just fry a little asafoetida (available in North Indian supermarkets) in some oil and add that instead of the garlic. She could also fry a little chilli powder too with that, or maybe ground white pepper (not fried though, just added later).

This would be good for kapha season which is from mid-Winter to Summer, now.

Less lemon for this season as well - that is better for Autumn-Winter along with a little more salt.

For the Summer (pitta) season she could also desist from adding too much lemon, and salt, and chilli is a big no-no for summer.

I would not bother waiting for the garlic to 'mature', because the subtle poisons, the thiosulphates, should not be there in the first place, unless she has a really really bad cold, and she could add some tahini as well (sesame seed paste).

You see, the saatvic ayurvedic diet is :evil

[_______]

peanut butter, marmite and salad sandwich (spring onions optional)

my friend invented it!

:D

[Fortis in Arduis]

^ that sounds really easy and nutritious.

[Aces High]

Pasta with pesto.

Get a small amount of pine nuts.
A bushell of basil.
Some good olive oil.
Two potatoes.
Some good parmisan cheese.
Bit of salt (to taste)
Pepper.
Half a kilo of pasta.

Crush the pine nuts up with a pestal and add the basil and grind into a pulp.Add the olive oil,not too much.

Boil up some water for the pasta and throw in the peeled potatoes cubed.Add salt to the water.

Throw in the pasta and cook,leave the diced potatoes in the water with the pasta.

When done,drain and add the crushed basil and pine nuts and oil to the pasta,the potatoes should be cooked to perfection as well and included in the mix.

Throw some parmisan cheese over the lot,maybe a bit of pepper and pour yourself a glass of chilled white wine.

Bobs your uncle.

(Thats how they make it in Genoa,so a mate of mine from there tells me.)

[CelticViking]

Vegetarian Pizza
Note: Nutritional values are provided per serving. Fat values refer to Saturated Fat. Points values refer to the Weight Watchers point system

Serves: Makes 3 Pizzas.
1 serve = half a pizza

Prep Time: 20 minutes + dough time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Calories: 440
Sat Fat: 3.5
Points: 8.5

Ingredients
400g can tinned chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil

3 crushed garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

150g feta cheese

1 large sliced spanish (red) onion

3 chopped mushrooms

3 pitted black olives, cut into slices

1 packet rocket leave for side salad

Balsamic vinegar for side salad

1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese for side salad

Method
In a large saucepan, make the tomato base by cooking together the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, oregano, bay leaf and salt
Divide the paste into 3 portions, and spread one portion over each pizza base.
Add cheese, onion, mushrooms and olive toppings
Bake in a pre-heated 225 degree celsius oven for about 20 minutes
Serve hot with a side salad made with rocket and balsamic vinegar, topped with grated parmesan cheese.

Easy Pizza Recipes: Pizza Dough
. This recipe makes 3 pizza bases.
In a bowl, mix 4 cups strong bread flour with a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon of salt.
Gradually add between 1-1.5 cups of water (depending on the consistency you prefer), and mix.
Knead the dough until smooth.
Cover the dough and leave it to rise until it is double in size.
Divide the dough into 3 pieces and leave to rest for a few minutes.
Roll out each piece on a floured board to 5mm thickness.
Place on a thin baking tray sprayed with olive oil.
Add your favourite toppings!

http://www.secretsofhealthyeating.com/pizza-recipes.html