Please help! Making my family a veg*n meal- any ideas?

Question

Yay! National Vegetarian Week starts tomorrow! I want to prove to my family that veg*n food isn't boring. I asked my family if I could make them a veg*n meal one day next week, and they agreed. But I need ideas from you guys.

So if you have ANY relatively simple but yummy veg*n recipes, could you please share them with me? I would appreciate it a lot.

Thanks so much! :)x

Answer 1

Always have around a bowl of Basil Nuts with a nutcracker.  They keep you occupied and are a good alternative to meat for Veggie Dudes.  You may also want to have a shell bowl close by too.

Answer 2

I wish I were home, I have a really good recipe I found for watermelon salad with tequila lime vinaigrette... I don't know if you will be able to obtain the tequila, but if you are interested in it, email me and I will send you the recipe when I get home... it's really tasty and vegan friendly, I had it in a restaurant and then found the recipe online afterwards, but now it's nowhere to be found online :( it has baby greens, watermelon, papaya, avocado, jicama, and the tequila lime dressing

actually that enchilada bake up there sounds good too, I bet it would be good with the soy chorizo, if you can find it...

Answer 3

hi scottie, there's 3 to start with, I always add a tin of kidney beans to the cottage pie, Ive cooked this one and the stroganoff and both are delicious! look at vegan village

http://www.veganvillage.co.uk/recipes.ht... where these recipes came from, there have some lovely starters and puddings if you are feeling really adventurous! :)

Vegan Cottage Pie



Traditional cottage pie apparently uses beef. We think it is much better made without!

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 carrot, diced

2 sticks celery, diced

10 oz mushrooms

2 tsp dried mixed herbs

2 tbsp soya sauce

vegetarian worcester sauce

1 tin tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato purée

2 lb potatoes

soya marg

soya milk

Notes

A mixture of mushrooms works well - try using button, field and brown mushrooms. This is also good with a tin of red kidney beans or haricot beans in place of some of the mushrooms. For a really tasty topping, mix a tablespoonful of yeast flakes with some soya marg and dot on top before placing in the oven.

   Method

Fry the onion in the oil until starting to brown.

Add the garlic, carrot, celery, mushrooms, herbs, soya sauce, a dash of vegetarian worcester sauce (standard worcester sauce contains anchovies), tomatoes, tomato purée, 200ml water, and freshly ground black pepper.

Leave to simmer. Meanwhile, peel and boil the potatoes until soft, then mash with a k**b of soya marg and a splash of soya milk.

Put the mushroom mixture in an ovenproof dish, pile the mashed potato on, put a dab of soya marg on top and cook in a moderate oven for around 45 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy.

Serve straight away with steamed greens and lashings of tomato ketchup!



Mushroom Stroganoff



This is a vegan take on beef strogg. It is easy to make, tastes delicious and is quite versatile.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

half a yellow pepper, diced

250g button mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp dried coriander

1 tsp mixed spice

400ml tin of coconut milk

Notes

This is lovely with a mix of white and brown mushrooms too. Serve with boiled rice, salad tossed in vinaigrette and garlic bread (made with vegan marg or olive oil). Yum!

   Method

Gently fry the onion, garlic and yellow pepper in the olive oil for a couple of mins until starting to soften.

Add the mushrooms, turn the heat up and cook until starting to brown.

Add the rest of the ingredients, stir well, season to taste and reduce the heat so that it bubbles gently for 20 tp 30 mins, stirring occasionally. (The sauce should reduce and thicken to a lovely creamy consistency.)

That's it!



Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington



This is a great special occasion dish. It is based on a Rose Elliot recipe from her Fast, Fresh and Fabulous vegetarian cookbook.

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

125g (4½ oz) chestnut mushrooms, sliced roughly

110g (4oz) cashews, ground in a food processor

110g (4oz) cooked chestnuts, chopped (we used tinned)

110g (4oz) soft wholemeal breadcrumbs

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp mixed herbs

½ tsp yeast extract

330g (12oz) puff pastry

soya milk for brushing

Notes

This is great with roast potatoes, steamed veggies and vegan gravy.

   Method

Fry the onions in the olive oil, add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 5 mins. Whizz in a food processor with the chestnuts, lemon juice, soya sauce and yeast extract.

Put the mixture into a mixing bowl with the breadcrumbs, cashews and herbs, season and mix well. (This should be quite stiff.)

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured board to make a rectangle about the size of a sheet of A4. Transfer the pastry to a lightly oiled baking tray and heap the mushroom mixture in the centre, forming it into a loaf shape.

Make diagonal cuts in the pastry 1cm apart on each side of the mushroom mixture, then fold these up and over to give a plait effect. Tuck, trim and brush with soya milk.

Bake at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 for 40 mins, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Answer 4

nut roast -

whizz a load of nuts (cooked (fried)) onions mushrooms carrots -garlic herbs spices bradcrumbs to bring it together and bake

Answer 5

Easy, make them pasta. Make them vegan-safe by substituting milk with soy milk, eggs with egg substitute, and use cheese made from soy. Check these out: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/rec...

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/rec...

Answer 6

www.allrecipes.com

Answer 7

INGREDIENTS

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa

1 pinch salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tomatoes, diced

1 cucumber, diced

2 bunches green onions, diced

2 carrots, grated

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS

In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature; fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, carrots and parsley. Stir in cooled quinoa.

hope this helps!!! ♥♥♥

Answer 8

how about spaghetti and a salad?  These labels seem so artificial.  I eat meals that would be considered vegan or vegetarian all the time and I eat meat - I just don't think to label them.  I prefer eating and enjoying.

My point is, there is probably a number of common dishes your household eats that ARE vegan or easily adapted to that.

Answer 9

http://www.vegcooking.com/index.asp has a lot of great vegan recipes!

Answer 10

Enchilada bake is a favorite among my vege and non-vege friends. Layer tortillas, any kind of beans (refried, black, red), salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pretty much anything else you want. Make 2 or 3 layers and then pour enchilada sauce over the entire thing, bake about 20 minutes or until it's brown. Delicious!

Answer 11

vegie stir fry!!!

so easy :)

ingredients

*1 carrot

*handful of snow peas

*1 zucchini

*1 capsicum (any colour)

*half an onion (optional)

*mushrooms (any will do but I prefer to use brown, more nutritious)

*few handfuls of greens, your choice, I usually use baby spinach

*handful of chopped nuts (almond and cashews are nice additions)

*1 cup broccoli

*hokkien noodles, or any other noodles you wish!

*tempeh or tofu - if using either try and get plain and marinate it in some of the stri fry sauce you'll be using - so as not to clash flavours (this is optional - but it's sooo tasty ;) )

*your choice of stir fry sauce - i normally use sweet chilli or "kantong - golden singapore noodle sauce"

Before you start this, you can marinate the tofu/tempeh in your chosen sauce for at least 2 hours. If you can marinate it overnight, the flavour would be even better. When it's done marinating just quickly panfry it and save it for later to toss through the stir fry.

Fry up the mushrooms in oil, then add the rest of the vegetables, leaving the spinach for last. Otherwise the spinach will have the consistency of rubber - not very nice.

When you're satisfied that the vegetables are cooked enough - I usually find this to be around 10 minutes, then add your greens. Stir through, just to wilt them. Then throw in the chopped nuts and tofu/tempeh.

In a separate bowl throw in the noodles then cover with boiling water for 2 minutes. Then drain and toss through your stir fry.

Then stir through any sauce you like - sweet chilli would be lovely :)

and serve!!

a simple vegan meal nobody would call hippy food ;)

another vegan meal is vegan lasagne.. i just had it tonight - it's absolutely beautiful.

okay you're going to need for the lasagne

*wholemeal/wholegran lasagne sheets (use white if all that's available)

*2 carrots

* 2 zucchinis

*8 brown mushrooms

*1 red capsicum

*lots of spinach (about 4 cups)

*half an eggplant

*8 sundried tomatoes - sliced into strips

*jar of tomato pasta sauce

and for the vegan cheese sauce you'll need

*  1 Cup of water

* 1 Cup of cashews

* 1/8 Teaspoon of salt

* 1 Teaspoon of onion powder

* 1/8 Cup of nutritional yeast flakes

* Sprinkle of garlic powder

* 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

okay step 1. Slice the eggplant from top to bottom so you get at least 3-4 slices. Then cut the slices vertically so you get 4 strips per slice. Now throw these eggplant strips into the oven with a little oil and roast them for 15 minutes.

step 2. slice the mushrooms and panfry them in a little oil. Grate the carrot and zucchini and add this to the pot of mushrooms. Slice up the capsicum into strips and also throw that into the pot. Sautee for about 5 minutes, until the vegies soften. Add 1 tsp of oregano and 1tsp of basil. Stir thoroughly.

step 3. get a baking try and ladle some sauce on the bottom - so the lasagne sheets won't burn to the dish. Then layer on the lasagne sheets. I normally use no cook lasagne sheets - it's just easier - but feel free to use the cooking type. Whatever floats your boat ;)

Add more sauce onto the sheets, then add the vegie mixture ontop. Then layer on a few slices of eggplant, sprinkle over some sundried tomato then cover with a decent helping of spinach - don't be afraid, just slather it on! :) Add more sauce onto the spinach then repeat the process again untill you're done.

step 4. Now you prepare the vegan 'cheese' sauce. This is a recipe I use time and again - it's absoultely beautiful. By the way -  you can more or less nutrotinal yeast - I find more will give it a more 'cheesier' taste

First blend the water and the cashews, then once that's blended, add teh rest of the ignredients and whiz away until it has reached a kinda thick consistency.

Now pour the 'cheese' over the top of the lasagne, and cover with foil to prevent drying out. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes on 180 c / 350 f.

This is seriously the best lasagne I have ever made - it sure keeps my boyfriends neverending tummy full :P

This should serve 4 people. Adjust to serve more.

I hope you give this recipe a try!