Delicious Vegetarian Recipes

So, after finally being able to get away from the nest, I can finally become a vegetarian. I have been wanting to become a vegetarian for a long time, but to do it I would feel like a burden to the household. But this September I can finally control my meals (ESFJ mother who loves to plan the food for the whole year), so I would love for people to show me some great food that I can start eating!


Thank you. :)

@renna helped me out by compiling this.

Originally Posted by renna

Omitting going fully raw for a while, here is what I suggest:

Lentils (which you can cook just one big batch at a time and store it in the refrigerator after that)
Brown Rice (Never substitute white rice for brown)
Oatmeal (old fashioned oats are better than quick oats, but for the sake of time, you can buy quick oats instead)
Quinoa (your whole foods store should have this grain, you prepare it just like oatmeal)
Any bean you prefer - I cook one batch and use it throughout the week. But canned is okay too, you're not superman and it's hard to cook everything.
Almonds, cashews and pecans are a staple.

BUY SPICES!
Dry cumin
Dry Parsley
Dry Basil
Fresh Garlic, jarred.

Greek Yogurt is excellent to have in your diet if you are vegetarian. Tons of protein. You sub it for sour cream. You can drizzle balsamic vinegar in it and make your own dressing for salad. You can put in your mashed potatoes to make them creamy.


So here is a sample meal plan:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal w/ sliced bananas, handful pecans, sliced apple bits with sprinkles of cinnamon

Snack: dry granola with dried fruit.

Lunch: Whole wheat bread (make sure the first ingredient says whole wheat flour and try to get no high fructose corn syrup in your bread. I buy mine at the health food store so it has no oils, sugars and junk in it.)
Raw spinach, home-made guacamole for spread, sliced cucumber, pickles,tomatoes, with salt/pepper.
(Add cheese if you need to.)

Snack: Smoothie

Dinner: Brown Rice and Black Bean Whole Wheat Wrap. Add salsa, guac or cilantro. Easy fast dinner.

Night Snack: Hummus & Bell Peppers

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Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bagel with hummus, spinach & guacamole (add an egg if you'd like.)

Snack: Any handful of nuts with one piece of fruit.

Lunch: Whole wheat wrap with spinach, olives, sliced bell-peppers, hummus for spread, almond cheese (or regular cheese) pickles, onions, shredded carrots - add home-made (or store bought) dressing.

Snack: Protein Bar (The kind I buy is vegan but you don't need to worry about that right now.)

Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta w/ grilled veggies(squash, broccoli, zuchinni, & onions) with choice of sauce (I make my tomato sauce home-made. (Wanna buy canned? Easy, just buy canned plain tomato sauce & add, garlic, basil, cumin and parsley. Vah lah)

Snack: Whole Wheat slice of bread with all natural peanut butter w/ sliced bananas

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Breakfast: Granola, almonds, dry oats, plain whole wheat cereal, & handful of choice of fruit - add plain milk, almond milk or soy milk.

Lunch: Monster Salad - Spinach & Romaine, onions, cucumbers, sliced olives, carrots, bell pepper, bits of avocados, add lemon juice (or lime) for dressing OR add the balsamic vinegar greek yogurt dressing. If your vegan, i sprinkle in quinoa in the salad to gain more protein.

Snack: Fruit & veggies

Dinner: Lentil Soup. Add Veggie broth (or chicken with the 0% fat if you have to) to the lentils, cook with sliced onions & brown rice. Towards the end of the soup being ready, add sliced squash to the pot. Squeeze in lemon juice and add spices like cumin and basil.

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Breakfast: Oatmeal with apple sauce, cinnamon and choice of nuts.

Snack: Apple Sauce w/ peanut butter crackers.

Lunch: Wrap with leftover lentils, add spinach and more lemon juice. Add any other raw veggie if desired.

Dinner: Whole Wheat Pita (can't find pita? use a wrap instead) with hummus spread, olives, feta cheese, onions, left over lentils & choice of dressing such as the greek yogurt with balsamic vinegar.

Snack: Smoothie of choice.



So your grocery list should look like this:

Produce: Spinach, onions (red or white), carrots, bell peppers (red or green), cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, lemons & limes. Zuchinni, Squash, Broccoli.
Fruit: Your choices of fruit to put in cereal & smoothies. Bananas.
Brown Rice
Whole Wheat Bread & Wraps
Oats - quick or old fashioned
Granola - dry
Lentils (brown or green)
Garlic - jarred
Pickles - jarred
Greek Yogurt (0% fat)
Eggs
Cheese (2%)
Spices - parsley, basil & cumin, cinnamon
Plain Tomato Sauce (canned)
Whole Wheat Pasta
All natural peanut butter
Plain or flavored apple sauce (just watch out for the high fructose corn syrup.)

Hope that helps some!

Some of the things in the actual meals are missing in the grocery list, but it's only a few. Initially, you are going to pucker your buttcheeks when you look at the bill, but really all of those grains and nuts should last you longer than just a week. One general rules I have picked up (I haven't actually started yet) are that for every grain you eat, you should eat an equal portion of legumes since the protein contents in each are different but both necessary. If you want a good guide that is succinct, I found this to be informative:

http://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/6151.pdf

Good luck! I start tomorrow.

EDIT: That thing about beans and legumes, if you have some sort of animal protein in a meal, you need not worry about that. If you don't have some sort of animal protein in a mean then worry about that.

Tabouleh.
I'm not vegetarian, but I love it. Whether you would, I don't know. It's from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Tabouleh Recipe - How to Make Tabouleh

Anything to do with pesto. Srsly.

Hummus, especially different flavors of hummus, with whole grain wasa crackers. Maybe also have some some cheese (alouette garlic and herb spread is great on crackers as well) with some fruit, like some fresh peaches or dried dates, make an awesome lunch. I accidentally discovered this one day, and it's easy and vegetarian, and healthy too.

Eggs are great scrambled in olive oil with either Fines Herbes or Herbes de Provence ...they're kind of expensive, but a little jar of them last forever, this is super simple to make...and you can add cheddar or even soft goat cheese and make an omelette out of it. But really it's even good just with the scrambled eggs with some salt and pepper.

One of my favorite omelettes has frozen or canned spinach (drained) about a handful or so in a three egg omelette, with a lot of cheese (mozerella or sharp cheddar) and sauteed onions. The most difficult part would be making sure you sautee the onions in some olive oil and get them nice and clear and softened before adding the eggs and spinach and cheese and letting it all cook together. This is soooo good with some multi-grain bread or toast.

I also suggest lentil soups, pumpkin or squash bisques or split pea soup with salads and bread, and beans, of course.

Mexican food is great for this. You can have a veggie works burrito even at the crappiest fast food places (Taco Bell has this new thing now called Cantina bowls and burritos and they are TERRIFIC if you get the vegetarian version) and it's even healthier to get a veggie or bean and rice or bean and cheese burrito with salsa at an authentic place. Of course if you're not in the U.S. this may not apply to your life, we like our Mexican food here.

You can learn to make easy curries with tofu instead of meats by getting a pre-packaged sauce, and also you can get whole grain or high fiber pasta and try various sauces; or maybe just sautee garlic in olive oil, add some tomatoes, and maybe parsley, for a lighter dish without a thick sauce on your pasta.

Almond butter and honey is also easy and delish on whole grain toast or bread or wasa crackers.

Pistachios are supposedly a perfect snack food, as are fruits and greek yogurt. I like to eat salted radishes as snacks as well.

You can also take hunks of sourdough bread and toast them with fresh mozzerella and tomato slices, and when they're done, take them from the oven or toaster, add fresh basil leaves and douse with balsamic vinaigrette. This is lovely, even for dinner, especially with some red wine.

I'm not a vegetarian but I eat a lot of vegetarian meals.

I just made this recipe for hummus off of yumuniverse.com - AMAZING!

Traditional Hummus
2 cups garbanzo beans, soaked and cooked (here’s how and why) *start with 3/4 cup dried garbanzo beans
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp raw tahini (you can also use roasted)
1-2 cloves garlic, roasted for about 5 minutes
1/4 cup pure water
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp fine ground sea salt or more to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste (optional)

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Everything above, but add 1 large red pepper, cut into quarters and seeded (leave out if you are making traditional hummus) and 1 extra clove of roasted garlic.

Roasted Garlic Hummus
Everything for Traditional Hummus, but add 3-4 extra cloves of roasted garlic.

Directions: After soaking your garbanzo beans, place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until ultra creamy.
If you are making Roasted Red Pepper Hummus place your pepper face down on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and roast in the oven at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes or until skins start to blacken. I will place my peeled garlic cloves with the pepper to roast. Just remove them when browned, which may be sooner than your peppers. When peppers look like they do below, remove from oven and allow to cool. Then remove skins. Place skinless peppers in the food processor and mix until smooth.


You can put this on a panini, sandwich or wrap and not even miss cheese one bit! ^.^

So I've been a vegetarian since I was 14(22 now) and have been cooking for myself ever since and I love it one of my favorite recipes is for an Herb and brie cheese omelet/you can also make it scrambled instead:

3 large eggs
1 tablespoons chopped assorted fresh soft herbs, such as chives, parsley, tarragon, basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoo unsalted butter
1-2 thick slices Brie, about 2 ounces each

I also add in carmelized onions/roasted tomatoes and spinach.

Best Green Smoothie Ever!

*One banana
*four ice cubes
*1/4cup chopped spinach
* 1/4 cup chopped kale
*splash of almond milk
*splash of water (add for your personal preference of consistency in smoothie)
*1 scoop of Vanilla flavored protein powder - I use Spirulina
* 1/cup of frozen pineapple cubes

Vah-lah! (You cannot taste spinach or kale at all)

I accidentally discovered this tonight.

It has no meat, no eggs, and no dairy.

Basically I make things up sometimes, because I think they would sound good together, and this really seemed to work.

I baked two medium sized red-skin potatoes (which are still smaller than brown baking potatoes, which is why I made two) and left the skin on.

Then in a frying pan I sauteed sliced mushrooms in olive oil for a few minutes, then added chopped tomato, some garlic powder (not garlic salt), and covered, allowed all to cook and soften. Stir occasionally.

I made impromptu guacamole with one mashed avocado, the juice of one whole lemon, salt, and a little more garlic powder.

When the potatoes were finished baking, I split them open and covered them in the guacamole, then put the sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes on top.

The guacamole and bit of olive oil from the sauteed veggies eclipses any need for butter or sour cream on your potato.

Add a dash more salt if needed. It was REALLY good, and filling (if you eat your peels, which are full of nutrients, as well), and the mushrooms provide some protein. This is what I ate for dinner.

For lunch, would often eat an avocado, cream cheese and alfalfa/bean sprout sandwich (seasoned of course). I thought it was good, though some people thought it was bizarre. It's just a nice, quick thing if you have to run out the door and pack a lunch

Avocado, Cream Cheese, And Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich Recipe - Food.com - 71894