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Ideas for a reluctant veggie cook please?

L

LucysLostSister

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Live alone, work full time plus a commute plus other health issues so I rarely have the time/energy/motivation to cook complicated dishes or anything with a lot of prep. Yea it’s lazy I suppose but I need to be realistic what I know I will and won’t do/manage.

Need a reset as fallen into bad habits again.

Only veggie things I don’t like are anything too spicy, sprouts and radishes. I don’t mind lentils/pulses but I can’t eat them often as affect my stomach.

Potential meal ideas/things I’ve had when in good habits in the past:

Eggs eggs eggs! But I got so sick of having them so don’t wanna have them too often and put myself off them again.

Casserole

Chilli

Curry

mushroom stroganoff

Pasta with courgette ribbons making up for reduced portion of the actual pasta

Stir fry mainly veg with Quorn and either beansprouts or a small portion of cous cous in place of rice or noodles

Soup - homemade when I am able certainly fresh not tinned

Ratatouille usually home made again when I have the time/energy - with a small baked potato
 
I'm not vegetarian though i like vegetarian food. At the moment I'm eating in a cafe whilst waiting for something. I couldn't choose between homemade granola or a sandwich or soup. I'm eating a toasted cheese sandwich with kimchi. I've seen articles indicating pickles are a good addition to a diet. I have some sauerkraut at home but didn't make it. I like frittatas and buy them from a WI market as my attempts in an airfryer were rubbish. I've always loved mushroom omlette and mushroom stroganoff. I love the lentil soup in my local Iraqi restaurant. I know she uses red lentils and puts a few red kidney beans as garnish. My favourite soup was leek and potato but I haven't had it since diagnosis.
The Freshwell app/ site is fantastic and has vegetarian meal plans,

I recently bought two types of pasta from Holland and Barrat one edamame and one red lentil. My favourite pasta dishes are moussaka which I have made with lentils. You could use cabbage or Swiss chard leaves instead of pasta and keep spare portions in fridge or freezer. I also like pasta al la norma which also uses aubergine. For both dishes I cook the aubergine in the microwave and if I can be bothered fry it briefly to add flavour.

Hope the great cooks here can be more inspirational!
 
The Green Roasting Tin Cookbook has lots of easy veggie and vegan recipes where you just shove everything in a roasting tin. You can then have the other portion the next day and/or freeze spare portions.
 
LucysLostSister said:
Live alone, work full time plus a commute plus other health issues so I rarely have the time/energy/motivation to cook complicated dishes or anything with a lot of prep. Yea it’s lazy I suppose but I need to be realistic what I know I will and won’t do/manage.

Need a reset as fallen into bad habits again.

Only veggie things I don’t like are anything too spicy, sprouts and radishes. I don’t mind lentils/pulses but I can’t eat them often as affect my stomach.

Potential meal ideas/things I’ve had when in good habits in the past:

Eggs eggs eggs! But I got so sick of having them so don’t wanna have them too often and put myself off them again.

Casserole

Chilli

Curry

mushroom stroganoff

Pasta with courgette ribbons making up for reduced portion of the actual pasta

Stir fry mainly veg with Quorn and either beansprouts or a small portion of cous cous in place of rice or noodles

Soup - homemade when I am able certainly fresh not tinned

Ratatouille usually home made again when I have the time/energy - with a small baked potato
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Edamame black bean pasta or noodles are far lower carb than wheat based ones and cook very quickly.
You seem to have a good variety there though, some of the veggie sausages are are low carb if you look carefully at the label.
Grilled Halloumi is good with mushrooms and spinach. Butternut squash, cauliflower and chickpea curry is good with paneer or hard boiled eggs.
 
Thanks everyone keep the ideas coming. Locally not great for the non wheat pasta but I may try and find further afield
 
LucysLostSister said:
Thanks everyone keep the ideas coming. Locally not great for the non wheat pasta but I may try and find further afield
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Holland and Barrett usually have or can be bought on line Amazon.
You may find trying veg that you don't really think you like but cooking in a different way or having raw will be OK
 
Veggie wraps using Chinese cabbage leaves or cos lettuce to hold the fillings. Any cold or room temperature veggies diced or sliced. Garlic mushrooms with peppers and cucumber is nice. Quick and easy to prepare
 
silver minion said:
Veggie wraps
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Are you reading my mind! 😳

Just had veggie wraps for tea!......onion peppers and mushrooms .......tossed in a bbq seasoning......done in the air frier.....in asda low carb tortillas......nom nom nom
 
I am not a vegetarian but enjoy vegetarian dishes and those wraps sound delicious. The only thing I don't like is veggies pretending to be meat, but each to their own.
 
silver minion said:
The only thing I don't like is veggies pretending to be meat,
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Couldnt agree more...
....lidl do some nice bean burgers and veggie sausages......
I love meat too much to give it up........i miss a good bacon butty since ive given up bread
 
At the weekends you could cook a batch of quorn mince, with tinned tomatoes and herbs seasoning, garlic etc, I usually add chopped carrot and celery when cooking mince or casserole. You could have this with rice, pasta or mashed potato with more veg added to each meal.

For variation you can curry half and serve that with a dollop of yogurt.
some can be frozen to use at a later date.
 
We came across the Bosh boys when my youngest became vegan. They’ve been studying in Denmark for a few years, where the right ingredients were much harder to find, so there was a shift towards adapting some of our favourites (and we have many!) but with dairy cheese, and not so much nutrtional yeast.

There are several books to choose from, including a ‘speedy’ one with simpler and faster recipes.

We’ve also got a great Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall book called Veg, which has some cracking ideas in it, though we make far fewer of those, and some of them are a little more faffy.
 
Spiralized courgette is a great swap for pasta. Only needs one minute in microwave then add favourite sauce. Always use cauli rice at home. Normal rice is an occasional treat. Celeriac mash instead of potato. Finding celeriac can be a problem though.
 
BBC Food's Mushroom Bourguignon's nice but more ingredients and relatively expensive for every day, need to watch what you eat it with as well as the author suggests mashed potato or bread. It has onions, carrots, red wine and cornflour in but I can usually fit it in my 120-130g/day carb intake along side other meals.
 
My mother and later my sister were fond of this recipe. My sister makes the dressing and keeps in the fridge and has toasted sesame seeds in a jar. She then just makes small amounts for herself. She likes shoyshu soy if available. When I make it I change things a bit. I don't know where original recipe came from but it's at least 35 years old.

Watercress and Tofu salad

1 x 300 gms cake of tofu

2 tblspns sesame seeds roasted

4 tblspns soy sauce dressing see below

2 bunches of watercress

Cut tofu into 1 cm cubes. Place in bowl with sesame seeds and add dressing and toss. Add to watercress.

Serves 4 to 6.

Dressing:

175 ml sunflower oil ( other oils work)

4 tblspn soy sauce

2 tblspn lemon juice

Clove garlic Salt and pepper ( i don't add salt )

Add to screw topped jar and shake

Makes 300 ml

Ginger dressing add 2.5 cm peeled chopped root ginger

Chili dressing add finely chopped red chili
 
I like simple quick meals and my best friends are my pressure cooker and air fryer (or a cheap slow cooker can help as well). They make cooking so much easier. For example halloumi, tofu or vegetables in the air fryer (peppers are particularly easy, just put them in unwashed, leave until they get very floppy, then peel). The pressure cooker is great for curries, stews, soups and quinoa. For soups I just chuck in the veggies in large pieces and then blitz with a hand blender.
 
silver minion said:
I am not a vegetarian but enjoy vegetarian dishes and those wraps sound delicious. The only thing I don't like is veggies pretending to be meat, but each to their own.
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Veggies “pretending to be meat” certainly have their place.
I appreciate they are not for everyone but if you are not eating meat due to an allergy or intolerance or religious belief, they can be an option.

I don’t particularly like meat so, for me, eating “fake meat” is like watching a Simply Red tribute band when you can’t stand Mick Hucknall.
 
I don’t like the fake meats either. I also have an intolerance to Quorn. Lots of the fake stuff is a bit processed and I prefer naturally veggie things. We’re having a nice homemade nut roast for Christmas. The good thing about veggie food is it usually freezes well.
 
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