Vegetarian boyfriend--recipe ideas please?!
Vegetarian boyfriend--recipe ideas please?
I need some recipe ideas. My boyfriend is a vegetarian and I'm not. I have no problem with his way of life, I admire it actually. I know, though, there is no way I'll be turning vegetarian anytime soon. I enjoy my chicken and seafood to the max. We generally do lunch on our own or out if we're together so it's never a problem. He eats dairy and eggs, so putting breakfast together is pretty simple for us to share, too.
Dinner is the issue. No I have no problem have a vegetarian dinner, that's fine with me. I just need some ideas of what I can make. I get tired of pasta with alfredo or red sauce. I get tired of bea burritos, pizza... other college friendly meals, I suppose.
I love to cook and I love to go all out for my sweety. I'm willing to work with tofu--I like it, I've just never cooked it. Some recipe ideas would be great. Tofu, veggies, pasta... different ethnic foods, anything. Main course meals, desserts--help please!
Answers:
Hi! I'm vegetarian but my boyfriend isn't. But it's way too much effort to cook two separate meals so we just eat vegetarian unless we go out. Our favourite meals are generally:
- Veggie pasta - you don't just have to do it with a plain sauce, it's great if you fry up some onions and garlic, add chopped tomatoes, lots of different veggies (chopped carrots, brocolli, eggplant, zucchini, spinach, peas, corn, whatever you like!) and the secret ingredients we like are some red wine and sugar, plus some dried/fresh herbs.
- Tofu stirfry - cut tofu into chunks and fry for ages in soy sauce and chopped ginger and garlic - fry till it gets brown and crispy! Good spices to fry with are caraway, mustard and fennel seeds, and cardamom pods. Then add all sorts of veggies and have with rice
- Satay stirfry - stirfry veggies with liberal amounts of soysauce, peanut butter, curry powder and coconut milk - add some of each till you get a good taste! About half a tub of peanut butter, one tin of coconut milk, a few tables spoons of soysauce and curry powder is good for a big meal for about 4
- Lentil stew - fry some onions and garlic with some spices (tumeric, curry powder, garam masala, what you like), then add some lentils and stir, add some chopped veggies and water or veggie stock and simmer for about 20 mins. Serve with rice, plain yoghurt and sweet chilli sauce.
- veggie curries are usually easy to make - just fry up some onion, garlic and spices, add veggies and coconut milk (you can also add tofu/chcikpeas etc), then simmer for a while.
A hint - we make heaps of each dish at a time and eat it for a few days or freeze it! Saves cooking heaps. Good easy things for veggies are baked beans with cheese on top and tomato slices (to absorb the iron), and loads of frozen supermarket food is ok too.
Hope this helps! Have fun experimenting!
That's so sweet! Greek food has a lot of vegetarian friendly meals. Also, if you are in the Tempe, AZ area, the restaurant "Green" is fantastic for veggies and meat eaters alike.
I'm vegetarian but my husband isnot. Here are some vegetarian meals we both enjoy!
-Tacos w/Boca fake beef crumbles. Just season the "meat" with taco seasoning. very easy.
-Pigs in a Blanket with Crescent Rolls and Fake Hot Dogs (cut in half). Parboil or microwave the 'dogs' for half the time to take the chill off.
-Veggie 3 Bean chili. Several cans of kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, corn, fake beef, chili seasoning kit for all of the spices. Poor over rice and top with cheese and a side of cornbread. Too yummy!
-Make gourmet veggie pizza. Buy pizza crust, cheese and sauce. Top with spinach, pineapple, fresh tomato, etc. Fake pepperoni!
-Buy Loma Linda or Worthington canned "Swiss Stake or Prime Stake" It's very similar to real steak. Often found only in health food stores or high end grocery store health food section. Brown in pan, serve with mash potato, gravy and vegetable. Just like mom used to make!
-Morningstar has great chik patties and chik nuggets. You can just microwave, add ketchup or other sauce or dice them up and add to another recipe, like a casserole, southwestern stir-fry.
-Buy Worthington Chik Nuggets in the can, again, only high end grocery stores (ie, those in the more affluent part of town!), dice and mix with your favorite indian sauce (one of the red/tomato based sauces), add potato, carrots, peas, etc, over jasmine rice. Excellent.
-Boca or Morningstar Italian Sausage sauted with onions, peppers, with any sides you like.
There are also very good fake sandwich meats to make any type of sandwich like bologna, turkey, ham... in most grocery stores. Make a big sub with all the fixins!
Foods/Restaurants that really cater to Vegetarians:
-Japanese (veggie rolls, tempura, noodles)
-Chinese
-Indian Food (tons of veggie options)
-Ethiopian (tons of veggie options! My favorite)
-Mediterranean & Greek
-Caribbean (ie, red beans and rice, mix veggie in roti, fried plaintain)
-Italian
There are lots of vegetarian recipes on line, even on foodnetwork.com. Also, Rachael Ray has a new cookbook called Veggie Meals.
Good luck!
Log on to :
www.vegweb.com
http://food.sify.com/fullstory.php?id=13...
I have a Cheap And Easy Recipes web site which you might find helpful. Here are some cheap and easy vegetarian ideas: http://www.cheap-and-easy-recipes.com/ve...
There are a lot of ideas on this website : http://www.recipesforvegans.co.uk...
There are lots of great Indian vegetarian recipes. They are especially good if he likes spicy food. You can easily do a search, but here are some good ones.
http://indianfood.about.com/od/vegetaria...
http://www.ivu.org/recipes/
http://www.bestveg.com/