Veggie question

You can cut down on meat without buying meat substitutes. Just make vegetables the main part of your meal with a much smaller portion of meat or fish.

A good example is a vegetable stroganoff or goulash with an added chicken thigh or pork sausage.

There are some really good vegetarian cook books on the market these days which encourage you to be more adventurous with plant based meals.

Anything you made with mince can be made with lentils. Any stew/ casserole can have a Tin of beans added instead of meat. Have a look at Jamie’s new book or BOSH!

We like the Birds Eye Green Cuisine burgers, sausages and Swedish-style balls. Tesco sell them. They're made from pea protein and are suitable for my vegan son as well.
The sausages make a nice casserole and the balls I do in a bolognese type sauce with tomato, onion, mushroom, carrot, celery, courgette, garlic, oregano.
If I want mince I use Quorn as we are not keen on the texture of soya, though Quorn contains egg white so it's not vegan friendly.

Actually, quite a lot of Quorn products are suitable for vegans now too.

Some quorn has no egg these days... but we don’t rate it in our vegetarian family.

My son (in particular) likes the Tivall vegetarian frankfurters which can be used just like meat ones.

I don’t know what sort of foods you normally enjoy, or how much you like cooking but beans, lentils, pulses and nuts are substantial alternatives and these days, most of the beans can be bought in cans. I have found my meat-eating friends and wider family have loved all the Ottolenghi recipes I’ve cooked and he uses a lot of these non-meat proteins.
Have a look at the vegetarian ones on this site and see what you think:
ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes

Sorry, x-post Blondiescot

Being vegetarian isn't about just eating vegetables, its about not eating meat. Try using puy lentils to replace the meat in things like cottage pie and curries. Eat vegetables as normal.

How about eating more fish?

It helped me in my transition from meat eater to vegetarian.
Fish was the last animal meat I dropped of my menu

Off, not off.

Maybe adding tofu? Jackfruit?

Cauldron sausages are good and there's a choice of flavours.
Two favourite quick recipes:

Macaroni not cheese:
I blend cooked spuds, carrots, nutritional yeast flakes and oat milk to make a sauce, then add mashed tinned chick peas and cooked macaroni, then heat.

Pasta mix:
Blend silken tofu, nutritional yeast flakes, garlic granules, then add oat milk gradually until you have a sauce. Cook linguine, add any cooked veg, like mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and peppers, add sauce and heat through.

You can make a lovely cottage pie with tinned lentils instead of meat, just make sure it's well seasoned.

lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk/

Delicious range of food widely available.

A good variety of vegetables , roasted in oil with feta cheese and herbs is lovely.

Linda McCartney red onion and rosemary sausages are delicious and go with many different vegetables. I also like Quorn fillets with roast veggies and Quorn pieces in a stir fry. Their mince is great too as shepherds pie or chilli.

We prefer casseroles and stews to great lumps of meat. We have halved our meat consumption by just adding more vegetables to everything. I add a tin of lentils to all mince dishes, carrots or other root vegetables to beef based meals, mushrooms to pork, anything to lamb or chicken. I also add tinned beans to some meat dishes.

I casseroled 1 pound of venison with chestnusts and mushrooms and had enough casserole to feed 8.

Thanks ladies, loads of amazing ideas as usual. I’m looking forward to trying new things

You can add oat flakes to just about anything to increase bulk, add texture and improve nutrition

I have posted this link before on Gransnet - but it is SO easy and super-delicious. It’s a spinach and feta pie:

SPANAKOPITA:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=eUTVesSFows

A gran on another thread recommended Puy lentils as tjthe protein component , and I used them in a veg cottage pie. Excellent added to the onion sauce base which was made with red wine instead of water, plus oxo cube, a lot of black pepper , olive oil and a little chopped carrot and slightly thickened with plain flour.If you use wine instead if water in your veggy cooking you get something to eat that is a lot more meaty than vegetables alone.

The readymade falafel from supermarkets can add interest and nutrients to a vegetable dish. The other night I did a dish of braised celeriac with lemon and spices, and threw a few falafel in towards the end. It made a fine plateful. Halloumi cheese, if you like it, is great on kebabs or added to a tray-bake of roast vegetables.

I have no plans to give up meat but I enjoy tasty veggi dishes like the above. I also (like M0nica above) use beans or lentils to bulk out meat-and-veg dishes, so the meat (say sausages, bacon, chicken pieces) will go further.

www.mobkitchen.co.uk/recipes/crispy-sesame-tofu-with-sticky-sauce
My tofu hating OH loves this recipe for crispy fried sesame tofu. We serve it with noodles and stir fry. You can buy tofu in most supermarkets - you need the firm tofu ( like Cauldron organic) which you find in the fridge section of the supermarket. The Japanese silken tofu isn’t any good for this recipe as I’ve found to my cost, though you can make a good scrambled tofu which looks and tastes like scrambled egg with silken tofu.

I've not eaten meat for 30 years. I base meals on rice, pasta, etc. with cheese and eggs.
I do like vegetables though and a crisp salad.
Last night we had spaghetti in tomato sauce with readymade falafel and grated cheese.

Experiment. As it’s winter make more stews and just cut down a little on the meat and up the veg. Same with soups.

Try some Quorn, Linda McCartney, supermarket brands veggie options.

Use eggs or cheese based meals eg quiche or cauliflower cheese.

As well as lentils, various beans are a good protein substitute.
But you do need to soak them first overnight, then rinse, to avoid 'wind'. And chick peas.
Our favourites are butter beans. You can get them in tins too.

You can make some great meals with a tagine. In fact you don't even need one to try out the recipes - a lot use chick peas combined with veg and spices, maybe served with rice. Lentils are a staple too. Lots of ideas on the web. We also use Quorn best of British sausages. These are excellent, a lot of carnivores would be hard pressed to tell the difference.