The thread a few days ago about how many pounds of meat your family uses got me thinking... How do some of you use so little on a week? My husband would rebel if I tried to go all meatless but we could definitely stand to eat less of it. The only things I can ever think of to serve without meat are pasta dishes and I feel like those aren't much healthier. What filling meatless dishes do you guys like?
-
I get by with stuff like veggie lasagna and recipes like this one:
http://minimalistbaker.com/chickpea-shawarma-sandwich/
I also made veggie burgers for my husband and we both loved them. Try to find a veg or bean that he likes and build on that. E.g. Mushrooms burgers if he likes mushrooms.
-
Breakfast for dinner (French toast and scrambled eggs), vegetarian chili, loaded baked potatoes.
We usually have some meat with dinner but I'm honestly not a huge meat person and enjoy meatless dinners as a break from all the meat.
-
Beans and eggs. I'll also eat silken tofu ( I am working my way up to firm).
Also, I really like sweet potatoes, I notice that if I have a large one with dinner, I can eat a lot less meat.
-
Eggplant rollatini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, marinara sauce on top. DH loves meat but this fills him up. It tastes similar to lasagna, so it satisfies him.
-
We eat a lot of curries (Thai, Japanese, Indian, etc) over whole grain rice. The curries are very flavorful, you can pack a lot of veggies into them, and you don't notice if you use a small amount of meat. For instance, last night I mad Japanese curry and used potato, carrots, onions, zucchini, and peas, plus 2 lean pork chops diced into small pieces. That is enough for 2 adults and 1 toddler for at least 2 meals, if not more. If we wanted to cut the meat further, we could add a can of chickpeas.
We do entree salads a lot. I've been using the kitchen scale to actually measure the weight of the cooked chicken I'm putting in (no more than 3 ounces per person), but do add a sprinkle of bacon bits, nuts, a hardboiled egg, feta cheese, bleu cheese, and/or avocado to bulk out the protein and fat. I also add lots of other stuff to make them interesting (fruit, different veggies, different dressings). If you chop the meat small enough there's some in every bite and you don't really notice that its only 3oz.
We do soups and stews and chilis that split the difference with meat and beans or meat and carb. So chicken noodle soup, Italian wedding soup, chili, taco soup, minestrone. Again, you get meat in every bite, but overall it isn't that much.
Egg meals are good. You can make omelets or quiches for dinner using eggs and veggies and just a little bit of ham or bacon.
We do lettuce wraps with chicken or turkey, but I bulk out the cooked filling with bean sprouts, chopped up water chestnuts, onion, celery, bamboo shoots, and lots of flavor (oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha, ginger, garlic, etc). so that there's a lot more veggie than meat.
My husband can't eat many mushrooms, but grinding up mushrooms and cooking them with ground meat is another way to stretch it them in a way that's not too noticeable. I've also mixed ground meat with cooked red lentils (they break down well and aren't very bean-y) with no one really noticing.
-
Veggie chili with black beans and sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs with avocado and cream cheese on toast, omelettes, stir fries with egg scramble in and peanuts or cashews on top.
-
@Bibliolove: that looks delicious!
-
We do stir-fries and curries a lot. We have a lot of Indian dishes we love (dal and saag paneer especially). Pasta is good for once a week or so, and we do a variety of sauces etc. Soups are great - black bean, potato leek, carrot, tomato, squash, etc.
Other favorites: shakshuka, black bean quesadillas, zucchini rice gratin, bean chili, rice-and-lentil dishes with chickpeas/feta/tahini etc, entree salads. Budget Bytes is a good blog that isn't dedicated as meatless but happens to feature a lot of meatless recipes (makes sense since the goal is to reduce costs).
-
We are totally meatless here ...
We do lots of tacos, taco bowls, burritos, curries (plus rice or potatoes), pastas, roasted veggie bowls, stir frys, and soups.
Hot for Food and Minimalist Baker are two vegan blogs that are awesome - you could easily make them vegetarian by subbing real dairy in place of the more obscure vegan ingredients.
-
Really hearty mushroom stroganoff
-
Noodles, dishes with grated cheese, vegetarian chili, vegetarian stew (very ripe tomatoes, potatoes, and whatever else doesn't clash). They're all pretty filling!
-
DH makes soups with lentils, squash, beans, tomatoes, tons of veggies, edamame, quinoa, etc. Super good and filling!
-
Soups and chilis are always meals that we almost never notice when they're meatless!
-
Sweet potato black bean enchiladas, chickpea curries, eggplant parmesan, falafel, etc. We alternate meat days with non meat days.
-
@gingerbebe: I must say...I love how detailed your posts are! When I come across your posts, I almost always think "that makes so much sense!" I feel like you are a fount of knowledge!
-
We aren't vegetarian, but eat a lot of meatless meals. I aagree with those that said soups are great to make vegetarian, or with very little meat. I make potato leek soup fairly often, and that's super filling, and also like to make butternut squash soup.
Tonight we had homemade black bean burgers which we love, and are also very filling.
A quick meal DH often makes are breakfast burritos. We always go meatless with those, usually adding eggs, cheese, black beans, avocado, and salsa.
-
@Mrs. Microscope: LOVE falafel! It's one of my favorite foods!
-
@Coral: Aw shucks, thanks.
-
@caterw: I was wondering the same thing too. The only time I have successfully served a non- meat or fish dinner was mushroom stuffed ravioli in a hearty cheesy sauce.
-
For the few meatless (if not fish) meals we eat, we have bean or lentil soups or Indian food with lentils or chickpeas. There are premade packets or frozen entrees at grocery stores if curries, etc seem challenging to cook yourself.
-
@gingerbebe: This is similar to how we get meat in most meals, but still have keep our intake low (about 2lbs per week). I make lots of meals that have ground meat, or things like stews, stir fries and curries with small cubes of meat. I'm able to make the food stretch for a meal and then leftovers for at least one more day. Served with a starch or grain, plus a veggie side and we're set!
-
My husband is the same way. To him, it is not a meal if there is not meat in it, and if I make chili or pasta or something without meat, he will always notice and ask!
Two things I do are just use less meat - so with any pasta sauce I will use 1/2 or 2/3 of the ground beef or italian sausage, or if it is a casserole type dish I will just stretch the meat - and sometimes I will make something meatless for me & LO and just a pork chop or chicken breast for him. Though LO is a meat lover too, so the second is no longer as good of an option as it used to be!
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite2
22 comments