Eats
Help: What to Cook?
Dear Ann,
I’ve been doing the Daily Dinner Drill for more than 10 weeks now. My back-of-the-envelope calculations disclose that this is more suppers than I have put together in the previous decade.
On the one hand, our little family dinners have been a joyful and unexpected gift in an otherwise troubled and anxious time. So many nice things happen across the table when dinner is a regular thing that happens.
On the other hand, I am fresh out of ideas for dinner.
When I say “dinner,” I don’t mean a series of Instagrammable courses served on the good dishes with a freshly pressed tablecloth, a lush-and-low flower arrangement, and candles. Those days are gone—they were few and far between to begin with.
I mean something hot and tasty, or cold and tasty, in a bowl, preferably combining protein and vegetables. Extra points if it’s vegetarian, as my vegetarians are insistent about their vegetarianism, and another thing I’m not doing anymore is catering separately for meat-eaters and vegetarians. The meat eaters have to content themselves with the occasional hamburger or sausage on the side.
I have exhausted my repertoire. Everything on my beloved New York Times Cooking app is starting to taste the same. I’ve sheetpanned all the sheetpans and I’ve stewed all the stews. I have memorized Chili Con Jamie and adapted it to the constantly varying ingredients in my Chili Pantry (and it’s always good).
I’m guessing there are others out there like me. Let’s crowdsource this thing! People, please (please please I’m begging you), give me your best supper idea in the comments. It can be a link, it can be a short-form recipe—hell, it can be an ingredient. I don’t rule out that dinner menus later this summer will be one word, and that word will be corn or tomatoes. (On Sundays they might get corn AND tomatoes.)
I think many of us are going through this. Some are feeding the five thousand, others only have one person to feed in quarantine—themselves. We all need to eat, and right now we all need to cook.
Thanks in advance, from me and my hungry vegetarians.
Love,
Kay
P.S. As my own contribution to this project, here is a quick and stellar shortbread tart recipe that reader Jennifer shared with me a couple of weeks ago when I was the excited new owner of a kilo jar of Bonne Maman four red fruits preserves. I’ve now made it with the preserves and also with homemade lemon curd (hello Costco eggs and lemons, we cannot eat so many eggs and lemons), and it’s the perfect dessert. Rich and delicious, but of a size that there won’t be many (or any) leftovers hanging around the next day tempting you to eat them for breakfast. Thank you, Jennifer!
https://www.vitamix.com/us/en_us/recipes/roasted-red-pepper-alfredo
This is great on pasta or over veggies like green beans, cauliflower and broccoli.
You might eat if off a spoon !
Don’t worry about not owning a VitaMax. Just mix in your blender and dump in a large skillet over a low fire and gently warm it to melt the cheese.
Do you have an InstantPot? I make risotto in mine almost every week. It is insanely fast and quite delicious. I make a chicken and mushroom risotto, but you can easily switch out ingredients and add more/different veggies!
From my childhood and making now:
1)cook up some thin egg noodles, scramble some eggs, and toss the noodles and eggs together, seasoning them any way you choose
2)put some rice in a baking dish, cover it with chicken broth; place some pieces of chicken on top of the rice and season them with a bit of salt, pepper, and paprika; bake at 350° until the chicken is done (add broth as needed to make sure the rice cooks too)
3)rice can be made in a rice cooker with water or broth; mine gets done in about 20 minutes – I can make enough for a couple days to use as part of a main course or as a side dish; I mix basmati and jasmine rice
4)pick up different kinds of pierogies – in the same pan, I heat up chicken paprikash pierogies, goat cheese and mushroom pierogies, sweet potato and walnut pierogies, and apricot pierogies
Adding to your comment about the rice cooker; add quinoa and or lentils. 3tablespoons to 1 cup of rice. I fry an onion with sweet chilli sauce, some cumin, mustard or poppy seeds and turmeric to flavour the rice mixture, Enjoy!
For those of us without an instapot, I’ll add to this link that Ina Garten has a recipe for an oven risotto. The technique works quite well and relieves you from standing over a pot and stirring!
I would love that recipe as well. Thank you!
Judy, I found this recipe on Delish.com. I think I’ll give this one a try.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24280714/instant-pot-risotto/
Hi Wendy – I would love to make risotto in my Instant Pot. Would you please share your favorite recipe for this? Thanks!
Sweet potato chilli.
Corn chowdah
Burrito bowls.
Rice, beans, avocado. Tomatoes,
Spiced meat on the side.
Um.. Kay, Is anyone else in your hungry horde taking their turn at dinner? Just sayin…
And I suggest you look for NYT pantry cooking writer Melissa Clark’s recipe for Buttery Capers Sauce, delicious on everything. It might not be on the app, can be found by go ogling.
Cynthia, I don’t really have a set recipe. I googled “Instant Pot Risotto” for the basic amounts and then switch up the veggies/meat. I use either beef or chicken stock and arborio rice as the base. Then add chopped onions, green peppers, mushrooms,different spices, etc, meat and veggies of choice. And finish off with Parmesan cheese and a bit of butter. This is one of the recipes I refer to: https://www.happyfoodstube.com/instant-pot-chicken-risotto/
I make an asparagus risotto, with that first welcome veggie of spring, But you can switch it up with anything you have. Arborio rice makes it yummy and I don’t find it needs constant stirring.
If you like pizza, i suggest the King Arthur Flour Crispy Cheesy Pizza recipe – which is their 2020 recipe of the year and very yummy. It does require some forethought, but I’ve designated Wednesday as pizza day so I’ve incorporated that in my schedule and this is one day already routinely planned! Here’s a link: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2019/12/31/introducing-our-2020-recipe-of-the-year – thanks for the shortbread tart recipe! And i will be anxiously following this thread to see what else is cooking!
For mega quick and easy pizza I use the prepackaged naan breads as a base, tomato purée spread over. Cut up some veg and ham. Keep sliced pepperoni in the freezer. Tin of sweetcorn (and pineapple if that’s your thing). Grate some cheese and make them build their own pizza. Can cook in oven or grill and everyone gets the toppings they want.
Food52 has a “how to” video for this recipe. I stumbled upon it last night and watched it. It may have been on Facebook but, I’m sure there’s a link on their website.
From Penzy’s Spices…Nicaraguan Red Beans & Rice. So easy and so delicious. I serve it with fajitas. Your vegetarians will love it. I’m enjoying cooking again, I may never eat out!
This pizza is AMAZING! Worth every bit of prep, and a great way to use up little bits of cheese and veggies.
We make this every week too! It’s delicious and easy. You just have to remember to prepare the dough the night before. Try it!
Must be good. King Arthur Flour sales are up 150% so far this year.
Cuban Beans and Rice Salad is one of my favorites. I’ve lost the original recipe I found years ago to use avocados my then-boss gifted from her family’s avocado grove, but this is close. The balsamic vinegar (always a favorite), creamy avocado, and spices are magic! And holds up well (or even better) chilling in the fridge for leftovers.
https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cuban-beans-rice-salad
We had this on our tray bake rotation
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chicken-and-pea-traybake
Jules Clancy”s stonesoup site has very tasty healthy recipes and many are 5 ingredients 10 minutes, most have vegetarian options.
There’s also my student favourite of noodles houmous and cheese to which can be added stir fried veg – just stir it all together!
I love that book!
And this is for the vegetable lovers
On high lunch rotation
https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/09/crisped-chickpeas-with-herbs-and-garlic-yogurt/
Can confirm! My go-to is SK’s One Pot Farro w Tomatoes – I mean, it says one pot right there!! If the vegetarians aren’t vegan I highly recommend topping your farro with a bit of grilled Halloumi.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/07/one-pan-farro-with-tomatoes/
Agreed that the one-pot farro with tomatoes is a keeper!
Agreed on the One-Pot Farro – it is delicious!
I too live by the NYT Cooking app! The Blackberry Crostata recipe there is very similar to your tart recipe and equally adaptable. I made it Tuesday with apricot jam and a thinly sliced apple for decoration. The Mudjara in a recent Melissa Clark pantry cooking column is a vegetarian dream. Lentils, rice, a huge amount of caramelized onions, lots of herbs and some acid. Not technically in the Cooking app — you need to search the online version of the paper. And finally in summer I make a lot of tortellini salad with Costco dried cheese tortellini, cherry tomatoes and whatever other veggies are fresh and beautiful. Vast quantities of fresh basil and a little grated Parmesan are crucial.
I did the tortellini salad recently with leftover tortellini, assorted vegetables, and pesto salad dressing. So easy. So versatile. So good.
smitten kitchen has a recipe for tortellini pan fried like potstickers, which is an amazing thing. I serve it with peas and a little ham, but it would be fine without the ham!
Smitten Kitchen is a treasure trove of good ideas (at least eleventy billion at this point), and its deep dive format where you see what was cooked on the same day years ago is a fun way to find new ideas. Plus her photos are great.
Thanks for the link- looks great!
Agreed. Lots of great stuff!
Tikka Masala sauce is a mild, yummy sauce. I buy it from Amazon but many supermarkets carry this delicious brand. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GDNM4O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I sauté onions and red peppers for maybe five minutes to soften then stir in either 1 inch chunks of chicken or firm tofu and the sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over jasmine rice and enjoy! My husband who does not care for aid Ian food likes this! If you have broccoli or cauliflower, you can add that to the mix as well.
My Greek mom would make a substantial potato omeletta – which I think is a frittata in English. Peel and slice potatoes then parboil in salted water. Panfry in oil over low heat. Season with salt and pepper. When potatoes are cooked and golden, add several beaten eggs. Cook low and slow until eggs are cooked through. Divide into quarters and flip to cook top, or slide onto a plate and flip into pan – CAREFUL WITH HOT OIL – do not flip pan over onto plate or oil will go everywhere. Serve with shredded cheese or garlic sauce or garlic aioli and a side of your favorite greens.
Chickpea and butternut squash curry with fried halloumi on the side is one of our favourites. I do my own spice, garlic and ginger paste then add a tin of tomatoes and a tin of coconut milk and some veg stock, but a jar sauce works just fine
I forgot, I also stir some spinach into this dinner too.
I love hummus bowls anytime of day. Plop a good sized serving of hummus in the middle of a pasta bowl or similar. Surround with cannellini beans, quinoa or brown rice, broccoli, red bell pepper, cucumber, avocado, kalamata olives or whatever strikes your fancy.
We like to throw in a lot of green peas and chick peas when we make this
That should have read, “Indian” food.
A Summer staple in our house is Ina Garten’s gazpacho recipe. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/gazpacho-recipe-1941264
We just use whatever amounts of veg we have, it’s always good.
I need to try this!
Toast.
Pimiento Cheese.
Hot cheesy spinach dip. Cobb loaf optional https://www.foodtolove.co.nz/amp/recipes/cob-loaf-spinach-dip-8865
I use quinoa which helps with the protein, but couscous is another substitute for the bulgur. We’re fond of adding some feta too. Lime and cilantro are a nice substitute for the lemon and mint.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tabbouleh-recipe-2131154
I just made a Skinnytaste pasta salad- basically pasta, with Greek salad: tomato, peppers, onion, feta, olives, cuke, etc- I did grilled chicken on the side you could add chickpeas too. Had it With romaine and I like the leftovers with lunch. Extra points cuz you can make it ahead.
My husband’s office (banking, essential) has free lunches for employees. Purchased to keep one of their small business accounts open. He brought home leftover Greek salads this week. So tasty and refreshing. We added some non-traditional ingredients including avacado and garbanzo beans…But it is really all about the feta and the Greek dressing.
You must try Geoffrey Zakarian’s recipe for Cacio e Pepe. It is fast, easy, delicious, vegetarian, and most importantly uses very few ingredients. Pasta, pepper, and cheese are transformed with a pan, not even a pot, of boiling water. Mangia!
What a great idea to swap recipes. I am looking forward to fresh ideas. Here is mine, but sorry I measure in gramms:
GNOCCHI WITH MUSHROOMS (serves 4)
1 package Gnocchi (for 4 people)
200 gr. mushrooms, quartered
150 gr. dried tomatoes in oil
200 ml cream
50 gr. pine nuts, roasted
a handful of fresh rocket leafs
nutmeg, salt, pepper
Cook the gnocchi according to instruction. Sauté the cut mushrooms in butter, add the gnocchis, cut the tomatoes in thin stripes and add to the gnocchis, also the cream and let simmer for a few minutes. Just be careful not to overcook the gnocchis. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Serve with the roasted pine nuts and a few rocket leafs on top.
Cheese and onion puff pastry is easy. It also works with red onions instead of shallots. And it doesn’t look like every other bean soup/stew dish we’ve had over the past couple of months. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/02/17/frozen-puff-pastry-is-the-key-to-the-quick-cheese-and-onion-tart-of-your-dreams/
We’ve been loving this; with rice too; on top of lettuce –the little pickled onion really is a great addition.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/shawarma-spiced-tofu-pita-wraps
Sprout some lentils! I tried it for the first time ever this week– so delicious! https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/sprouting-recipes/sprouted-lentil-salad/
I believe this would also work with vegan ‘chicken’ cutlets, we like it with steamed zucchini https://www.ketoconnect.net/keto-chicken-thighs
My latest fave from Smitten Kitchen is: Mushroom and Greens with Toast https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/05/mushrooms-and-greens-with-toast/
Made it this week with some past-it’s-prime Sourdough. Followed a commenter’s suggestion to caramelize onions along with the mushrooms because I had a bag of sprouting onions——delicious! I’d suggest subscribing to SK’s email newsletters: lots of great ideas, delivered weekly. Also I LOVE the Paprika app for my iPad——makes it super easy to download and index online recipes.
Leftover Greens Fritters. I made these yesterday with sprouting broccoli and spinach: http://annajones.co.uk/recipe/greens-fritter.
I love her cookbooks. Especially the first two.
It is New York Times, so maybe you’re making it already..
So good….
Crispy Fried Rice With Bacon and Cabbage.
Leave out the bacon and egg, and it’s vegan.
Rice, cabbage, kimchi.
I can’t get the rice to crisp, but we don’t care.
Melissa Clark’s recipe, she hasn’t steered me wrong yet!
Yeah, I do fried rice with leftover vegetables. You can really put anything you want in it. I have broccoli stems I diced up earlier (one of the kids just wanted florets for what he was doing) that are waiting to go into fried rice, just as an example.
I am going to have to make my own kimchi…I can’t find it easily around here, and I really miss it.
The rice needs to be cold when you fry it. If it’s not it gets gummy. Press down on the rice (best to do in wok) until it blackens in places. I also use Lundberg organic brown rice for this
…just in case you have extra rice lying around after another meal, rice actually freezes quite well. You can save time by cooking extra rice when you’re doing something else and freezing the extra for later use.
Thanks, I’ll try the wok!
The NYT has a fabulous corn pasta recipe https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018212-creamy-corn-pasta-with-basil?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share Smitten Kitchen has a great carrot and bean burger https://smittenkitchen.com/2020/03/carrot-and-white-bean-burgers/
I cook a lot from veggie food blog Cookie and Kate – I have her (very good) book too. We use her crispy tofu recipe https://cookieandkate.com/how-to-make-crispy-baked-tofu/, along with the peanut sauce https://cookieandkate.com/peanut-dipping-sauce/on a regular basis. In her book she serves these with some roasted broccoli and red peppers, and rice. YUM. My two kids and i can easily eat two huge heads of broccoli this way!
Anything with the beans from the 21st Century Bean. They also have several bean flours. We particularly love the Fremont beans because they’re big and creamy and a beautiful purple color!
Do they eat fish? Salmon croquettes, noodle kugel, corn fritters. Shavuot dinner tonight.
Hands down our favorite go-to vegan meal, we never get tired of it. We serve over baked potatoes: https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/indian-style-red-lentil-soup
Well my attempt at the link went awry, but you can find this recipe: Butter Lettuce with Lemony Chickpea, Raisin, Quinoa and Sunflower Seed Salad with a google search. It is from Allison Day’s WHOLE BOWLS cookbook. This is a recipe I’d marked as a favorite. You know how you land on a recipe for supper one night because you have “most” of the ingredients. We really liked it and I made it again and then again. (Hint: I never have had butter lettuce on hand, nor have I made a mad dash out for it…any lettuce will do.) That being said, like many good recipes, we moved on to others and this little gem was left bookmarked on the cookbook shelf to be discovered again during week 11 of our stay home party. It tasted fresh and bright and we were glad for it!
Another Smitten Kitchen favorite: https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/07/one-pan-farro-with-tomatoes/
It will sound too simple to be dinner all by its lonesome self but it is wonderful and filling in exactly the right way and kind of comforting without giving you that awful bloated/weighed down feeling that are the after party for many comfort foods.
Scruptious, fast, veggie. The second part of the ingredients list is for an accompanying salad, and can be ignored; there are really only six ingredients. I use only one little can of diced Hatch green chilis so nobody complains.
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spinach-enchiladas
Dice some sweet potato, saute with so.e onion till sweet potato is tender add diced granny Smith apple or two and good pork sausage cook until sausage is done enjoy. Leave out the sausage for the vegitarians… can wilt spinich or add other ingredients…cooks in less than 30 minutes
Try this one, it is a tomato lentil coconut currie – it is so fast I can make it during a conference call and I buy jared ginger if I don’t have time or energy to grate the ginger.
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/curried-lentil-tomato-and-coconut-soup
https://moosewoodcooks.com/2014/07/black-bean-sweet-potato-burritos/
one of my favorite recipes! they taste cheesy, but no cheese!!
Moosewood! My thought as well.
Glowing Spiced Red Lentil Soup https://ohsheglows.com/2016/04/03/glowing-spiced-lentil-soup/ . It’s vegan and meat eaters love it too.
Yes! We love this recipe, too! And every guest I’ve served it to (not recently, of course) has asked for the recipe. Easy to make and oh-so-yummy!
This is one of my go-tos. It freezes well. I serve it with savory scones or biscuits.
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/potato-leek-soup-with-cheese
Vegetarian if you sub vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
I love potato leek soup!
Red beans and rice, meat optional.
Love red beans and rice!
Everything I’ve made from “oh she glows” has been good.
https://ohsheglows.com/categories/recipes-2/
Search “Kung Pao chickpeas “, it’s one of my favorites, even the non vegetarian man in the house likes it!
Chopped Thai Curry salad is delicious. You can add chicken or shrimp for the non-vegetarians. Beautiful to look at too! https://www.thewickednoodle.com/chopped-thai-salad/
We loved this Vidalia Onion Pie. I used sour cream instead of creme fraiche and left out the sage – since that’s what I had on hand. If you left out the bacon, it’d be vegetarian. https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamed-onion-tart
Hands down, this is our absolute favorite vegetarian dinner dish, a barley and butternut squash risotto from Real Simple. We make it all the time. It cooks in the oven, so it’s easy, and it’s as delicious as it smells when it’s cooking. Use veggie broth instead of chicken and it should suit the vegetarians. Enjoy! https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/baked-barley-risotto
My husband is a rampant carnivore and I’ve been endeavoring to cut down on his meat consumption, but he is a fussy eater as well. I made this last week to rave reviews and it’s going into the regular line up. http://www.shutterbean.com/2019/roasted-broccoli-and-white-beans/
We use the Publix Apron recipe cards a lot. The Pepper Salmon and the Chicken Fajitas with peppers and onions in orange juice and honeydew/plum/lime/condensed milk/mint salad. NY Times recipes are always good.
When our vegetarians are with us we have a baked potato bar where everything goes for the toppings. Or we have grill your own pizza night. We buy the dough and divide it for personal size pizzas. Again, toppings are personal preference according to what’s on hand. Everyone gets involved so no one is doing all the prep or clean up.
Check out 101 Cookbooks for great vegetarian recipes!
The Cheesecake Factory recipe for Santa Fe salad. I added red onion and avocado. Leave off the chicken for your vegetarians. Filling and fresh tasting!
Oh I hear you and I only have one other person to please. Are you near a Trader Joe’s? They have a frozen Indian dinner selection that Includes vegetarian dishes. It is really filling and delicious. For the meat eaters, we love the lamb vindaloo. Not every day but for the give-yourself-a-break Night. Heat up all at the same time in the oven. Also Large casseroles good for at least two nights, coleslaw instead of a salad which can last a long time. Do-it-yourself sandwiches. It’s kind of fun to put all the ingredients out on the table and let everyone have at it. Add Costco’s soups if it seems too sparse. Frittatas which can include everything but the kitchen sink and don’t really need a recipe. So easy. Meatless crockpot chili and a good bread. Could you get the kids to bake their own cookies for dessert? If something specific pops up in my brain I will add it later. I think kitchen fatigue is setting in on all of us.
Make a big batch of couscous. I use 200g (4 portions) and add 200ml of boiling water (you dont even need to cook the stuff!). Cover tightly and leave for 5 mins. Chop up some fresh herbs (I like mint and coriander but anything goes- same with quantity). In a jar mix up 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (or whatever you have) and the juice of a small orange (half a lemon if you don’t have orange) with some salt and pepper – shake it (with the lid on) to mix. Uncover couscous and fork it through to fluff it up. Add the chopped herbs and mix. Then add the oil/vinegar mix. Sitr well. Then add some toasted nuts (i just buy the snacking ones already roasted). Pistachios and almonds are great. Add some fruit – pomegranate seeds are delicious but a pita to get out. Dried apricots chopped up work really well. You can double up this recipe as it keeps well in the fridge. I serve it with homemade tzatziki (like this https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/tzatziki/ ), shop bought flatbreads and fried halloumi. Slice halloumi to 0.5 cm thick slices. Brush with olive oil. Cook on grill pan set to medium high. 3 or 4 mins one side, flip and do the other (sides should be golden brown). For added flavour after browned brush with honey and cook each side for 1 min. Delicious! PS: sorry for the tome but are you watching the Repair Shop on bbc? Not sure if you can get it in the US. We’re on series 6 and it’s the best show ever made. So perfect. So soothing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08l581p Adele, East Yorkshire
https://smittenkitchen.com/2014/06/nancys-chopped-salad/ Nancy’s Chopped Salad is one of my go-to summer salad entrees. You can serve salami on the side for the carnivores in the house and the salad is robust enough without it that all vegetarians will be satisfied. Best thing is no heating up the kitchen or fooling around with the grill.
I have been using Food52 Genius recipes- https://food52.com/tags/genius-recipes
Lots of good ideas, easier on the cook and interesting information.
Not a recipe, but a gateway to thousands that will inspire you — try the Yummly app — searchable with ingredients you have, nice pics, popular/trending recipes, many by well-known and not-so-well known foodies, ability to save “scheduled and made” favorites, etc. I love it.
One of my favorites is Dad’s Creamy Cucumber Salad, I guess because it reminds me of Michigan summer suppers growing up where we would have that, boiled corn on the cob, and fresh sliced tomatoes with a little mayonnaise on top (or in a BLT).
And for something completely different (and southern), follow Brenda Gannt from Andalusia, Alabama on her FB page. She cooks and demonstrates some of her favorites including chicken and dumplings, biscuits, tomato pie, etc. Even if you don’t make anything she cooks, she’s a delight to watch.
https://www.facebook.com/cookingwithbrendagantt/
One of our favorites is ratatouille. Slice veggies, toss with olive oil, salt pepper, garlic and herbs de Provence. Bake!
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spicy-lamb-lentils-herbs. Use black lentils, they make all the difference. Vegetarianism is overrated. There is a reason why Genghis Khan conquered the most of the known world and it isn’t because he ate Impossible Burgers. I have changed this recipe around a lot using chorizo smoked in the barbecue instead of the lamb. It’s wonderful.
I have my grown sons who work in construction all day, definitely need the meat!
It may be overrated in your book, but my veterinarian daughter has her own reasons for being vegetarian. It has less to do with health and more to do with the inhumane treatment of the animals in the meat industry. I love my daughter enough to just accommodate her.
When I absolutely don’t know what else to do, I toss a bunch of veggies in a pan and top with cooked ziti, add cream and Parmesan season and cook down until creamy. Or I use the veggies to make a risotto or fried rice.
Taco bar with ground meat or your favorite substitute. Easy; just brown the meat and throw on taco seasoning–pkg or, for us, preferably, homemade to limit the salt. It’s really easy just Google it. Then taco shells, wraps, bowls with salad greens or rice all depending on preference and what’s available. Any an all accompiaments you like and have on hand.
Here’s a quick and easy recipe that can be vegetarian if you omit the chicken and just use beans. My husband loves it! The Tomatillo salsa is what makes this recipe fantastic, and it’s so easy to make.
Quick and Easy Green Chicken Enchiladas
• 1 cup (60g) reduced-sodium canned great northern beans, drained and rinsed (or refried beans)
• 1 1/2 cup (170g) skinless rotisserie chicken breast, shredded (or large can Chicken breast)
• 1 cup (225g) tomatillo salsa, divided (see recipe below)
• 1/2 cup (240g) reduced-fat sour cream
• 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup (85g) Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup (100g) tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup (40g) green onions, thinly sliced
Preheat broiler to high. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add beans, chicken and 1/4 cup salsa to pan; cook 4 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.
Spoon 1/4 cup mixture down the middle of each tortilla; roll up. Arrange tortillas, seam side down, in a broiler-proof 11-by-7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon remaining 3/4 cup salsa down the middle of enchiladas, and sprinkle evenly with cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts and begins to brown.
Remove from oven. Top with onions and tomatoes.
TOMATILLO SALSA
• 1 1/2 lb tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 2 cloves (or more) garlic (optional)
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped (you can use whole for more heat if you want)
• Salt to taste
Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Oven Roasting Method: Cut the tomatillos in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Add a few garlic cloves in their skin (if using) Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skins of the tomatillos. Pulse in blender: Place the cooked tomatillos, lime juice, onions, garlic (if using), cilantro, chili peppers in a blender or food processor and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.
Claire Tansey’s cookbook ‘Uncomplicated’ has a stellar recipe for a vegan ‘Creamy Red Lentil Soup with Warm Spices’, which truly exceeds the sum of it parts, and a Ravioli Lasagna, which is as good as it sounds. Lots of other tasty sounding recipes I’ve not yet tried.
Two things: Trader Joe’s Vegetable Fried Rice takes 5 minutes and we routinely throw “clean out the fridge” extras. 10 minutes, tops.
Epicurious.com spinach quiche with puff pastry.
We are meat eaters, but loved this vegan dish (although I will reduce the amount of caraway in the future) https://www.101cookbooks.com/instant-pot-mushroom-stroganoff/. there are some non Instant pot recipe version of this online.
Cooks Illustrated Easy One Skillet Ziti. It’s in their Test Kitchen cookbook or you can get it online if you subscribe. That book has tons of great recipes. Also https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/penne-alla-vodka. So delicious and I serve Italian sausage or meatballs on the side for the meat eaters.
The best Lentil Salad, Ever!
Apparently it keeps well in the fridge for several days….but you wouldn’t know that in my house!!!
The Best Lentil Salad, Ever
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups (1 lb.) Du Puy lentils
1 medium red onion, diced
1 cup dried currants (you could also use raisins or other dried fruit)
1/3 cup capers
Vinaigrette:
1/3 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. strong mustard
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Optional add-ins:
Arugula
Walnuts
Goat cheese
Fresh herbs: flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, basil
Sprouts
Crispy seasonal veggies
Directions:
1. Rinse lentils well, drain. Place in a pot and cover with a 3-4 inches of water, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer. Check lentils for doneness after 15 minutes, but they should take about 20 minutes in total. You will know they are cooked if they still retain a slight tooth – al dente! Overcooking the lentils is the death of this dish. Be careful!
2. While the lentils are simmering, make the dressing by placing all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake vigorously to combine.
3. Finely dice red onion – the salad is best if all the ingredients are about the same size. If using raisins, chop them roughly to make them a bit smaller, and do the same with the capers if they are large.
4. When the lentils are cooked, remove from heat, drain and place under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Once cooled slightly but still a little warm, place lentils in a large serving bowl and toss with dressing. Add other onion, capers, and currants. If using other add-ins such as herbs, greens, or cheese, wait until just before serving. Otherwise, this salad can hang out in the fridge for a couple days.
Copyright 2012 My New Roots at mynewroots.blogspot.com
Delicious! I made it for lunch today.
How about breakfast for dinner – pancakes or sausage gravy and biscuits or eggs – as an omelette or however you would like to prepare. There are so many options – my Multi-cooker has come up with many options in the last 2 months – one I need to get the ingredients for is a favorite hot dish (casserole) – Tater Tot Casserole – made this a lot for the kids and mom made it a lot – Sundays were for hot dish dinners when I was a kid – mom had lots of recipes
Ravioli Egg Bake: Preheat oven to 375. Brush bottom and sides of a 5×9 loaf pan with olive oil. Scatter 1 8-9 oz package of fresh ravioli and 1 cup grape tomatoes over the bottom of the pan. In a bowl beat together 7 large eggs, 1 1/4 cup of half and half, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Pour into pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together 1/3 cup of panko bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese and a little olive oil. Sprinkle the panko mix over the egg mix. Continue to bake until puffed and golden brown on top and center is set, about 30 minutes more.(if top is browning too quickly, tent with foil). Let cool 10 minutes, run knife around edges, invert on cutting board, turn right side up. Slice and serve. Can serve with your favorite sauce, or a red pepper relish.
I love the New York Times one Pot/Pan/Skillet recipes, especially the Spiced Chickpea Stew withCoconut and Turmeric. I decrease the stock to make it thicker. Love it and I’m not vegetarian.
Chang up your chili with juniper berries. Santa Fe Green from Chile Ken, Charlottesville, VA. Back in the day…my husband’s day…I did not attend “The University.” Leave out the lamb for a vegetarian version. (And the butter for a vegan version.) Maybe add some white beans. Lots of corn and tomatoes for the upcoming season.
2 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 1 1/2″ pieces
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
6 fresh green chili peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 can (2 lb. 3 oz.) Italian plum tomatoes, including juice, chopped
4 cups corn
10 juniper berries, crushed
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 small dried red chili pepper, cored and seeded
Pat cut lamb shoulder dry with paper towels and flour it lightly. In a heavy kettle saute the lamb in batches in butter and oil over moderately high heat for 10 minutes or until it is lightly browned; transfer it as browned to paper towels to drain.
Add to kettle cut green chili and minced garlic cloves and cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the mixture is softened.
Add the lamb and remaining ingredients, bring the stew to a boil over moderately high heat, and simmer, covered, for 2 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Remove and discard the red chili pepper.
One of my go-tos is Marcella Hazan’s Tagliatelle with Bolognese Meat sauce. foodandwine.com has the recipe. If you have The Classic Italian Cookbook, she also has Tomato sauce recipes (all good) and a great recipe for All’ Alfredo Fettuccine for your vegetarians.
http://laboiteny.com/shawarma-spiced-grilled-cauliflower/?utm_source=La+Bo%C3%AEte&utm_campaign=76cb30d142-Recipe_10_19_17_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_53e385bffb-76cb30d142-254095755&mc_cid=76cb30d142&mc_eid=23e94a148d
This has been calling my name…
In the summer, Mom did fresh fruit salad with berries and melon balls, cottage cheese, and Rye Krisps. (I don’t know why Rye Krisps and not another cracker, but they were tasty.
How do I save this post? Just what I needed, I’ve not liked cooking for some time, but all these recipes have infused a new interest!
100% agreed !
The Moosewood cookbook has some great vegetarian dishes – their Samosas and Spinach Rice Casserole are two favorites. We’ve also been eating a lot of “dressed up ramen”. That would be Asian ramen packets with egg, fish cake, sprouts, rice cakes, cheese. Youtube has some great videos with examples.
Find the recipe for Tomato Tarte Tatin in the NYTimes recipes. Delicious.knit
My go-to vegetarian: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/roasted-cherry-tomato-caprese Basically, you put a couple of cartons of cherry tomatoes, a handful of garlic cloves, a few herbs (most anything or nothing), and a lot of olive oil in a roasting pan and bake. Temperature and time don’t seem to matter – just cook til the tomatoes are browned and soft. Add some sort of mozzarella or burrata at the end if you like. Serve on a bed of arugula, or not. Heat up a crusty bread at the end to sop up the juices. My go-to pareve dessert: https://www.thespruceeats.com/adaptable-shabbat-torte-2121797 Works well with most any oil – I use coconut most often. I add lemon zest and lemon juice. Works with any ripe fruit – berries, stone fruit, pears. . .
I always encourage everyone to eat more delicious Indian food. Meat eaters won’t even miss the meat.
My cookbook recommendation is Indian-ish, by Priya Krishna, accessible Indian recipes by a young Indian-American. Aside from the Indian dishes, there are some great “-ish” dishes like Malaysian ramen.
Urvashi Pitre’s Instant Pot recipe for Butter Chicken is decadent. I can’t recommend eating it too frequently because of all the heavy cream, but it is delicious.
I have Pitre’s Instant Pot book and I love it. I would eat Butter Chicken every day if I could.
Broccoli rubble with a crispy egg: https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/05/broccoli-rubble-farro-salad/
I also am living on quinoa bowls: 1 cup cooked quinoa and a mess of roasted veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes are my standards) with some avocado if I have it, always a crispy egg, and some kind of pickled something (carrots, lemons, whatevs).
Grain bowls are a favorite—one we call Jessica’s Rice from a friend is rice toasted in a little sesame oil before adding water to cook, cucumber/radish tossed with rice vinegar, hard boiled eggs (halved), sliced scallions, avocado and magic sauce (3 parts soy sauce, 2 parts sesame oil, 1 part sriracha). Layer however you like and add some barbecued pork or chicken for the meat fans.
I made this up. It’s very popular at my house and freezes well. And it’s vegetarian but not aggressively, so everyone should be happy.
Slice (and peel if you prefer) to eggplants, not too thick. Lay them out on parchment on a baking sheet. spray or brush with a little oil and bake them at 375 until soft. You can do this way ahead of dinner or right before – doesn’t matter.
Brown one package of Impossible burger (or ground beef or bison – it would probably work with turkey) in some olive oil with chopped onions or shallots and some garlic. Add a large can of tomatoes – whole broken up, diced, ground, crushed – doesn’t matter. Let it simmer and get acquainted.
Layer in a greased baking dish – a smidge of the “meat” mixture at the bottom, then eggplant, ending with the sauce. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top – whatever’s around. I like the 4-cheese Mexican blend but I’ve used pretty much any grateable cheese you can imagine.
Put it in the oven at 375 and cook until bubbling and the cheese starts to brown a bit.
I make this in 2 smallish dishes and freeze one most of the time (I’m usually cooking for 2 people). I’ve doubled it for a crowd. There are never leftovers.
Dal (made with whatever leftover red lentil and dry peas are hidden in the pantry) has been an unexpectedly delicious dinner for our home! Also in the mix are black bean enchiladas and shakshuka! https://smittenkitchen.com/?s=dal https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/best-chicken-enchiladas-ever/ https://www.davidlebovitz.com/egg-recipe-tomato-and-chickpea-shakshuka/
My family of meat eaters is loving the occasional Buddha bowl. Quinoa, a few roasted veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, and asparagus work great), chickpeas, raw carrots and radishes for crunch, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, avocado, viniagrette of your choice, shredded chicken on the side for those who need it. Great for hot weather,very filling!
Can I recommend a cookbook, Yottam Ottolenghi’s Plenty? It is entirely vegetable recipes but there are so many incredibly good ones. And it is a beautiful object, too, full of glorious pictures. Even when I haven’t made a recipe from it, leafing through has given me ideas for flavor combinations.
And when we get into sweetcorn season, I go into a standard rotation of buy a bunch of corn, cook them (preferably grilled), eat as many corn on the cobs as I can, then the next day make corn salad with the leftovers 😉 I like mine with sliced tomatoes, avocado, and pasilla peppers, a simple lime vinaigrette, and fresh cilantro. Tastes like summer!
I love reading his Saturday columns in The Guardian newspaper for a bit of inspiration. Being a great fan of potatoes in all their glorious forms this column made my heart sing with joy !
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/mar/21/yotam-ottolenghi-mashed-potato-recipes
Ottolenghi’s baked figs are one of my favorite things ever! The hard part is finding ripe figs.
https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/roasted-figs-with-pomegranate-molasses-and-orange-zest
Having southern roots, our favorite summer meal was, and still is, a flexible combination plate of cooked vegetables, sliced tomatoes and cornbread. Our favorite vegetables for this meal are peas or beans (Lima beans, or Black-eyed, Crowder, or Purple-hull peas, cooked however you like them) and sliced okra stir-fried in cornmeal. But use whatever veggies you like and cook them your favorite way…squash, corn, green beans, etc., stewed, roasted, or grilled…everything is delicious with tomatoes and cornbread!
Yes, please!
I have read through all the comments so far. And yours is the first (and so far only) Deep South menu I’ve seen. All the other suggestions sound good. And exotic. Yours is real everyday food. Doesn’t get much better.
Cheesy Spicy Black Bean Bake! Maybe you’ve already seen this on the NYT website, but it has revitalized our tired taco night. So quick to put together and wow, it’s good.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020705-cheesy-spicy-black-bean-bake
Best post ever! Well, except for the other ones. Very timely, since I decided solitude was a good time to finally make the break to vegetarianism – even if I have to actually do some cooking. So ready to try some of these. Haven’t been so excited to get going, since I cast on my first Papa, or maybe it was the……or the…..Hmm, hard to say.
Anyway, thank you all for the great suggestions. Light up my life, and all that. Virtual Hugs.
My go-to is probably one of yours, since it’s a NYT recipe – Creamy Mac and Cheese. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015825-creamy-macaroni-and-cheese. No precooking the pasta, no white sauce. Super easy.
We buy large quantities of limes (for gin & tonics) from Costco and freeze them. You have to plan ahead a bit to thaw one before you need it, but it works just fine. If you can do it with limes, then surely you can do it with lemons. For when you get tired of lemon curd. Is that possible?
I also stash Elderflower cordial and cucumber. I like to mix up my G&T garnish in the summer months. This combo goes nicely with Gin made in Hampshire, UK where they also use watercress in the distillery process which is a local crop in season.
A slice of pink grapefruit also works a treat.
Cheers!
I’m glad we aren’t the only ones buying large quantities of limes at Costco – specifically for G&Ts.
Forgot hoarding toilet paper. Necessary pandemic supplies are: limes, tonic, and of course gin.
Cheers!
I have turned to chickpeas and spinach which has been a real comfort. There are a couple regional seasoning variations at hand, some that can include meat.
Cream Scones: preheat oven to 425F. In bowl combine well 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add to this 1 cup heavy cream. Mix until just combined then knead 5-8 times. Press this dough out into a circle about 1/2-3/4 inch thick and then cut into 8 wedge pieces like you’re slicing a pie. Place the dough with the parchment paper under it onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until just beginning to be golden on the tops of the scones. Don’t over bake!
I love these with 1/3 cup of dried tart cherries or thinly sliced candied ginger. Add any dried ingredients like these in with the flour. It helps them not to clump up in one spot in the dough.
Try chopped, fresh rosemary with the candied ginger as add ins.
homemade bread, toasted, mushed up avocado on top, then put a sliced soft boiled egg (or a poached egg or a fried egg or an over easy egg) on top of that. If you are fish eating vegetarians you can add lox. This is a go-to in our house
Judy’s Chicken’s Mom’s Meatloaf. It’s delicious. I make it in muffin cups and then freeze them. Perfect little bite to pop on the side for your meat eaters. They heat up really quickly in the microwave. https://judyschickens.org/2015/08/30/judys-moms-meatloaf/
We love this recipe. It is vegan, cooks in one pot, quick, and delicious! https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/
For those of us who aren’t cooking for a crowd, some friends and I have been doing a quarantine potluck every so often. Six people each cook a meal that will feed six people and then pack each serving to go. Then one person drives around and picks up all the meals and pops them into shopping bags. When you get to the last pick up, you leave that person’s meals and then double back and do the drop off at the ones you’ve just picked up from. Voila! You’re no longer stuck cooking one thing and then having to eat it all week.
We have a vegetarian household as well. I made several of these freezer meals at the beginning of SAH and enjoyed every one. We especially like the cauliflower taco filling and the sweet potato stew
https://pinchofyum.com/freezer-meals
Smitten Kitchen’s Quick Pasta and Chickpeas (pasta e ceci) is super easy and almost shockingly good, especially if you add Parmesan —https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/
Here’s something that can be used as a side dish, on pasta, rice, quinoa or as an omelette filling if you should have leftovers (I don’t). You’ll have to eyeball the quantities, depending on how many you’re feeding. Slice zucchini, yellow squash or a combination, dice some onion, slice some crimini mushrooms (or white if that’s what you have) and mince a clove of garlic. Sauté in olive oil, salt & pepper until it’s done the way you like it, adding the garlic during the last minute of cooking so it doesn’t burn and taste bitter.
I use these veggies plus a whole tomato, sometimes sub bell peppers for the mushrooms, when hubbie decides to grill out, use a smidge of olive oil plus balsamic before putting veggies into a basket on the grill. Put veggies into a covered bowl after cooking and cut up the tomato to make a sauce. Fresh oregano and basil if I have it, then serve over pasta.
So good. I use variations on this as topping for risotto. So good. Inspired by this Blue Apron recipe, but I put a can of diced tomatoes in my risotto instead of tomato paste & use more squash than this recipe calls for: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/tomato-saffron-risotto-with-sauteed-summer-squash-arugula-salad
Baked sweet potato with variety of stuffing
I love this recipe so much. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013329-andalusian-cabbage-stew.
It is delicious on its own and like many cabbagey things, can be improved by porky things. A big bouquest of cabbage roses to Martha Rose Shulman, the recipe developer.
We’re doing theme nights. Tonight is Burger Shack, when the chef always makes too many fried onions (disclaimer – there is actually no such thing as too many fried onions because we love them but it seems more respectable if you look dismayed at the quantity before you scoff the lot). Tuesdays are Pizza Day (from Dominos because the boy needs some food to look forward to that comes from outside the house). Today we made Sprite lollies in the freezer and quick dill pickles from Smitten Kitchen. Since we can’t shop properly we are slaves to home produced novelty in any form.
Since I have so much pandemic pantry stash, I have used Allrecipes.com to help make best use of it. Why in the world did I buy 3 bags of Carolina Rice???
Budgetbytes.com has a number of quick (cheap) meals that are or easily can be made vegetarian. She’s a fan of rice-bowl meals too, which are awesome.
I love Budget Bytes! I have never had a recipe of hers fail me. They’re always easy yet delicious.
Her peanut butter brownie baked oatmeal recipe has changed my breakfast routine forever: https://www.budgetbytes.com/peanut-butter-brownie-baked-oatmeal/
Mujadara, which is rice and lentils with caramelized onions and olive oil. I make the version from one of Deborah Madison’s vegetarian cookbooks and everyone always loves it. There are many recipes online.
From the Lenten Recipe Hall of Fame, my yiayia’s Spanakorizo (spinach & rice), dictated to me over the phone decades ago. The ultimate in Greek comfort food. The original exists on a grease-splotched sheet of pin-feed paper. Transcribed for the kids, it’s this:
Clean 2 bunches of spinach in advance, trim woody stems, break big leaves into smaller pieces. Or use 2 – 10 ounce bags of spinach. Spanakorizo tastes best when you use big, mature spinach leaves. Avoid using the bagged “baby spinach” that’s sold for salads because it’s pretty flavorless for a dish like this.
Saute an onion and some garlic in olive oil.
Put the spinach in the pan on top of the onions and garlic and stir until the spinach is wilted.
Add ⅓ to ½ of a 14 ounce can of tomato sauce (or use tomato paste or crushed tomatoes), add ½ cup or more of uncooked rice, and a cup or more or so of water.
Over medium heat, keep stirring until the rice is cooked. Add more water as needed. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated cheese sprinkled on top.
N.B.: There are as many ways to make spanakorizo as there are Greek grandmothers. This is my way. Because it was Yiayia’s way.
I love Lidia Bastianich’s Mushroom Ragu in her Lidia’s Favorite Recipes cookbook. It’s quite delicious and versatile. I hope you can find it online unles you happen to have this cookbook. I believe there’s a comparable recipe on Food52.
I’m all about one-pot meals. I love this one for lemon pasta – super easy and quick. I use brown rice & quinoa pasta, add a thinly sliced red bell pepper, and use more spinach than the recipe calls for. Yum.
https://veganheaven.org/recipe/lemon-spaghetti-with-spinach/
This is from Debra Stark’s Cooking at the Natural Gourmet. It looks quite unappetizing but is good.
Mid-East Mud – Lentils with Bulgur
1 cup uncooked lentils
5 cups water
1/3 cup olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/3 cup unsoaked bulgur
scallions and sliced hard-boiled egg for garnish.
Rinse lentils and place in a pot with 5 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes.
While lentils are cooking, saute the onions in the olive oil until golden.
Add the onions, scrapings from the pan, salt and pepper, and bulgur to lentils. Cover and cook 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Let stand 15 minutes, taste, adjust seasoning, and serve garnished with scallions and hard-boiled egg slices.
Thank you for posting this; my Pinterest grew and grew. I would like to add a very humble and easy to make dish, mushrooms on toast. It is by far the easiest to cook here but don’t emphasize the ease, emphasize the fact that this is the way true mushroom aficionados prefer them cooked. It is even better with fancy rare mushrooms but I didn’t get my morel fix this spring so pre-sliced supermarket mushrooms taste great to me. Male vegetarians love this dish as mushrooms have so much umami taste. It is vegan if you make it with olive oil, although the Czech mushroom fiend of my childhood, my godfather, preferred it with butter. Allow about half a pound of mushrooms per person.
Put a small puddle of oil in a large frying pan. Chop a clove or two of garlic per pound of mushrooms. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the garlic and fry until it is not quite golden but has taken on a little color. Then add mushrooms, cut into pieces – they shrink up to about half the size when they are finished. Fry over low heat for about an hour. Do not fry over higher heat for longer as it is not as flavorful. First the pan will fill up with liquid from the mushrooms and then they will dry out to a nice moist consistency. Stir at first to make sure they are coated in oil and then every twenty minutes or so. Serve on toast. Any kind of bread is fine although I have only ever used whole wheat.
I only allow myself to eat this about once a month. It is rich and unctuous and not nearly as high in calories as you would think by eating it.
One of my breakfast favourites. If I have any at the end I stir in a dollop of creme fraiche and some chopped parsley. Makes a lovely brunch.
Chickpea and sweet potato coconut curry over rice. Filling, richly flavored and delicious. Yes, I too have cooking exhaustion. Thank you for sharing!
We are not vegetarian, but enjoy many meatless dishes because they just taste good. Most of them involve lentils, and I love this lentil salad https://www.lentils.org/recipe/lentil-kale-salad-with-garlic-tahini-dressing/
https://www.veganricha.com/ and https://ohsheglows.com/. The recipes here are vegan but could easily be adapted to be vegetarian. Neither site has ever failed me.
Living alone, cooking has always been a challenge but especially now. Then I discovered America’s Test Kitchen cookbook, Cooking for Two. It is amazing! Who knew you could actually make pot roast without having leftovers for days on end? And a recipe for 4, not 12, blueberry muffins! Every recipe is a winner!!
I made this last night with my Instant Pot. One positive of this quarantine is that I have had LOTS of practice trying new recipes with my IP. This looks simple (it is!) and tastes much greater than its parts. Smoked paprika is the key (if you have it lurking in your cupboard).
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pressure_cooker_paella_with_chicken_and_sausage/
Wow. 130 comments. I may be here for a while!! Will be thinking of an idea to share while I read.
Another easy dinner I do is pilau/pilaf which can be meat or veggie and is a simple chuck it all in a pot dinner.
Stir fry with any veg on hand and a packet sauce or just soy and sesame oil (or teriyaki if I can be bothered making it) with rice or noodles is probably the quickest healthy dinner I make.
But yes Kay I feel the same about cooking every night, but it is worth it to have the family together at least once a day.
BEET and FETA PASTA. All caps. It’s that good.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/blender_beetroot_pasta_96501
I will have to try this. I love magenta food and I also love beets. Pined this to Pinterest; thanks so much/
The color of this dish is amazing. Enjoy!
Shakshuka! A new favorite here. Cook the eggs stovetop, no need to heat the oven. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014721-shakshuka-with-feta
I knew I wouldn’t be the only one to recommend shakshuka! I use the Smitten Kitchen recipe, endlessly adaptable to whatever ingredients are on hand. https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/04/shakshuka/
I love this newer Smitten Kitchen shakshuka recipe with kale and chickpeas! https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/10/chickpea-and-kale-shakshuka/
2% Greek yogurt topped with berries (may be frozen and thawed). Add a drizzle of honey, a sprinkling of chopped nuts, a soupcon of flaked coconut, whatever. Accompany with a salad.
The Washington Post’s Voraciously newsletter has some great menu planning ideas.
Second this!
Lots of great vegetarian recipes on Cookie and Kate website
This is my favorite for summer! It’s so flexible–find almost any of these ingredients fresh or canned–and you can serve the chicken on the side for your meat-eaters.
https://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/food-drinks/recipes/a12290/tex-mex-chicken-salad-recipe-wdy0813/
I have found the Masterclass by Alice Waters to be a Godsend during this time. She has made me realize I can come up with good combinations with the ingredients I have on hand without needing to look for a recipe. Bonus, her ideas are all vegetable-forward (if not vegetarian). So, I’ll throw out this idea for you–make a lemon pasta (cook up some noodles and toss with olive oil, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, fresh lemon zest, minced garlic, salt and pepper). Add steamed seasonal vegetables to taste (may I suggest the asparagus tends to be be lovely this time of year? Or, our old standby, broccoli). That’s vegan. Add some freshly grated parmigiana for lacto-vegetarians. And for the meat eaters, separately grill or roast some chicken in a little olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper). You can serve alongside, or cut up the chicken and add it to their servings of pasta.
My favorite recipe is “ It’s your turn to cook”. Although my favorite way to cook is to open up the pantry and fridge and cook from there. No recipe and it is often delicious and sometimes “interesting”.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019681-cheesy-white-bean-tomato-bake?dclid=CjgKEAjwwr32BRCXnfLZs7jysEISJAAz-CHzQQhW6Tzk2QwJZT7bZYXe_r7OCdNcQGJTQm7M6hbdNfD_BwE
My husband found this recipe in the NYT cooking section online. We love it, and it’s pretty easy! I hope the link works!
Just made this for supper https://cookieandkate.com/classic-minestrone-soup-recipe/, along with (what else?) sourdough bread. It was delicious.
I think one of my favorite meals during these times was Mandy Patinkin and his wife Kathryn Grody eating full sheets of Manischewitz Matsos from a big box with butter and salt while their son led them through a 5-part pop culture quiz (@PatinkinMandy on Twitter). Hysterical.
Here’s a fake meatloaf loaf that is easy to make:
4 eggs beaten
1 c finely chopped walnuts
16 oz cottage cheese- small curd
1 envelope dry onion soup mix (1 oz)
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 c . Cornflakes
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a loaf pan.
In a large bowl thoroughly combine all ingredients. Spoon into pan.
Bake for 35-50 minutes until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Leftovers make excellent sandwiches with mustard or ketchup.
Cold curried chicken salad with grapes, great for a hot day:
Boneless chicken breasts, cooked, chopped into cubes.
Grapes, halved
Celery, chopped
Parsley, salt & pepper to taste.
Mayo & plain yogurt in whatever proportions you choose, mixed with curry powder.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate.
Serve over lettuce and/or with carrot salad.
An adult beverage. Then an easy homemade veggie, tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich with a slice of tomato in it. Leaves an evening free to read, sew, take a walk & critique the neighborhood yards.
James Beard’s tomato sauce from one of his older books – easiest and most favorite basic of mine: 28 oz canned tomatoes (I use Pomi boxed tomatoes), 1 medium (or 2 small) chopped onion, dried basil. Throw these 3 ingredients into a pot and simmer until the onion is tender, usually 20-30 minutes. Throw in 4 tablespoons of butter, salt and pepper. Done. If you feel like dirtying your immersion blender, whirl it until the tomatoes and onions are at your preferred texture.
the perfect confluence of knitters & foodies.
I get requests for this tossed pasta all the time.
Start cooking 8 oz. angel hair pasta, or spaghetti failing that.
Saute some garlic and an onion in good olive oil in a large pan. Saute 2-3 chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks in the same pan.
Chop up a bunch of green onions,(the whole onion,separate the white and green parts) 3-4 oz. sun dried tomatoes and a handfull of kalamata or other good black olives. If you like Frozen or fresh peas they can be quickly cooked now and set to the side. 4-6 oz
Once the onion and garlic are translucent, add the white from the green onions, the sun dried tomatoes, and the olives. saute briefly. Once the pasta is cooked add it to the pan along with a couple more glugs of olive oil and the rest of the items, the peas, the tops of the onions, and lots of pepper and salt to taste. Toss everything well.
Squirt the whole thing with lemon juice, about 1/2 a lemon per pkg of pasta. Top with chopped fresh parsley. Some people like to top with Parmesan grated over the top, but any good hard cheese will work.
You can leave off the chicken for a vegetarian version. I have also thought of using toful. I would pump it up with some sesame oil and fish sauce.
Sorry if this is a duplicate entry…. Check out the Quarantine Cooking Club for fascinating recipes. Images and links on Instagram and/or subscribe to their newsletter.
I have been making my children do some of the cooking, which changes things up, especially since one of them likes to experiment. A couple of days ago, my oldest took a Mark Bittman recipe for stewed green beans (with tomatoes, bacon, and beer) and used green beans, the tomatoes, kielbasa, and…canned pineapple? Weirdly, whatever he did worked.
Last night I took some of the cheese tortellini we had hanging around and used sauteed Italian sausage, garlic, chard (stems and leaves), garlic, and fennel for the topping.
Earlier in the week I roasted a chicken, so tonight is probably chicken, mushroom, and rice casserole with spinach as a side dish. I have some frozen berries, so I might make a crisp as well.
I know there’s a lot of meat in this, but…last time I grocery shopped I got meat and then my husband went to Costco the next day and got more meat, so now I have a lot of meat to use.
Carrot and peanut butter soup.
Sweat a roughly chopped onion or 2 in butter/oil. Add turmeric. Throw in large chunks of carrot. Pour in some veggie/chicken stock. Let it simmer for 20mins until carrot is soft. Blitz with a hand blender, add a dessert spoon or 2 of peanut butter, if crunch, blitz again. One of my daughter’s favourites. Takes little effort, made 1 day when I had nothing in. Peanut butter makes it creamy and filling. Can be vegan if you swap out butter and chicken stock.
Also we use dry toasted nuts as our protein source quite often, particularly cashews/almonds. Take some nuts, put in pan on a low heat on hob/stovetop. Don’t let them burn. Good on homemade Chinese: in salads: mixed with pasta, raisins, dressed with olive oil and parmasan.
Garlic/chilli pasta.
V. quick dinner. Fry garlic in olive oil in a large skillet. I do 1/3 bulb for 2 people. DO NOT BURN THE GARLIC. Cook pasta. Just before done add dried chilli flakes to oil. Drain pasta and add to skillet to coat with chilli garlic mixture. Serve with an extra glug of fresh oil and parmasan. Veggie – but occasionally we do this with tiger prawns from the freezer.
Quiche Tortilla.
French/spanish hybrid for gluten free daughter. Beat eggs in a very large bowl – I use 9. Take large frying pan/skillet that has a lid, and fry diced onion and smoked bacon. While that is happening grate some cheddar into the eggs and mix. When bacon/onion mixed fried (not too much colour) mix in with eggs. This warmth starts the cooking of the eggs. Wipe the skillet if you want to. Add some oil/butter, tip in the eggy mixture, put lid on the skillet and cook on hob/stovetop until the odd bubble makes its way through the tortilla and the edges start to look cooked but most of it still looks fairly raw. Remove lid and brown top of QT under the grill to finish cooking. Put lid back on for a couple of minutes after and the tortilla will come away from the sides of the pan, allowing you to flip it out in 1 piece. I use the lid to help me, and I serve on the wooden chopping board.
https://www.pccmarkets.com/recipe/roasted-cauliflower-and-carrots-with-tahini-dressing-and-chickpeas/
My new favorite – the tahini dressing* takes it over the top. It is good over rice, salad greens (especially arugula) or a side for your meat eaters.
* I have never seen dried harissa powder – but always have a jar of the wet stuff on hand 🙂
I am really looking forward to perusing the comments.
Frittata! I’ve been making mine with caramelized onions & greens, but they’re endlessly versatile. They’re also fast & easy if you use quick-cooking ingredients or already cooked leftovers. Here’s my basic recipe:
Cook any veggies and/or meat to your preferences. For my caramelized onions & greens: I saute a thinly sliced onion in 2 TBSP butter in a cast-iron skillet on medium-low for 40 minutes while I do other kitchen tasks, stirring occasionally. Or caramelize a large batch of onions ahead of time & keep in the fridge/freezer (this is what I do whenever I go to the trouble of caramelizing onions). After onions are sweet and brown, add several large handfuls (~2 packed cups) of baby spinach or chopped other greens (e.g., kale, chard, whatever weird greens your CSA gave you this week). Cook for 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, grate ~1 cup of your favorite cheese(s). Gruyere and parmesan are particularly good here, but a simple cheddar or mozzarella is also delicious. Beat 5-6 large eggs in a bowl, add a dash of salt & pepper. Mix in half the cheese. When the greens (or whatever other fillings you’re using) are good and cooked, spread them out in an even layer to cover the bottom of the skillet. Pour eggs mixture over the skillet and tilt pan to ensure an even coating. Let cook on medium heat untouched for 10-15 minutes, until bottom half of egg layer is firm. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, then pop the cast-iron into the oven at 425F for another 10 minutes, or until top is firm and slightly browned. Serve immediately. Leftovers are excellent cold or reheated in a toaster oven.
This basic recipe works for all sorts of fillings, from sausages to asparagus to potatoes. Just adjust cooking times for fillings accordingly. You want the fillings mostly cooked before adding the eggs. Some don’t need pre-cooking at all (e.g., chopped fresh tomatoes). If you have leftover cooked veggies, just spread them out in the bottom of the skillet & immediately add your eggs/cheese & go from there.
Hi, Kay. Here is probably the best dinner recipe I’ve ever made. https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/golden-rice/ I’ve made it about 6 times this year already and every time my family (now expanded by returnee 23 year old son from Boston) eyes each other over the leftovers. Use any greens you want, get as fancy with the toppings as you like, make it spicier or milder depending, but make it. Then bore everyone you meet (oh, yeah: we don’t DO that anymore)–then bore all your friends on social media by telling them to make it too. Truly: it’s a knockout.
My favorite vegetarian dish is Red Lentil soup. Red lentils cook quickly and do not need to be pre-soaked. As they cook they begin to turn green and the soup acquires a similar consistency to split pea soup. If I have them, I use leeks instead of onions. The leeks add a flavor that gives it that oniony flavor but not the acidity of onions. I also add any combination of carrots, kale, potatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, cabbage. My preference is to season with salt, pepper, garlic cloves, and curry. You can’t really ruin this soup unless you totally forget it’s on the stove and burn the pot.
I have been surviving on recipes from The Woks of Life https://thewoksoflife.com/
If you are missing really good Asian cooking, check out their amazing and well-written recipes. They even provide substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients and most of the recipes take 30 minutes or less and don’t heat up the kitchen. Many have vegetarian or vegan options and almost all are packed with vegetables. No worries if you don’t have a wok. Just use a large skillet.
Are you still reading these comments, Kay? You certainly tapped into a deep well of feelings on this topic. My “go-to” recipe for a quick and satisfying meal is the cauliflower and tuna salad recipe in NYTimes cooking collection. It definitely tastes greater than the sum of its parts. Very good on brown rice to make it more substantial. Would also be delicious without the tuna, so it could be added at the end to accommodate both vegetarians and non.
Some favorites in rotation: https://www.101cookbooks.com/good-chana-masala-recipe/ This one made with Trader Joe’s miso ginger broth and buckwheat noodles -> https://bojongourmet.com/miso-and-soba-noodle-soup-with-roasted/ This one made with black or pinto beans, then made into a Chipotle Grill bowl with rice, salsa, avocado and cilantro -> https://www.culinaryhill.com/chipotle-black-beans-copycat/ https://ohsheglows.com/2015/07/21/chickpea-salad/ And a real favorite but not found online, Dorie Greenspan’s lentil lemon tuna salad (sans tuna) served over a green salad, I add sliced steamed potatoes and green beans to the salad if I’m super hungry.
I’m making a favorite tonight for dinner — cheese ravioli with roasted butternut squash and pine nuts in brown butter and sage. Peel, cube and roast the squash, melt a stick or half stick of butter in a large skillet with sage leaves and pine nuts and let the milk solids brown. Cook the pasta, toss in the butter with the roasted squash, and voilà.
Another vote here for the King Arthur Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza. Don’t sweat it if your timing is a little off. It will still be tasty. (I’ve made it 6 times since stay-at-home started, and have yet to actually follow all the timing instructions properly, but it was best when the first rise was longest and the second rise was over 2 hours.)
I also really like this hearty salad: http://veganyumyum.com/2010/01/avocado-wasabi-salad/
In April the NY Times had an article about how to cook just about any pasta risotto style. This followed up on a Times recipe from a number of years ago for “creamy” pasta without any cream. Basically you put a careful amount of liquid in a pan, choose short pasta or broken up long pasta, and cook it with some olive oil and or butter and liquid of your choice, stirring often, till the liquid dwindles and the starch from the pasta makes it into a sauce. Any liquid works, including water, and you can use long cooking or short cooking veg. and they tell you when to put them in. Protein can be added.
Also, see Sam Sifton’s recipe for chili crisp tofu roasted with green beans, or asparagus or sugar snaps.
Also see a fine recipe for fried rice on the website Give Me Some Oven.
I feel your pain. Lol. Quiche always uses up odd vegetables and cheeses. Veggie pot pie as well. Burrito bowls are another favorite so everyone gets their desired protein. Good luck
I’m making lots of savory tarts of late: cherry tomato and basil with egg and cheese, caramelized onion with egg and cheese, tomato and onion with cheese and mayo. You can stir in bits of broccoli, cauliflower, peas, corn, or asparagus if you need or want. If you aren’t up for pie crust, use canned crescent roll dough pressed together for a flaky crust, or crushed buttery crackers ( like Ritz or Waverly) mixed with butter for a crunchy crumb crust. Bonus: most of these are good any time of day, and hot, cold, or room temp.
These comments are a gold mine! I’m not much of a cook, but here is a summer salad I’ve been making forever, no recipe but it’s got only 4 ingredients and a lot of leeway. Makes a refreshing side but I sometimes just have a bowl of it as a light supper.
Pea and Peanut Salad: roasted redskin Spanish peanuts, frozen peas (thawed but still cold), mayo, sour cream. No measurements, but it’s mostly peas, lots of peanuts, and mayo/sour cream in whatever percentages meet your own tastes for sweetness (mayo) vs a bit of bite (sour cream). Oh gosh now I really want some. Oh well, my next trip for groceries is probably only 2 weeks away 😉
This page is fabulous!
One of my favorite Smitten Kitchen recipes is Broccoli Rubble Farro Salad: https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/05/broccoli-rubble-farro-salad/.
I’ve made it substituting quinoa, rice, and other whole grains for the farro (can’t always get it), and it’s been great each time.
And in the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, @1972 (!) there’s a marinated lentil salad recipe which is great at this time of year – simple, easy, pantry ingredients (except for the fresh parsley, which I can never keep on hand).
A favorite easy meal at our house is one we call Pasta, Tuna and Beans. You could leave out the tuna and add more beans. While your pasta (could be farfalle, penne or whatever you have) cooks, juice a lemon or two and put juice in a glass measuring cup and add an equal amount of olive oil (1:1) and mix well. Drain and rinse a can (or two if skipping the tuna) of Great Northern Beans or cannelloni beans, open a can of tuna and drain off the liquid for your favorite dog and cat. Drain cooked pasta and distribute in bowls, add tuna and beans for each serving and add sauce, garnish with chives or green onions or parsley if you like. If you want to get fancy you can heat the sauce and warm up the beans in it, but that just makes an extra pan to clean. Can also mix it all together like a pasta salad if serving a crowd.
My go to is homesicktexan.com. Lots of Texas inspired recipes with a down home twist.
Chicken Fajita Quinoa Bake (No Pre-Cooking!) by Two Healthy Kitchens. This recipe isn’t vegetarian, but it’s so tasty! No tortillas needed. I add a second can of black beans, and, once plated, we top off the dish with shredded cheddar, guacamole and a little low-fat sour cream. Enjoy!
https://twohealthykitchens.com/chicken-fajita-quinoa-bake-no-pre-cooking/
We’re also fans of Two Healthy Kitchens’ Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Burgers; Super-Fast Asian Salmon Pasta with Easy Peanut Sauce; Orecchiette with Sausage and Spinach; and Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Burgers.
My husband invented this version of salmon spaghetti
28-oz can diced tomatoes
Minced garlic (never enough)
Olive oil
Spaghetti noodles, cooked
Salmon filet, whatever size you want (we usually use one that is 12-14 oz)
Sauté the tomatoes and garlic in the oil until reduced, very little liquid left.
Season the salmon however you like.
Nuke the salmon in a covered dish. When done, break it into bite-sized pieces
Layer on your plate: pasta, salmon, tomato mixture. Enjoy!
This is my favorite way to eat salmon or spaghetti.
We get 3 servings from this. If you less of a pig, you may get more.
Forgot to say that it takes exactly as long as it takes to cook the pasta.
Late to the party, but I love the Bowls cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. I told my husband it’s what I wanted for my birthday this year, and he was surprised to find so many amazing recipes – we cooked out of it for two solid weeks without getting bored. It has lots of swaps to make the meals vegetarian – highly recommended.
Easy baked white fish (cod, halibut, any fillet that’s at least an inch thick).
— line covered baking dish with parchment paper, or torn apart paper lunch sack, or nothing if you don’t mind clean up
— lay fish in dish
— in a separate bowl, mix together heaping Tablespoon of pesto, heaping Tablespoon of miso paste, and 2-3 glugs of olive oil, stirring until you have a green-brown slurry
— spread slurry over fish in dish and cover dish
— bake in 375 deg oven 15-20 minutes; test doneness with meat thermometer and ensure that it’s cooked to 145 degrees. For thinner fillets, subtract time; for thicker fillets, add time.
Also possible to substitute blue cheese dressing for the pesto/miso slurry.
Another easy fish meal- Poached salmon, cabbage and rice or pasta.
-Prepare pasta or rice and keep warm. Season with peppers, onions, or what you like.
-Wash and lightly salt 4- 6 oz salmon fillet, place skin side down in skillet. add enough water to cover about 3/4 of the way.
-Place large washed separated cabbage leaves over the salmon like a dome. Season how you like. Just salt and pepper is good and simple.
Cover skillet with lid.
-Bring fish/cabbage skillet to a boil 8-14 minutes. Fish is done when you twist a fork in it and it flakes easily. Cabbage gets to tender about the same time.
-Serve all at once onto plates with rice or pasta.
other greens that work: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, Brussel sprouts,
6 CAN SOUP….Doesn’t get any easier than this. And it tastes great, too! You buy 6 cans, throw all ingredients in a pot, and heat. DONE! You won’t believe how good it tastes. 1) fire-roasted tomatoes, 2) minestrone soup, 3) shoe peg corn (this is usually in a smaller can) 4) black beans, 5) veg-all, 6) collard greens. Makes a big pot, so you can throw some of it in the freezer for later.
I garden and have a LOT of basil & green beans! (They’re very easy to grow.) I made a simple pesto with the basil, evoo, pine nuts, and a squirt of lemon juice in the processor and I mixed it up over the green beans (steamed in the microwave). Tasty and easy and quick. You can sprinkle goat cheese or parmesan over it all and if you have any energy left over, you can roast some fresh beets and serve them on the side. Hope you like it!
Ask your family members to cook!!! Everyone can follow a youtube video, so no excuses…
Taco soup – In a large saucepan saute 1/2 C diced onions in a little olive oil until translucent. Meanwhile pour 2 cans Rotel original diced tomatoes with green chilies in food processor and pulse a few times, then add to pan. Add 2 packets of McCormick taco seasoning mix, 2 C of Morningstar Crumbles (meatless!), and 1 C frozen corn. I usually add about a can of water too, but if you like it chunky – do your thing! My kids hate beans, but feel free. Let simmer 30 minutes on very low heat, stirring often – otherwise it will stick and BURN. My family loves this served with shredded cheddar and FRITOS. You could also use tortilla chips. And a little sour cream or avocado crema – my new favorite thing! Mix equal parts guacamole and sour cream. Add slightly less mayo and mix well. Add a dash of milk if it’s a little thick. Season with salt, pepper, dash of apple cider vinegar, dash of hot sauce, dash of onion powder, dash of garlic powder, and some lime juice. If you like cilantro – now is the time. I eat this on barbacoa, carnitas, chicken enchilladas, and tacos.
On cooler days, soups are my go to lunch or if they are thicker supper. A good mixture I discovered was this vegetable soup – leeks or onions/garlic fried a bit in oil, add water (1/2 a soup pot), toss in a vegetarian bouillion cube, then small cubes of beets, carrots, potatoes and red lentils (1/2 cup or more) and later some chopped greens -kale/spinach. You can add celery, etc as well but the beets and red lentils combination make the soup!
One more website that has loads of meatless recipes: https://alexandracooks.com/
I’ve followed Ali for about a decade and regularly make many of her delicious meals. Easy, too.
Just a quick and late 10 minute addition: Measure out and boil required pasta. While it’s cooking, heat olive oil in frying pan. Throw in masses of basil and a chopped green pepper, plus generous sprinkles of sea salt and ground black pepper. Sear green stuff for 5 mins, then add tinned sardines (about a tin each) and heat for the rest of the pasta-cooking time. Bob’s your uncle.
Whoops, you said vegetarian – sorry.
When I am needing I go to Nigel Slater. He writes in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/au/food
I have a couple of his books.
Needing inspiration! Have his vegetarian books but he does have meat recipes in the paper
tasty foods