7 Cheap and Easy Vegetarian Meals
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 10.30.08
Many of us lead pretty busy lives these days and, especially those of us with families, are always trying to get dinner on the table as quickly and easily as possible. Occasionally we fall back on using prepackaged meals from the grocery store or calling for takeout. Those meals have more fat, salt and sugar than we need in our diet, they produce a lot of garbage from the packaging and they are more expensive than cooking from scratch.
In these uncertain economic times we really need to look at our food costs and start to spend more wisely. Here are seven recipes that will cover your dinners for a week, with some leftovers for your lunch. They are as quick as takeout, as easy as many processed dinners, and more economical and nutritious than both.
Chickpea Curry
My son eats a lot of tofu and I'm always encouraging him to add more legumes to his diet, so I decided on something with chickpeas. I had in my mind a recipe from Julie Sahni's cookbook Classic Indian Cooking as a starting point and we made up our own version. I had some dried Mexican chilies that Hugh had brought from his store. I've always rehydrated chilies, but Hugh put them in the bottom of a dry pan until they were fragrant, chopped them finely added a bit of olive oil and then crushed them with a mortar and pestle until they made a paste. We had some leftover rice and carrots from the night before and tossed them in as well. You could add vegetables such as zucchini or cauliflower as well. Get the full Chickpea Curry recipe at Planet Green.
Beans with Tomatoes and Swiss Chard
We actually ended up getting a number of meals from the swiss chard I grew in my garden this summer and I really enjoyed them. I had a good handful to harvest and I cooked them up with some fresh tomatoes and mushrooms for a quick, throw together meal that was easy and cheap. All the measurements are approximate, and you can easily put together other legumes such as chickpeas or lentils, or other leafy vegetables such as kale or spinach. You can eat this as is, in a bowl, or serve it over pasta or rice. If you have any leftovers, you can eat it as a cold salad or add some liquid and puree it into a soup. The step-by-step instructions for Beans with Tomatoes and Swiss Chard are over at Planet Green.
Vegetarian Chili
If you feel like a party, invite a few friends over and make this easy, delicious chili. Or better still, make it the day before and then you don't have to do anything but heat it up when your guests arrive. I looked at lots of recipes for vegetarian chili, but in the end I adapted my regular meat based chili because I like the seasonings. Without the meat to soak up the heat, I found the chili a bit too hot. I have reduced the amount of dried chili peppers by quite a bit, so if you like your chili on the spicy side you could increase it. Use the list of vegetables as a guideline, and feel free to toss in whatever you have on hand. I used kidney beans, but you could add some chickpeas or black beans, as well. If you do want meat in the chili, brown 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef before you add the other ingredients. Learn the rest of the tricks for Vegetarian Chili at Planet Green.
Oriecchietti with Lentils, Onion and Spinach
I have a confession to make. In an attempt to make lentils more palatable for my husband, I did something I've never done before. I took a totally healthy vegetarian dish and added bacon. Not just any bacon, but some magnificent pancetta that my son brought from the store he works in. It was just a bit, but enough to elevate this dish from nice-tasting to really delicious. Of course, you can always leave the bacon out. The full recipe for Oriecchietti with Lentils, Onion and Spinach is at Planet Green.
Dal and Pumpkin Soup
I'm a big fan of Nigel Slater and his book, The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen, encapsulates his theories about food and cooking. I turned to the very front of the book and decided to make his New Year's Day soup. Slater apparently has a tradition of making soup on New Year's Day and I heartily approve. He calls this "a bowl of soup that both whips and kisses." It seems like a pretty good meal to have as the weather gets colder and we have the long winter before us. All the details for whipping up Dal and Pumpkin Soup are at Planet Green.
Vegetable Salad: Carrots. Fennel, Radishes, Beets, and Onion
Earlier this year, I reviewed Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells. This lovely winter salad was the first recipe I tried from the book. I had just been to the farmers' market and bought an enormous bunch of radishes for 50 cents, so this recipe seemed fortuitous. You could serve this either as part of a family meal, or as a first course at a dinner party. It is quite colourful and attractive on the plate-and is really tasty. Whip up a lovely Vegetable Salad: Carrots, Fennel, Radishes, Beets and Onion using the recipe at Planet Green.
Mushroom Tofu Stew
Big chunks of meat and potatoes are usually what come to mind when you think about stew. But many university students either don't have the money or the inclination to eat that kind of meal. I was looking for something that was vegetarian and would be hearty and nourishing, while being easy on the pocket book. And like all of the recipes in this series, you have to be able to make it all in one pot. This recipe fulfills all of those requirements, but, while delicious, I will freely admit that it isn't the most beautiful dish I've ever made. Make Mushroom Tofu Stew using the recipe at Planet Green.
More food-related reading at TreeHugger and Planet Green
How to Go Green: Dinner Parties
How to Go Green: Eating
Save More Money by Eating More Veggies
Make it Vegetarian
Happy World Vegetarian Day!
Proven: Vegetarians Live Longer
How to Become a Vegetarian
Henry David Thoreau as Climatologist: Scientists Use Field Notes Taken in 1851 to Track Plant Species Loss
|
GE Reinvents the Fridge
|
I've made some tasty vegetarian meals, but I gotta say that none of these sound terribly delicious. Maybe the pumpkin & dal soup but that's about it. Plus I have to con my "If it doesn't have meat it isn't a meal" husband into eating it.
If you can get your hands on a slow-cooker (aka a crock pot), making dishes like stews can be even easier. Just pop your ingredients in before you leave for work and you'll have dinner waiting for you when you get home.
Ha, Ha, Ha! Vegetarian Chili with the optional 1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef mention. I love it! That is the best veg chili there is - some with a little meat.
Good job on the post and thanks for including those of us who still eat some meat.
Best,
Jason
The last time I checked, bacon is not vegetarian either. While this article makes some good points, it should not be titled what it is. Maybe it should say "7 Cheap and Easy Meals that can be Adapted to be Vegetarian."
are you kidding me with this? what is the point of posting blogs about vegetarianism when you're going to include meat in the recipes?
while i support anyone making a gradual change to vegetarianism, i hate the fact that treehugger is allowing blogs to be labeled incorrectly. i agree with the poster above me that said to re-label these recipes. i hope this particular blogger begins to take more care in what she is presenting to the treehugger readers. this isn't the first time i've read something by this writer where vegetarianism was undermined with suggestions for the eating of meat.
vegadvantage.com has REAL vegetarian recipes for any interested.
i just had some vegetable salad, but i never tried it with radish or beet, and reading through your article on 7 cheap vegetarian meals, i discovered that radish and beet can be added and still make good vegetarian eat. it is very good to know this. I urge other readers to try it out, because i am going to try on tomorrow. justin uwaifo
I make the Lentil Oriecchietti all the time (without the bacon ;)) and it is delicious!
Seriously, just because she admits that she isn't a vegetarian doesn't mean she doesn't know how to write about vegetarianism. Every single one of these recipes is vegetarian - just because she adapted them from recipes that had meat doesn't mean they're not vegetarian now.
And Colleen: I'm not sure you noticed, but not everyone in the world is a vegetarian. Kelly is simply pointing out that if you do, in fact, eat meat, that you can still make and enjoy these recipes. They are every bit as 'REAL' as the recipes on the site you mentioned (and they are guaranteed to have been tried and tested on very willing family members).
Why is it all vegetarian food is seriously *nasty*? I eat less meat than most people, but there are very few recipes (pizza and macaroni, mostly) that are vegetarian that don't look completely unpalatable to me.
KR That quinoa recipe was so delicious, I bet I could even get my mother to eat it, as long as I didn't tell her what it was, that is