Inspiration please

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Hello,

I'm trying to plan meals for Sept/Oct and seem to have a repertoire of about five meals. I can cook but don't have a vast budget, DH is veggie, SS is sometimes (but rarely refuses meat if I put it in front of him - it just gets tedious not knowing if this is a veggie day or not so sometimes he just has to lump it!), SD, DD and I all merrily eat meat, but my recipes have to be adaptable. More often than not we all eat veggie but it's not unusual for me to do meat or fish for 3 or 4 of us.

I'm looking for a few every day recipes and the odd 'Sunday' recipe as I do a more time-consuming/expensive and usually less healthy meal on a Sunday and do a pud too. For some reason none of us will fill up on vegetable based dishes so we always have protein in our supper. Example of a week's menu:

Mon: Tofu, wraps, salad
Tues: Soup, sandwich (and probably a pud to fill the gap)
Weds:Sliced Quorn/cold meat, new pots, salad
Thurs:Risotto (with whatever is knocking about)
Fri: Pasta & chickpeas
Sat: Cheese on toast, tomato & onion salad, green salad
Sun: Nut roast, veg, new pots, pumpkin pie

It's getting so boring! Any suggestions gratefully received. Thank you

[becks77]

Hi, try substituting quorn type mince in the dishes that would normally be meaty. We are veggie but daughter isn't but will eat most of what we have sometimes she gets a piece of chicken extra or bacon strips etc.
The other way round is to start with the staple and go from there..ie.potatoes pasta rice wheat and see what springs to mind that way, hope it all works out

[Graye]

We make a creamy veg pie which I love. I was inspired by Co op's own which seem to have disappeared from their freezer cabinets. In France we can buy ready rolled pastry in rounds of about 30cm and I can´t remember whether you can buy them in the UK. If not just make a quick shortcrust pastry and roll it out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Put the paper with the pastry on it into a flan type ovenproof dish (I use one of those terracotta ovenproof dishes you see so often in Spain, about 18 cm diameter) and smooth it into the corners. There will be quite a overhang which you need to complete the pie.

For the filling I make a basic white sauce with lots of pepper and herbs. Then I boil some chopped carrots for about five minutes, then add mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower and chopped onions. When these are all still very "al dente" I mix them into the white sauce, pour this into the pastry case and fold the edges over into the middle and squeeze the edges to seal. 15 minutes in a medium to hot oven and this is a delicious pie served up with some new potatoes and french beans. It lifts straight out of the dish on the paper too!

I also have a couple of great recipes for chili and spaghetti bolognese but both are made with TVP so it depends on how you feel about that?

[Mrs Moustoir]

Here's a few from our regular meals..

How about home made pizzas. You can make the bases yourself with a bread mix or from scratch. Make a big pot of a basic tomato sauce with onions, tinned tomatoes/tomato puree/mixed herbs/garlic and use this as a pizza topper with cheese, mushrooms and peppers.

Save some of the sauce - perhaps freeze some or serve it later in the week with pasta.

Home made quiches - filled with whatever you fancy - onions, peppers, bacon or tuna for the non veggies, mushrooms. Cover with beaten eggs and cheese. I buy the ready made pastry as it is fab here..

Baked big mushrooms - fill with herby breadcrumbs and top with a sprinkling of cheese. Serve with salad.

Roasted veg - half red peppers, scoop out seeds and pop in a few cherry tomatoes, garlic and or onion. Half courgettes lengthways. Sprinkle with olive oil and herbs. Bake until squidgy.

Bon appetit!

[Annpan]

We practically live off of pasta and tomato sauce, I always put red lentils in the tomato sauce and sometimes some sliced sausage or bacon. Pizza is quite easy to alter the toppings accordingly. and even get them to chip in and dress their own pizza before it goes into the oven.

I have to admit that I never plan meals, it is usually a case of whatever is ready in the garden, or whatever I picked up out of the 10p shelf at the supermarket... or just whatever we fancy that night.

[mrsflibble]

Cheesy Eggs:
mashed potatoes for as many people as you're cooking for; my mum adds leftover root veg to this mash too but I'm not so keen.
1 egg per person
milk
cheese
seasonings to taste
1/2 tsp marmite or mustard powder; don't worry, you can't taste either in the finished product but they make the cheese more cheesy, meaning you use less
1dstsp plain flour (bread flour works INCREDIBLY well due to the gluten content)
1dstsp fat (butter, high fat marge or oil, NOT lowfat marge as it doesn't work)
slaked cornflour (1tsp cornflour mixed with 1tsp water, stabilises the sauce; only add this if you intentd to grill cheese on the top, it will stop sauce from curdling if it gets too hot)

cook the mash if you have to, line a greased lasagne dish, casserole dish or baking tray with the mash. make it like a mattress for your eggs. think fluffy comfort.
stick some eggs in to hard boil.
melt/heat the fat in a pan. quickly stir in flour to make a paste (roux) cook until it no longer tastes floury. once you've done it a few times you get to know when it's ready just by the look, feel and smell.
add milk gradually, whisking very well and getting lumps out before adding more milk. dont worry, at first it will look like freaky pastry but eventually it will become a white sauce (ok, a yellowy-cream coloured sauce).
take sauce off the heat and stir in 3/4 of the cheese. stir in cornflour at this point too if using.
go back to your eggs, they should be about done now. remove from the heat and stick in cold water. change the water often until they are cold enough to handle or the yolks will get a grey ring.
peel eggs and slice in half. lay them yolk down in the potato. cover with cheese sauce, top with cheese and grill (last step optional)

you can also add finely chopped bacon if not serving it to veggies hahaha!!!

this is great winter comfort food. We have it about once a year as it's very stodgy and not at all healthy in the version I make (looove it buttery); HOWEVER, if you use a strong cheese then a little goes a long way, don't add milk or butter to the mash (it doesn't need it really, the sauce it there to lubricate everything) and use a low fat milk in the sauce then it's not too bad.

It's fab on its own, I like it with crusty bread, James likes it with green veg, my brother likes it with baked beans and my mum wont eat it 'cos it reminds her of her childhood; but she is happy to cook it for us. All of us thankfully only have happy memories of it as a fun afterschool treat for dinner hahaha!

[StripyPixieSocks]

Ratatouille?

It can be used in a couple of ways... over a lovely big baked potato or mix it with cooked pasta in a baking dish and top with breadcrumbs and a little bit of cheese!

We had it with a Baked Potato for the last two days here... absolute bliss and very filling!

Mutter Paneer is nice if you're a fan of the spicy stuff, it's cheap and if you make loads you can freeze it, add a nice home-made naan bread and you can ditch phone number for the take-away completely :)

We have even made our own Paneer which is lovely and much better than the shop bought stuff. We just bring milk to the boil and chuck in some Lemon juice and stir until it curdles, strain the curds and press to remove as much liquid as possible. Keeps in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a month.

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Thank you for all these ideas. It's reminded me of things I used to do and that I'd just forgotten about, like rats.

I'm having a freezer clearout at the moment so some weird and wonderful meals to come, then I'm going to defrost the freezers and start filling them with winter food so I'm covered for when the baby arrives. Did it with DD and it was a life-saver!

[Green Aura]

Have you also thought about making seitan - it's a fantastic, cheap source of protein, and once made you can slice, dice, mince or whatever else it, just like meat. You can also add it to meat to cut down the cost, or to tofu dishes. I make a tofu and seitan turkey for my vegan daughter for christmas. It's even got a crackly skin - she loves it.

There's an open thread on it somewhere if you're interested.
Maggie

[hedgewitch]

Fab suggestions already.

I have a garzillion veggie recipes but it's easier to direct to my site here...

It's still being updated with new recipes but I hope you find some inspiration there. All the recipes are vegan but they can easily be unveganised.

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Wow, what a fantastic list of recipes on your site HW, will definitely be having a trawl. Also about to make a cup of tea and go through the six million seitan posts! Thanks for all the ideas everyone.

Things have improved a bit - I always find it easier to cook imaginatively when autumn is staring us in the face. Using up frozen odds and sods and veg somehow not rotting in the garden, this week's menu is:

Burgers, pittas, griddled peppers and courgettes
Risotto (found frozen cooked beef for us, veg sausages for DH, to add along with various veg and seeds. Teenagers went back for seconds!)
(Veggie mince) Shepherd's Pie, veg
Dauphinoise potatoes, soy and lemon Quorn, veg
Tomato soup, cheese & bacon on muffins, tomato & onion salad
Sausage, mash, veg
Quorn roast, YPs, veg, pumpkin pie & custard

[Green Aura]

Love your website, Hedgewitch. I've bookmarked it to peruse at my leisure.
Maggie

[daisydoo]

Hi

One of my fave suppers is potato, apples and onions roasted together with honey and mustard dressing. I serve it with lincolnshire sausages and its really tasty. For 4 people

8 sausages (lincolnshire or other good herby ones)
4 baking pots cut into wedges
4 apples (braeburn or cox's) quartered
2 large red onions quartered

Dressing

3 tablespoons oil
2 good tsp whole grain mustard
3 tbls honey
3 tbls wine vinegar
salt and pepper
just mix everything together in a roasting dish and cook for about 3/4hr to an hr or until everything is nicely browned and caramelized.

Delish

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Mmm, that looks delicious. My mother always makes stewed apple to go with sausages but I've never quite got the hang of it. will do this with saus instead of mash

[LBR]

When my SO is around I cook these:

Scalloped potatoes

Quiche (can also use sliced or grated potatoes in a greased pie plate rather than pie dough):
potato, leek
bacon and onion
chives
spinach
green bean
corn and salsa
pimentos and pepper jack cheese

beans and cornbread
beans and spuds
beans on toast
pork chops and beans

He loves desserts, too:

bread pudding
baked custard
Bird's custard
custard pie
peach custard pie
apple pie
peach pie
brownies
chocolate chip cookies or bars
peanut butter criss-cross cookies

We also have breakfast food for supper, sometimes with salad:

fried eggs and fried potatoes
scrambled eggs and sliced tomatoes
bacon and scrambled eggs

He also likes:

blueberry muffins
corn muffins
chocolate chip muffins

Sour cream and butter are good for making things more filling.

And the very occasional pork chops, pork roast, pan-fried steak, bison burgers, wild salmon filets.

I use the slow cooker (crock pot) as often as I can.