ISO Simple Recipes (Mostly Vegetarian)

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WildOrchid310

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 30, 2012
Messages
27
Location
East Tennessee
I have two jobs, and my second job finishes right around the time all the restaurants in my neighborhood close. ? I have to learn how to cook again, and I'm struggling. I need some help. I'm low on time and energy, so I need simple and/or save-able things that I can quickly make or reheat for after work during the week.

I am a vegetarian, but I recently started adding seafood back into my diet. I love spicy food, fresh food, fancy cheese, and bread. ? I've gotten so much help from this forum before. Any ideas you have for me would be so welcome. Thanks ❤️✨
 
These two soups are vegan and they freeze well. I love them and I'm a big time carnivore. They are both quite easy.

Easy leek and potato soup

Roasted Root Vegi Bisque

With that bisque, I have learned to be careful of the hot peppers. You never know just how hot they will be, so I add one before pureeing and then taste the bisque. Then, I add more, to taste, and puree some more.
 
Always keep a few cans of beans on the shelf for the dark days.

Rachel Wharton’s recipe for Bodega Beans: Sauté onion and garlic, add a can of white beans (or any other kind), drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and sprinkle with cheese if you like. I usually add a chopped carrot and chopped celery if I have it on hand. If the vegetables are cut small it only needs to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Chickpea sandwich filling/salad.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16715/vegetarian-chickpea-sandwich-filling/

Also a couple of cans of Hormel Vegetarian Chili. You can heat it in the microwave and eat it as is or take the time to cook a pot of rice or a baked potato and use it as a topper.

Another quick dinner is a pouch of microwave steam in bag vegetable blends. When they are cooked I drizzle them with a little toasted sesame seed oil, a splash of soy sauce, and Huy Fong chili paste. This is also good over a bed of rice or riced cauliflower.

Finally a peanut butter sandwich on whole-grain bread, a piece of fruit, and a glass of almond milk.

For me, the most important thing is to have a well-stocked pantry and a loose plan. Without that, it would be a slice of pizza and a bag of peanut butter cups. :ermm::ohmy::LOL:
 
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First thing that comes to mind are bean burritos. Cheap, quick and easy. Flour tortillas, shredded cheese ( I prefer cheddar or Monterey Jack), can of Vegetarian refried beans. In addition, you can add Chopped tomato, olives, onions, lettuce , hit peppers, salsa, guacamole.

With some of the same ingredients, pan fried quesadilla ( cheese , bean or bean and cheese).

If you're OK with Vegetarian meat, you could get the Morning Star Crumblers ( basically vegetarian chopped meat). Cook it up as instructed, add packet of taco seasoning and load up some taco shells with it and the above ingredients . What I actually usually do , is make a taco salad ( lettuce, olives, tomatoes , onions , shredded cheese and the taco meat). Mix it all up and just load the taco shells with that and top it off with guac.

If you can swing some time to make Eggplant Parmesan, it could be 3 different dinners. Night one Eggplant Parm, night 2 Eggplant parm hero, night 3 Eggplant parm on top of baked ziti ( a local restaurant used to serve it like that and call it Baked Ziti Sicilian. Not sur if its an authentic name for an authentic dish, but it tasted good).

Cheese Hoagies ( back from my Philly days) Roll ( I prefer Keiser rolls) Spread mayo, a couple of slices of provolone, pickles, onions, tomato, Hot peppers, lettuce . Drizzle some Italian dressing ( I prefer Good Seasons). Nice quick easy meal

I also like avocado sandwiches. Before Avocado toast was the in thing, We used to make these sandwiches. As simple as keiser roll, mash up and spread avocado on the bread, salt and pepper , finely diced onions, and although I done eat eggs, my friend from El Salvador used too crumble a hard boiled egg on top.

We often have soup and salad nights ( with some bread, although im supposed to watch my carbs). Soup can take long to make, but once made, you can freeze it in batches and have it multiple times with the only effort being defrosting and heating up.

Chili could also be made with the Morning star farm crumblers ( along with sloppy Joe for anything that requires chopped meat).
 
Like others here, I keep cans of beans in my pantry, for putting in salads, and the like, but some legumes that are almost as fast, and cheaper, are lentils. I've actually seen these in cans, and wondered why somebody would buy them, they cook so fast! And they have become much more available in supermarkets now, though if you have an Indian grocery nearby, you can get large bags, of many more types, much cheaper. And, though I am not vegetarian, I often combine them with whole grains, sometimes added before or after the lentils, depending on their cooking times - this is a good way to get the proteins in meatless dishes. I often get them started, then get the other things for the dish ready to add later - sometimes cooked briefly, sometimes just added, to make it a one dish meal, often ready in 20-25 min. I make a lot of curries this way, but also use the lentils and grains in soups, and things like pilafs, in place of other, less nutritious bulk carbs, and I always get leftovers, which usually reheat, and freeze well.

The regular green/brown lentils will cook up in about 20 min; the reds get softer even faster, almost dissolving in 20 minutes. Chana Dal (actually made from a type of chick pea) - another I've seen in many local stores around here in recent years - stays firm longer - up to 35 min. - and is one I use for salads.
 
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If you enjoy meaty texture. Get some Impossible burgers from BK, toss the buns, amd use the meat in chili, Sunday gravy, added to pasta, baked beans, cheese mac, anywhere you would use ground beef, You might even be able to purchase this meatless meat.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
How about some vegetarian sausage ? Over time I have figured out the recipe but not all the amounts. but I will fly by the seat of my pants.

Kidney beans, mushrooms and spinach all go through the meat grinder. In a bowl, you take samples and fry up to taste, to adjust the recipe.

The three go through the first time, the second time is with the spices.

You need a scale and to be able to scale up once you get the flavor you want. But you get;

Fennel
Garlic
Salt

And just try that.

https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/homemade-italian-sausage-seasoning/

Has a bunch, and so do other sites.

Maybe you don't want Italian, maybe you want a breakfast sausage, well then you need sage.

T
 
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