Budget no meat meal suggestions wanted

[worm761]

I am trying to have the family eat a healthier diet. My whole life I was told that I was a picky eater. It turns out that I am not, I just didn't like the way my mother cooked. I am relearning to eat veggies and leaner meats. I make almost everything from scratch. I don't like beans but am trying to subscribe to the idea that you can learn to like foods. I want to hide some white beans in my stuffed shells (start small and then build to a more substantial amount). I want to try using eggplant as a noodle for lasagna but I don't know if I like eggplant or not. I like yellow squash cut very thin, spaghetti squash, and I just learned that I like butternut squash.

We are fairly limited in the veggies that we eat. Corn (I know not a real veggie), green beans, peas, carrots, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, brussels sprouts, cabbage, lettuces, spinach. Mostly just the mild ones.

Anyway, looking for some suggestions for healthier, no meat meals that will get past the guys. I am feeding a teen boy, my father, my DH, me and a 3yr old DD. I don't want all of our meatless nights to be breakfast for dinner or stuffed shells. So any and all suggestions are welcome!

 

[csharpwv]

A HUGE pot of Vegetable Soup using V8 as your stock!

My mom used to make it all the time, and I just made a huge pot last week!

You can do it with a beef roast, or whole grain barley to provide some bulk.

It's a great winter meal!

Potato, green beans, corn, peas, celery, cabbage if you like, the list goes on!

It's a family favorite - and you can make it as thick or as thin as you like - one gallon of V8 makes a HUGE stock pot full - enough for dinner and lunch or leftovers!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I like healthy grain based meals. I make a big pot on Sundays and then use the leftovers during the week. To either of the recipes, you could add meat and I'll describe it in the recipes.

Here are two recipes (the Beany Salad is my FAVORITE and I make it about every other week but it has beans so you have to like them and I'm not sure you are there yet):

Butternut Squash and Barley:

Saute 2 T olive oil, chopped green pepper, chopped onion, and 1 each scooped/cooked butternut squash and acorn squash (you can boil or microwave seeded and halved squash, then scoop it out with a small melon baller). Add black pepper, 1 t sage, some salt - all to taste. IF you want to add cooked and chopped chicken breast or turkey, go ahead - it's healthy! Add 1 1/2 cups cooked barley (I cook mine in chicken broth for flavor). Mix in 1/2 cup dried cranberries and top with 1/2 cup feta cheese (I put in more ). At this point, it's cooked but you can bake it in an oven for 10 to 30 minutes if you want. The leftovers microwave easily!

Beany Salad:

1 cup cooked barley
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 chopped red pepper
1 can or bag of corn (if frozen, defrost first) - I like to brown my corn in a little olive oil to bring out the sweetness but it is not necessary
1 bunch cilantro leaves chopped (as much as you can to make 1/4 or 1/2 cup)
1 bunch chopped green onions

Sauce - 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 t chopped garlic, 1 T chili powder, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 t red pepper flakes

Note about ingredients - this is a forgiving recipe so you could add chopped green peppers, exclude another ingredient, substitute a grain, increase or decrease spices, etc.

Mix ingredients in large bowl and sauce ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine and coat and refridgerate to bring out the flavors.

I reheat mine with canned diced tomatoes and top with 2% cheese for a soup/stew sort of thing and serve with corn tortilla chips (La Flavorita chips are 60 calories per serving/16 chips!)

My husband likes to add this mixture to cooked ground beef/taco meat and eat it in a burrito. Just put what you like in a tortilla and heat it up for a minute in the microwave. Top with salsa, etc.

 

[girli565]

I know you said you didn't care for beans but maybe you're not eating the right ones? I HATE HATE HATE red kidney beans (they're huge and scary looking to me, with a thick outer skin) so my mom suggested small red beans or my favorite, small pink beans. I use these from a Goya can. They're all in the red bean family just better. They're milder than red kidney beans and much thinner skin outside. I make pink beans and rice as a meatless meal (semi-meatless, lol, because I do use salt pork for flavor but really it cooks down and is invisible) and everyone loves it. If you serve brown rice you can make it extra healthy and you'll really feel stuffed.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Quinoa is a great grain and has lots of protein -- very versatile, too.

Lentils are like beans, but somehow I like them better.

Black beans are wonderful -- there's some great black bean burger recipes out there -- lots of fiber and flavor.

 

[jennyjinx3]

I just made my families favorite thick soup, here is the recipe!

Curried Lentil Soup

-Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large saucepan
-Add 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 cups chopped carrots, 1 onion chopped (I use more...we love onion), 1 cup chopped potato.
-cook 5-7 minutes over medium heat
-add 1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup low fat milk, 2 cups chicken stock, and 2 tsp curry powder to taste ( we use more)
-bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes
-I usually add a pinch of brown sugar To taste
-purée in food processor or blender

Makes a lovely thick, creamy soup. Very tasty with Naan bread, pita, or just crackers for dipping.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I just made my families favorite thick soup, here is the recipe!

Curried Lentil Soup

-Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large saucepan
-Add 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 cups chopped carrots, 1 onion chopped (I use more...we love onion), 1 cup chopped potato.
-cook 5-7 minutes over medium heat
-add 1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup low fat milk, 2 cups chicken stock, and 2 tsp curry powder to taste ( we use more)
-bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes
-I usually add a pinch of brown sugar To taste
-purée in food processor or blender

Makes a lovely thick, creamy soup. Very tasty with Naan bread, pita, or just crackers for dipping.

Yum!! I have everything for this -- it might be dinner tonight!!!!

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I really like your attitude towards legumes. About 10 years ago I did a major rehab on our dinners. We began eating legumes 2 nights a week. Whew. It didn't go over well in the beginning, but now everyone eats them and actually enjoys them.

Google white bean chili with ground turkey, black bean lasagna, and Italian wedding soup. Those will get your started. I also served hearty bread with the soup, so that could fill everyone up while they got used to all those beans!

Stir fries are great with all those vegetables. You can add chicken, but you really don't have to.

Scrambled eggs with lots of vegetables is one of our favorites. Quiche too is yummy!

 

[magik]

lentil tacos! - with the taco seasonings, the lentils taste great and are very filling. Plus you can't get more budget than 99 cents for a bag that makes this recipe 2.5 times.

 

[wiigirl]

I just made my families favorite thick soup, here is the recipe!

Curried Lentil Soup

-Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large saucepan
-Add 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 cups chopped carrots, 1 onion chopped (I use more...we love onion), 1 cup chopped potato.
-cook 5-7 minutes over medium heat
-add 1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup low fat milk, 2 cups chicken stock, and 2 tsp curry powder to taste ( we use more)
-bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes
-I usually add a pinch of brown sugar To taste
-purée in food processor or blender

Makes a lovely thick, creamy soup. Very tasty with Naan bread, pita, or just crackers for dipping.

OMG...that sounds good!

 

[worm761]

I just made my families favorite thick soup, here is the recipe!

Curried Lentil Soup

-Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large saucepan
-Add 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 cups chopped carrots, 1 onion chopped (I use more...we love onion), 1 cup chopped potato.
-cook 5-7 minutes over medium heat
-add 1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup low fat milk, 2 cups chicken stock, and 2 tsp curry powder to taste ( we use more)
-bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes
-I usually add a pinch of brown sugar To taste
-purée in food processor or blender

Makes a lovely thick, creamy soup. Very tasty with Naan bread, pita, or just crackers for dipping.

Does this freeze well? I have also been trying to eat more soups for lunches since they are healthy, low calorie and usually full of veggies.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I was just looking for a stuffed spinach mushroom recipe that used Stovetop stuffing and found the kraft website has a ton of different recipes, alot of them are no meat. I haven't tried any but some sound really good.

Here's the link I used. http://www.kraftbrands.com/stovetop/recipes.html

 

[chris31997]

Just made a Shepard's Pie with a friend(no meat). It made it past her son who has a food texture issue and my gotta have meat family

For the base: cream together kidney means and chickpea( one can of each), we used the liquid and some tomatoes from a can to help it come together. We also added sauteed garlic and onion here, but you can add it to the topping if you want.

Than we layered Millet(similar to Quinoa).

Than we add mixed veggies

Than we topped it off with Mashed Potatoes/Cauliflower.

Bake at 400

 

[GusGus77]

If you make anything with canned beans make sure you THOROUGHLY rinse them before using them. This makes a big difference.

We love black bean burritos. We just mix black beans, the store brand peach mango salsa, and brown rice for the filling. I like to add a little cheddar cheese, sour cream, and avocado to it. YUMMY!

 

[packofjedis]

My DS15 is not a huge veggie eater and he likes this:

1 box potato gnocchi
1/2 c chopped onion
8 oz mushrooms, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can Cannellini beans (white beans similar to Great Northern Beans), rinsed and drained
8-10oz of baby spinach
1 can tomato sauce (use about 1/2-3/4 of it, depending on preference)
feta cheese or mozzarella (we prefer feta)
seasoned salt
dried oregano

Put a couple of tsp of Olive Oil in a non stick pan. Toss the gnocchi around in it for a couple of minutes until they're barely brown. Remove gnocchi from the pan.

Cook onion, mushrooms, pepper in a little olive oil until they're cooked. Add beans, tomato sauce, seasoned salt, oregano, and cooked gnocchi. Heat until heated through. Add spinach. When wilted, remove from heat and sprinkle on cheese.


You can mix and match what veggies you add to it. This is just one way we make it. You won't notice the beans in it at all.

 

[krcit]

My super easy version of pasta fagiole. I saute some garlic, onion and celery in a bit of olive oil. Then add a can of cannelini beans, a cup of water, chicken broth and a can of tomato sauce(small). Then add some dittalini pasta.

 

[Tree]

One of our favorite meatless meals is Mexican Lasagna . It has black beans but since it is spread out among 8 serviings it is not too bad.

I can only do one meal a week w/beans or my hubby will revolt.

 

[tinkmom2]

I second the lasagna. You could make it in the crock pot like I did tonight and add all the veggies you want. I sometimes make eggplant plant planks and use those to substitute for some of the noodles. http://tinkmomfoodie-foodobsession.blogspot.com/search?q=crock+pot+lasagna

You could use soy crumbles in place of the meat or opt for meat and add ground turkey.

 

[momtojandj]

I just made my families favorite thick soup, here is the recipe!

Curried Lentil Soup

-Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large saucepan
-Add 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 cups chopped carrots, 1 onion chopped (I use more...we love onion), 1 cup chopped potato.
-cook 5-7 minutes over medium heat
-add 1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup low fat milk, 2 cups chicken stock, and 2 tsp curry powder to taste ( we use more)
-bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes
-I usually add a pinch of brown sugar To taste
-purée in food processor or blender

Makes a lovely thick, creamy soup. Very tasty with Naan bread, pita, or just crackers for dipping.

sounds so good!, would you suggest a spice substitute if I dont have curry? Or I need it for this

 

[Lizzybean]

sounds so good!, would you suggest a spice substitute if I dont have curry? Or I need it for this

I think you could use turmeric and some chili powder but curry powder is the best! (I make soups like this all the time)