Meatless Monday: Easily adaptable vegetarian meals
January 25th, 2010
Photo via Flickr: Woodleywonderworks
I now eat vegetarian 75 percent of the time. My husband, while he’s embraced Meatless Monday and definitely reduced the amount of meat in his diet (thanks, in part, to my trick of buying smaller cuts of meat and filling the void with more veggies and complex carbs), isn’t quite ready to eat vegetarian dinners three nights a week. But since we cook almost every night, it’s been a real challenge finding a way to feed us both without having to preparing two separate meals.
My friend Andrea has the same dilemma, and she came up with this brilliant solution: To avoid cooking two meals, she makes dinners where the meat can easily be added, like a vegetarian pasta dish with a few meatballs on the side for him, or a grilled vegetable medley where he’ll throw on a steak and she’ll add a meaty portobello. No muss, no fuss, and either partner can easily cook this way for the other.
Since I mentioned this tip on HuffPost last week, several people have asked for more meal suggestions. (I guess I’m not the only one out there who’s half of a vegetarian/omnivore couple.) You asked for it, you got it! (Toyota?)
Individual pizzas. Buy ready-made personal-sized pizza crusts, and let family members add their own mix of toppings: sliced pepperoni for the meat-eaters, and mixed veggies for you.
Homemade soup. Whip up a big batch of lentil soup, and cook a few sausages on the side that can be sliced and added to individual servings. This works with almost any soup: Make a side of shredded chicken for vegetarian tortilla soup, chunks of pancetta for split pea, or chop up a little smoked kielbasa for a kale and white bean stew.
Chopped salad. Depending on what’s in season, toss together a hearty chopped salad to which you can later add chicken or grilled shrimp. My favorite is based on a recipe from one of my favorite lunch spots in LA, Toast Bakery Cafe (romaine, tomatoes, jicama, corn, garbanzo beans, avocado, and mozzarella). Don’t forget to serve with crusty bread and plenty of butter.
–Jennifer Grayson
Do this now: For more recipe ideas, check out The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table (Sasquatch Books, 2009).
More Meatless Monday posts:
WATCH: Meatless Monday goes to the farmers market
5 tips for sticking with Meatless Mondays
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January 25th, 2010 at 11:25 am
I sometimes think that the main hang-up isn’t the inconvenience of having to cater to an omnivore, but rather the moral self-righteousness that often accompanies being vegetarian (and I say this as a vegetarian). Still, these are good compromises and much easier and cheaper than getting a marriage counselor!
Molly Katzen claims that it’s super easy to make your own pizza dough, but either the yeast I got is old, or it’s too cold, or I’m just bad at it!
January 25th, 2010 at 11:56 am
I agree — and couples usually have the most problems when both people start out as meat-eaters, but then one decides to become a vegetarian and the other isn’t ready to make the switch. A little conflict helps keep a relationship exciting, though, as long as both partners try to be compassionate about respecting the other’s views.
Re the pizza dough, I like to use large flour tortillas for super-easy individual pizza crusts. They make the best thin-crust pizzas! Lightly oil a cookie sheet, place a couple of the tortillas on it, add sauce, cheese, and whatever other toppings you like, and place in a preheated 400-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. (Just be careful not to add too much sauce.) I’ll write up the official recipe and add photos for an upcoming Meatless Monday post.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I tweeted you, but realized 140 characters wasn’t quite enough! Kevin and I sometimes have make-your-own-burrito nights. We sautee and season our bell peppers, green chilis, onions, tomatoes, corn, etc. and then put all the other accoutrements on the table and assemble our own burritos. It’d be easy to prepare a small amount of ground beef or chicken on the side for an omnivore.
If you prefer subversive, Quorn mince mimics the texture of ground beef very well and is especially convincing paired with strong seasonings (such as in burritos or chile).
January 25th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Eeps, not a fan of Quorn, but I LOVE your make-your-own burrito night idea. Thank you!
January 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I’ve never heard of Quorn, but I’ll check it out. For those who don’t mind fake meat products, sometimes I use the Boca or Morningstar fake ground beef. I made a little of that for myself and some ground beef for my husband. I have two pans on the stove and add Penzeys (the best!) taco seasoning. The rest of the meal is the same for both people-taco shells and all the fixings.
As for using tortillas for pizza, I’ve also done it stove top on a frying pan and it makes the tortilla very crispy.
Sometimes for lunch when I have extra sauce to use up I make English Muffin pizzas. I ate them as a kid but they are still really good! They make a nice vegetarian snack.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Be careful with Quorn, Andrea — there have been reports of allergic reactions that can make some people violently ill (there’s even a lawsuit pending):
http://www.cspinet.org/quorn/victims.html
p.s. I forgot about English muffin pizzas — great call!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
If you like Indian food, other soup recipes you might like to try are black bean soup and spinach dal:
http://www.vegrecipes4u.com/dals-and-soups.html
January 30th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
These look delicious — thanks so much!