What is your favorite "no meat" meal?

Beans and rice, combined, are generally an adequate replacement for meat in terms of protein and nutrients. Many Indian dishes feature these two, and also scale back the use of meat substantially. I would advise you look into Indian cooking for some really delicious, easy, lazy (set it and forget it styled curry) meatless dishes.

Some of my favorite include Palek Paneer (spinach and Indian cheese), Gobi Aloo (indian style cauliflower and potatoes), and Chana Masala (chickpeas in tomato “gravy”). Here’s an awesome website, Manjula’s Kitchen, where Manjula teaches you how to make these dishes via video and written recipes. She has tons of recipes, I believe all of hers are vegetarian and many are vegan.

My favorite is stuffed peppers. Ingredients: large green peppers; medium spanish onion, chopped; 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms; 1/2 lb chopped spinach; large tomato, chopped; small eggplant, peeled and cubed; 2 small zucchini, sliced; salt/pepper; cooking oil. Cut top off peppers and remove seeds, sautee stuffing in oil, stuff in peppers, place in large, flat pot or dutch over with half cup water; cover, simmer for 30 minutes.

We’ve started not cooking or having meat in the house this past year, although we do have fish. We go with Indian vegetable curries once or twice a week, eggplant parm. (I know, it does have cheese), pasta primavera, hearty bean stew (which is like a vegetarian chili with kidney beans and garbanzos and tomatoes), etc. A lentil and brown rice casserole is another good comdo. We do have fish a few times a week too, so that does help with menu planning and protein.

For lunch at work, I usually bring a hummus and pita with tomato, cuke and lettuce sandwich or occasionally a frozen vegetable curry from Amy’s or another brand.

Chicken Alfredo, LOL.
Chickens are nothing more than walking vegetables.

@Kraken – chicken is a meat. Just because you believe it is not does not mean it is not meat. It is a living, breathing, moving animal, not a vegetable at all. Such an answer is not what the questioner is wanting, and thus has no value here.

The only “no-meat” meal i can say is cereal and toast, ( I don’t eat them that much) because i LOVE meat and i am not a rabbit.

@dynamicduo Oy Vay, one can’t take a joke around here. Silliness isn’t appreciated?

Yellow rice and black beans with a medium-hot salsa. When I moved to NYC, I hadn’t had that before. It’s really good!

Pasta!

Margarita with salsa and chips.

I enjoy baked rigatoni, veggie lasanga, tomato & mozzarella salad (hmm). I also a big fan of India food too! Bindi masala is an Indian dish made with okra and very tasty! I also love hummus as a snack with crackers or even better, warm pita bread. Cheese pizza too- I can go on forever with suggestions…

@stars You are making me very hungry…

@ andrew Had any channa masala lately?

Just search the Internet for vegetarian recipe sites- I know I have zillions in my bookmarks.

One great book to start with is Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian.

Definitely long grain brown rice (about 1 cup dry) with black beans (1 can), sweet corn (1 can or 2 ears), and cheddar cheese (1 slice) melted in. Great by itself, in a burrito, or as a dip for tortilla chips. I make it every couple weeks. With those amounts, it usually makes about 5–6 generous servings.

This is also something that is very easy to make all organic for very cheap

Portobello mushrooms marinated in olive oil and salt and then grilled and served with all the hamburger fixings. Much better than meat hamburgers.

Any pasta with a tasty sauce, either tomato-based, cream based, or both.

Home-grown tomato sandwiches, mozzarella, tomato and basil salad, tomato, cheddar and bread crumb layered casserole, home-made tomato soup with good fresh bread, or a tomato and basil omelet (I like tomatoes).

Stir-fried vegetables and tofu flavored with garlic, ginger and fermented black beans, or stir-fried noodles with assorted vegetable, either Chinese Lo-Mein or Chow-Fun style, or Thai Pad Thai style.

Any one of a number of vegetarian curries. My favorites tend to involve coconut milk and potatoes and are not necessarily Indian. Thailand has some terrific curries.

And there are a lot more options.

I generally like sammiches with bell and banana peppers, olives, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers on them. You can add cheese if you want…

Either red beans and rice or a margerita pizza (spiced olive oil as the sauce, tomatoes, oregano, and mozzarella).

desserts. all my meals have meat.

Thank you all for the suggestions, I have printed them and will try them. I do tofu stirfry a lot and beans and rice with tinned tomatoes and garlic and soy. Have never done much with currries but I will try to incorporate more.

@rooeytoo

If you want to do some great vegetarian curries, I recommend a book called Real Vegetarian Thai. It has amazingly good recipes for curry pastes- the roasted chili and garlic one is to die for!

Teriyaki mushrooms! My kids love it served on brown rice. They beg for it at least once a month.

I heart vegetarian Bibimbap.. take out the meat, add the namul, yoke and chili, toss them around, mixing into a single serve of warm rice (lightly seasoned with sesame oil), traditionally served in a cool stone pot with seasoned inlays-and there we have a convenient, meat-free dish for all occasions.

I love lentil soups with rice or roti, and bean and legume dishes because they are so filling and nutritious. Here are my favorites; spinach dal and jeera dal with roti, chana masala, kidney beans chili, and black bean soup.

You’ll find recipes for all these meatless dishes at http://www.vegrecipes4u.com

@ritu – thanks for linking to that site, the very first recipe on it sounds great, Chana Kurma. I have bookmarked it and will look there next time I need a veg meal!

lurve to you