1-Pot Golden Curry Lentil Soup

1-pot goodness in the form of curried lentil soup! Rich with flavor, fiber, & protein and incredibly comforting. The perfect 30-minute healthy meal or side!

Minimalist Baker (minimalistbaker.com)

No oil needed. Easy to make and tastes amazing.

Peanut Slaw with Soba Noodles

A healthy Asian slaw made with cabbage, carrots and soba noodles (optional), tossed in a bold peanut-sesame sauce.

Cookie and Kate (cookieandkate.com)

I throw some edamame in and give it a good squeeze of fresh lime to garnish.

Good vegetarian/vegan protein sources to substitute in your favorite recipes:

Seitan - pretty easy to make, use in place of chicken or steak. Great in fajitas, gyros, stir fry, etc.

TVP - super cheap and healthy substitute for ground beef. Use in pasta sauces, sloppy joes, chili, etc. Toss it in with some extra water in place of meat.

Tofu - recommended you freeze then thaw the tofu, dry it out good and pan fry until crispy. Excellent in stir fry, curry, noodles, etc.

Often one role is texture. You don’t need to go looking for an exact replacement of the fibrous texture of meat, but you do want something that contrasts nicely. If you’re using cauliflower or similar, make sure to not overcook it otherwise you’ll lose the bite.

In terms of flavor, look for a mix of umami-rich and complexity. Consider using things like soy sauce, marmite, MSG, olives, onions, garlic, mustard, miso paste, tomato paste, hard cheese, fish sauce, anchovies, anchovy paste, or complex layers of spices (like in curry or chili). You may have to use some combination of these.

Simply reducing the meat you use can also be a route to eating less meat. Just replace the weight of meat with an equivalent weight of veggie. For example: 2 lbs chicken = 1 lb chicken + 1 lb cauliflower, or 2 lbs ground beef = 1lb ground beef + 1 lb red lentils. If going this route, go for fattier cuts and definitely don’t drain the fat.

You just replace the meat sauce with basically any veggie. There are two things you need to watch out for. The first is moisture content, items like frozen spinach should have as much water squeezed out as possible or it may be soggy. The other is salt, you’d salt the meat sauce so don’t omit it for the veggies.

I’m perfectly happy to eat meat in most contexts, but lasagna is definitely worse with it. The meat hogs center stage.

If you’re ok with lacto-ovo vegetarian dishes, it goes good with a fried egg and rice as a quick and tasty meal. Sometimes I’ll have some kimchi with it too if I’m in the mood and have some on hand. (Note: a lot of kimchi is not vegetarian – it often includes fish/seafood ingredients. The store near me sells both a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian version though and despite not being a vegetarian I prefer the taste of the vegetarian one slightly more, so I usually get that if they have it. Check the ingredients/labels if you’re unsure.)

The mushrooms are also a fantastic accompaniment to steak when you’re doing non-vegetarian cooking. Fry them in the same pan after making a steak on the stove and you can get something that can, frankly, eclipse the steak…

Another vegetarian dish I make sometimes (particularly in the summer) is basically just a chickpea salad. I usually use canned chickpeas for that with raw sliced vegetables like tomato, cucumber, red bell pepper, etc. I add salt, lemon juice, and olive oil and eat it with some toasted pita bread. Sometimes I will add avocado, chopped shallots, chunks of cheese, and/or a hard boiled egg if I have them handy and am in the mood – but it’s pretty good even without any of those extras. With canned chickpeas, I’ve found that I don’t like the version with firming agents added (usually calcium chloride, IIRC), so I always check the labels at the store and get ones without it.

A third vegetarian dish I like is a variant on spaghetti puttanesca. While I boil pasta, I prepare a sauce in a pan using canned tomatoes, olive oil, capers, kalamata-style black olives, salt, a pinch of msg, and cayenne pepper. Finish the pasta in the sauce. One of the things I really like about this dish is that all the ingredients are shelf-stable so you can keep them on hand and just make it whenever. (My version notably leaves out the anchovies from more common variants of the dish.)

The potato oles nachos were bussin(salsa, guac, sour cream, cheese (queso style), hot sauce). And that 6 pack (of hard or soft shell) and a pound (oles) was great…

Though, if you want to use a ragu, that also works.

I also like layers of cottage cheese along with other cheeses.

Make sure to use some fresh herbs. Like basil, Rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, etc.

That recipe uses wheat noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, gochujang hot pepper paste, ginger, MSG, sesame oil, and green onion. I forgot the exact amount of everything, so I use whatever feels right for each ingredient, but you fix your noodles and while they’re going, grate your ginger and chop green onions. Then mix everything but the noodles. After the noodles are done, mix them in and enjoy.

I would say tofu stuff, but my diet prevents me from having it often for health reasons. I don’t recommend being on blood thinners if you like tofu.

Edit:

Looks like the fish sauce I use uses anchovy, so you’d need an alternative to Squid Brand.

I also like scrambled tofu, which you can season any way you like. I tend to put curry seasoning on it.

Avocado toast too, but that’s infrequent because avocados are expensive.

If you’ve never made creamy harissa butter beans I highly recommend it. One of the nicest vegan recipes I’ve made. If you’re not keen on spice, make sure to get mild harissa, as the spicy harissa gets quite spicy, speaking as someone who enjoys spice.

Generally I like any tofu dish. Tofu is often meant to accompany meats (traditionally at least) but I find that a lot of tofu dishes that traditionally have meat, work very well without the meat. My go-to lazy lunch is boiling some water with stock cubes and chucking in noodles, medium-firm tofu, a vegetable of my choice, and chilli crisp.

Fast food is based on real dishes. If you can make it yourself with better ingredients, then that’s a great thing to do.

If I put a soft tortilla around a hard tortilla and make a taco, I can’t deny that it’s an idea from Taco Bell. But it’ll taste a lot better and be healthier.