Any Vegetarians Here??

[Smowball]

16 yr old son announced yesterday out of the blue that he wants to become vegetarian. Thought he wake up and change his mind but no. Hubby would rather scoop his own eyeballs out with a spoon than give up meat and I really don't want to cook two different meals every night, so does anyone have any filling hearty vegetarian recipes that would suit both a hardworking hubby and a growing teenager??

[ummmm]

What type of food do you and hubby eat?

All my kids have announced becoming veggies at some point and they only lasted a few days, if that.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't see that being a long term solution. No matter how hearty your soup is it's still meatless. Sooner or later hubby will get twitchy about another meal with x veg and someone's forgotten the prime ingredient.

[EcclesCake]

Whilst not being specific with actual recipes, what about.....

Indian food, huge number of dishes that you can all enjoy and meat can feature as a separate dish or split a veggie dish and add marinated meat to it.

Ditto Thai.

Ditto North African tagines.

Fajitas just cook meat separately, burritos, quesadillas etc can be easily adapted to suit all appetites.

To be a bit more boring buying/making small quiches to be served with salad can easily suit all appetites as we head into summer.

Veggie sausages can easily be cooked at the same time as meaty bangers for sausage and mash.

Pizza is an easy one to self do.

Pasta options are endless, as are risottos.

[ummmm]

Smow hasn't mentioned soup!

Maybe now is the time for young Smow to learn how to cook.

[Prudie]

At 16 if he wants to do that then let him prepare his meals. As a meat eater I couldn't abide switching to vegetarian however nice it tastes and doubt if your husband would either. I admire your son for wanting to do it but you don't run a restaurant do you.

[Old_Geezer]

Unless you want a load of fuss surely veg food is either salads or soups. And salads are for your pet. Ok there's beans on toast I suppose. Maybe double egg & chips.

[Smowball]

I'm lucky in that he will eat most things - apart from mushrooms! He actually can cook but is right in the middle of his GCSE's at th moment

[ummmm]

No...veg food isn't just salad or soup. Believe me, I didn't eat meat for many years, still hardly do.

Is fish a no no as well?

[jack daniels]

I tend to agree to teen Smow cooking their own meals from now on or at least giving you an idea/recipes that you could try & incorporate it into the family meals.
yesterday i was told by OH that he'd like veggie meal for today & tomrrow so after a lot of thinking (since he didn't give me any ideas) i've made cabbage/potato curry, some mung bean curry (we like both) and defrosted some chapattis - et voila! sorted for next 2 days

Anna x

[Smowball]

Some great ideas there Eccles! OG - that's exactly what he had for tea tonight lol, double egg and chips with beans.

[jack daniels]

just saw the 'middle of GCSE's at the mo - so tell him he needs meat protein! lol

[bednobs]

the exams will be over in 2 weeks

[Smowball]

Ummmm - he apparently read a book which said if you aren't prepared to kill the animal yourself then you shouldn't be eating it.
Purdue no you're right, it's not a restaurant lol

[Smowball]

Prudie

[Old_Geezer]

Ask him if he isn't prepared to do surgery on someone does that mean he's not entitled to it if he needs it ?

[Smowball]

Not sure about fish-will have to ask. JD - curry is a good idea, could even do it slow cooker.
Bedknobs - yep two weeks and then off till September!

[Tilly2]

I hope he has a summer holiday job, Smow, to help pay for the extra meals you're having to cook ;-)

[Smowball]

Lol he's been looking for a job but no luck so far

[ummmm]

I bet he doesn't last though. My daughter only lasted until she got the smell of cooking bacon :-)

[jack daniels]

fish is so simple and easy to cook, you could always marinate it in a mixture of dry spices and pan fry/steam/oven/grill it or hubby likes a fillet of fish with fresh ginger, chopped red chillies, soy sauce, squeeze of fresh lemon juice steamed with chinese cabbage - yum
could marinate fish with yoghurt & spices too