Help! One of
our users is heading back to class and looking to the IRLF community for some advice. Her dilemma:
"Does anybody have some good ideas for vegetarian lunches to bring to school? Nothing boring like hummus or dip, PB&J or faux-meat sandwiches. I need some new things to switch up my boring days! I also already have pasta salad and salad on a regular basis. I don't eat any meat, which includes chicken and fish. I do eat dairy and eggs, though."
Any ideas? Spelt brownie points to whoever can help her out.
Recommend
Comments (28)
I'm vegetarian too, and Made my own lunch box when I was at University.
I used to make vegetable "terrines" (pate ?) in sandwiches, or a little rice salad, pasta salad, quinoa salad, oats galettes (kind of cakes made of oats, egg white, canelle ... a kind of pancakes) or a hot dog with tofu sausages (it's easier to do with the "sausages "form).
Sometimes a soup on a thermos bottle, with a piece of bread (french thing maybe), and an apple (I love apple because you can'ts mash it on your bag ! ).
You can try taboulé, it's a kind of salad made of couscous (yeats), cucumber, tomatoes... very good. You can easily find the recipe on google (and on my former xanga, Begierde@xanga).
I also make some fruit salads sometimes with apple, banana, ananas... And some cheese (I'm french) or cottage cheese with apple on it.
I hope I gave you the idea you are searching :)
If you're a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, one of my favorite dishes is a spinach and mushroom omelet with hollandaise sauce.
There are SO many delicious asian dishes you should try. I always take my Caucasian friends to this one restaurant and order eggplant tofu, and they all LOVE it, especially the ones who are vegetarians. It might be hard to replicate it in your own kitchen, though..
But I would look up asian tofu recipes. =) or go to a restaurant and try things out, see what you like, and look up the recipe once you get home.
Well I'm a vegeterian and in my lunchbox I either have a sandwich or ritz crackers with edam and gouda cheese, or feta. Some sort of sweet, some sort of fruit and maybe a big of crips, or a pack of cookies?
i'm not a vegetarian.. but I've been experimenting with tofu for the longest time. You can take tofu, cut it into thick slices and fry it over medium heat, turning frequently until you have a crispy golden skin. At this point, you can use a bit of sauce if you still want it crispy (i.e. teriyaki, etc) or you can add back a bit of vege broth (1/2 cup) and let it simmer until it's all reduced; dress with a bit of teriyaki afterwards. You can serve this with some lentils and greens. this should give you a bit of variety
Try this =P I'm in love with this recipe: Portobello Mozzarella Pannini
<li>2 giant portabello mushroom tops<li>1/4 cup spaghetti sauce<li>1 slice mozzarella cheese <li>Sage<li>Salt<li>Pepper<li>Any bread you likeSautee the mushrooms until slightly soft in a skillet. Spread spaghetti
sauce on one of the mushrooms, then cover with a slice of mozzarella
cheese. Sprinkle with sage, salt, and pepper to taste, then top with
the other mushroom. Place the sandwich in a skillet on medium heat,
then place another skillet on top to weight down the sandwich. Cook
each side for approximately one minute.
Hope this helps =)
Bruschetta although its more like an appetizer but it can complement whatever your eating. Maybe prepare your own pesto for something even more flavorful.
Here's a question to the IRLF community:
Can anyone recommend any good Vegetarian/ Vegan cooking/ recipe blogs (especially if they exist in our Xanga network)?
I'm not going to be able to go full Vegetarian on CHOW, but I'm going to integrate a lot more Vegetarian recipes in the coming months, including a lot from Asia that aren't common knowledge on how to prepare. I've been Vegetarian before, and I know it can get boring; I'd like to open up a whole different realm up to Vegetarian eaters.
Salad wraps. <3
Im actually vegan, but I was a vegetarian for 5 years until going vegan a year ago.
I would make bento boxes for lunch sometimes, I learned to make vegetarian sushi, its simple if you can get the rolling down, id also have some brown rice and seaweed salad, sometimes id even just take Udon miso soup in a thermo.
Fruit salad is beast! and so simple to make! Just about any kind of salad is, while they seem really boring, if youre adventurous there are alot of delicious salad combos youd never think of!
I also use to make bbq tofu, watermelon, and corn on the cob. That was good to! And extremly easy. Sometimes id even just take apple and pears cut up with 3 dif kind of cheese.
I dont have any good suggestions really, I didnt eat alot back then xD
How about egg salad sandwiches. Soup to go (Campbells tomato soup to go or creamy potato)
Cut up carrot, celery slices and take some dip.
Grilled cheese. Chips.
Subway veggie delite- or make your own veggie sub.
Veggie lasagna or spaghetti.
make quesidillas in your microwave. Take 2 tortillas and put some cheese in between and dip them in salsa.
Egg salad. Portobella mushrooms and swiss cheese. Quesadillas with lots of veggies and cheese. Hmm... that's all I can think of for now. I didn't think the things you listed in your OP were "boring", though. Hummus is an excellent spread for any kind of sandwich, IMO.
frozen things called 'smart ones'.
sooooo so good and only like 2 dollars, and they cook in 3 or 4 minutes.
i lov my potato salad
jeeeeeez jenna. you get featured a lot. lol.
you can try www.vegcooking.com
i know its a popular vegan/vegetarian recipe site, definitley check it out!
i would suggest thinking of what you would eat if you weren't vegetarian, and make a veg version, like hot dogs (veggie dogs), umm and pretty much everything else a meat eater would eat!
tabouli, stuffed grape leaves, and spanakopita.
How about rice paper rolls? (also known as fresh spring rolls)
Really easy to prepare the night before and you can make plenty, quickly.
chili bean sandwich.. green bean/corn (pepper/salt-ed, with dense gravy or some sort of flavoring) sandwich.. veggie burger patty sandwich, Be creative, and think of your own. you'll be surprised.
Try this recipe for Roasted Aubergine Hero sandwich (roast the veggies on the weekend, and save for making the night before class). Here's another recipe, Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana Heroes. I really like the fruit and cheese in a salad combos myself!
I tried rice (brown) and (vegetarian) gravy. The gravy was soy sauce based and it was real good! Also, baked spring rolls are fun handheld but warm foods and it just makes you feel cozy, esp with the weather getting cool. simple sites (like recipes.com) should have some good recipes
There are great meatless substitute for sandwich making. Yves, in my opinion has a better selection. I am vegetarian, and that is what i use to make a simply lunch.
Portobello mushrooms are delicious and taste really meaty - but they're not faux-meat. They're a little pricey but worth it when they come on sale. Take one mushroom and marinate it in olive oil, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, and minced garlic for about fifteen minutes. Grill it (you can use a grill pan) and slice it into thick strips. Eat it with any type of lettuce you like (romaine, butter lettuce) and with some good, chewy bread.
Hey, a lot of bento sites are vegetarian so they have plenty of ideas what to eat as a vegetarian. I know when I gave up meat for a little over a month, I needed my bento else I couldn't find anything to eat. It was hard to be creative at first without a solid protein to lean on... but I'm sure if you look around the bento sites, you will find lots of great ideas :) Hope that helps!