297003 Wed May 05 09:48:12 -0700 2004 11 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1637696 The post below about too much meat on restaurant menus got me thinking about a frequent problem of mine. I am always looking for vegetarian dinner ideas that are not pasta or carb heavy. What do you make for light vegetarian dinner? Wed May 05 09:48:12 -0700 2004 0 rkn 1 1637698 Simple: Twinkies and Beer. Wed May 05 09:50:19 -0700 2004 1637696 0 Leper 2 1637701 So what exactly do the words, "not carb. heavy" mean to you? (smile) I like various vegetable casseroles. Eggplant parm. Etc. You can pretty much do a very nice veg. lasagne sans the noodles and still have a very nice layered, cheesy veg. dish. Also there are a lot of things you can do on the frittata/casserole continuum. Savory veggies and herbs and even some chunks of bread - soaked in seasoned egg batter and baked with a crumb or cheese topping. Almost a savory bread pudding. It may be a bit more like brunch than dinner, but can be very satisfying. Or go with Asian stir fry with veggies and tofu. All different kinds of saucing possibilities and people can have just as much rice as they choose. The starch is not built-in as with a pasta dish. Wed May 05 10:30:42 -0700 2004 1637698 0 mrbarolo 3 1637703 Or...go Middle Eastern: dips and spreads with raw veggies and some pita or other bread. Hummos, skordalia, baba, maybe some felafel, a veggie version of the classic casseroles like moussaka. Go a bit French with goat cheese onion tart, things like that. Now that it's spring, it's almost time to hit the farmer's markets and capitalize on whatever is just coming in. Green salad. Then do a few different roasted veg. preparations wtih fresh herbs. just bringing out the natural flavors. Just asome more thoughts. Wed May 05 10:34:57 -0700 2004 1637701 0 mrbarolo 4 1637721 Hate to spoil things, but vegetables are little packets of carbohydrate laced with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutriets. Saying carbohydrates are bad and skipping the bread in favor of an apple is absurd. That rant aside, the options for vegetarian eating are immense though sometimes a little more though is required since you don't have the option of just grilling a big chunk of protein in 5 minutes and having dinner. That doesn't mean the actual cooking process is difficult or time consumming, but a little planning is necessary. For example, in the last couple of weeks I've made herbed lima beans with a yogurt sauce, a romaine salad with hard boiled eggs and a harrisa dressing, a carrot and carraway frittata (again with harrisa), a vegetable lasagna using thin shavings of celery root for the noodles (excellent!), braised chickpeas with preserved lemons, lentil mint soup, spinach with pureed pine nut butter and creme fraiche, chard with pine nuts and golden raisins, grilled sunchokes, cauliflower (sp?) baked in a saffron broth, curried cauliflower soup, slow cooked carrots with cuming and spring onion, braised/broiled fennel with scallions and artichoke hears, pepperonata with roasted yellow peppers, etc. It's spring. There are lots of great vegetables in markets. It's a great time to push yourself out of your comfort zone. I'll often grab a vegetable or bean that I've never cooked - celery root, lima beans, etc. - and try to find something to do with it. Or take something that I've never done anything special with - cauliflower - and see what can be done to really highlight it. There are many great vegetarian or vegetable heavy cookbooks out there that don't sacrifice flavor for health. Many from the mediterranean manage to balance health and flavor in simple yet surprising recipes. Even if not following them to the letter, they're great for ideas. rien Wed May 05 11:54:23 -0700 2004 1637703 0 rien 5 1637738 Is it really "absurd?" I am biology/chemistry challenged so I ask in all innocence: Wont' eating an apple make you feel full much quicker, with less actual carb./coloric intake than the equivalent amount of bread, because the apple is filled with water and fiber? I know I can eat an awful lot more bread than raw veggies. Wed May 05 14:04:16 -0700 2004 1637721 0 mrbarolo 6 1637753 I meant absurd in a pretty pure sense: if you're eating something that is calorically 100% carbohydrates it's kind of absurd to say carbs are evil. Sure, some foods make you feel more full - though that may very well be a temporary sensation. That doesn't change the fact that it's a carbohydrate. What makes one feel full and what food is comprised of carbohydrates are two different questions. I didn't really mean "absurd" in a derogatory manner ... just meant to identify a humorous incongruity. Out_ Rien Wed May 05 15:09:33 -0700 2004 1637738 0 rien 7 1637764 I was completely incorrect in saying that I didn't want carbs. I meant no breads, rice and pasta but I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. I am actually not on a no carb diet but since I eat grape nuts with yogurt for breakfast and a sandwich everyday for lunch, I want to minimize the pastas and breads for dinner. Wed May 05 15:51:15 -0700 2004 1637753 0 rkn 1 1637707 A vegetable curry is nice, with or without brown rice and/or chapitas or naan. Wed May 05 10:42:33 -0700 2004 1637696 0 Colleen 1 1637725 I've been cooking a lot lately from Yamuna Devi's "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking." Tons of fabulous recipes, many of them not too carbohydrate-heavy (although I must say that the typical vegetarian diet does rely heavily on carbs, since we don't get the dense calories of meat or eggs). Some ideas: Dal -- lentil puree. I use golden lentils, but there are a variety of different pulses you can use. Flavor with turmeric, ginger, garlic, onion, chili peppers, cilantro, cook it dry (eat with flatbread) or add water to make it more soupy (over rice). Lentils -- there are some great recipes in the New Joy of Cooking for plain old brown lentil dishes. They taste fabulous with garlic, ginger, spinach, and soy sauce (and a bit of sesame oil sometimes too). Roasted sweet potatoes are very satisfying, and easy to prepare. I eat a lot of steamed greens, drizzled with garlic olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or stir-fried with garlic & ginger and drizzled with sesame oil. Add chopped nuts to all kinds of veggies and rice to make them more satisfying -- almonds, cashews, and pistachios are particularly good. A good salad is Romaine lettuce with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, topped with chopped avocado and papaya. Finally, don't underestimate the value of whole-wheat pasta (just prepare with lots of veggies rather than a ton of pasta), brown rice, or good brown bread. They have lots of fiber and can be very satisfying. On hot summer nights, I really like two pieces of brown bread spread with sweet butter and sliced radishes, topped with sea salt. Wed May 05 12:08:14 -0700 2004 1637696 0 gus 2 1637777 I recently attended an Indian food-themed potluck. I made Baigan Bhartha (looked up a recipe online--never cooked Indian before) and it turned out to not be very time consuming/difficult and tasted good. Another tasty dish at the dinner was a garbanzo bean somethingerother (chana masala maybe? or a curried garbanzo dish--I'm sure a recipe that looked good would come up in a search). Served over rice--but you can easily limit the amount of rice you want to eat. Wed May 05 17:26:21 -0700 2004 1637725 0 cheyenne 1 1637815 I like warm or room temp cooked vegetable salads. I'll do a mixture of steamed asparagus, broccoli, potatoes, cannellini or garbanzo beans - whatever is on hand, really. Sometimes with just a plain vinaigrette, but I also like a mayonnaise/yogurt/mustard/reduced balsamic vinegar dressing. Last night I made some incredibly delicious fried crispy lentil patties (made with grated parsnip, garlic, and leek sauteed together, ground toasted walnuts, breadcrumbs, egg and grated parmesan), carrots/parsnips in mustard maple butter sauce, and steamed artichokes. I was feeling ambitious. :-) Right now, I have some BBQ black beans baking atop a couple of halved purple sweet potatoes. Wed May 05 22:52:23 -0700 2004 1637696 0 LisaPizza