A girlfriend is 13 weeks pregnant and sick as a dog. I really want to help her out by making some meals for her family that they can have in the freezer and warm up or cook when they need it. All dishes need to be vegetarian. Thank you for your response!
myrecipes.com and cookinglight.com have a lot of tasty vegetarian recipes. Almost every recipe I've made from those websites have been easy and tasty.
Check out the Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Mothers-Cookbook-Pregnan...
Also might make a nice gift to give to her. In addition to recipes it also gives advice by trimester for what needs to be consumed, as well as having recipes for teas and tonics, some of which address things like the nausea.
Hope she feels better soon!
Pasta is always great! Vegetarian lasagna, use spinach, mushrooms, scallions and cheese. Lentil soup,eggplant casserole, vegetable soup, stir fried veggies with noodles. Morningstar farms has a patties and burgers that can be chopped and added to pasta or soup. Falafel with pita bread, there are mixes available on the cereal aisle. Vegie marinara sauce over noodles topped with grated cheese.
For immediate consumption, three bean salad tossed with greens, green salad with assorted veggies and a raspberry vinagrette. Hope this helps. These are easy to prepare, you don't have to boil the noodles for the lasagne, just cover it while it is baking.
What a good friend!
How about cooking some chili or hearty soups (like lentils or split peas) in a crock pot? I'll do this, cool it, then freeze them in serving bowls with saran wrap or press-n-seal over them. When frozen solid, I pop them out of the bowls, tuck the saran wrap around the frozen soup, then pop them in a ziploc freezer bag. This gives ready-to-microwave individual super-healthy frozen meals. You could also do this technique with casseroles, lasagnas, etc. Enjoy:)
How about black bean and soy cheese enchiladas?
vegetarian pizza?
veggie and cheese stuffed crepes?
You are such a thoughtful friend! Blessings to you!
if shes' not vegan - lasagne freezes really well and tastes better tahn fresh because the pasta absorbs the yummy flavors in the sauce. Use the Barilla no boil pasta and follow the recipe on the box - substitute sauteed mushrooms for the beef. Yum!
This is one of my favourites & is really easily frozen & reheated!
Baked Manicotti
(from America's Test Kitchen)
We prefer Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles for their delicate texture resembling fresh pasta. Note that Pasta Defino and Ronzoni brands contain only 12 no-boil noodles per package; the recipe requires 16 noodles. The manicotti can be prepared through step 5, covered with a sheet of parchment paper, wrapped in aluminum foil, and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. (If frozen, thaw the manicotti in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.) To bake, remove the parchment, replace the aluminum foil, and increase baking time to 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Serves 6 to 8
Tomato Sauce
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes (in juice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes , optional
Table salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Cheese Filling and Pasta
3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 cups)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
16 no-boil lasagna noodles (see note above)
1. For the Sauce: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse 1 can tomatoes with their juice in food processor until coarsely chopped, 3 or 4 pulses. Transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining can tomatoes.
2. Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil; adjust seasoning with salt.
3. For the cheese filling: Combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs in medium bowl; set aside.
4. To assemble: Pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch broilersafe baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish.
5. Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Using soupspoon, spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.
6. Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Remove baking dish, adjust oven rack to uppermost position (about 6 inches from heating element), and heat broiler. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Broil until cheese is spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, then serve.
Quiche works well in the freezer and is a good source of protein--as long as the family's not vegan.
Hi M.,
What a great thing you are doing for your friend!
My family is vegan and vegetarian (I'm vegan and the rest of my family is ovo-lacto vegetarian) and I've been veggie for 17 years. I've found that spanikopita is great and freezes well. If the family is vegan, replace the feta with a dill tofu mixture. Pot pies, soups, curries and lasagnas also work well. I've also made my own frozen pizzas and pizza crusts to top later. Anything that you can think of that you would like to freeze to eat later can be vegetarianized/veganized. Like the pp's suggested, you can always substitute soy meat analogues, alternative milks, veggie stock/boullion for anything required in a non-vegetarian recipe.
One other thing I would suggest would be to pick up this book for her: http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Mothers-Cookbook-Pregnan.... Its full of great recipes, drinks and suggestions to ease morning sickness and maintain a healthy vegetarian pregnancy. Most recipes are written as vegetarian, but have vegan variations. A friend of mine gave it to me when I was pregnant and I found it indispensable. Three years after my pregnancy, I still use this book at least once a week.
-H.
If you have a Trader Joes in your area, they have some wonderful frozen vegetarian things that are quick to heat.
I know you want to cook for your friend, this is just a "quick fix" for things you can put in her freezer while you gather other ideas! :)
Lasagne can be very easily made vegetarian. Instead of meat in the sauce, use veggies - spinach, zucchini, bell peppers, broccoli, whatever looks good or is fresh at the market. It freezes especially well. Happy cooking!
Some of the meal assembly studios have vegetarian dinners (or can make some dinners vegetarian) all prepared and frozen ready to purchase to take to your friend...ie-Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, Dinners Galore (Livermore), Chef Dane's (Walnut Creek).
I have a couple of really good recipes - the first is for Taco Soup, and the second is for a zucchini and onion bread pudding. So here goes, and good on you for helping your friend.
TACO SOUP
1 diced onion
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of regular diced tomatoes
1 can of ro-tel tomatoes (mild or regular)
1 can of corn
1 can of hominy
1 can of chopped olives
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch seasoning
Optional
2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped or pressed)
1 diced bell pepper (any color – I like yellow/orange best)
Do not *drain* cans. Open can and pour into the pot. This is your liquid for the soup. Even on the olives, open and pour, don’t drain.
Toss everything into the pot, mix well, and cook.
Works well in a crockpot on low setting (6 hours or so),
Takes about an hour on the stovetop.
Serve with sour cream, chips, cheese and chunks of avocado.
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ZUCCHINI AND ONION BREAD PUDDING
Ingredients:
Butter
yellow onions (1 large)
zucchini – julienned (sliced into "strips") (1 large)
Dijon Mustard
Garlic, crushed (few cloves)
2 large eggs
Milk
Ground black pepper
Approx 4 oz of shredded cheese
Sliced white bread (the cheap stuff) about 1/2 a loaf.
directions
Slice the bread slices into triangles. I freeze my bread so its easy to cut and arrange. The cheap white stuff otherwise just gets smooshed so easily.
Put some butter in a frying pan and put the onions in, cooking them until they are soft and just start to brown. Add the zucchini, cook until soft (approx 5 min). remove from heat and let cool.
Put some butter in a bowl with mustard, garlic, pepper. Amounts are what you like, sorry I'm not more specific, I never measure anything. (I've seen directions say to now butter all the bread but I find that messy and time consuming. What I do is add the onion and zucchini to this and mix thoroughly so they are all coated in it.)
Prepare the casserole dish with some butter or nonstick spray. Put a layer of bread on the bottom.
Spoon a layer of the veggie mixture over the bread. Sprinkle cheese over this. Put another layer of bread down. REPEAT!
The top layer of bread you might want to arrange to "look nice", a pinwheel pattern would be easy with the triangle pieces. I usually don't care, whatever.
Put eggs in bowl along with some milk, whisking them together. You want enough milk so it will pour easily and soak the bread and not so much as to create a sopping wet mush. I'm sorry I don't have a measurement for this, I just know I have enough milk when it as a more liquidy consistency rather than a goopy egg one. This now gets poured over the pudding, to soak into the bread.
Put some more cheese on top.
I usually see directions say to let it sit an hour to soak up the eggs and milk. I'm usually impatient and just shove it in the oven right away. I notice little difference.
Heat around 375° until it’s a bit puffed up and golden on top. About 20-25 min. It can vary by how much milk you use, if the bread is frozen or not first, your oven etc, so just watch it.
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Both recipes are easily portionable and freezable.
M.,
Im not going to read all the responses so this may be a repeat but I would also get a veggy pizza from Papa Murphys can be frozen and baked later and yummy!
You're great to do this for your friend. We're a vegetarian family, and I'll often make a couple of trays of lasagna or enchiladas and freeze them. Enchilads with roasted veggies, beans, rice, cheese and sauce are really tasty--it's hard to make them wrong. You could also try making some kind of casserole with mushrooms. Another possibility would be peppers stuffed with a rice, veggie, meat substitute mixture--hunt around for some good recipes. If you're used to cooking meat, you can try replacing a meat substitute or crushed tofu for meat in your favorite recipes.
Happy cooking.
Dear M.,
Worked for me when I was prepping for after baby, so hubby could just defrost dinner and be done.
Good Luck!!
