Vegetarian Recipes

Last September, I became a vegetarian. Since then, I've tried a lot of new recipes and found a lot of ways to make delicious meat-free dishes. There are so many more I want to try, but I wanted to post my favorites so far:

I'll start with just links:

• Eggplant meatballs
• Eggplant parmesan
• Macaroni & cheese (I add bell peppers before baking to add veggies, and because bell peppers are delicious)
• Spaghetti squash (great with the eggplant meatballs)

And here are some of my favorite dishes:

Zoodles

These are so fun and easy to make! You need a vegetable spiralizer - many are expensive, but this one is only 8 bucks and it's dishwasher safe for easy clean-up! 

1. I find it easier to leave the stem end on so you have kind of a handle when you're spiralizing. I do about 2 zucchinis for one serving.
2. Then saute the spiralized pieces in olive oil and a little water. Most instructions I saw online say 3-5 minutes, but I do 10-12 on medium heat so the zoodles are more a cooked spaghetti texture. I like to season with a little garlic powder and onion powder, and maybe a little pepper. 
3. Then I serve with tomato sauce - especially with sauteed bell peppers in it! Yum! You can even just saute the bell peppers right in there with the zoodles. 
4. These go great with the eggplant meatballs above! A meat-free, veggie-rich way to have spaghetti and meatballs!

Calzones

1. Mix together: 1 container ricotta cheese, roughly a half cup of mozzarella, 1 egg, a little bit of parmesan, 7-8 cups of spinach (chopped finely), diced tomatoes, chopped zucchini, garlic powder.
2. Then I wrap it in pizza dough (I just buy the pillsbury can but you could make some if you want it less processed - for the can I cut the dough into quarters) to make a calzone. Fill it with the above mixture, then fold it closed.
3. Sprinkle parmesan and basil on top.
4. Bake at 325 for about 18-20 min. 
5. The mixture makes about 8 calzones but it freezes well if you don't use it all. I like to dip it in tomato sauce also.

Very Veggie Lasagna

1. Layer lasagna using Barilla no-boil noodles, and following the directions on the box.
2. Replace the meat layer with finely chopped combo of veggies: spinach, bell peppers, carrots, summer squash, zucchini.

Roasted Vegetables

1. Cut up carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes into small cubes, mix with a generous amount of olive oil and onion powder. 
2. Season with pepper, salt, garlic, basil. 
3. Bake at 425 for 30 min. 
4. After 30 min add cut up zucchini and yellow squash, seasoned the same way as the other veggies. Mix in with the other stuff.
5. Cook for 10 min. 
6. After 10 min add in tomatoes, bell peppers, and beans - I use Great Northern Beans, also all seasoned with the oil/onion/etc. Mix that into the other stuff and cook for another 20 min. 
7. Also good served with a little brown rice mixed in (cooked separately and seasoned to your liking) for some whole grains.

Zucchini Casserole 
My sister gave me this one. She uses chopped onions rather than onion powder, but I prefer powder. She also had a cheese layer in the middle.

1. Put 3 cups prepared brown rice in casserole dish.
2. Mix 28 oz canned diced or crushed tomatoes with basil, oregano (fresh if poss), pepper, 3 T olive oil, 1 T sugar, 2 cloves garlic
3. Spoon 1/3 of this onto the grain.
4. Layer slice 3 medium zucchini, place half on there.
5. Add onion powder.
6. Add another layer of tomato stuff.
7. Add another layer of zucchini and onion powder.
8. Slice up 1 red bell pepper and put those on
9. Add remaining tomato stuff.
10. Bake at 375 for 1 - 1.5 hrs.

In my next blog I'll post links to recipes that I haven't yet tried...but want to!