Green Day dinner ideas please

Two days a week I have green days (18 yr old son doing SW with me is doing A levels at college, he will only have cereal for brekkie & it would seriously cramp his style to take pasta in for lunch lol so it has to be sarnies, which means we can't do EE on long college days). He won't do red days as he likes his Mug Shots when he gets in starving hungry from college ....... anyway, we're both a bit bored with egg & chips, quiche or jacket spud & beans for dinner. Neither of us like Quorn stuff very much.

Anyone got any nice green dinner ideas that don't use HEXAs or HEXBs?

How about spaghetti bolognaise, but don't add meat, instead, use celery, chunky mushrooms, chunky courgette, onion, garlic.

Thank you ladies.

Thankfully we only have one green day this week as his long college days are Monday & Friday & because of the bank hol we will only have Friday to content with!

I reckon I could make a Quorn spag bol as the Quorn mince isn't too bad (we hate the sausages, burgers etc). Leek & potato soup sounds nice, but I know he'd want bread with it! Bean Feast is an idea. I've never, ever tried bean feast. I'll do a search for the 5 bean chili too. And risotto! Why did I never think of risotto?

Thanks again everyone

Cook some peppers, onions, garlic, whatever you fancy, mix with passata and dried herbs and simmer for about 15mins. Serve with pasta and a HE of grated cheese on top if you fancy.

Lasagne - veggies with tinned tomatoes, dried herbs, you could add quorn mince if you fancy. For the white sauce I use Quark with 1 tsp of cornflour (1 syn),then a HE of grated cheese sprinked on top.

Homemade vegetable curry with rice

Asda's tinned chickpea dahl, bulked with vegetables and a portion of rice.

I like egg fried rice on a Green/EE day. Whisk 2 eggs per portion and fry off in frylight, chop some spring onions and add them to the egg, add in the rice and fry off a little then add some soy sauce. Simple, but yummy and filling.

What about a stirfry too?

Egg fried rice sounds good & I've made it before. The only trouble is the lad would be wondering where the rest of his Chinese was! Seriously, I don't think he'd enjoy it on its own. Wonder what I could do, that's green, to go with it?

Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll definitely make it on an EE day with some stir fry chicken I think

EDIT: Doh, just seen you've put stir fry with it!

I have recently made this curry in the slow cooker and it was lovely. I have added it to my collection. It would go well with the rice:

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Ingredients[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]1 butternut squash[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]1 sweet potato [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]1 potato[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]1 onion[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]200g chopped tinned toms[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]100g green lentils[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]3/4 pint of veg stock[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]2 tablespoons of Pataks Tikka Masala Curry Paste[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Recipe Instructions[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Chop the potatoes into medium chunks and the onions as big as you like. Bung everything else in the pot and cook.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]I done mine in a slow cooker on high for about 4 hours or you could simmer for a few hours on the hob.[/FONT]


[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Syn Information[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]It makes about 6 good servings. As the paste is only 2 syns, due the amount of portions it is classed as negligible. I have made this myself and it is lovely. Tastes very much like Bombay Potatoes and is very filling and freezes well.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Syn free on Green & Extra Easy [/FONT]

Ohh what about Viksters Pizza recipe? You could make the bases at the weekend, then all you would have to do it roll them out and top them. It does use Hb's though, or you could syn it.

Pasta Bake - roast vegetables (tomatoes, aubergines, squash, courgettes, onions, shallots, mushrooms, whatever you like) in the oven until browned at the edges. Cook some pasta - any kind of short pasta will do. I like fusilli (spirals). Mix the vegetables with the pasta and a tub of Quark and whatever seasoning you like, top with cheese and bake in the oven until brown and gorgeous!!

Have you tried tofu in a stir fry? I use the marinated stuff from sainsburys, the textures a bit like scrambled egg, its nice. I also don't like quorn mince, and much prefer the frozen meatfree mince from Asda, the texture is better once cooked.

hello. Have you tried Mushroom Stroganoff? There is also a Ratatouille Pasta Bake which is really yummy. A vegetable roastie, with potatoes, peppers, new potatoes, butternut squash, tomatoes all covered in frylight and herbs and served with rice or pasta, or even Quorn Sausages or Linda McCartney Sausages which are really nice and worth the 2 syns?

We nearly always have green days because the rice, pasta and potatoes fills my hubbie up. There are absolutely tons of green day recipes on here. Good Luck!

Thanks all. Some really great ideas there

Make a bolognese type pasta sauce using red lentils instead of mince?

Chickpea curry?

Vegetable chow mein?

Vegetable and bean chilli?

Lentil/bean burgers with chunky chips/mash.

Windy pie? (mushroom,onion and beans, topped with mash)

Shepherdess pie - shepherds type pie made with lentils instead of mince, and aduki (red) beans are lovely in it.

Fritattas?

Rostis with green suitable accompaniments e/g eggs and some Quorn Ham?

Lexie, I'm LOVING the sounds of the lentil/bean burgers and the shepherdess pie--do you have any recipes for these?

They are both recipes from "beyond baked beans green" by Fiona Beckett. Its a great wee book and I would heartily recommend it for any veggies or Greeners. Check Amazon or Green Metropolis for a cheap copy if you feel so inclined, or check out the website "Beyond Baked Beans"

Burgers

Lebanese-style lentil cakes with fresh herbs and lemon

250g green lentils (better to use dried than tinned they hold the burger shape better)
3tbsp ground rice (5 syns for 28g, but not sure how much of it it would work out as, i supppose you could use powdered potato instead?)
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic peeled, crushed
1tsp ea of ground coriander and cumin
4 tbsp, heaped, of chopped coriander or coriander and mint
1-2 tsp lemon juice, and 1 lemon
salt and pepper

put lentils onto boil, cook fast for 10 minutes, then turn heat down simmer for about 20 until soft. Drain return to pot, add ground rice and leave to absorb any moisture.

Fry chopped onion 5-6 minutes until soft, add garlic, cumin and coriander (ground). Add the onion mix to lentils and blend with hand blender until smooth. Add chopped herbs, season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Roll mix into 8 balls, flatten slightly, and place in fridge for 30 minutes (or longer if you have time) covered in cling film. When ready to cook, fry each side until hot through (this will take a wee bit longer using frylight). I find that these made 8 huge burgers. Also a tendency to break up a wee bit so chill them good!

Shepherdess (Harvesters Pie)

1 medium or 2 small chopped onion
1 level teaspoon 5 spice powder
2 medium carrots
250ml stock, made with hot water and 1 level teaspoon marmite (could use normal stock)
1 level tbsp tomato ketchup (could use puree)
1 410b tin lentils drained and rinsed (OR soak any type of dried bean the night before - aduki beans are lovely, as are black eyed beans, or even a mixed tin of beans, obviously cook any dried beans well before adding to the pie)

Mash to top, either ready mash or home made

Fry onions for 3 mins until beginning to soften, add five spice. Cook for one minute, add carrots. Cover and cook for 6 minutes until veggies are soft, add marmite stock and bring to boil (the recipe recommends using a tablespoon of flour to thicken, but you could use a bit of mash?) add tomatoe sauce/puree, lentils and simmer for 5 minutes. Check seasoning, Pour into dish,top with potato and place in oven at 190c/gas 5 for 25-30 minutes until browned.

Ooooh also

Red Dragon Pie

Hi! I do green days and eat loads of quorn and find that if you make something the day before and leave it a day or 2 in the fridge it tastes so much nicer.
Try quorn n lentil curry:
You will need:
3 tbs curry powder
Pack quorn chunks
cup full of red lentils (dry)
1 green/veg stock cube crumbled into a pint boiling water
tin chopped toms
1 onion
mushrooms
fry the mushrooms and onion then add the red lentils and curry powder. When you hear the lentils start to pop add the quorn chunks, toms and the stock. Leave to simmer for about 40mins. Keep checking the pot as you will need to add more water as you go along.
Its yummy with sin free chips and brown rice!
Abby

I do 99.9% Green Days and have a food diary on here which may give you some ideas: http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world-food-diaries/129638-saracs-restart-99-green-day-diary.html