Man-friendly vegetarian meals?

[superXfiction]

my boyfriend and i live together, so we eat dinner together every night. he's open to the idea of eating vegetarian but he "loves his protein."

anyone have any man-tested vegetarian dude food? OH..and we're on a budget..a college kid's budget.

[Kaissa]

I made this chili for my husband and his friends one night and they were none the wiser. I am challenging myself to spend less money on groceries and I found this is a pretty cheap way to feed us for a couple of nights and have leftovers for the freezer too. Instead of using all the different canned beans I used a bag of dried beans which saved about $4 right there.   Oh yeah, I cut this recipe in half and it still makes a ton!

This is from allrecipes.com

The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles
3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn



DIRECTIONS
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

[superXfiction]

hey, thanks. i think he'll really like this recipe. i've been looking for recipes on vegweb.com and i'm gathering some pretty decent recipes. i'll be adding this one to my arsenal for sure.

i think i'm going to challenge him to an entire week of meat-free meals.

thanks again.

[lupinbunny]

I also live with my meat-lovin' boy who is open to vego food, and we are also on a college budget.

My boy lurrrrrves beans. Loves them. Will have them with everything. Dried ones or out of a can. They fill him up, too. He's a big fan of bean-based stews, or bean-based taco/ burrito filling.

Hm...what else? Eh, he's happy with pasta + vegie sauce + cheese (he has no problem with having beans in the pasta sauce, by the way).

Roast veges + a vegie THING go down okay. Tonight is little pumpkins stuffed with couscous and veges and cheese, with roast veges on the side. Like meat + 3 veg, but with a fancy veg instead of meat We've got a mock-meat 'roast' in the fridge to try soon too.

Burgers with a baked field mushroom instead of a meat pattie are super good.

DIY pizzas on pita bread - like paper-thin sliced pumkpin/ sweet potato on mine, with zucchini and olives and mushrooms. This is also an easy way for him to have a meat-eating night. He can just add whatever meat he wants to his pizza.

Coconut milk based curries (fattier but more filling) with root veges and lentils are good. With rice on the side.

On a really desperate night I'll make a pile of mashed potato, steamed carrots and peas, and fried onion and mushroom mixed through gravy poured over the potatos.

Oh! Or vege stacks! (boy wooed me with these when we first started going out). Cut lots of veges (potatoes, sweet potato, carrot, zucchini, capsicum, pumpkin, whatever) into 1cm thick (uh... 1/3 inch?) slices crossways. Roast until cooked through. Arrange in a stack on the plate, and garnish with pickled asparagus and mayonnaise (no idea where the garnish and mayo comes from, but he insists on it every time, and it is kind of yum).

[liana0509]

oooh this is my first post!

my boyfriend loves it when I make black bean burgers.
I don't exactly have a recipe, i usually just wing it, but you can google one easily. I'll try to tell you  how we do it anyway, just so that you have an idea!

We're big on strong flavours and spicy food, but you can easily add little to no spices to it and it will turn out fine!

What I usually do is take some cooked black beans (about three cups, canned or boiled at home) and puree about 1/2 of them. I season the puree with salt and pepper, lots of fresh garlic (about four cloves, minced), chopped onion (about one), chili (about a tablespoon), cumin (a big pinch!), a touch of cinnamon (just a little! a very small pinch), red pepper flakes (if I feel like it) or cayenne.

I then add to the puree basically whatever I think will taste good- crumbled chickpeas, flax, chopped up yummy sweet peppers, sunflower seeds through the food processor, lentils, corn kernels, chopped tofu, chopped water chestnuts. The key thing though is to put things into it that will result in lots of texture!

At the end of stirring all the ingredients together, make sure that the mix can be shaped into patties. AT this point the other half of the beans is either added to the mix, or some of it pureed in the case that the mix is too crumbly.

They can be broiled (brush them with some olive oil) or fried, and probably grilled though we've never tried it. Just let them get sort of crunchy on the outside!

Use them like regular burger patties, and dress them how you'd like! My preference is with the same toppings you'd put on a taco, and a couple slices of avocado!

This makes ALOT of really fat, big burgers! We freeze the leftover patties on waxed paper on a baking tray, then store them in a container in the freezer once they're good and hard

[bruisedpeach22]

Welcome to craftster! Your recipe sounds really good!!

[sociallyawkward]

My boyfriend doesn't really have much of a thing for "man food" but, I think buffalo wings are somewhat manly.

The easiest way is just to make buffalo sauce for something like Morningstar Chik'n strips. We use Frank's Red Hot and Earth Balance for the buffalo sauce... the exact measurements are on the bottle.

But, since faux meat isn't usually budget-friendly food... maybe find a good recipe for seitan instead. Vital wheat gluten is relatively inexpensive, but can be hard to find.

We've only managed this once or twice because it's a little too time-consuming for us, but making battered "chicken" with seitan and tossing it in buffalo sauce is... ridiculously good. We use "Jay Lo's Fried Chicken" recipe from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, if you happen to have access to that book.

[Cheebz]

Nut loaf. I'm actually eating some right now. There are tons of recipes online. I personally am a fan of using pine nuts and walnuts. He actually likes it better than meatloaf.

[darwinsbones]

vegweb has a good garbanzo bean taco recipe.  it's really easy, cheap to make, & my vegetable hating partner enjoys it.  the beans take on some of the characteristics of ground meat too.
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5911

[fallencupid]

This may not be college student budget friendly, but it's not that expensive either.

Portobello "Philly Cheese Steak" Sandwich

http://eatingwell.com/recipes/search.php?id=492

Cheese steaks are a Philadelphia tradition: thin slices from a rich and very fatty slab of beef, fried up and topped with a heavy cheese sauce. We've cut down on the fat considerably - but not on the taste. All it needs is a cold beer or a glass of pinot noir on the side. Make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth in place of chicken stock.

Makes 4 sandwiches

ACTIVE TIME: 25 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
4 large portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed (see Tip), sliced
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 ounces thinly sliced reduced-fat provolone cheese
4 whole-wheat buns, split and toasted

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until soft and beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, oregano and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are wilted and soft, about 7 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to low; sprinkle the vegetables with flour and stir to coat. Stir in broth and soy sauce; bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, lay cheese slices on top of the vegetables, cover and let stand until melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Divide the mixture into 4 portions with a spatula, leaving the melted cheese layer on top. Scoop a portion onto each toasted bun and serve immediately.

My husband loved these! And didn't even care they did not have meat in them. In fact he wants me to make them again soon.