Easy Vegetarian Dishes

A casserole is an easy dish to start with. Vegetarian casseroles can taste just as good as meat dishes. Always have the essential ingredients in your kitchen so at any time you can make a very simple vegetarian casserole.

You can use a tin of organic beans such as kidney beans, pinto beans, or flagolet beans, to a vegetable casserole base. It is much better if you use fresh beans if you soak them overnight, pour off the water you soaked them in.

Cold beans are very good if warmed in a frying-pan with olive oil and a little butter. They can be eaten with potatoes, vegetables, and sauces. Mashed beans, seasoned with salt, pepper, and ground or freshly grated nutmeg, makes a superb alternate for potted meat.

Meatless Italian Minestra - 1 cup of potatoes cut into small dices, 2 cups of flagolet beans, onions, carrots, and celery mixed and cut up small, 1/4 lb. of rice, 2 oz. of butter, 2 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the vegetables in 1 quart of water until fairly tender, add the rice, pepper and salt, and cook all together gently until the rice is soft, add more water if necessary. Add the butter and cheese or vegan cheese or soy cheese, stir a few minutes, and serve.

Another of my favorite one pot easy Vegetarian rice meals is risotto. Risotto is a Northern Italian dish that is traditionally prepared in a heavy bottomed skillet that holds the heat and transfers it to the food slowly and evenly. Risotto requires a slow cooking so it needs rice that will not turn soft and spongy during cooking.

Italian Arborio is the rice I like to use because my local grocery store always has it. It is a starchy, medium grain rice that holds up well when cooked for a long time. Italian Arborio makes a creamy risotto because of its high starch content.

I always have the ingredients ready to make a mushroom risotto. Cooking risotto takes me about an hour and a half 30 min to get started and chop the onions, garlic and mushrooms, and 30 min to let the rice cook. Risotto needs to sit over a low heat. You need 2 ts Virgin olive oil, 2 cups Vegetables stock, 1/4 ts Salt, 1 small Onion, Pepper to taste, 1 cup Italian Arborio rice, 2 tb Parmesan or 2 tb Vegan Cheese.

In a saucepan, saute one small onion until it is nice and tender. Add the rice stir for 2 or 3 minutes to keep it from sticking.

Add the vegetable stock and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and cook it on a very low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with pepper. Add the cheese after you serve. To this you can add all kinds of things such as mushrooms, chopped herbs such as parsley, thyme or basil.

Vegetarian soups are just as effortless. Cook lentils, carrots and onions for about 15 minutes then put it in a blinder to make soup. Season to taste and stir a spoonful of yogurt or sour cream and a dash of chopped coriander or parsley as you serve it.

Pea soup is even easier. Cook some frozen peas in boiling water with a sprig of mint. When they are cooked put them in the food processor. Season to taste and eat.

For a more involved pea soup you need, 1 lb. package of frozen peas, 1 lb. of potatoes, peeled, washed, and cut into pieces, 1 Spanish onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1/2 head of celery or a whole small one, 1 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste.

Boil the potatoes and the other vegetables in 2 quarts of water. When they are getting soft, add the package of frozen peas the butter and pepper and salt. When all the ingredients have cooked, run them through a blinder and return them to the saucepan. If the soup is too thick, add more water. Boil it up, and serve with fresh chopped mint and whole wheat bread.

This article is by George B. Siba, visit his site Easy Vegetarian Dishes. Also visit Bach Flower Essences.

By George B. Siba