Nothing compares to sitting down at the dinner table with a fresh home-cooked meal. What makes it even better is when the dish is full of nutrition but at the same time good for the taste buds. Tonight, enjoy a healthy meal with your family by making any of these hearty vegetarian dishes:
Cheesy Veggie Quesadillas
What you need:
- 6 pcs. 9-inch whole wheat tortillas
- 1 1/4 cup reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped yellow squash
- 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
- 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup red onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Cooking spray
Heat olive oil in a large noon-stick pan then cook squash, zucchini, mushrooms, red bell pepper and onion over medium-high heat for 7 to 9 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat. Coat the same pan with cooking spray then place one wheat tortilla in it. Put about 1/4 cup of cheese over tortilla then top with 3/4 cup of the cooked vegetables. Sprinkle with another 1/8 cup of cheese then top with another tortilla. Cook 2 minutes per side or until golden. Slice into 8 triangles. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
Easy Meatless Chili
What you need:
- 5 onions, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cans black kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cans dark red kidney beans
- 1 can light red kidney beans
- 1 3/4 cups diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups tomato juice
- 1 1/2 cups frozen burger-style crumbles
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
In a large pot over medium-high heat, mix together onions, bay leaves, black kidney beans, dark red kidney beans, light red kidney beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, burger-style crumbles, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Stir to combine ingredients well. Simmer for 1 hour.
Four-Cheese Vegetarian Lasagna
What you need:
- Fresh pasta sheets
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch rounds, grilled or fried
- 5 tomatoes, roasted
- 2 cups peeled and diced pumpkin, roasted
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
- 1 1/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2/3 cup pesto
- Salt and pepper to taste
Combine eggs, roasted pumpkin, ricotta cheese, feta cheese, pesto, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spread half of the tomato sauce in a greased 9×13-inch baking dish then place 2 pasta sheets over the sauce. Arrange eggplant slices over the sheets then top with half of the pumpkin mixture. Place another 2 pasta sheets, arrange tomatoes over the sheets then top with the remaining pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella then top with 2 more pasta sheets. Spread remaining tomato sauce onto pasta sheets then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Top with Parmesan. Bake in a pre-heated oven (350 degrees F) for 3- to 45 minutes or until golden.
Enjoy these hearty and healthy vegetarian recipes with your family tonight for dinner!