Top Vegetarian Recipes for Busy Moms

It is not uncommon for home cooks to get stuck in a rut.  Making the same meals over and over can get boring, and it can be too easy to skip cooking altogether.  Explore different vegetarian recipes and cuisines to put the spark back in your cooking.  Get excited about trying new recipes, and introduce your family to different vegetarian meals from around the globe.

One of the best parts of vegetarian cooking is that it does not have to be exceptionally time consuming.  Vegetarian cooking can be as easy as sticking meatless chicken strips in the oven and making a quick fruit salad.  Or, vegetarian cooking can be as exciting as exploring homemade Indian cuisine. 

Keep some frozen meatless chicken in the freezer.  It will not go bad as quickly as organic chicken, and there is less risk of food-borne illness.  

Take out the meatless crispy chicken and throw it in the microwave to start a tangy Chinese Chicken stir fry or salad. 

Thaw the frozen meatless chicken in the refrigerator of the microwave.  Make a thick sauce with the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, juice, and the sugar.  Sautee all vegetables in a pan until tender.  Add the meatless chicken.  Sautee the chicken and vegetables with the sauce for a few minutes.  Serve over rice.  Alter the recipe to make a salad by omitting the sugar and serving the meatless chicken and vegetables over cabbage. 

Invest in a rice maker that will make rice while simultaneously steaming fresh vegetables. Make the rice more appealing by cooking it in a mixture of one part vegetable broth and one part water.  This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to make dinner with almost no effort.  Get the rice, get vegetables that are already in your refrigerator, and put some meatless chicken in the oven to complete the meal.  This basic meal can be altered with the addition of different spices to be more fun to eat.  A few ideas are listed below:

Use different types of vegetables and spices to introduce your kids to different types of cuisines.  Most children do not have a palette that is developed enough to appreciate tastes that many adults love, such as bitter coffee or spicy foods.  Slowly introduce children to different types of healthy food to create lasting healthy eating habits. 

It is important to teach healthy eating and cooking habits.  Instead of harshly discouraging unhealthy foods, offer better options that are easy to make.  Show your kids that cooking healthy desserts can be as simple as sprinkling some extra sugar on a bowl of berries, or use homemade simple syrup (one part sugar dissolved in one part water) to sweeten tart fruits such as

Instead of telling your kids that certain foods are bad, model how to find the time to make healthy options for dinner and dessert.  Your kids will probably remember what you show them almost every day better that what you tell them to do on occasion.  Introduce your entire family to vegetarian cooking, different types of food, and healthy ways to interact with food.  Try vegetarian cooking to save time and money while acting as a positive example for your kids.