This week we celebrate National Vegetarian Week and we are encouraging our readers to join in and challenge themselves to cut out meat for the whole week. For National Vegetarian Week we are going to give ideas each day to make having a meat free day even easier. For day two of National Vegetarian Week we are going to look at all the different meals that you can make out of mushrooms.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are very tasty and have quite a meaty substance, especially Portobello mushrooms. There are so many different meals that you can make out of mushrooms and there is such a variety of mushrooms to choose from, such as button mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms and Portobello mushrooms. The meals that you make can taste quite different, depending on the mushrooms that you decide to use.
Stuffed Mushrooms
Stuffed mushrooms can be a very simple but tasty meal to make. This meal is also quite light and low in calories, therefore can be perfect to make for lunch. Portobello mushrooms are the best mushrooms to use for this dish as they are large in size and you can put lots of filling into them.
Mushroom Pizza or Flatbread
Many supermarkets sell plain margherita pizza’s or flatbreads such as garlic flatbreads. With these you can add on whatever ingredients you like. Mushrooms, goats cheese and pesto are ingredients which all go very well together and can be easily added to a pizza or a flatbread and can be cooked for about 12-15 minutes in the oven. This is a very quick and easy dish to make which is also full of flavour.
Mushroom Burger
A mushroom burger can be a very simple vegetarian burger to make. Use a large cooked Portobello mushroom and top with melted soft cheese, fresh red pepper and salad for a very tasty burger. You can always cook a Portobello mushroom in the oven with goats cheese and pepper inside the mushroom, as you would with a stuffed mushroom, and then once cooked add your mushroom to a toasted bread roll for a delicious vegetarian burger.
Mushroom Pasta
Mushroom pasta can be a very quick and simple dish to make for dinner. You can make a mushroom sauce up by chopping up your mushrooms, you can use as many as you like, and chop up some onions then fry these until they are softened. Add some double cream and let this cook for a further 10 minutes whilst you heat up some pasta. Once the 10 minutes is up, drain your pasta, add to a bowl and serve your sauce on top.
Mushroom Omelette
A mushroom omelette can be a very simple, yet tasty meal. It is also a very light meal which can be perfect for lunch or for a light dinner. Simply make up your omelette as normal, using two eggs. In another pan either fry some mushrooms or sauté them in a bit of butter. You can also buy a can of creamed mushrooms which are very tasty to have with an omelette. Once the mushrooms and omelette are cooked then just add your mushrooms to the omelette and fold over the omelette to serve.
Mushroom Risotto
Mushroom risotto can be made in a very similar way that you would make mushroom pasta, however instead of serving it with pasta you would serve it with rice. This dish can be a very quick meal to make and can also be very filling and tasty.
Mushroom Bake
Mushrooms can be used in many different meals. The picture above is showing a potato, mushroom and cheese bake. This can be a very simple dish to make which can also be very tasty and filling. This dish can be made exactly the same way that you would make layered potatoes, but you also add mushrooms to each layer and then add the cheese on top to melt into the dish. Served with a few vegetables on the side, this would make a very nice meal for dinner time.
Mushroom Quiche
A mushroom quiche usually contains the basic quiche mixture, inside a pastry case ,but then includes mushrooms, onions and cheese. All of these ingredients go very well together. Once the quiche has been cooked through it can then be served either hot or cold. Cold quiche is very nice in the summer served with new potatoes and salad. To make a quick and easy dish you can always buy a cheese and onion quiche then add some sliced mushrooms on top before cooking in the oven, to make a mushroom quiche.
Mushrooms are a very versatile ingredient and the meals that you can make out of mushrooms are endless. Choose a mushroom meal and enjoy a meat free day to support National Vegetarian Week. If more than one of these meals takes your fancy then why not try another mushroom meal on a different day this week.
