Hello All!

So its Sunday and that means its time for me to make my weekly menu. This will be my 3rd week in a row doing this and I'm having trouble thinking of new things to make for dinner. I need my dinners to be pretty low-cal because by the time I get off work and do my 2nd workout, its too late to eating a high calorie dinner (I make up my calories earlier in the day).

Anywho, I was hoping you can shout out some ideas for vegetarian meals for 300 calories or less. When I try to goggle for ideas I usually get meals that have meat in them.

Thanks in advance!

I'm what I'd call an omnivore of sorts, but the majority of my meals are vegetarian or can be easily converted into a vegetarian-friendly meal. My most recent success was a guacamole chicken pizza, which got rave reviews from my friends. Just for your purposes, and my eventual usage in the kitchen, I've substituted red onion as a topping instead of the chicken breast. I use regular mozzarella since I don't like the low fat versions I've tried. If you're concerned about fat content, reduce the amount of cheese to 1/2 or 1/4 of a cup for the entire pizza. That way you'll still get the flavour but will get rid of more calories and the grams of fat in the recipe.

I limit myself to one slice, with a side of cucumbers and carrots, and then package the other slices up for future lunches or dinners.

My original non-vegetarian recipe was analyzed at 160 calories per slice, and the revised version for you has been analyzed at 120 calories per slice, based on a 10 slice pizza made in one of those reusable/disposable pizza pans from the grocery store.

I make my own pizza dough, which allows for better control of the fat and sodium content. The dough does need to rise for an hour. I usually make my dough and then throw in a workout tape or go for a walk.

Here's the ingredients you'll need for this:

1/2 T. active dry yeast
1/4 C. warm water
3/4 C. warm water
1 t. granulated sugar
1 - 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 T. olive oil
2 small avacados
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Mix the yeast, 1/4 C. warm water and sugar in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Combine the flour and salt in a separate small bowl. Pour the yeast mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the 3/4 C. warm water. Slowly add the flour and salt mixture, until a stiff dough forms and add the measured olive oil. Knead the dough until it's shiny. Lightly brush the ball of dough with olive oil and place back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, place the peeled and pitted avacado flesh in a bowl (I use a pyrex 9x9 dish, as it's easier to mash the avacado on a flat surface). Add the juice of one lime, 2 cloves of minced garlic, a pinch each of salt and pepper and mash the mixture with a potato masher until smooth. Cover and refrigerate, while you prepare the rest of the toppings.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly oil a large pizza pan and set aside. Roll the pizza dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/4" larger than your pan. Gently lift your dough and place on the oiled pizza pan, rolling in the edges to form an outside crust.

Spread the avacado mixture on the crust, layer with red onion, tomato slices, mushrooms and top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Place in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the edges and bottom of the crust are nicely browned and the cheese is fully melted.

I've got other flavourful recipes that are definitely low calorie and vegetarian as well. Let me know if you need any other ideas. I also have a mean cashew chicken recipe that converts beautifully to a colourful mixture of stir fried veggies over rice.

We eat mostly vegetarian and polenta is a big staple. You can make a big pot, keep it in the fridge for later and bake it with spaghetti sauce or veggies on top. I usually top it with mozzarella cheese, but you can play around with it. It's really low cal and fat.

My fiance makes a delicious Albanian vegetable stew thing which is not only vegetarian, but also vegan. I dunno how many calories are in it, but here it is (please forgive my lack of cooking vocabulary). Also, note that this is the ingredients to feed two - three people, so you may need to multiply:

1 eggplant, cut into cubes
2 Italian green peppers roughly chopped
1 whole onion, grated into a pulp
1/4 th cup of rice
An appropriate amount of olive oil
Some water
Salt & pepper as you prefer
Vegetable boullion cube

Sautee the onion pulp in the oil til it starts to brown a bit, then throw in the peppers and eggplant and the rice and the bouliion cube. Mix together well and let it sautee for a minute. Then throw in enough water so everything in the pot is covered and stir stir stir. Keep at full boil until the rice is soft -- much of the water will evaporate and the end product will have a VERY delicious mushy consistency. My fiance usually serves this with a big loaf of Italian bread, which is great to dip. But I also think a garlic bread would work well with it. It's very simple and VERY filling.

ANOTHER ONE! Albanian carrot soup... (this is to feed two people too, so you may need to multiply the ingredients to feed many people)

4 - 5 carrots, skinned and grated
1 onion, grated to a pulp
1/2 stick of butter (you can substitute olive oil if you prefer, but I have to say the butter makes it unbelievably good)
1/4 cup pasta -- elbow, farfalle, orzo, whatever you have that's small
A bit of tomato sauce for color (not much -- the soup just needs enough to make the broth orange, not red)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley

Sautee the onion pulp in the butter til it starts to brown and then throw in the carrots. Sautee that for a few moments and then add in the pasta and mix everything together. Add in some water to get a soupy (sorry) consistency. You may need to add in more as it boils, as the water will evaporate. Anyway, let it boil til the pasta is cooked, then add in the tomato sauce for color, stir it in there along with the parsley and... VOILA... it's delicious.

Black Bean Burritos can be very low cal with just veggie toppings - squash, onion, tomatoes, peppers, corn etc.

Small Amount of pasta with a very veggie rich sauce.

Soup and a PB sandwich.

Cheeseless pizza made on english muffins.

Here is a good one for you - I absolutely love this dish!

Spring Green Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
4 (about 1 ounce) sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped
10 ounces frozen edamame (2 cups)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
3 -4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon oregano (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon basil (more to taste)
1 generous pinch red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice (more to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste

Rinse the quinoa well in a fine-mesh strainer. Put it in a pot with the water, 1 clove of minced garlic, and the sun-dried tomato and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and cook until water is absorbed and grain is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered.

While the quinoa is cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil (Dutch oven sized, about 1/2 full). When it reaches a boil, add the frozen edamame. Return to boil and cook for 4 minutes. Add the asparagus and zucchini and cook until they are tender but still crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large serving bowl. Add the quinoa and toss well.

In a small non-stick pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable broth. (If you're not following a strict fat-free diet, you may use 1 tsp. of olive oil.) Add the minced garlic and cook for one minute. Add the remaining broth, oregano, basil, and red pepper. Simmer, stirring, for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over quinoa and mix well. Taste and add additional seasonings, including lemon juice, as needed. Serve warm.

Makes 4 large servings. Per serving: 270 Calories (kcal); 6g Total Fat; (19% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 168mg Sodium; 8g Fiber.

(When they say large servings they mean large - it's like 3 cups of food or something ridiculous)

i made this quinoa recipe saturday night:

http://www.quinoa-recipes.com/#Anchor-63750

and along with it blanched some asparagus (which only needs a little lemon when it's done) and made a huge balsamic vinegar baby button bella, fresh garlic and onion saute as another sidedish.

yum. and adding it up on tdp it was right around 300 cals.