Meal planning Monday - we're going veggie!

I feel that I should begin this post by stating that I am most emphatically not a vegetarian nor do I have any desire to be one.  I love meat and I love fish.  I do, however, fervently believe that I have a responsibility to buy the best quality meat and fish that I can afford and do my bit to ensure that the animals who end up on my plate have had the best possible life.

Now, as we all know, this can get expensive.  And rather than compromise on quality, I'm happily prepared to compromise on quantity.  Vegetarian food can be absolutely gorgeous.  No, strike that, food that happens not to have constituent animal parts can be absolutely gorgeous.  I don't think we need to delineate between "vegetarian" and "not-vegetarian".

D and I have both agreed that it would be a good thing to build up our repertoire of veg based dishes.  To this end, we have both designed a week of vegetarian meals.  And this is mine.

One thing that I did learn was that I could never be vegan - I'm using a lot of cheese this week!  But I'm genuinely looking forward to this menu plan and am curious to see whether we get to the end and crave burgers for breakfast!

Here's what I've gone for:

Root veg spaghetti with herb pesto and Parmesan cream (this is actually a repeat of a dish we cooked last week which was all kinds of amazing!  Hopefully, I'll share the recipe once we've made it again)
Portobello mushroom "burgers" with Halloumi
Tomato and pea curry with coconut rice and an egg pepper fry
Baked gnocchi with blue cheese and spinach (we have some Christmas Stilton which needs using up)
Carpet picnic of home baked baguettes, mushroom pate and a Scottish cheese selection
Home made pizza topped with caramelised red onion and goats' cheese served with salad and a winter slaw
Carrot and cashew nut roast with roast potatoes, root veg mash and creamy leeks and peas

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.