Vegetarian women who are pregnant must take extra care to ensure they are getting the nutrients they need in order for both mother and baby to thrive. Of course, being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you need to exert great effort to prepare healthy meals — you just need to be creative!
Vegetarian recipes for pregnancy:
To help make things easier for you, here are 4 simple and healthy vegetarian pregnancy recipes to prepare when you are tired and don’t feel like cooking much — whether you consider yourself vegan or not:
Try these vegetarian pregnancy recipes and treat yourself — and the whole family — to a healthy, yummy veggie-based meal!
Avocado and red pepper crepes
Makes about 8-10 crepes
Good source of:
Calcium, protein and vitamins B1,C and E
What you need:
For the filling
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
- juice of 1 lemon or lime
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 100g feta cheese
- black pepper, to taste
- fresh herbs of your choice
For the crepes
- 50g plain white flour
- 50g wholemeal flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 dessert spoon olive oil
- 300ml semi-skimmed milk
- vegetable oil for frying
What you do:
1) Sprinkle the avocado with the lemon or lime juice. Mix with the red pepper and feta cheese. Add some black pepper and toss in a few chopped, fresh herbs of your choice. Set aside.
2) Place all the crepe ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
3) Heat the vegetable oil in a 20cm frying pan and when hot, pour in enough batter to just cover the bottom of the pan. Swirl around to ensure the base is covered evenly and cook until the crepe is lightly browned on one side.
4) Turn the crepe over and cook on the reverse side. Remove from the pan and repeat until all the batter is used. Keep the crepes warm on a warmed plate. Interleave with greaseproof paper and cover with foil to keep them separate. Spoon some of the avocado mixture into the centre of each crepe, and fold over to serve .
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Apricot and ginger risotto
Serves 2-3
Good source of:
B vitamins and fiber. The ginger can also help when you are feeling nauseous.
What you need:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2.5cm piece fresh root ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme
- 20g basmati rice, rinsed and drained
- 10 dried apricots, halved
- 300ml vegetable stock chopped
- fresh parsley, to garnish
What you do:
1) Heat the oil in a large, non-stick saucepan, and gently fry the onion for 2 to 3 minutes.
2) Stir in the ginger and thyme. Add the rice, apricots and vegetable stock, stir and cover.
3) Bring to a boil then simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice is tender. Serve at once garnished with some chopped parsley.
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Fennel and almond soup
Good source of:
Calcium and vitamin E. Fennel also aids digestion and eases stomach pains.
What you need:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
- 4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground
- 100g ground almonds
- 700ml water
- salt and black pepper, to taste
What you do:
1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion, fennel and celery over low heat for 10 minutes.
2) Add the ground fennel seeds and almonds and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the water and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring frequently. Cover and simmer the soup for 30 minutes.
3) Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor, and whizz until smooth.
4) Pour into a clean pan, and gently heat through.
5) Season to taste.
6) Serve sprinkled with croutons.
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Pumpkin and spinach lasagne
Serves 2 -3
Good source of:
Antioxidants and carotenes, notably vitamin C and E.
What you need:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 0.3 kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 250g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
- ½ bunch English spinach, leaves rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1/4 packet of fresh lasagne sheets, enough to give 7 layers
- 1/4 cup, (50g) fresh ricotta
- 1/4 cup, (60g) natural yoghurt
- 1/2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cups dried breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 25g shelled pistachios
What you do:
1) Preheat oven to 200°C.
2) Heat olive oil in a large high-sided frying pan. Add onion and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook a further 30 seconds. Add pumpkin and stock. Let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until soft.
3) Allow to cool slightly. Mash until smooth. Stir through spinach.
4) Mix together ricotta, yoghurt and egg yolks. Season to taste.
5) Place a small amount of the ricotta mixture on the bottom of a rectangular oven dish.
6) Place a layer of lasagne sheets on top. Cover with a layer of the pumpkin mixture and a thin drizzle of the ricotta mixture. Continue layering, using 7 layers of lasagne sheets in total, finishing with a layer of lasagne and then the remaining ricotta mixture.
7) Combine the bread crumbs, parmesan and shelled pistachios. Sprinkle over the lasagne before baking.
8) Bake covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake a further 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Do you have any vegetarian pregnancy recipes you’d like to share with us? Let us know by leaving a comment below!