When I first transitioned to a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle, the hardest part was to figure out what to make for dinner. And that's always what I get asked first when someone wants to start eating plant-based.
So I thought it might be helpful to show some weekly menu samples with photos from my kitchen and links to the recipes. Considering that making dinner is pretty far down on my fun list, these are intended to be simple family meals that take at most 20 minutes of your time and have no expectation of looking gourmet!
So far I've created 3 weeks of menus, but if anyone wants to contribute ideas and recipes, I will be happy to create a fourth week with your suggestions!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week # 1
Roasted Asparagus with Refried Beans
If you're thinking about using refried beans from a can, then you are not giving this dinner justice! My homemade refried beans may not be very photogenic, but they are worth the effort!
Even including baking time for the asparagus, this meal can be served within 20 minutes.
So should you buy thick or thin asparagus? There isn't much taste difference, but the thinner asparagus can be tougher to chew. As the asparagus plant matures, the spears develop soft, more soluble fiber.
Polynesian Pilau
All the ingredients get mixed together, so we just eat this as a one dish meal. The pineapple, ginger and soy sauce combination of flavors is great.
I make this with Basmati Light Brown rice which is not as heavy as brown rice. Any extra rice will be used on leftover day!
The prep time is about 20 minutes, though this does not include cooking the rice.
Baked Yam with BBQ Slaw
This is a simple, yet delicious dinner.
To cook the yam, I microwave it until it's pretty soft in the center. Then I bake it in the oven (or in my case, my air fryer) for 10 minutes to get the skin less soggy and a little crisp.
Layer the potato with your favorite (vegan) toppings, such as cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onion and whatever else you can think of!
Mushroom Spinach Tofu Wrap
This is a yummy way to eat tofu, and is good with a side of sliced avocado or sour cream.
I apologize for the photo quality and content. I made the filling but did not have the large tortillas so couldn't make a good wrap. But it shows the filling, and I'll update this soon!
The prep time is about 20 minutes, though this does not include making homemade hummus or sour cream.
Soup with "Tuna" on Toast
This "tuna" salad is yummy, especially when you add extra relish!
My image shows tomato soup because we have so many fresh (and frozen) tomatoes from our garden. But by this time of the week, you probably have some leftover veggies. I often use dried split peas or lentils, cook according to directions, and then throw in the leftovers.
Check my soups page or the links below for more ideas!
Asian Stir Fry with Rice Noodles
You really don't need a recipe for this dish.
Just stir-fry some broccoli, cherry tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, celery, baby corn, water chestnuts and any additional ingredients you like. Look in the Asian sections of your grocery store for a bottle of ready-made stir-fry sauce.
I made this using Thai stir-fry rice noodles. Make sure you don't overcook these noodles, as they will get very sticky.
Leftovers!
After this week's meals, you will likely have some rice and pineapple leftover from the Polynesian Pilau, so we'll make pineapple the focus. You can crumble leftover tofu in any of the meals below, except perhaps the coleslaw. And hopefully you didn't use all your leftover veggies in yesterday's soup!
- Pineapple Curry: Add the pineapple tidbits and juice with a little non-dairy milk to make the sauce. Add some cornstarch to thicken, along with garlic, curry, turmeric, salt and pepper. Add the vegetables and crumbled tofu. Serve on the leftover rice.
- Fried Rice: Combine the rice, tofu and pineapple tidbits. Optionally add some frozen peas. Fry this in a skillet and top with leftover veggies.
- Pineapple Slaw: You also likely have coleslaw leftovers, which goes excellently with the pineapple tidbits. You can add the leftovers and make a crazy coleslaw salad, or just serve the veggies on the side.
- Teriyaki Stir-Fry: This is another great way to use the leftover pineapple. Combine teriyaki sauce, pineapple with juice and remaining tofu and vegetables. If needed, thicken with a little cornstarch. Serve on leftover rice.
Week # 2
Chili with Coleslaw
This is a super quick meal that takes about 15 minutes to prepare, but allow 30 extra minutes to let the chili simmer. I like to serve the chili with a dollop of vegan sour cream.
For the coleslaw, I use the bag of pre-chopped slaw. As for the dressing, you can experiment with different salad dressings or buy coleslaw dressing. If you're using mayonnaise, then add a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar, a little sugar, mustard, and spices such as onion powder, celery seed, garlic, salt and pepper.
Coconut Cauliflower Curry on Rice
This is a yummy dinner of vegetables with a curry sauce over rice. In this image, I used cauliflower, sweet potato, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms. But you can use any combination of vegetables you like.
Fettuccine with Broccoli and Sausage
I usually go with a veggie or bean pasta that has fewer carbs. For this image, I used spinach fettuccine. Any sauce works, whether you make your own, use a jar of spaghetti sauce, or the simple cream sauce below made with cannellini beans.
If you have a veggie steamer, you can steam the broccoli first, then use the same boiling water to cook the fettuccini (mine took only 3 minutes). Drain, and toss in the broccoli and vegan sausage to heat through.
Veggie Quesadillas
What can I say? This is easy to make, and you can stuff anything in the quesadilla that you have on hand. If you need to feed more people, you can repeat the layers with a fourth tortilla. This image actually has three tortillas, but the middle one just got a little buried 😉.
Homemade Soup with Salad
When dinner is just soup and salad, I tend to select a more substantial soup that contains either lentils, potatoes, or a hearty vegetable. Check out my soup page for ideas. You can also make your salad more filling by adding corn, croutons, and the like.
Below are links to a couple of my favorite soups. The Thai Broccoli soup (shown in image) literally can be made in 15 minutes from start to finish and with as few as 3 ingredients. The lentil & sweet potato soup doesn't take long to make but has to simmer for 30 minutes.
Green Beans with New Potatoes
This is a very simple meal, but what makes this good is the Cheez Sauce. I usually make the Cheez ahead of time so it's there when I need it. It stays good a long time in the fridge.
Use fresh beans and not frozen! And I used new potatoes, but use whatever type of potato you have on hand.
As you can see from the image, I also added some leftover butternut squash to the beans and sprinkled on some soy bacon bits for added flavor.
Leftovers!
After this week's meals, you will probably have a variety of vegetables left over. So a few ideas come to mind:
- Burritos: Combine all the leftover vegetables, the chili and any leftover sausage. Heat through and roll it up in a tortilla. Optionally add some salsa, sour cream or sliced avocado.
- Tortilla Lasagna: Mix all your leftovers together as the lasagna filling, so you can skip all the vegetable preparation in the recipe. You just need tomato sauce, tortillas and cheese, and you can create a one-of-a-kind lasagna!
- Veggie Pie: I don't want to sound repetitious, but step one is to mix all your leftovers together! Using ready-made rolled pie shells, throw all the ingredients into the pie, cover with the top crust and bake. The leftover chili will make sure that the filling isn't too dry.
- Chili with a Boost: If you have enough chili left to "almost" be a meal, then give it a boost by throwing in any of the leftover veggies (finely chopped), extra leafy greens and taco meat, or a can of corn.
Week # 3
Baked Beans with Slaw and Sausage
We've been known to break away from whole foods in order to enjoy some "Beyond® Sausage"! Or as an alternative vegan option, fry up some tempeh bacon!
No recipe needed here. Just open a can of baked beans and fry or BBQ the sausage.
For the slaw, I used pre-shredded coleslaw with red/green cabbage and carrot, and added red peppers, black beans, corn and kale.
Creamed Spinach with Baguette and Bacon
I typically use the spinach from our garden that I have in the freezer, but of course fresh spinach is great. For 2 servings, I use about a half pound.
While the spinach is sautéing, make the sauce by whisking together 1 cup non-dairy milk, 1 TBSP flour, onion and garlic powder, salt and a pinch of nutmeg. After draining the spinach, add the sauce and cook until thickened.
Serve with a fresh baguette which you can spread with a smoked salmon dip (for fish eaters), or fry up a side of tempeh bacon. And for those who are adventurous, treat yourself to a homemade baguette! This recipe from the internet requires only four ingredients and absolutely no kneading, just a little planning ahead. For convenience, I've also added it to my recipe pages.
Broccoli Salad with Home Fries
Here's a simple dinner, but one that I always enjoy. This broccoli salad is also known as "Joan's Broccoli Madness". Not sure where this name came from, but my mother-in-law Joan really liked it!
These fries were made in my air fryer. I won't bother with a recipe, since you've probably all made fries before.
For the broccoli salad, the link below has a recipe with a homemade dressing. But to make it simple, I often use a store-bought vegan honey mustard dressing which is delicious.
Vegan Pad Thai
I like to load up my Pad Thai with lots of veggies. And my girls like it with peanut butter!
But it's all about the sauce. To make it vegan, I find it works well to replace the typical fish sauce with tamari. Using tamarind paste adds that nice sour component, and though it may seem out of place, adding a sweetener such as maple syrup really balances out the flavor.
Enjoy!
Roasted Veggies with Fruit
For these roasted vegetables, I used asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, onion, red peppers and butternut squash. Being lazy, I bought the pre-cut squash which is a necessity if you want to keep the dinner prep under 20 minutes!
I like to add fruit on the side. If I have homemade cranberry sauce, that works well. But sliced fruit such as apple, mango, cantaloupe or watermelon is great, or some chunky applesauce.
Tacos
Homemade Tacos are quick and easy to make. Whether I'm just serving two of us or the the extended family, I create a taco bar so that each person can make their own.
There is always a base component, for which I use plant-based beef crumbles, lentil meat or butternut squash, mixed with black beans and spiced with chili, cumin, garlic and salt. My condiments typically include shredded lettuce, tomatoes and red onion, served with sour cream or guacamole, salsa and cheese.
For this image I used hard corn taco shells.
Leftovers!
By the end of this week, you will likely have leftovers from making roasted veggies, plus perhaps some leafy greens, coleslaw and tofu. So here are three ideas that will help empty out your fridge, each of which work really well with the tofu (which I suggest you fry separately). And maybe you have enough leafy greens and slaw left to make a side salad!
- Lentil Flatbread Pizza: Although you DO need to remember to soak the red lentils for 6+ hours, this is an easy to make and healthy pizza crust that you can prepare ahead of time. Top with the leftovers and bake at 425℉ for about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir fry on rice: Toss together all your leftover veggies and tofu, add some spices or your favorite stir-fry sauce, and serve over rice.
- Soup: Optionally fry up some onion and garlic. Add the leftover veggies, some herbs and spices, and any leftover sauce. Add water or stock as needed, and cook for about 5 minutes. Blend all or part of the soup.
- Pasta sauce: Blend all leftovers with your choice of spices to make a sauce. Optionally add a can of tomatoes. Serve with pasta.
- Veggie fritters: Chop leftovers into small pieces (about 3 cups). Add 1/4 cup finely ground bread crumbs and 1 large egg. Mix and drop spoonfuls into a heated and oiled fry pan, flattening slightly. Cook until both sides are crispy. This is great served with plain non-dairy yogurt.
