It has been two weeks since my mom told me all about the book she is reading and got me jazzed on the idea of a more veggie-focused way of eating. In fact, last week when she and dad were visiting, we spent the early morning on my porch, perusing cookbooks and making grocery lists.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the food loving tree. I found a million recipes I wanted to try, but I stuck to my meal planning rules to ensure I wouldn’t overwhelm myself. At the end of an hour or so, I had our plan for the week and grocery list made.
It felt really crazy to only have one traditional protein listed, but I wanted chicken one night to minimize the side-eye response to this new initiative I was sure I’d get from David at some point. Then I stocked up at Whole Foods, getting multiple bags from their bulk section (BULK BUYING FOR LIFE), then did a little jig at the total. No meat equals quite a cost savings!
I’ve been sharing snippets of our meals on Instagram (posts and stories) and promised to report back with how the first week went. So here I am! Let’s start with the dinners:
Recipe: Golden Red Lentil Dal with Cilantro Speckled Basmati
Family Feedback: huge hit! I doubled the rice but probably should have doubled the whole recipe because we ended up scraping the pan to get every last bite. David didn’t miss meat because it was so hearty and flavorful. Hailey loved it and Kaitlyn ate it (though I had to pick out pieces of spinach that I didn’t cut quite small enough).
Make Again?: Absolutely!
Recipe: Spinach Lasagne with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce (below)
Family Feedback: A little bland, but better with a splash of hot sauce. The family ate it, though Kaitlyn picked around some of the mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. I had leftovers and it tasted much better the second day!
Make Again?: Probably not. It was rather labor-intensive for an overall “eh” result.
Recipe: Kale and Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls
Family Feedback: David, Hailey, and I loved the sauce! It’s super easy to make and would be good drizzled over almost anything. Kaitlyn liked it OK but mostly stuck to eating rice. I started getting a side-eye from David at this point, as he felt this was pushing it on the vegetarian front (which is why I had chicken lined up for the next night :)). You’re predictable babe!
Make Again?: Definitely. I really liked the sauce on the brown rice and chickpeas and would make it to drizzle over bowls for lunch all week long.
Recipe: Whoops, I forgot to put the chicken in the crockpot.
Family Feedback: I meant to make honey garlic chicken but forgot (life happens) so instead I grilled it with herbs and made a hodgepodge of sides to go with it: roasted Brussels, sauteed shiitake mushrooms and snow peas. It was a weird combo, but the whole fam liked roasted Brussels Sprouts and David was happy to see some “real” protein so it worked.
Recipe: Vegan Crockpot Black Bean Soup
Family Feedback: Kaitlyn proclaimed it was too spicy (though I omitted the cayenne for this reason), but ate it by mixing in sour cream and dipping her chips into it. Hailey had two bowls and my mom and I ate 3 I think? I love the flavors in this soup!
Make Again?: Absolutely.
Recipe: Mexican Sweet Potatoes (no real recipe used)- baked sweet potatoes, black beans, sour cream, fresh pico, avocado, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.
Family Feedback: The girls ate early, so just David and I ate these. I loved it! David put his with leftover chicken inside a tortilla.
Make Again: Definitely. So easy and I love Mexican flavors!
I ended up eating oats for breakfast one day (and forgot to take a picture), but I really love eggs for breakfast, so most mornings I ate this:
I sauteed whatever veggies I had in the fridge (peppers, onions) and added a half bag of frozen riced vegetables (cauliflower and sweet potato). Add a fried egg on top with a sprinkle of parley- incredible! I could truly eat this every day.
For lunch I stuck mostly to hummus wraps because they were easy and tasty: La Tortilla wrap, hummus, spinach, red onion, pico, parsley, and banana peppers. Strange but good!
Overall I was interested to see how I’d feel eating more vegetarian-based. I have avoided beans for a little while now because of digestion issues I felt like they were causing. Shockingly to me, I haven’t experienced any negative sides effects (no bloating!). I feel really good overall.
I see us sticking with this way of eating for a while for two reasons: the focus on vegetables which I love and the cheaper grocery store bills. We won’t be going vegetarian by any means, but I’d love to stick to 3-4 vegetarian meals per week.
A lot of you sent feedback that you’d love to see more veggie-based meals on here so I’m looking forward to sharing my family’s feedback on the ones we try and also developing a few to share with you that get my family’s 8 thumbs up!
I’d love your input- what are your favorite, crowd/family-pleasing vegetarian entrees?
Marissa says
To avoid digestion issues with beans dump the can of beans into a colander. Run water over the beans until there is no more foam/bubbles. That will eliminate any problems anyone has with beans 💛
Jennifer says
For bean troubles I tend to find the ones I buy dry and boil myself cause me no trouble, but if I open a can of black beans and eat those my stomach will ache for hours!
One of our family favorite veggie recipes is chili bean tacos and we load them up all the taco fixin’s! Best part of this recipe is that it only take 15 minutes to make! Woohoo!
Brittany Dixon says
15 minutes- now that sounds like a recipe I can get behind on a busy weeknight!! YUM!
Laura says
We typically eat mostly vegetarian meals during the week, since I am the one doing the cooking. While I do eat meat, I don’t love cooking it. I am a big fan of lentils and will usually make a big batch to throw in salads for lunches, or I will make it into a soup. My kids also love tofu, of all things, so we try to keep a brick on hand for quick week night stir fries. Then on the weekends, my husband will often go out and buy himself a big steak, haha!
Montessoriishmom says
These all look delicious! I make one to two meat / fish dinners a week, but the rest vegetarian, partially for health and partially because it let’s us buy good quality meat without a crazy grocery bill. The challenge for me is my husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes, squash, or chickpeas, which seem to be in a lot of vegetarian meals. At least he loves beans though!
Laura says
We go through a ridiculous amount of beans per week, mostly though because they make up the bulk of my lunch bowls. My trick is to rinse, soak (dry beans) overnight, then rinse at least 3 more times before cooking, or until water runs clear. Have fun trying out some new recipes!
Brittany Dixon says
I’ll make sure to rinse a few extra times; great idea!
Jenny says
We do a lot of curries – coconut milk and basil curry with sweet potatoes is such a good fake out for meat that half the time my family does notice it’s missing. Also minestrone soup, roasted butternut squash soup, and veggie based chilis in the colder months.
Erica says
Love the new recipe links and ideas! I especially like the comments about what your daughters think! Every time I look at a new recipe, I wonder whether my toddler will eat it or not…I made tofu stuffed pasta shells and he avoided the tofu until we told him it was tofu, then he ate it up lol! Try out this site if you haven’t been there: https://www.loveandlemons.com/
Brittany Dixon says
Aw, no way, he ate it once you told him it actually WAS tofu? That’s adorable!!
Lauren says
We eat about 80% vegetarian so I’d love to see more of these recipes on the blog! My favourite is a lentil and mushroom “bolognaise” which I double and freeze, which makes for easy mid-week dinners. The longer you cook the lentils the softer they get and the more my young kids like it.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/mushroom-lentil-bolognaise/fd5622b4-3f7a-44bb-b53c-e389e9d3c31c
I also love Oh She Glows recipes and have made the black bean burgers recently – yum!!
We try to eat fish 1-2 times a week too but to be honest, vegetarian meals are just becoming easier and easier!
Brittany Dixon says
Oh my gosh that bolognaise recipe looks amazing- thank you for sharing!
Cassie says
I’m so curious, at the end of the week did you feel bloated? I feel whenever I eat vegetarian (adding more grains/carbs a aside from veggies) I gain a few pounds of water weight! Love the idea though!
Brittany Dixon says
I am really surprised I didn’t because I was fully expecting too. For me, limiting beans to once a day and focusing more on whle foods (rather than pastas and bread) seemed to work well in the bloating department.
Rachel says
I love reading about meal planning! Sounds like you had a really yummy week of meals. I may have to try the dal!
Elisa says
As I vegan, I thank you for your open-mindedness to vegan meals, at least part of the time. I like your blog a lot, and I like it a lot more without all the meat-focused meals. I went vegan 9 years ago and it was the very best decision of my life (for the animals).
Alexis says
I’m also curious about your energy levels. I think of myself as a natural vegetarian- that is, that’s the way I love to eat, and largely do eat. But I had been having really low energy since my youngest was born (he’s now 1.5years) and when my pediatrician said she recommended that small kids eat meat at least 2 times per week, I got this flash – maybe I need a little bit of meat in my diet! My energy seems to be coming up, but I don’t know if that’s the traces of meat I’m now eating, or just the natural trajectory from weaning my baby, and more consistent sleep… so I’d love to know what your experiences are like.
cleanupKate says
I appreciate your “Make Again” comments – especially the “too labour intensive” one 😉 You may/probably already know this but it’s important to fully reference the cookbook that you’re pulling recipes from, especially since you’re posting pictures of it in your post, in accordance with copyright laws.
Anna @ BlenderAuthority.com says
Great post Brittany. I love the feedback after each recipe you tried. I saved this to try some of the recipes especially the Golden Red Lentil Dal recipes.