Simple Saturday: 5 Go-To Vegetarian Meals

veg meals collage

So, first off I know that the title of this post says 5 meals and there are only 4 pics in the collage, but collages with 5 pictures just don’t work as well.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the tasty vegetarian meals.

Although my husband and I are not vegetarians, we don’t eat much week during the week.

Some reasons that we are mostly weekday vegetarians are:

-It’s cheaper and helps me make our grocery budget go further.

-Preparing meat grosses me out sometimes.

-We try to buy local, organic and/or antibiotic-free meat, which is a bit more expensive and saved for special occasions.

We love meals that are simple, easy to throw together, fresh, healthy and tasty. With that in mind, these are a few of our weeknight standbys that are always delicious and won’t make you miss the meat.

1. Curry

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Whether it’s vegetables in a store-bought curry sauce or Curry Dal, curries are a great way to get grains and fresh veggies into your meal and liven up the flavor. And they come together in like 30 minutes!

2. Pasta (not pictured above)

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Pasta can be a really filling and tasty non-meat meal, like this Slow-Cooker Deconstructed Lasagna, the best pasta sauce ever (with a side of kale) or the quick and healthy One Pot Farro.

3. Beans & Rice

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Beans & rice (or another grain like quinoa) are always an easy and filling meal. Spice and flavor up your beans and rice with these Pinto Beans & Cilantro Rice or just set up a “rice bowl bar” and layer rice, beans and toppings like cheese, guacamole, salsa and lettuce into your bowl and enjoy.

4. Veg Pizza

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Now that I’ve been introduced to the $1 bag of Trader Joe’s pizza dough, we are going to be making even more veggie pizzas around our house. Pizza is a great palette for tasty sauce (pesto if you’re feeling crazy), mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, onions, artichokes and top it off with some kale to get extra crispy in the oven. The secret to a crispy pizza dough is putting your pizza stone in the oven on 425-450 and heating it up for 15-20 minutes before you put the uncooked dough on it.

5. Soup and Grilled Cheese

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Soup and grilled cheese is a classic combo because it’s warm, both crunchy and creamy and a hearty vegetarian meal. Try Ribollita, creamy Cauliflower Soup or Tomato Orzo Soup. Then, pair it with a grilled cheese stuffed with fresh tomato slices, fancy cheese like goat cheese or sharp cheddar or caramelized onions.

What vegetarian meals are on your go-to dinner list?