It’s my favorite time of the year! There’s a promise of cooler weather in the air, and the stores are beginning to smell like cinnamon and cloves. The whole season puts me in the mood to spend time in the kitchen and the garden.
This fall is a little different for me as my nest contains a couple of extra mouths. It’s not that I’m complaining; it just means that I’ve had to make some adjustments, especially to my menu. My DIL, who eats exclusively vegan, is staying with us while our grand baby is in the NICU. My son continues to work his job and drops in a few days at a time to visit. Plus, my youngest is home for the time being, apply to grad school and part-time work.
I promised in my last post that I’d give you (and me) a month of vegan dinner meals. I cook 4-5 times per week. We typically eat out Saturday and Sunday because the days tend to be so irregular. Therefore, my monthly menu contains only 20 meals, which I put on rotation.
Without further ado, the following are the vegan meals that we’ve tested and enjoyed, plus a couple that are on next week’s menu.
Week 1
Day 1. Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burrito Bowl. I’ve shared this recipe before. It’s on our regular menu rotation for “meatless Mondays.”
Day 2. Lentil Bolognese. I didn’t add any milk/cornstarch, and it still tasted terrific! I serve it over Gluten Free pasta.
Day 3. Smashed White Bean & Spinach Quesadillas. These taste kind of like a very good veggie pizza. They’re so easy to make!
Day 4. Green Goddess Pasta Salad
Week 2
Day 5. Roasted Veggies Tahini Bowl
Day 6. Lentil Tacos. Kroger’s vegan protein tortillas are really good. Add rice, beans, and salsa or guacamole for a complete meal.
Day 7. Samosa Wraps. Double this recipe. Yum!
Day 8. Coconut Lentil Curry. Next time I want to Vegetable Pakora to this meal.
Week 3
Day 9. Vegan burgers. I confess that I’d rather buy these readily-available-at-any-store patties than make them from scratch. Fresh Market sells Vegan brioche buns. I serve these along with organic sweet potato fries from Costco.
Day 10. Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas. Be sure to sub vegan cheese!
Day 11. Tofu Fried Rice
Day 12. Vegan Chili
Week 4
Day 13. Pasta & Lentils
Day 14. Tofu “Chicken” Nuggets. Dice a block of extra firm tofu (drained and pressed of liquid). Toss with ½ t of paprika, garlic powder, and salt, and ½ T of Nutritional Yeast and/or panko. Bake in an air fryer or in a lightly vegetable oil sprayed pan in a toaster oven set to 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crispy. Serve with Annie’s(R) Vegan Mac N Cheese. Round out the meal with salad.
Day 15. Crockpot Sweet Potato & Lentil Tikka Masala
Day 16. Falafel (from a dry mix package) with hummus, naan bread, sweet potato fries, and Greek salad. I make chicken shawarmas for those of us who are omnivors.
Week 5
Day 17. Pad Thai
Day 18. Black bean burritos. Use Amy’s® Vegan Refried Black Beans, vegan cheese, salsa, and guacamole for these.
Day 19. Stuffed Bell Peppers
Day 20. Vegan Pizza. Use vegan pizza rounds or naan bread, marinara or vegan pesto, roasted veggies, and vegan shredded “cheese.”
This week, I’m going to try a couple of new recipes that I found on Pinterest–Mushrooom Ragu and Miso Peanut Ramen.
I’m also going to try out Gooey Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars. I can’t wait for those! My only excuse for such an indulgence is that it’s FALL, Y’ALL!
