5 Easy Meatless Monday Dinner Ideas I Make Often

I find that people often ask me, “Do you have any easy dinner ideas to share?”

The truth is, a lot of my weekday dinners are 30 minute or less meals – but this doesn’t mean that I’m scrimping on nutrition and flavor. After all, eating mostly bland homemade dinners would make me a crappy foodie and food blogger, don’t ya think?

One thing I like to stress to those that ask me this question is that easy meals do not need to equate to unhealthy meals. I have a lot of simple go-to vegetarian dinner ideas, and in the spirit of easy, delicious, & nutritionally well-balanced dinners, today I’m sharing 5 of them with you. You’ll notice that my dinners tend to put an emphasize on veggies – I’m all about real food!

Rice & beans.

I’ll admit it that I’m not a huge meal prepper, but one of the things that I often do is make a big batch of grains that I can use for a few dinners throughout the week. One of my favorites is making brown rice – Lundberg Farms is my favorite – and one simple way I’ll use the rice for dinner is to make rice, beans and sautéed veggies. When you have the rice already prepped, this dinner comes together in 10 minutes flat:

1. Chop up whatever veggies you have in your fridge. I usually will do some combo of bell peppers, onion, broccoli, zucchini and yellow squash.
2. Sauté the veggies in a bit of olive oil, sprinkling salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you desire.
3. Once the veggies are tender, add in a can of black beans. Stir to combine.
4. Stir in the brown rice, and voila, dinner is ready! You can add in things like salsa, sour cream, diced avocado and tomato. I throw in whatever I have on hand.

Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pasta primavera. 

One ingredient you’ll always find in my pantry is some type of pasta, because it’s so easy to boil some water and cook pasta when I want something quick. Using a veggie pasta brand, such as Banza chickpea pasta, will increase the meal’s protein. To amp up the nutrition, I like adding in whatever veggies I have on hand that need to be used. Here are a couple pasta/veggie combo ideas:

1. Sautéing zucchini, spinach, tomatoes and broccoli in white cooking wine for a a pasta primavera. Toss pasta and veggies with olive oil, seasonings like basil and thyme and parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast for a vegan meal.
2. Chopping up some mushrooms and cooking them in marinara sauce
3. Lemon goat cheese pasta with asparagus
4. Taking a few cups of baby spinach, placing it in a pasta strainer or a plate/bowl below the strainer, and draining the cooked pasta on top of the spinach to wilt it. Toss the drained pasta and spinach back into the pot, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. How’s that for quick & easy amped up nutrition?

The Big Salad (yes, that was a Seinfeld reference).

Sometimes dinnertime rolls around and I feel like I haven’t gotten in anywhere near my healthy dose of veggies for the day. On these days, I like whipping up a big, hearty salad for dinner. And I’m not talking about boring iceberg lettuce with a few tomatoes in it either… no friends, I load my salads up with nutrition, flavor & protein!
Usually I like to include leafy greens like arugula, mixed greens or kale; protein like beans, sautéed tempeh, grains and/or cheese; something crunchy like nuts, seeds, or croutons; and added in produce like avocado, cherry tomato, cucumber or chopped apple. It just depends on what I have around and am in the mood for. There are no rules! Here are a couple big salad recipe ideas:

• Farro Greek salad  (If you prep the farro ahead of time, this recipe takes 10 minutes to whip up.)
• Super easy black bean burger, cheddar & ranch salad (Note: I no longer use the Morningstar burgers pictured in this post.)
• Mixed greens with blueberries, goat cheese & honeyed walnut hemp clusters

Veggie burgers with taters. 

Another kitchen staple for me is frozen veggie burgers. Ideally I like making my own, but let’s be real, sometimes I don’t have any time or energy to make it myself. I try to buy burgers with short, sweet ingredient lists, and one of my go-to brands is Gardein. You can throw the burgers on buns, eat em low-carb with lettuce, tomato and ketchup on top, or slather on smashed avocado & salsa.

For a 30 minute meal, I like pairing veggie burgers with some kind of potato side, such as homemade potato chips. I’ve been using this homemade potato chip recipe as a guideline, and then I’ll change up the ingredients depending on what I’m in the mood for (for instance, last week I baked the chips in truffle oil). Or if I’m getting hangry and want dinner in less time, I usually have some kind of frozen fries on hand to throw in the oven, such as Alexia sweet potato fries.

{Throwback to this maple blueberry fontina grilled cheese recipe} 

Loaded grilled cheese.

Sometimes I just get a craving for a high-fat, cheesy dinner, and a loaded grilled cheese satisfies my hankering and takes 10 minutes tops to whip up. Here’s how I amp it up:

1. Use whole grain bread and organic cheese to make sure I’m eating the good stuff
2. Add slices of avocado and tomato to the bread and cheese
3. Slather on some horseradish mustard to give the grilled cheese a kick

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All of this dinner talk is making me hungry! Thinking about what I’ll make tonight… 

Tell me… What’s an easy go-to dinner of yours?