5 Days of Vegan Meals

As some of you may know, I’m a huge advocate for eating plant based.  I whole heartedly know that our health begins in the kitchen.  Plants offer us so many benefits, some of which I’m sure we don’t even know about!  I want to emphasize with ya’ll that we didn’t start eating this way overnight.  This is to excite and empower you! We took baby steps, flip flopped being vegan to vegetarian to eating everything.  Somethings worked for us, others didn’t. It got discouraging at times, but look where we are five years later! Justin is at one of the healthiest weights of his life and I’m eating more plants than I ever thought I would.

I started an “Eat More Plants” challenge you can check it out here.  In an effort to help those who started that journey, I wanted to write this up and inspire you to diversify and eat more plants.  Or maybe this gives you some ideas for completely different things! And, in case you’re leery of eating just plants, here’s a post I wrote about common myths people come to me with.  Now with these five days, note that I didn’t write down our snacks.  Usually snacks are larabars, a green smoothie of some sort, unroasted mixed nuts, hummus with vegetables, or an apple/orange.

5 Week Days of Vegan Meals

Monday

Breakfast

Homemade granola on top of a smoothie bowl with frozen fruit, hemp seeds, and banana. I have a DIY granola recipe here, although it’s not the one I made this day.

Lunch 

Soba Noodle Bowls (recipe linked below)

Supper

Leftover Vegetable Lentil Soup from Dr McDougall’s 10 day meal plan.

1 onion, chopped 4 ribs celery, chopped 6 cups vegetable broth 1½ cups chopped tomatoes 1 cup dried red lentils 1 can (15 ounce) chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1 bay leaf ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground ginger ½ teaspoon ground turmeric ¼ teaspoon coriander ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/3 cup orzo ½ cup chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pour ½ cup of water into a large soup pot along with the onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, bay leaf, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, coriander, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. Stir in the orzo, cilantro, and lemon juice. Cook 10 minutes longer, until the orzo is al dente. Serve hot.

Tuesday

Breakfast

Sprouted grain english muffins topped with homemade hummus and chopped vegetables

Lunch 

Made salads and topped with it with quinoa, sweet potatoes, and chopped vegetables (I have a link below with the recipe)

Supper

Burrito Bowls

Lettuce topped with black beans, corn, tortilla strips or chips, salsa, guacamole, peppers, and Dr McDougall’s tofu sour cream (which can be found in the 10 day meal plan I linked above)

Wednesday

Breakfast

Oatmeal, Banana, Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Blueberries

This is a rough recipe I make from my head, so don’t be hatin’ if yours don’t turn out. These also aren’t sweet pancakes, but we top them with almond butter and eat them with a side of frozen berries!

1 overripe banana mashed, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 cups of oatmeal (that I blend in our vitamix to make into a flour), 1 cup oat milk, ¼ c chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients together then slowly add the wet (if you use a mixer make sure to add your chocolate chips last). Use a ¼ c measuring cup and put on a hot cast iron. When they begin to bubble on the edges, flip, then cook for another minute or two.

Lunch 

Hummus Quesadillas

Slather hummus onto a tortilla, drop into your cast iron, add your choice of vegetables (we do onions, red peppers, and olives), top with another tortilla with hummus on it. Flip when the tortilla browns and cook until that tortilla is brown. Dip in some salsa

Supper

Beet Burgers

Roasted Vegetables (recipe will be linked below)

Thursday

I’m a nurse and work 12 hour shifts at the hospital.  I was scheduled to work on Thursday, so you’ll get an idea of what I take to work!

Breakfast 

Made a green smoothie of spinach, strawberries, oat milk, chai seeds, and protein powder. I drink this at the hospital as we’re listening to our assignments.

Lunch 

Leftover coleslaw, beet burgers, and roasted vegetables from Wednesday night

Supper

I was exhausted. Justin had made spaghetti noodles, so I had a small bowl then went straight to bed.

Friday

Breakfast

Homemade Banana-Oat Muffins

Lunch

Soba Noodle Bowls

Supper

Lentil-Quinoa Tacos

Homemade Guacamole

 

So there ya have it! Five days of what we eat. Think this would help a friend or wanna save it for later? Feel free to share it or save it to Pinterest. I believe in you! xo-Meg

Link for the Soba Noodle Bowls, Roasted Veggies, Quinoa Salad can be found if you sign up here.