As I mentioned last week, I've decided to retire What I Ate This Week and I'm replacing it with a weekly vegetarian meal plan. In these posts, you'll find write ups about the recipes we've included (just like What I Ate This Week!), some tips to help you make the most of your meal plan, and a printable menu and shopping list. We'll be posting these on Fridays so you can do your grocery shopping over the weekend and have all your ingredients ready for Monday! Here's what's on the menu this week:
Monday
Creamy Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup from Oh My Veggies // This soup is creamy, filling, and it's a reader favorite! Normally, a soup like this would include turkey or chicken, but I replaced the meat with mushrooms.
Tuesday
Lentil Loaf from One Ingredient Chef + Simple Creamy Mashed Cauliflower from Inspired Taste + Frozen Green Beans // Helloooo comfort food! I am a sucker for meals like this. I had a hankering for a good veggie meatloaf and this one definitely fit the bill. To trim things down a little bit, I made mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes; frozen green beans make an easy extra side dish and a little ketchup or store-bought mushroom gravy (we like Pacific Natural Foods' version!) is the perfect addition to the meatloaf.
Wednesday
Zucchini, Bell Pepper & Edamame Stir Fry from Bake Your Day + Side Salad // This veggie stir fry is meant to serve 2, but we got 4 servings out of it by pairing it with a salad on the side. We loved the spicy stir fry sauce in this and pairing it with udon noodles was a little more fun than the usual rice.
Thursday
Lemony Wheat Berries with Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Oh My Veggies // Although this takes about an hour to cook, it's a really hands-off recipe--after you've put the wheat berries in the pot and the Brussels sprouts in the oven, you just have to wait a while for them to cook, then toss everything together in a bowl. Easy!
Friday
Light Southwestern Twice-Baked Potatoes from Cookin' Canuck // How can you not love these?! Twice-baked potatoes can be high on calories and low on nutrition, but these keep things in check by skipping the sour cream and butter and adding black beans for protein. Serve them with some fresh fruit or veggies on the side and you've got yourself a filling meal.
Tips for This Week's Plan
- Save a little time on prep by making the Creamy Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup and Lentil Loaf on Sunday. The Lentil Loaf serves 6 to 8, so you can have the extra servings for lunch!
- If you have a food processor, you can whip the mashed cauliflower in there for an even creamier texture.
- Use a bagged salad mix and your favorite Asian-inspired salad dressing for Wednesday's side salad.
- You should be able to pull off this meal plan in one shopping trip; if you do your shopping on Saturday or Sunday, all the veggies you buy should last throughout the week.
Click here for a printable version of this week's meatless meal plan and shopping list, then click on the links above to print out each recipe. Now you're set for the week!
Julia Mueller says
I loooove this!!! GAAAH! Feeding myself for next week just became a million trillion times easier!!
Kiersten Frase says
Yay! I'm glad you love it! I always feel bummed out when I buy a magazine and there's a meal plan in it and I can't use it because I don't eat meat. So, goshdarnit, I'm making my own meal plans.
Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today says
Lentil loaf sounds delicious.
Christy@sweetandsavoring says
What a great new feature! I've never made a lentil meatloaf, so I am eager to try making it for dinner soon!
Kiersten Frase says
You definitely need to make yourself a lentil meatloaf then! 🙂 I am such a sucker for meaty comfort foods made veg.
dishing up the dirt says
I love this Kiersten! A veggie meal plan for the entire week. Genius. I can't wait to make that lentil loaf. Yum!
Kiersten Frase says
You will looooove that loaf! 😀
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Healthd says
this is just fantastic! thank you so much for your time and hard work on putting this.
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you! Believe it or not, the meal plan was actually less work than my old What I Ate This Week posts! 🙂
Laura says
LOVE THIS!! You just made finding meal ideas and cooking for an entire week so much easier!! That's been a big challenge for me, to cook every night. Thank you! I'm looking forward to the next week and after that!! I'm just loving your blog!!
Kiersten Frase says
I'm glad I could help! I wasn't sure what people would think of this idea or if anyone would really use them, so I'm pretty excited about the response this has been getting. 🙂
Cassie says
So glad you liked the udon stir fry. I love that sauce, too!
Kiersten Frase says
I LOVE sriracha, so I knew I'd love that stir fry. 🙂 I still need to make your sriracha pasta bake too!
Andrew @ One Ingredient Chef says
Hey Kiersten! This is such a great list! Thanks so much for featuring my lentil loaf. I'm glad you liked it and it looks perfect with those cauliflower mashed potatoes! 🙂
Kiersten Frase says
I'm so happy to feature it in my meal plan for the week--it was delicious! Veggie loaves can be very hit or miss, but yours was perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Jennifer says
I love this idea, especially the grocery list and the way it's broken down. Your pictures always look so great, thanks for being such an inspiration!
Kiersten Frase says
Aw, thank you! 🙂
Jane Mangat says
Hi, I love your meal plan and can't wait to do it, however, where are the recipes?
Jane Mangat says
Sorry, silly me, didn't realize I needed to click on the name of the dish to get the printable version. Ignore my comment above.
Jane.
Cara says
The lentil loaf looks yummy! BUT (it's a big but), we don't keep ketchup in the house. I hardly use it and my husband just outright hates it. If he sees me buy it, or sees it in the fridge, he will know I'm about to try to sneak it past him. Does anyone have any suggestions for a ketchup sub? Could I use BBQ sauce instead?
Kiersten Frase says
I think you need to go to a fast food restaurant, grab a few handfuls of ketchup packets, discretely put them in your purse, and run away. 😉 BBQ sauce should work too; you could also try tomato sauce or marinara!
aurora says
Every dish on here is something I really want to eat, not just think that I should, with the perfect balance of types of dishes, flavors and textures. This is going to make doing veggie mid week so much easier
Kiersten Frase says
I'm glad you find it helpful! It was fun putting it together. 🙂
Debra H says
Would it be possible to have the weekly meal plan emailed to us? I love this idea! Thanks so much!
Kiersten Frase says
If you subscribe to my email newsletter, you'll get an email on Saturday which will have a link to the meal plan post. With the email service I use, it would cost me additional money to add another mailing list to my account, so unless there's a huge amount of interest, I probably will stick with sending it out via my existing list!
melissa says
this is amazing. please keep doing this. I feel 100% the same way about all those fantastic plans out there that I can't even begin to adapt to my diet 🙁
Kiersten Frase says
Isn't it depressing?! I've been meatless for so long that I rarely feel "left out" anymore, but for some reason all those meal plans in magazines really bother me. Like hey, I could use a pre-made meal plan too, darn it!
Connie says
This is pretty neat. Love the shopping list at the end!
Deanna says
Yay! Suggestions for a seed substitute for the peanuts and walnuts? (Nut allergy.) Or will it be okay to just omit?
Kiersten Frase says
I'd just leave the peanuts out of the stir fry. You could throw some extra edamame in instead. 🙂 For the walnuts, I think pepitas or even sunflower seeds would work. You could omit them too, but I like adding a little something for texture in that recipe.
Rosie says
I just found your site and I'm blown away!!! You're amazing and I appreciate all the hard work you've put into sharing your cooking expertise with me.
And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for including a shopping list!
Kiersten Frase says
I'm glad you found my site! 😀 I wasn't sure how useful people would find the shopping lists, so I'm excited that the feedback has been so positive!
Joanne says
I've never made a veggie loaf before...probably because I was never into meatloaf when I ate meat. But this one looks so good...
Kiersten Frase says
Oh, you must! There are so many different kinds and you can put the leftovers on sandwiches and they are amaaaaazing!
Jenn says
That is the most rockin' meal plan/shopping list I've seen! Love how you have it laid out I may have to become a vegetarian just to take advantage of it each week!
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you! And you could always add chicken to everything. 😉 You wouldn't believe how many people pin stuff from my site and say, "I would add chicken" or "I would add bacon."
Kim H. says
Love this!! Thank you!! 🙂
Kiersten Frase says
You're welcome! 😀
Julie says
Thank you!!! This is so excellent! I just went back to being vegetarian--I did it for about a year in college, so I wan't cooking my own food at the time, so it meant a lot of pasta and weight gain for me back then.
I've been worried that I would have trouble with meal planning, but this is PERFECT! My new favorite blog of them all <3
P.S. I made that mango-mandarin smoothie yesterday and it was heavenly!
Kiersten Frase says
I'm glad you enjoyed the smoothie! And yes, it's definitely easy to gain weight on a vegetarian diet, contrary to popular belief. The same thing happened to me until I started cooking for myself!
Valerie says
This meal plan is your best idea ever!! I (and therefore the hubs, since I cook) am a Monday - Saturday vegetarian, a compromise I reached with my meat-eating spouse. This will make my week so much easier - I'm def on board with it.
Kiersten Frase says
I'm glad it will be useful! I'm pretty sure my husband is a vegetarian mostly because I do the cooking too. 😉
Jennifer says
Thank you so much for starting a weekly vegetarian meal plan that has ingredients that can be found in the local grocery stores. Veggie meal plans always seem to include a lot of the fake meat products, which are ridiculously expensive and not particularly healthy. I am SO looking forward to this.
Kiersten Frase says
You're welcome! I'm not a big fan of meat substitutes either--I prefer real foods to fake ones! 🙂
Genevieve says
I'm liking all the new changes to your site! It's nice to hear from other bloggers (who have great photography skills and recipes btw!), and I like the idea of a meal plan. I'm glad you're still featuring recipes you've tried from other blogs because I find it helpful to hear other bloggers' opinions and tips on recipes. While I'm not really one to follow weekly meal plans, I'm sure they'll be helpful to a lot of people, especially those looking for vegetarian meals ideas!
Kiersten Frase says
Yeah, when I mentioned before that I was thinking about doing meal plans, I got a few comments from people who didn't want me to stop doing What I Ate This Week, so I tried my best to combine the two into one post! 🙂