22 Great Meat-Free Meals (Dinner)

Meat is expensive so we try to do a meat-free meal for dinner once a week. We do this a lot more often in the summer when it's hot, we want to eat lighter and I don't want to use the oven or even the stove for extended periods of time. We usually go back to big, hearty, meaty meals once the cooler weather rolls around but this year we're trying to stick with a meat free day once or sometimes even twice a week. We're not fond of tofu or any other meat substitute products so we've incorporated a lot more beans into our diet to meet our iron and protein needs.

So in no particular seasonal order here's our list of  things we've had for dinner so far!

1. Macaroni and cheese (make your own cheese sauce)
2. Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce (or any sauce, Red Pepper, Alfredo, etc)
3. Veggie Stirfry
4. Bean and Cheese Burritos
5. Minestrone Soup and biscuits
6. Homemade pizza (try basil, tomatoes and mozzarella)
7. Risotto
8. Cheese, cracker and veggie and dip platter
9. A big salad and breadsticks
10. Pasta or potato salad
11. Nachos
12. Loaded baked potato
13. Layered bean dip and tortilla chips
14. Bruschetta or olive cheese bread with butter parmesan linguine
15. Mexican rice (black beans, corn, tomatoes,cheese)
16. Bean chili
17. Grilled cheese and tomato soup
18. Spring rolls and a side of steamed veggies and rice
19. Lasagna
20. Cauliflower cheese soup
21. Bean, corn, green onion and tomato quesadillas
22. Pierogies fried with green onions and served with sour cream

That's all that I could think of for now, feel free to suggest other veggie meals for us to add to our rotation!

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

This is an excellent and quick pancake recipe. It tastes just like the expensive Aunt Jemima Complete buttermilk pancake mix but since I'm making it myself I know it has no weird additives and it doesn't have that slightly powdery taste.

This makes 6 medium pancakes which is perfect for 2 people, or 5 medium and 3 teeny baby sized pancakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and 1/4 cup whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Start by making your buttermilk if you don't have any. The buttermilk has to sit for a little while so do this first, then start heating your skillet or frying pan.

Mix together the buttermilk, sugar and margarine. Beat in the egg. Add all of the rest of the dry stuff on top and mix until just combined.

Scoop onto your hot grill or frying pan. The batter is pretty thick so you might have to spread it out a bit with the spoon. I cook mine on 4/medium. You can tell when the pancake needs to be flipped when it gets all bubbly on top.
Add syrup and enjoy!
 

 

10 minute lunch - Tomato Basil Pasta

This is a really quick and fresh tasting meal that's perfect for when you're short on time, low on ingredients and it's hot outside. It's light and contains no meat. It's also a great way to use up my overabundance of basil and the single ripe tomato from my plant. My tomato plant is only producing one tiny tomato at a time while my basil has become a veritable shrub.

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