My husband is a carnivore, he wants meat with every meal. I, on the other hand, can be completely happy with a week of meatless meals. I don’t particularly like red meat and one can only eat so much chicken before you’ve just had enough. Over the years, we’ve worked in some meatless meals that we can both agree are tasty and filling.
Here are three meatless meals that are on the menu in our house and a couple of bonus soups. I think soups are great meals, but my husband says we have to agree to disagree on soup as a meal. These meals are also toddler approved, despite or maybe because of, ingredients like quinoa, couscous and lentils.
This Lemon Parmesan Pasta was a big hit in our house. Honestly, I was concerned I wouldn’t like it; I just wasn’t sure about the combination … I was wrong. We originally got this pasta in an Every Plate meal kit box, but it is something I have recreated at home multiple times. The vegetables can be replaced with whatever you have on hand or is in season. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms, so extra squash and spinach have found their way into subsequent versions at our house.
Bruschetta Zucchini Couscous boats is another meal delivery kit recipe that made it into our regular rotation. Oven roasting the zucchini takes a bit of time/pre-planning, but they are super easy and great reheated. These zucchini boats were perfect for lunch or dinner.
Southwest Quinoa Bites are something I’ve been making for years. I found this recipe through Pinterest when I was searching for quinoa recipes. It can sometimes be difficult to get protein when you’re not eating meat. Quinoa is classified as a whole grain and is higher in protein than something like rice or pasta. Combining the quinoa and black beans in this recipe, you up your protein in just a few bites. Now, I originally made these as the recipe describes, but cleaning a mini-muffin tin can be quite annoying, now I just mix it all together and dumb in a casserole dish, sometimes you have to bake it just a bit longer, but it still tastes great.
Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup is super easy and can be adjusted to your liking just like a baked potato (to keep it meatless we just don’t add bacon at the end). While it does include chicken broth, if you want to keep it vegetarian, use vegetable broth as a sub. I made this for a week of lunches and had a lot leftover. It freezes well too. I also thoroughly enjoyed using my immersion blender at the end to smooth it out a bit, but it is not a necessity.
Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Lentil Soup is such an easy meal that I love in the winter. I’ve made this one for years as well. This recipe was updated this year. I use whatever kind of lentils I have on hand or can find. It’s a favorite and one that I often make for my mom. It also freezes well.
Next time you’re stuck in a lunch or dinner rut, consider one of these meatless meals for a change of pace.
