Week 2: The Weekday Vegetarian Challenge

Next week's meal plan + shopping list. How many can you make?

Greetings eaters and readers! If you missed Week 1 of the Weekday Vegetarian Challenge, you can find that here. Reminder, you must be a subscriber to access the meal plans.

Welcome to Week 2 of the Weekday Vegetarian Challenge…

….in which I dare you to omit meat from the dinner rotation for five straight nights. Or four or three…or, ok, fine one is totally cool with me, too. Whatever you manage to cook this week, I hope the attached meal plan teaches you a new trick or two, or wins over a skeptic at your table, or simply gets you excited about trying something new.

For this week’s line-up, we have a pasta, a satisfying (read: filling) vegetable-packed dinner salad, a make-ahead burger, and a cozy, hearty winter soup. I am also thrilled to include a one-pot chickpea recipe from Ali Stafford of Alexandra’s Kitchen, who is a food writer, cookbook author (most recently, Pizza Night), and mother of four who just absolutely gets it when it comes to easy, wholesome recipes. My goal with this series is to give you tried-and-true dinners that we make over and over for our families, and that’s how Ali described this one, which her kids request on the regs. It’s not just a crowdpleaser, it’s easy. “What I love about this recipe,” she told me, “is that the only thing I have to chop is an onion.”

A Few More Notes Before We Begin…

The Protein Issue

Most of the recipes in this week’s line-up include a protein (or suggestions for how to add one) but if they don’t, and it’s a concern, here are some plant-based strategies for working protein into the rest of your day.

Make-Ahead & Annoyance Factor

I’ll always be upfront about a recipe if it’s, you know, annoying — just check the “degree of annoyance” rating for each one 😊 — but remember that you can make any recipe less fussy by reading it with your make-ahead glasses on. There is usually something you can prep on the weekend (whip up a dressing, chop some vegetables, wash your greens) that will keep your energy reserves high on weeknights, when you need it the most.

Shopping List FYI

Like last time, I’ve organized the shopping list by recipe (instead of by produce, pantry, dairy etc), so if you decide to make, say, three of the five, it will be easy to figure out which ingredients you need, and which ones you don’t. Some of the recipes will call for a salad on the side or a hunk of crusty bread. You’ll find suggestions for those side dishes in a separate attached PDF called Simple Sides. Your weekly shopping list will not include ingredients for those side dishes. You’ll have to decide what you want and add to your shopping list accordingly.

Lastly

Don’t get too hung-up on the Monday-to-Friday “weekday” thing — just aim for more vegetarian dinners than not over the course of seven days, whether they happen on Tuesday or Sunday or whenever.

OK, ready?

Let’s see that line-up…