Eating Meatless: Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches, and Dinners

Peanut butter toast for breakfast!

(Part One here)

Here’s what Zach and I usually eat throughout the day. Again, it’s definitely not a perfect diet, but it’s tasty and we enjoy it! 

BREAKFAST

We eat a lot of waffles! I recently discovered this whole-wheat vegan sourdough waffle, and it is hands-down the best waffle I have ever eaten. (Or if you don’t have a sourdough, this recipe is great too!) We eat the waffles with fried eggs, or, more commonly, with a generous slather of peanut butter, a sprinkle of chia seeds, pecans, chopped apples, or slices of banana, and real maple syrup.

Bread is another common staple. Zach has his wonderful country blonde sourdough boule (made with the method found in this book), and I’ve started making whole-wheat sourdough sandwich bread (I’ll post the recipe/method once I perfect it). Again, we eat it with eggs or with peanut butter and toppings. Occasionally we’ll put parmesan and garlic on it for morning garlic bread.

Zach doesn’t like oatmeal, but I’ll often eat my tried-and-true overnight chocolate oats because they’re easy and delicious.

For a low-carb breakfast, eggs are king! You can shred carrots and beets to make a hash, or make scrambled eggs with a veggie mixed in. I think tofu would also be good for breakfast.

LUNCH

I almost never make lunch from scratch— I try to keep leftovers around so we can eat them instead. I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm of packing up some leftovers straight from the dinner pan and packing them for Zach for next day’s work lunch.

Whenever we need to pack lunch to go and eat it cold, I resort to sandwiches. Hard-boiled egg sandwiches are a good option, as are hummus wraps (tortilla or flatbread, hummus, lettuce, etc.) and waffle sandwiches (basically what we eat for breakfast, just made into a sandwich). Other options include salads with some sort of protein, bagels with cream cheese, or cheese and apple slices.

DINNER 

(or, as my family says, “Supper”)

We eat a ton of burritos (or some other form of Mexican food). It is just impossible to go wrong with these. See this post for more ideas.

Pasta is another great option. Cheese and carbs, seasonal veggies, and some sort of protein source (fried eggs, bean balls, etc.) come together for an easy meal any time of the year.

Stir-fry is great for when you have a bunch of random veggies to use up. I use either tofu or eggs for the protein source. Tofu, peanuts, or cashews are also great in stir-fries. (This is my go-to sauce for stir-fries— so delicious!)

Chili is easy to make, delicious, and can be paired with other items (I wrap it up into burritos and mix it with whole-wheat macaroni for chili mac). 

Other ideas include pizza (make your own delicious crust if you like; Zach’s and my favorite toppings are feta, black olives, green or roasted red peppers, and marinated artichoke hearts); breakfast-for-dinner (including French toast, perhaps?); simple beans and rice (the key is to spice them with good chili powder and cumin); roasted root vegetables with fried eggs (sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.); stuffing made from roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash and cubes of stale bread sauteed together with lots of sage and topped with gravy; grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup; a hearty salad topped with lots of cheese and/or nuts; and this awesome lentil soup over rice.

What are your favorite meat-free meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

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