My Dinner Divas are back again with another meal plan for the week ahead. It’s full of ideas for you.

As a recap, if you missed our first Menu Plan, I’ve joined up with some of my favorite blogger friends to collaborate on a week’s worth of dinner ideas. Every Friday morning, you’ll now wake to a menu of options for the week ahead, including 5 dinners and 2 extra dishes that can be sides, desserts, or drinks. Full disclosure: The other bloggers post recipes on all kinds of food, not just mostly vegetarian, so you’ll see all kinds of menu ideas. For example, this week, there are four vegetarian options out of seven. So I’m going a step further with you guys.

Here’s how it’ll work. The menus will feature (mostly) healthy, (definitely) seasonal dishes using (absolutely) real food that don’t take all day to prepare. And I’ll add my twist by offering up suggestions for making most dishes vegetarian, without losing the essence of the dish. Getting this handy meal plan delivered to your inbox on Friday morning gives you the chance to make your shopping list and get organized for the week ahead. With all the springtime and summer activities right around the corner, we hope this weekly meal plan will provide inspiration and make life a little easier for us all (including me!!) … one meal at a time.

Weekly Menu Plan Week 2

 

 

 

MUJADARA WITH ROASTED TOMATOES AND GREENS – from The Wimpy Vegetarian

 

 

 

CASSEROLE SUPREME from Pastry Chef Online

Make it Vegetarian:  Swap the beef for lentils! Cook up some brown lentils (they cook up in about 20 minutes – so no need to do this in advance like with some legumes), and coarsely mash them. Do everything else exactly the same way as Jenni’s recipe. The sauce is perfect with lentils, and when they’re coarsely mashed, the texture is similar to ground beef. 

 

 

 

ROASTED CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE SHEET PAN DINNER from Pook’s Pantry

Make it Vegetarian: Swap out chicken for crispy rice! Follow the directions for Cheryl’s dish, but instead of adding chicken halfway through the roasting, arrange the veggies so they’re taking up 2/3 of the sheet pan. Half way through the cooking when the remaining vegetables are added, spread 2 cups cooked brown basmati rice over the remaining 1/3 of the pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Gently toss to coat. Flip and stir the rice after 15 minutes, add another tablespoon olive oil, and continue roasting until the veggies are done (about 10 – 15 additional minutes). The crispy texture is a nice contrast with the veggies, and so is the nutty flavor of basmati. 

 

 

 

BUCATINI WITH SPINACH PESTO from The Chef Next Door 

 

 

 

INSTANT POT AL PASTOR PORK STUFFED SWEET POTATOES from Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Make it Vegetarian: Switch out the pork for 1 cup dried black beans and 1 cup blueberries. Yes, you read that correctly. Blueberries. Add the beans and 1/2 of the blueberries along with the spices and pineapple to your Instant Pot. Eliminate the vinegar, as it can make it hard for the beans to soften. Add enough vegetable broth to cover the beans. Serve in as suggested in Susan’s post, but add the remaining 1/2 cup blueberries with the avocado, pineapple, and cilantro.

 

 

 

ASPARAGUS GRIBICHE from The Wimpy Vegetarian

 

 

 

HOMEMADE LEMON CONCENTRATE from Comfortably Domestic

 

And there you have it!

If you make any of these recipes, I’d love to see it! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #WIMPYVEGETARIAN on Instagram.