It's time for our Weekly Menu Plan! It's been an incredibly busy week at our house, and I haven't had a chance to post anything else for you, but tomorrow I'll be posting a recipe for Herby Peas and Crispy Green Rice from a new cookbook called Salad Days. It's just in time for summer salads, although the cookbook has salads for your table all year long. Every salad I've tried has been a huge winner. So stay tuned for this on Saturday morning!

As a recap, if you missed our earlier menus, 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 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: My blogger friends post recipes on all kinds of food, not just vegetarian. For most dishes not vegetarian, I add my own twist by offering up suggesting for making the dishes vegetarian without losing the essence of the dish.

These Weekly Menu Plans are almost the only time I have non-vegetarian dishes featured on my blog. As an explanation, these menus are a way of life at dinnertime in my house since my husband, Carnivorous Maximus, can’t imagine a meal without meat. And a lot of it. If I don’t want to cook two completely different meals at night like a short order cook, (and for the record, I don’t), I often have to reconfigure a meaty dinner to one that’s vegetarian, or vice versa, or serve my vegetarian entrée as his side dish. After doing this for a few years now, I’ve gotten pretty good at looking at a dish I think he’ll like, and reimagining it into a vegetarian version for me. I know I’m not alone in cooking for a divided table, and so was interested in participating in this series.

Whether you’re serving dinner to multiple diets or not, I hope they bring you some inspiration for your dinners this week, and that these meal plans make life a little easier for you, one meal at a time.

Weekly Menu Plan: Week 4

 

 

 

RUSTIC HAM, ASPARAGUS, AND GOAT CHEESE TART from The Chef Next Door

Make it Vegetarian:  It's easy to omit the ham in this recipe and make it otherwise exactly as Sarah suggests or swap out the ham for 1 cup roasted cherry tomatoes. If you choose to do this, just roast them like this recipe, although slow roasting them only for 1 hour should be adequate for cherry tomatoes and be sure to cut the balsamic vinegar in half. You can roast them up to a week ahead and store them in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

PORK BURGER WITH HATCH CHILES & PICKLED RED ONIONS from Pook's Pantry

Make it Vegetarian: Make your favorite veggie burger and add the same seasoning Cheryl suggests. Most important, follow her guidance to pickle the onions and add pepper jack cheese and grilled chiles, preferably Hatch chiles. And don't forget to use a brioche bun. I have a veggie burger here that would work perfectly.

 

 

 

BAKED FALAFEL with SPICY MOROCCAN SAUCE from The Wimpy Vegetarian

 

 

 

VEGETARIAN TEX-MEX STUFFED PEPPERS from Comfortably Domestic

 

 

 

BACON and PICKLED PEPPER PIZZA from Pastry Chef Online

Make it Vegetarian: I recommend just omitting the bacon. Make it otherwise exactly the same, and you'll have a vegetarian pizza you'll love!

 

 

 

PROSCIUTTO and MELON ZUCCHINI NOODLE SALAD from Girl in the Little Red Kitchen 

Make it Vegetarian: Swap out the prosciutto for oil-cured kalamata olives. They offer the same saltiness that prosciutto boasts, and will marry well with the melon, goat cheese, and zucchini noodles. You won't need a lot – just a handful should do it.

 

 

 

ORANGE CREAMSICLE POUND CAKE from Comfortably Domestic

 

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