Vegan dinners don’t have to be boring vegetables. This week’s recipes are full of the flavors of the Mediterranean diet. This dinner was so good I woke up thinking about it the next morning. Seriously.
This week’s organic vegetable delivery box had more shishito peppers, tomatoes, including a 2 pounder, swiss chard, spring greens, carrots, radishes, snow peas, cilantro, zucchini, crookneck squash, globe eggplant and Japanese eggplant.
The tomatoes went in salad and sandwiches. A 2-pound tomato is bigger around than a piece of bread.
The snow peas the dogs and I ate raw, the radishes were roasted.
The swiss chard went in green rice that was served with the grilled eggplant and roasted carrots, zucchini and squash.
When I saw the eggplant recipe I knew I wanted to do Mediterranean vegetarian or vegan dinners. The only difference is real cheese or vegan cheese, or no cheese on the eggplant.
A nice crusty whole grain bread and a small green salad rounded out my meal.
Roasted Radishes
The radishes were roasted whole with just olive oil and salt and pepper after I roasted the other vegetables. 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
I didn’t have any more room in the pan. And also I didn’t know what they’d taste like, so I wasn’t sure I was going to eat them.
They tasted a little like carrots. I did eat them, and now I know one way I like radishes.
What I Have On Hand Each Week
Normally I make a big batch of organic brown rice in my Instant Pot and a pan of roasted veggies so I have both on hand the rest of the week.
This week I didn’t need brown rice because the green rice with organic white rice made enough for the week.
I also do salads each week so I have a mix of greens, tomatoes, avocados, sprouts, and cucumbers as a base.
Mediterranean Diet Vegetarian and Vegan Dinners
Grilled Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette, Feta & Herbs
I loved this! So fresh tasting and the combination of mint and garlic is really good. I will be making it often. I might just grill squash this way too.
Changes I made:
I used both of my eggplants, so the Japanese eggplant needed to be cut on a long angle to make the slices thick enough to grill.
I have a more than 10-year-old Cuisinart grill that I use that may be my 2nd most used appliance next to my toaster oven. I grilled the eggplant for 4 minutes on medium high. I like that I can grill both sides at once, and I don’t have to fire up a gas or charcoal grill.
When you look at this recipe you’ll see that the vinaigrette and the shallot mixture are in 2 bowls. I just added the second part in with the first and made the whole thing a vinaigrette. I didn’t see any point in separating it.
I used goat cheese instead of feta. You can use any kind of vegan cheese you like, or none at all.
I think some toasted pine nuts would be good on this too.
And for me, there was no cilantro. 😉
Rachel’s Green Rice
This will become a go-to recipe for you. The flavor is so mild you can serve this with any type of meal.
The people I served this too had no idea there was swiss chard in there. They thought it was just parsley for the green. This means it’s a great way to sneak healthy greens into a meal.
Changes I made:
I made my rice in the Instant Pot with homemade vegetable stock.
I would recommend you never use canola or safflower oil. I used olive oil.
I had a bunch of swiss chard, so this time I used that instead of spinach.
Because it is minced in the food processor, you can follow the same instructions as using spinach.
You can’t really taste the jalapeno, so you can use 2 or if you like it spicy, leave in some seeds.
I used the white part and about halfway up the green part of the green onions/scallions.
I didn’t really taste the lime either, so don’t worry about it being too much lime flavor.
Simple Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients:
Carrots
Zucchini
Crook Neck or Summer Squash
Herbs
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Directions:
Preheat the over to 400
There are no amounts listed for the vegetables because you can use what you have, as long as they fit on the pan.
Cut all the veggies into small pieces. The key to roasting is to cut the hardest vegetables into the smallest pieces so they all get done at the same time.
I use sprigs of fresh herbs or I sprinkle with a dried herb mix like Italian or Mexican.
Roasting veggies is so simple, you can do it differently every time.
Spread the veggies on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, Silpat, or foil.
Drizzle oil over the veggies. Add herbs and mix together with your hands.
You can add some cheese if you want. Parmesan is good. Vegans can shake on some nutritional yeast when they come out of the oven.
Bake for 20 minutes and check if they are done with a fork.
Enjoy this week’s vegan dinners.
You can find last week’s recipes here.
Health and nutrition are a big passion of mine because, without your health, all the success you can achieve is meaningless. In 1981 I started seriously studying health, nutrition, and the mind/body connection. I stopped eating meat in 1990 for health reasons and compassion for animals. In 1999 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2005, the day after Christmas, I lost my mother at the age of 69 to lung cancer. Since then, helping others to regain their health by making simple changes has become a driving force in my life.
Until next time, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just comment on this post here or on Facebook.
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With over 40 years in sales and marketing, along with 45 years studying human behavior, Lynn Pierce, “The Voice of Women Empowered to Create an Ageless Body, Mind & Soul After 50” mentors soul-based entrepreneurs to reach your own personal version of success and an ageless lifestyle. Tell Lynn what the life of your dreams looks like, and she’ll create the blueprints to get you there, along with the sales system to fund it. Lynn is the author of, “Breakthrough to Success; 19 Keys to Mastering Every Area of Your Life”. Claim your free special report, “What Do You Stand For” here
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