As a college student living in an apartment, I make dinner every night. I really enjoy cooking, but it was getting a little repetitive. So I decided to switch things up and make only vegetarian dinners for the week.
Dinner Time
MONDAY:
I started my week cooking up one of my favorite vegetables, zucchini. I am a big zucchini fan because of how versatile the vegetable can be. I cut the zucchini into half-moons. I then tossed them in some olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and some red chili flakes and then sauteed them.
When those were finished I cooked the Trader Joes cauliflower gnocchi. When the gnocchi was to my liking, I added the zucchini back in and topped it with a blush sauce. (I accidentally added way too much sauce.)
Tuesday:
Tuesday night, my sister came over for dinner, and I made us one of our favorite dishes that our dad makes us at home. A black bean and sweet potato tostada.
For this dish, I started with the black beans. I sauteed onions and garlic in a saucepan. Once those were cooked down, I added in a can of drained black beans and topped it off with vegetable broth and a little bit of salsa and let that simmer down.
Next, I roasted the sweet potatoes. First, I cut them into wedges, and then I seasoned them with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I then roasted them in the oven for about an hour.
Then, I made a little salad to go on top, which was arugula dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and some chili lime seasoning blend from Trader Joes. To make the tostada I put a whole wheat tortilla in the oven to get crispy. Then I added the beans and sweet potatoes and topped it with the arugula.
Wednesday:
It was not even two days later, and I was already back to zucchini. For dinner, on Wednesday, I had one of my favorite dinners that I made all the time this summer, which is zoodles!
Over the summer, I made zoodles once a week; and that has not changed now that I am at school. For this dinner, I spiralized one medium-sized zucchini. Next, I cut up a head of broccoli and roasted it in the oven; with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and some red chili flakes. While the broccoli was cooking, I put a couple of pieces of pre breaded eggplant rounds on a tray to bake. When the eggplant was almost finished, I added some sauce and cheese and stacked the pieces on top of each other. Next, I sauteed the zucchini with a little bit of olive oil and some fresh minced garlic. To the zoodles, I added a little bit of Rao's Marinara sauce and some fresh heirloom cherry tomatoes and then topped it with some shaved parmesan, and I put a little balsamic glaze on the broccoli.
Thursday:
On Thursdays, I am in a Farm to Fork cooking class until 8:30, so I am not home to cook. On this particular Thursday, the class went on a trip to the farm where our produce is grown. When I got home from the field trip, it was late, and I was super hungry, so I made a garbage salad, and just threw everything onto a plate. On my salad, I added mixed greens, quinoa, carrots, edamame, some roasted sweet potatoes from earlier in the week, some heirloom cherry tomatoes, and then I topped it with a veggie burger from Trader Joes. I then dressed my salad with some balsamic glaze and some balsamic vinaigrette.
Friday was pizza night in my apartment. For my pizza, I used the Trader Joes broccoli and kale pizza crust for my base. I topped mine with a mixture of blush sauce and Rao's marinara sauce. Next, I added some sauteed spinach, which I sauteed myself with a little olive oil and fresh garlic and I also added some meatless meatballs which I crumbled on top. I topped it off with fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese and then into the oven it went. I then finished the pizza with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
Saturday:
Saturday was a super low key day, so I did not really feel like making anything too special, so I had a small salad and then ravioli. For the salad, I just used arugula, which I dressed with olive oil salt pepper and garlic powder. I then finished it with balsamic glaze and some shaved parmesan.
For the second half of my dinner, I made mini spinach and cheese ravioli. I boiled them and then topped them with some blush sauce and called it a night.
Sunday:
AND back to zucchini, told you I have a thing for zucchini. For dinner on this night, I made zoodles, but this time I added extra vegetables to them. I started by sauteeing some spinach, and then I added the Trader Joes Green Vegetable foursome, which includes zucchini, green beans, broccoli, and peas. After that was all cooked, I set it to the side and sauteed my zoodles and then threw the vegetables back in and topped it with some Rao's sauce. On the side, I had some eggplant stacks.
Overall this week went really well, and I honestly did not mind eating vegetarian meals at all. I also really enjoyed thinking of fun vegetarian dinner recipes to make during the week. I think I will be making a lot more vegetarian dinners in the near future.