Hi! Brooke here…
Whilst I’m technically not a vegetarian I eat very little meat. Our meals heavily revolve around vegetarian meals or easily tweaked meals so the family still gets their meat intake without having to make two completely different meals.
With a stocked vegetable crisper and weekend freezer prep, I can always knock up something on the fly quickly and some of my favourites are below. If you would like to see a week’s worth of meals prepped in 5 hours, I’ve written a detailed step by step on my website wholehomeau.com (home of the best Heavy Duty Thermomix Travel Bag 😉 )
MONDAY
Thai Red Curry packed with vegetables.
Serve with: Thai Basil Rice
Low carb tip: serve with cauli rice or on cabbage noodles
Bulk it tip: Make the sauce then move to stovetop and pack it with all kinds of vegies. I generally add anything green (beans, broccoli, snow peas, Asian greens, zucchini), carrots, capsicum, mushrooms and cauliflower.
Prep ahead tip: During weekend prep make your pastes and freeze in portions. Grab out a portion in the morning and pop it in the fridge to defrost.
TUESDAY
The Healthy Mix: Healthy Carbonara Sauce
Whilst the sauce is cooking pan fry mushrooms, beans, asparagus or whatever takes your fancy and serve on zoodles or pasta.
If cauliflowers are out of season you can quite easily use frozen cauliflower for this dish.
This sauce is a great dairy free / vegan alternative to white sauce.
It can be used to make an epic vegetarian lasagne and can also be used to make the creamy garlic sauce or the creamy mustard sauce on the website.
Prep ahead tip: The sauce can be made in advance and frozen in portions.
WEDNESDAY
LCHF Ricotta Gnocchi with Basil Butter Sauce
You don’t need to follow a LCHF diet to enjoy this gnocchi. It’s incredible simple and flavoursome. Sometimes the ricotta can be a bit wet. If you find the gnocchi melts a little, let it cool and roll then give them a quick pan fry.
Bulk it tip: Serve with steamed or pan fried vegetables.
Prep ahead tip: During weekend prep make gnocchi and freeze raw in 2 portions. Grab out a portion in the morning and pop it in the fridge to defrost.
Budget Tip: You can buy bulk nuts from Costco at a great price. I’ve put together the ultimate Costco shopping guide if you are interested in what I buy from Costco 🙂
Favourite tweak: subbing sage in for the basil
THURSDAY
The creamy cauliflower soup features often in our house (when cauliflowers aren’t super expensive that is). It’s a tasty soup that all enjoy that is quick to prep.
I like to omit the chicken and pan fry up some mushrooms. You could also crumble some fried haloumi or choice of cheese on top.
Prep ahead tip: The soup can be made in advance and frozen in portions.
If you need to cater for both veg and meat eater either cook the chicken separately then shred or using baking paper under the chicken to avoid liquid going in the soup.
FRIDAY
Omit the chicken and steam green beans, pumpkin, load with extra spinach, snow peas.
Prep ahead tip: During weekend prep make your pesto and freeze in portions.
If you need to cater for both veg and meat eater either cook the chicken separately then shred or using baking paper under the chicken to avoid liquid going in the vegetables.
Okay so I totally lied but I can’t cut this from the list so make it a top 6.
Serve them as a side or a whole meal.
Prep ahead tip: During weekend make up to cook in oven/airfryer stage and freeze. Also okay to keep overnight in the fridge. Aioli use roasted garlic to extend fridge life.
and then