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A Fresh Approach to Eating

Suppose you are looking for some healthy menu planning ideas for vegetarian meals. In that case, I have created a plant-based eating series called Meatless May, where I will share recipes from my family’s kitchen that are easy and delicious while being meat-free!

The number of people choosing to eat plant-based foods has been growing, and there are some benefits to eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Below, you can find out more about how to Get Started on a Plant-Based Diet.

No matter what your journey looks like, I hope this month of support, ideas, and resources is helpful for you! Whether your meatless journey is temporary until the meat supply is plentiful once again, or you begin eating more meatless meals with only occasional ones with meat on the menu, or if you jump in the meat-free scene or you may already be there and just want to maintain and get some new ideas, I am here to help!

Easy Healthy Menu Planning Vegetarian for Meals

Whether you have been wanting to begin a plant-based lifestyle or you are thrown into eating less meat because it is unavailable temporarily, I am happy to share survival tools for you. So, every day, I will share recipes, menus, and product ideas on social media with a summary of some of these posts, such as a Meatless May Challenge on the Vine Ripe Nutrition blog.

If you are a meat-eater, I hope you will continue with a few of these plant-based menu ideas every week for Meatless Monday or even find that you enjoy them as much or more than some of your old “meaty favorites”!

Meatless May Calendar of Events

Every day this month there will be something new about plant-based eating and easy vegetarian recipes. We can talk about some foods that you can substitute for meat in some of your favorite recipes or just ideas how to stretch it out to last if you have just a small amount available.

And if you want to try more healthy menu planning for plant-based meals, this is a great time to challenge yourself to do it!

Here Are Some Plant-Based Eating Ideas that We Will Cover:

  • A Vegetarian Cinco De Mio Celebration on May 5
  • A Plant-based Mother’s Day Brunch
  • Weekly Meatless Monday Celebrations
  • Plant-based shopping list, menus, and recipe ideas
  • Vegetarian Barbecue for Summer Celebrations
  • Plant-based protein ideas and much more!

Let’s Get Started on your Meatless Meal Journey!

Meatless May Week One

Here are the things that we will be talking about this week for Meatless May:

  • May 1Happy May Day & Food Groups to Focus On in a Plant-Based Diet
  • MaMay 2getarian Mexican Dishes for Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
  • May 3:May 3nable Agriculture Food Choices: Let’s talk about Victory Gardens and supporting local farms.
  • May 4: HMay 4lan a Plant-Based Mother’s Day Brunch Menu (May 10)
  • MaMay 10 Vegetarian Protein Sources: Beans and Nuts with Recipes
  • May 5th: Vegetarian Protein Sources: Whole Grains
  • May 6: VegMay 6 Protein Sources: Soy and Non-Soy Meat Substitutions
Colorful Vegetable Bowl
You don’t have to have meat to have a savory meal. This vegetable bowl is full of umami!

How to Get Started with Healthy Menu Planning for Vegetarian Meals

May Day (May 1)

Let’May 1 your journey by learning more about plant-based eating. So, the first topic I will share with you is the food groups that play a critical role in a meatless diet. Here are the power players:

  • Legumes (Beans, Peas & Lentils) /Meat Substitutes
  • Nuts/Seeds
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Healthy Fats

You can find more about what they provide for our health and much more from a recent blog post that I put together https://vineripenutrition.com/create-a-plant-based-diet-you-actually-love/

The bowl picture above shows a variety of vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fruit (technically avocado, which also has lots of healthy fats).

If you read more from my blog post, Create a Plant-Based Diet You Love. You will learn more about veganism, vegetarianism, pescatarianism, and flexitarianism. So many people eat a plant-based diet that also includes:

  • Dairy
  • Eggs

And I would love to hear from you! What questions do you have about moving the focus of your meals more toward plants while eating less or no meat? Feel free to ask questions in the comments or on social media!

Chick Pea Tacos with Pickled Carrots
These tacos have the added flavor of pickled carrots! Top them with cilantro!

Vegetarian Mexican Dishes for Cinco de Mayo

May 2

Even though May 2’s celebration begins on May 5, I wanted May 5 to have this menu idea now so you can begin gathering them. However, be flexible and switch up ingredients depending on what you have at home. This is just for inspiration. You can also contact me for ideas if you have other ingredients. For instance, the avocadoes were not worth purchasing at our grocery store, and I just wasn’t in the mood to get pre-made guacamole.

The great thing about Mexican food is that it is based mainly on beans, grains, fruits, and vegetables. When it includes meat, it uses it sparingly and can easily be replaced with more plant-based ingredients.

Meatless Cinco de Mayo Menu

Check out this mouthwatering celebration with recipes below.

Orange Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad
Grilled Cauliflower & Poblano Quesadillas
Vegetarian Tacos (See lots of options below under Low Fodmap Vegetarian Taco Ideas
Festive Wild Blueberry Sangria

https://vineripenutrition.com/eating-for-that-youthful-glow

https://vineripenutrition.com/low-fodmap-vegetarian-taco-ideas

A different artist has created the new seed packet covers. Love them!
I love the new packet design of these seeds which feature different artist’s designs!

Sustainable Agriculture Food Choices

May 3: Let’s May a Time Victory Gardens and support local farms.

Many things going on with our food availability are a breakdown of our supply chain and our over-reliance on big factory farms. Nurturing our local food supply chains helps small businesses and keeps our community’s local food supplies healthy. Here are a few ways how to do it and I have to share that this topic is one that is near and dear to my heart!

Grow Your Food

I have been intrigued for many years about Victory Gardens which were gardens grown during World War II as a way for people to get the nutrition they need and also right around World War I known as Depression Gardens. Having a garden can help save money and also help supplement what you find at the grocery store.

My husband has grown a garden every year since we were married after graduating college. This year, we are growing lettuce, all sorts of greens, radishes, beets, sugar snap peas, and carrots, and in the next week or so after the last frost, we are planting tomatoes, eggplant, a wide variety of peppers, okra, green beans, and cucumbers.

If you don’t have a yard and still want to grow a few things, here is a great post on container gardens.https://brownthumbmama.com/5-best-container-vegetables/

Spring Berrys & Blooms

Supporting Local Farmers

We also signed up for a weekly Community Supported Agriculture produce box with Ten Mile Farm http://www.tenmilefarm-nc.com/TenMileFarm/Ten_Mile_Farm.html. Between growing our food and supplementing it with a weekly box from a local farmer, we have the freshest and tastiest produce you can get and lots of veggies to make our plant-based meals.

If you are interested in connecting with a local farmer to pick up a weekly produce box, check out https://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Heirloom Seed Companies

Heirloom seeds are open-pollinated and often have unique characteristics and stories. They are often passed down year after year. I love growing these because they preserve our plant genetic diversity and are more flavorful and often nutritious.

I am sharing two heirloom seed companies that I love. One where I live now and one where I grew up!

Sow True Seed: Asheville, NC

https://sowtrueseed.com/

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Mansfield, MO

How to Plan a Plant-Based Mother’s Day Brunch Menu

May 4: Start thiMay four about your plant-based celebration for Mom on May 10.

Here is the May 10 menu idea and some recipes:

May 4: How to plan 4t-Based Mother’s Day Brunch Menu (May 10)

May 4: Based Mother’s Day Brunch Menu (May 10)

Vegetarian Mother May 10 Day Brunch

  • Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten-free recipe available)
  • Asparagus Benedict
  • Tempeh Pecan Sausage
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
  • Lavender Blueberry Lemonade

Other Tasty Brunch Menu Options

  • Colorful Tempeh Breakfast Scramble
  • Wild Blueberry Huevos Rancheros
  • Strawberry Mint Lime Fizz
  • Lavender Peach Melba Mini Cheesecakes

Tempeh Bacon Sandwich

https://vineripenutrition.com/strawberry-mint-lime-fizz

Plant-Based Protein Options for Vegetarian Meals

To kick off the beginning of next week, we will be talking about foods rich in plant-based protein.

May 5: We will feature legumes and nuts.
May 6: Let’s discuss tMay 6nefits whole grains
May 7: It will be time to discuss the controversial topic of soy foods.

I will also be sharing more topics coming up for Meatless May. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn more about all the fun ways that you can eat more plant-based foods in your diet.

As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I love helping people like you eat foods that keep you healthy and feel your best. In addition to Meatless May, I have created a plant-based program to help dive further to help with healthy menu planning for vegetarian meals and additional plant-based eating options. You can find out more about this https://vineripenutrition.com/a-fresh-approach-to-plant-based-eating/ I look forward to sharing ideas all month long, too!

Meatless May poster