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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wilfrid Laurier chapter.

Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or looking to eat more veggies, trying to add more plant-based recipes into your cooking routine can be both fun and exhausting. With any diet, it can be common to get stuck in a rut of making the same meals for dinner, which leaves you less motivated to continue to value good cuisine. Look, we’ve all been there! Making stir fry after stir fry and macaroni after macaroni can get super monotonous. If you can relate at all, this article is for you! The following are several plant-based dinner ideas to spice up that monotony in your cooking routine: 

Fresh Spring Rolls

Fresh spring rolls are a super easy, cheap and delicious plant-based meal. Moreover, they leave room for a lot of creative input. If you’ve never made or seen fresh spring rolls, they are made by soaking rice paper, which you can buy at most grocery stores, and adding in whatever fixings you want inside. Some fun suggestions are avocado, fried tofu, mango, bean sprouts, carrots and peanut sauce.

Homemade Pita and Falafel

This idea is a little more time-consuming but is totally worth it if you’re looking to make a fun meal on the weekend and want to spend more time in the kitchen. Despite the process of kneading and rising pita dough, it is a very easy bread to make with a lot of leeway for error. Moreover, the ingredients are super simple. Homemade falafels can be a little more challenging, but again, they are very rewarding and delicious to make. However, if you’re looking to cut some time out of the kitchen, buy a falafel mix or pre-made falafels. You can also add anything to your meal, such as homemade hummus (or get store-bought), lettuce, tomato, red onion and cucumber. 

Pesto Pasta

If you’re a lover of pasta, but spaghetti and marinara sauce is getting a little tiring, try making a homemade pesto sauce. All you need is a blender, basil, olive oil and whatever additional fixing the recipe you choose needs. Pesto is not only delicious, but it is super healthy and a nice change from tomato-based sauces. However, if you are feeling a little lazy or do not have a blender, store-bought pesto is a great alternative. Remember: if you’re looking to omit the cheese, check the ingredients for parmesan before purchasing. 

BBQ Cauliflower Bites

BBQ cauliflower bites are another great option for anyone wanting to add another plant-based dinner recipe to their arsenal. This dinner idea is also super easy! Within the realm of cauliflower bites, there is also a lot of variety of flavouring that you can try out; if you’re not a huge BBQ fan, try another seasoning. 

Hopefully one of these four plant-based dinner recipes sound like a meal you may want to try out! Just remember that eating plant-based can be fun and that plants increase health and happiness!

 

Wilfrid Laurier '22

Chelsea Bradley

Wilfrid Laurier '21

Chelsea finished her undergrad with a double major in Biology and Psychology and a minor in Criminology. She loves dogs way too much and has an unhealthy obsession with notebooks and sushi. You can find her quoting memes and listening to throwbacks in her spare - okay basically all - her time. She joined Her Campus in the Fall of 2019 as an editor, acted as one of two senior editors for the Winter 2020 semester and worked alongside Rebecca as one of the Campus Correspondents for the 2020-2021 year!