Dinner Recipes

Browse through healthy and delicious dinner recipes that are inspired by local ingredients, and are always simple to make. Compiled by a Registered Dietitian these recipes are plant-based and mostly gluten-free.

Some of my favourite dinner recipes include this Chanterelle Barley Risotto, this Lentil Roasted Vegetable Buddha Bowl and this Simple Peanut Satay Indonesian Style.

Best Lentil Salad Recipe with a Mustard Vinaigrette

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Need a quick and easy lentil salad recipe that everyone will love? This Lentil Salad Recipe with a Mustard Vinaigrette is a winner and uses pantry staple ingredients that are always on hand.

As the days become longer and warmer, life seems to speed up. There is less time for all-consuming meal preparation, and we find ourselves gravitating towards quick and easy meals. Not wanting to compromise on taste, having a few key go-to recipes up our sleeves for these busy days is a must. This salad is all about the dressing, which beautifully marinades the lentils creating a simple lentil salad recipe that everyone will love. This salad dressing recipe was also featured on my The ULTIMATE Guide On How To Make Salad Dressings.

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Vegan Ranch Dressing with Hemp Hearts

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This simple and delicious Vegan Ranch Dressing with Hemp is packed full of nutrition and taste. With only five ingredients it is an easy way to dress up a salad, and also tastes great on Buddha bowls or as a healthy dip for vegetables.

Hemp hearts are currently a hot topic and for good reason. They are an easy protein source, packed full of essential fatty acids, locally grown, and super versatile. I love hemp so much I’ve shared my favourite milk alternative Hemp Milk, and this yummy nutrient-dense snack Hemp and Sunflower Seed Pâté in the past. This Vegan Ranch Dressing Recipe with Hemp is my new favourite way to incorporate hemp into my day. The creaminess of the hemp lends itself to this dressing, and I love it with shredded kale, beets, and carrots on top of fluffy quinoa. Yum!
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The ULTIMATE Guide On How To Make Salad Dressing

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Use this guide to make your own salad dressing at home. Homemade dressings can be just as delicious as they are simple and are a great way to turn an average salad into something special. I’ve also included tips on how to maximize the nutrition in dressings, as well as flavour variations for the best tasting dressing at home.

I love converting salad skeptics, all it really takes is a delicious dressing! Let’s face it, there is nothing exciting about a runny and bland dressing. The trick to a delicious salad dressing is getting the ratio of creamy fats and tart vinegar or citrus just right, and don’t forget the healthy and aromatic additions such as garlic, mustard or ginger. See below for my top tips on how to make the best salad dressing!

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Baked Tofu Kale Quinoa Salad with Glory Bowl Dressing

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This healthy Baked Tofu Kale Quinoa Salad with Glory Bowl Dressing recipe is the perfect all-seasons meal, and it is so simple to make. The savoury and delicious Glory Bowl Dressing is adapted from the notorious Whitewater Cooks cookbook and is a definite crowd-pleaser.

Every week in the spring through to late fall, we receive our weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable box. No matter what the month is, fresh kale, beets and carrots fill the bulk of our fridge, and every Monday night we look forward to this healthy Baked Tofu Kale Quinoa Salad Recipe with Glory Bowl Dressing. If you have never heard of the notorious Glory Bowl dressing, you are in for a treat. The perfect combination of savoury, creamy salty goodness that brings any salad bowl recipe to life.

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Easy Moroccan Couscous Salad with Raisins

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This easy Moroccan Couscous Salad with Raisins recipe is one of my go-to crowd-pleasers. It is so simple to make, which is surprising given its complexity in flavour. A little orange zest, some fresh herbs and balancing of sweet, salty and citrus can go a long way!

This is one of my favourite autumn dishes. It makes a great side dish to accompany a big meal gathering, or it can also be had as a meal on its own with the addition of some chickpeas for protein. This recipe was one of the first recipes to appear on my website back in 2013 and was inspired by my cooking teacher(s) – the 1st season of Master Chef Australia. A variation of this recipe appeared in the winner, Julie Goodwin’s cookbook. I love how simple this Morrocan Couscous Salad is to make, despite the complexity in flavour!

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Easy Curry Lentil Soup with Kale

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A simple mid-week meal that can be easily adapted for the seasons, or for whatever produce is lurking in your fridge crisper. Lentils offer the balance of low glycemic index carbohydrate with a good amount of protein to help sustain you.

These smokey August days have got me thinking about the end of summer, and nothing symbolises the end of summer more than a steaming bowl of hearty soup. Lentil soup, for me, is the silver lining to the end of the long days and warm weather and as the days get shorter the compromise of warming lentil soup makes the transition into autumn that much easier. This easy curry lentil soup is my go-to soup, and really can be adapted for any season. For a summer soup, use up your zucchini, kale and carrots and come winter think about substituting the zucchini for butternut squash, yam or sweet potato.

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Chanterelle Barley Risotto with Mung Beans

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This week I am doing the Welfare Challenge to bring awareness to the inadequacy of welfare rates in BC. Here in our beautiful province, a person on welfare receives only $610 per month. When this is broken down and basic accommodation, phone, and personal hygiene are accounted for, only $18 per week is left for food. World Food Day is just around the corner on October 16th, making this a good time for us to take on the challenge and experience how difficult living off a strict food budget can be. I’m only on Day 2 and can only imagine the stress and weight that someone trying to feed themselves or a family may feel. I am fortunate enough to have the background and education to be able to make healthy and smart food choices on a budget and already I feel better equipped to help those that may not be. With the help of some foraging, this Chanterelle Barley Risotto with Kale and Mung Beans can be prepared for just under $0.45 per serving.
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Baked Tempeh Asian Cabbage Salad with Ginger Sesame Dressing

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Wow, where did summer go?! I’ve been holding on to the last of it with my smoothie bowls and salads, and here’s my last ditch effort at preserving summer. What makes this salad special is that Napa cabbage is the main star. It’s crunchy and delicious when shredded, and is a great calcium source that often gets overshadowed by calcium-rich kale and bok choy. This Baked Tempeh Asian Cabbage Salad with Ginger Sesame Dressing is simple to prepare and uses fermented Apple Cider Vinegar as a base (also see Beet Apple and Kale Salad with Walnuts and Dill) which is something we could all eat a little bit more of. I hope you love this salad as much as I do. Here’s to finishing dinner while the suns still up. …

High Protein Zucchini Lasagna with Cottage Cheese

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I came up with this recipe with my roommate at the time was experimenting with cutting out lentils. With no members of the legume family in our diets, vegetarian sources of protein were limited. We had more than our fair share of Summer Tofu Salad Bowl and Vegetable Packed Crustless Quiche with Feta but there are only so many egg and tofu dishes you can stomach in a week. So I turned to protein-rich cottage cheese to help square out our vegetarian dinners. Using our high supply of zucchini from our weekly veggie box and my motivation to get some protein versatility into our diets, I came up with this High Protein Zucchini Lasagna with Cottage Cheese. Not only is this vegetarian dish high in protein, it is also great for those looking for a low carbohydrate meal and I have told that it complies with those that are following a keto vegetarian diet, or paleo vegetarian diet. And the best part is… it’s easy!
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Simple Vegetable Crustless Quiche with Feta

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This simple vegetable crustless quiche is a great way to use up leftover vegetables in a healthy and high protein meal. It is a great meal for kids as the grating of vegetables when combined with the eggs and cheese is a sneaky way to get a whole lot of veggies in!

The abundance of zucchini is a guarantee that summer is in full swing. Creative uses for zucchini have taken over my Pinterest news feed – ranging from stuffed, to chips, to zucchini noodles. People are mad about this summer veg but no need to get too fancy, zucchini can produce some quick and easy dishes as well. This Simple Vegetable Packed Crustless Quiche with Feta recipe is exactly that. No stove stop required combined with 2 1/2 servings of vegetables per serve and a whole lot of protein!
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Vegan Buddha Bowl with Lentils and a Miso Tahini Dressing

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This Vegan Buddha Bowl with Lentils and a Miso Tahini Dressing is the perfect mid-week meal. An easy throw-together meal that uses whatever leftover vegetables you have on hand, topped with brown lentils and my favourite homemade dressing.

Who said that cold-season vegetables have to be boring. Salads have taken the sideline and roasted vegetable dishes are taking main-stage during these colder months. I love the combination of roasted vegetables with plant-based protein, smothered in a creamy homemade dressing for a simple mid-week meal. This Vegan Buddha Bowl with Lentils and a Miso Tahini Dressing is a great versatile dish and an easy way to use up any leftover produce in your fridge.
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Easy Peanut Sauce Indonesian Style

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If you have ever been to Indonesia you will know how delicious their food is. Gado Gado is an Indonesian style peanut sauce dish, served with boiled vegetables, a boiled egg, and tempeh on rice. In attempts to recreate it, I am sharing this easy peanut sauce recipe that was shared with me by one of my best friends who loves peanut butter more than anyone I know.

We all have them, our go-to-meals when we need to create something out of what seems like nothing. My go-to is usually this Japanese Noodle Soup with Miso which is my favourite way to use up leftover vegetables, but for my friend Sami hers is peanut sauce! This Easy Peanut Sauce recipe goes great with so many dishes – in the summer I love putting it on a Baked Tofu Quinoa Salad Bowl, in the cooler months I like it on this classic Indonesian style dish ‘Gado Gado’!
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Dinner Recipes

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