According to my method of meal prep, if you are consistently creating hearty oatmeal bowls packed with fruits, nuts, seeds, and oats along with absolutely loaded salads (beans, leafy greens, dried or fresh berries, crucifers, a variety of vegetables, and some herbs and spices) as your mid-day meals, your dinners are going to finish off the rest of the serving categories fairly easily.
Note - If you’re having trouble adding fruit to your salad, or you’re just not a fan, opt to either get your fruit intake as a snack or blended together as a smoothie! I’m not a huge fruit fan so I feel your pain.
Anyways, here are some incredible examples of easy whole grain, vegetable, and bean-loaded plates to help you finish off your day well!
To see how I am simplifying the rest of my day in order to hit all the categories, read this post.
Vegan Unstuffed Red Cabbage Rolls
This plate is full of sweet and savory goodness! This dinner helps check off the following categories from the Daily Dozen. Be sure to make more or less according to what serving size you need to hit.
Cruciferous Vegetables - Red Cabbage
Vegetables - Onion
Beans - Lentils
Herbs - Parsley
Whole Grains - Brown Rice or other Whole Grain of Choice
Omit processed vegan sour cream if you are super hardcore and avoiding anything processed.
To see the recipe, click here.
Vegan Ghormeh Sabzi
If you have never tried this dish, I highly recommend it. This is a savory yet enjoyably bitter mix of herbs, lime, greens, and beans, yum!
Here are the daily dozen categories this amazing meal helps check off
Vegetables - Onions, Garlic, Spring Onions,
Greens - Spinach, Cilantro, Parsley
Spices - Turmeric
Beans - Red Kidney Beans & Optional Baked Tofu Pieces
Cruciferous - Optional - I like to use a mix of spinach and kale to hit more categories (it’s not part of the usual recipe)
Whole Grain - Brown Rice
For added protein, I like to bake some chunks of smoked tofu and add them into the mix.
Instead of serving with white rice, try serving with brown rice, quinoa, farro, or another whole grain.
Vegan Fesenjen
This dish is incredible. This dish mixes fruit, vinegar, spices, lentils, and nuts into a beautiful acidic yet savory mix. Serve on whole-grain rice to hit a huge chunk of daily dozen servings.
This dish uses pomegranate molasses, you can definitely sub this for Dr. Greger’s Date syrup.
Here are the categories this healthy dish helps you check off in the daily dozen
Beans - Lentils
Spices - Turmeric
Greens - Parsley
Vegetables - Onion
Nuts - Walnuts
Grains - Whole grain of choice
Fruit - Optional - Fresh Pomegranate
I loved the recipe I found at the Minimalist Baker, check it out here.
Thai tempeh sweet potatoes
This is my twist on an existing Dr. Greger recipe!
These are perfect for anyone that isn’t usually a sweet potato fan. They are perfectly savory, sweet, and spicy all at once. This dish is jam-packed with vegetables, beans, and herbs. This is insanely tasty and very easy to meal prep at the beginning of the week. Simply assemble when about to eat.
The categories from the Daily Dozen:
Vegetables - LOTS - Sweet Potatoe, red Thai peppers, green onion, corn, red onion, oyster mushrooms
Beans - Black beans and tempeh
Cruciferous - Collard Greens
Check out my guidelines on prepping all the materials here!
Cuban sweet potatoes picadillo
This sweet and savory dish will definitely help you end your day well. If you haven’t yet met your fruit quota, experiment with some fresh fruit pico de gallo as you eat this plate.
This dish hits the following categories:
Vegetables - Lots! - Bell pepper, onion, olives, sweet potatoes, garlic, stewed tomatoes
Beans - Chickpeas
Whole Grains - Whole grain of choice
Fruit - Optional - Fruity pico de gallo as a side
Vegan Cuban Black beans and Rice
This dish is also incredible. Full of beans, spices, herbs, whole grain rice, and vegetables. Serve with fruit-based pico de gallo if you were lacking fruits as well! This hearty mix will warm your heart, satisfy your belly, and check off quite a few boxes from your Daily Dozen.
The following categories are:
Beans - Black Beans
Vegetables - Green peppers and onions
Whole Grains - Brown rice or other grains
Fruit - Optional - If served with fruit pico de gallo
Check out the Vegan Cuban black beans and rice recipe here.
Dr. Greger dinner Recipe inspiration
I hope these recipes helped you see how easy it can be to tick off a bunch of categories with a simple dinner meal. Don’t forget to pack in a lot of grains, fresh, veggies, and fruits throughout your morning and mid-day. If you do, dinner will come together extremely easily.
I recommend looking at different international dishes to continue to get new inspiration on different ways to eat a delish mix of grains, beans, herbs, vegetables, and spices.
Good luck with all your eating goals!
