Raise your hand if Memorial Day totally snuck up on you… Pick me, pick me!! May is almost over?? Columbus is feeling an entire week in the 80’s?! What is even going on?? To celebrate, I threw together this list of 30 Vegan Memorial Day Recipes!

Barbecue season is the best season. Amirigtt? There’s just nothing like firing up the grill, popping the top on a cold one, and sharing laughs outdoors with friends and family. But sometimes, being vegan can make cookouts… Challenging. I solve this by always bringing at least one dish that I know I can eat. It means I don’t starve, and people are always impressed when they learn it’s animal product-free. Total win-win!

Below are 30 vegan recipes perfect for Memorial Day, or any summer cookout for that matter! Make them all season long and impress your friends with delicious eats!

Appetizers

Easy Vegan Cheese Dip from the Vegan 8

Greek Hummus Dip (just leave off the feta!)

Green Goddess Hummus

Traditional Guacamole from The Healthy Maven

Cheezy Kale Chips from Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes

Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken

 

Mains

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers from Veggie Primer

BBQ Beer Grilled Tofu

Barbequed Seitan “Ribs” from Cook Eat Delicious

Best-Ever Beet Burger (based off Northstar’s!) from The Kitchn

Mushroom Veggie Burger

Vegan Tempeh Sloppy Joes from Clean Food Dirty Girl

Curried Avocado Chickpea Salad Sliders from Love and Lemons

 

Sides

3 Bean Salad from Budget Bytes

Roasted Potato and Corn Salad

Rainbow Veggie Kabobs from Carrie Elle

Vegan Barbeque Baked Beans from A Virtual Vegan

Grilled Corn on the Cob from Simply Recipes

Summer Pasta Salad

Greek Orzo Pasta Salad from Hummusapien

Foil Packet Potatoes

Creamy Coleslaw from Detoxinista

Grilled Zucchini and Leek Salad

Summer Corn, Avocado, & Black Bean Salad from Produce on Parade

 

Desserts + Drinks

Patriotic Lemon Cream Bar

Berry Patriotic Chia Seed Pudding from Tasting Page

Watermelon Pink Drink

Stars Shortbread Cookies from Vegan in the Freezer

Piña Colada Popsicles from Minimalist Baker

Raspberry Chia Seed Jam Oat Crumble Bars from Oh She Glows

Did Tuesday feel like Thursday to anyone else?? I’m having one of those weeks… Let’s close our eyes, dream of yummy noms, and talk about What I Ate Wednesday!

One of these PERFECTLY ripe bananas was the best way to start the day. I just love those spotty little guys. Then off to the gym.

Slurped down this simple smoothie of frozen bananas, some Mocha-flavored Vega protein, and lotsa spinach for breakfast. Deelish.

 

This week at work, my office is running an Operation Feed campaign. All week, we are holding activities and accepting donations to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. All the money we raise will go toward feeding fellow Central Ohioans who can’t put enough food on their table. This morning, we went through an activity where we were given only a few dollars, and had to “buy” our breakfast. It was a real challenge to get enough to constitute a full breakfast. My table pooled our money and used the “food pantry” to supplement and came up with something reasonable. But it wasn’t a no-brainer like the way a lot of us experience breakfast and meals in general.

What astounded me most about this experience was how expensive fresh fruit was. They were the highest priced by a long shot. Bagels, granola bars, yogurt were all cheaper. It’s eye opening and speaks volumes to the health issues among our community’s poorest populations. I feel so incredibly grateful to be able to eat a kale-matcha-latee-spirulina-moondust-superfood-smoothie every day. I encourage you to head over to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s website to learn more about hunger in Central Ohio and how you can make a difference.

After the demonstrations, in embarrassingly privileged white girl form, I scooped up some extra berries to take back to my desk for a snack…

It was too stunning of a day to not get outside, so my coworker and I took a stroll to Stauf’s for some iced coffee. After that, I ate my lunch of a leftover cauliflower and spinach salad. It was meh.

My mouth was on fiyaaa from the spicy cauliflower so I munched on carrots and celery until it felt better they were gone.

Why do I always forget to take a picture of my apple? I had an apple. You get it.

Dinner was SOO yummy- but I also forgot to take a picture of it. Lucky for you, it’s coming up on the blog soon so you get a sneak preview of the pics! It’s soba noodles with lots of yummy green mix ins and a creamy green sauce. I’d love name suggestions because I’m totally blocked… Leave a comment!!

After dinner and a massage [ahh so good], I munched on a few bites of this vegan scone my mom grabbed me at Whole Foods this weekend. Pretty yummy but super not healthy. Oh well. Balance right?!

Chew your food with an extra dash of appreciation today, and have a fantastic week!

I’m holding down the fort this week while my boo thang is traveling for business. And what I mean by that is I didn’t cook once today. Oops. I’m just less motivated when it’s just me! What I Ate Wednesday is a whole lot of eating out this week.

Our bananas were waaaay too green for my liking, so I had a bite of this Builders bar I found in the pantry. It was too sweet for that early in the morning but it got me out the door and moving.

Since we were out of town this weekend, I don’t have any smoothie bags prepped so I threw some frozen blueberries, spinach, and Vega protein in my bullet blender. Easy peezy breakfast on the go.

I snacked on an apple, which I completely forgot to snap a pic of. You remember what an apple looks like, right? Ok good.

Lunch was a delicious Curry Bowl from Angry Baker, one of my fav veg-friendly restaurants in Columbus. I am addicted to their BBQ bowl but I decided to switch it up and get something different. I was not disappointed!

Snacked on some carrot sticks before yoga.

Since I can’t go a week without tacos, I hit up The Kitchen for their weekly Taco Tuesday with a friend. I had a lentil and roasted radish taco (YUM) and braised turnips and greens (also YUM). I also had a delightful little raspberry drink that totally sang summer.

After another drink and some good conversation, I came home and promptly dozed off on the couch. Have a wonderful rest of the week!