From HowStuffWorks.com
Cutting back on meat consumption seems to be all the rage these days. After all, meat is a pretty inefficient (not to mention expensive) way of getting our daily calories. By cutting out the middle man (or cow) we can get our nutrition directly from plants, rather than waiting for those plants to be processed through an animal, with all of the emissions, pollution and wasted resources that that process entails. Going vegetarian can reduce your carbon footprint by a ton. But you don’t have to become a vegan to make a difference.
Meatless Monday (cutting meat from your diet one day a week) is a very doable and beneficial step in that direction. I’ve gone meatless on Monday for the past few months and have been asked to share what I eat on those days.
Here are my Meatless Meals for today, Monday, September 22nd:
Breakfast: Looking back over the past few weeks of my meal posts I’ve noticed that most of my breakfasts occur in the car. Weekday mornings, (especially Mondays), are busy and grab and go meal ideas are a BIG help. This one is portable, filling, delicious and chocked full of nutrition. The muffin starts with a multi-grain hot cereal (containing oat bran, wheat bran, quinoa flakes, flaxseed, wheat germ and whole wheat). Nutrition, texture and flavor are bolstered with banana, carrot, apples, zucchini, raisins and walnuts. The batter takes only 10 minutes to make and about 20 mins to bake. I make a batch over the weekend, put a few in the fridge, wrap and store the rest in the freezer and pull them out on busy mornings when I want a yummy boost. We are still playing around with the recipe – when perfected with a few flavor variations – it will be posted. (Be sure you are subscribed to this blog to catch all our posts).
Snack 1: Another on the road meal. Sliced Golden Delicious with a bit of peanut butter and a few grapes.
Lunch: In the car again! Just that kind of day. Wanting to usher in fall a bit early, I felt like a bowl of soup. Panera Bread’s Low-Fat Vegetarian Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto is wonderful and only 90 calories for the cup serving. From their site:
A low-fat vegetarian soup with diced tomatoes, sliced zucchini, yellow beans, fresh Swiss chard, cauliflower, bell peppers and pearled barley in a tomato broth garnished with a dollop of nut-free basil pesto.
This was so good, I’m gonna give the CopyCat recipe for this soup a try. Will let you know how it comes out.
Snack 2: During the afternoon hours until dinner, I picked at a seed/raisin mix, and had a few pretzels and chips (swiped from our daughter).
Dinner:
I seared Portobello mushrooms, zucchini, red onion and broccoli in a cast iron skillet over high heat, finishing it with Himalayan salt, Braggs Liquid Aminos and some dry jerk seasoning. DELISH.
Balanced that warm and spicy with the cool and sweet of a quick kale mix salad with a bit of apple, pecans, shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano and a drizzle of sweet onion dressing. Couldn’t eat it all.
Do you do Meatless Mondays? If so, please share your meal ideas.