@MeatlessMondays - a year later

This week marks my anniversary following the Meatless Monday movement!

All in all, it's been a neat endeavor that has greatly opened my palate. I can see a difference in my grocery bill and have often found myself going meatless on other days of the week just because I'm craving the dish.

My boyfriend has joined the movement too, much to my excitement. This semester has us apart on Monday nights and last week he grabbed his dinner at a fast food place. When I asked what he ordered - out of idle curiosity - and discovered it was vegetarian, it brought a huge smile to my face. It was proof that he believes in the movement too and isn't just doing it because someone else is cooking the food and giving it to him.

Here are some meals that have come into our world thanks to Meatless Monday:

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 cup refried black beans, with lime
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c onions
1 poblano pepper
1 whole roasted, peeled chile
2 sticks string cheese
4 multi-grain wraps

Baked sweet potato at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until soft
Let cool. While potatoes cool, saute onions and peppers in olive oil until onions are caramelized and soft.
Peel sweet potatoes and mix with refried black beans. 
Put sweet potato mix on wrap, add onion mix and top with string cheese. Roll wrap unto burrito, place on pan and heat in over for 15 minutes, or grill in panini maker (as pictured). 
Number of Servings: 4
295 calories, 13 g fiber, 18g protein

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili

1 medium onion, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 c. fire roasted red peppers, chopped
4 c vegetable broth
4 c black beans, cooked and drained
1 can pumpkin, no salt
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp parsley

Saute onions and yellow pepper.
In crockpot combine all ingredients.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours, until heated throughout. Enjoy!
Makes 10 servings.

128 calories, 8 g fiber, 7 g protein

Grilled Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant
1 Eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
Spray with cooking spray, lightly salt and let sit while prepping the grill. Place on grill for 5-8 minutes each side until soft and amazing. Top with chopped peppers or your salsa of choice.

PB&J Grahamwiches
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 Tsp jam/jelly
2 sheets graham cracker
Make like peanut better jelly sandwich. Tastes better after sitting a few hours because the jelly side gets a bit soggy and it melts in your mouth.

I've also learned a lot about eating out on Mondays and ways to avoid meat at restaurants. I particularly love sushi for Meatless Mondays, but when in a bind you might find me at Taco Bell because of their myriad of veggie-friendly dishes.

If I had to criticize the Meatless Monday movement about anything, I have two things to say.

First, the recipes offered on the official Meatless Monday site tend to be amazingly complicated and expensive. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that turns people off when they first think about going meatless one day a week.

Second, they don't talk enough about ways to meet protein needs sans meat. Someone like me needs at least 60 grams of protein a day - even on days I go meatless. There are a lot of ways to do it, I just wish the Meatless Monday organizers would talk more about it. Sure, you can miss it one day a week and make up for your protein needs later, but doesn't that defeat the purpose? Also, if someone chooses to go meatless more than once a week they need to know how to do it safely.

Lunch today is mashed avocado with chopped peanuts spread on a tortilla and cooked quesadilla style. It's another fave lunch I've discovered thanks to Meatless Monday and writing about it has my mouth watering!

Click here to read my first post about this awesome movement! I don't celebrate the end of August as my anniversary date because I fumbled a bit at the start. But since Sept. 20, 2010, I've consistently NOT eaten meat on Mondays.

I'm scrappy

Vegetable broth. A staple in most Meatless Monday meals - and pretty darn expensive for what you're getting. Seriously. Why on earth have I been paying $3.50 for this stuff when it's so easy to make myself - FOR NOTHING?!?

Since starting my budgeting kick - you know, since I'm so broke - I just hate wasting food and throwing away things I can use again later. (Remember saving the cranberry water for crandied orange peel?) So, when a friend mentioned making her own vegetable broth all I could think was "Why aren't I doing that?"

I've been collecting the scraps from my cooking endeavors - you know, the leaves off the outside of the lettuce head, the butts of the onions, spinach stems, the veins from my peppers - and yesterday I put em all in a big pot, added water and garlic and set it to simmer for an hour. Then, I strained it and put it in jars.

Now I have 48 ounces of vegetable broth - that didn't cost a dime!!! How's that for being scrappy with the budget?

I didn't need any vegetable broth for the Roasted Cauliflower and Penne I made for dinner tonight, but I'm ready for the next batch of vegetable soup or veggie chili. Bring it on, Monday, my pocketbook and I are ready for you.

Because it's Monday ... and you know what that means!

Have you checked out Meatless Monday yet? I blogged about it awhile back, but I thought it was time for a reminder.

I've been following the Meatless Monday Movement for a few months now and I LOVE the creativity it has brought to my meal plans, the varied foods I've eaten because of it, and the dent it's made in my pocketbook (did I just say pocketbook?). Some of the recipes I got from Meatless Monday are now a regular on my meal plans (hello Sweet Potato Burritos - minus all that cheese, of course!)

I don't just go meatless on Mondays, I've found protein-happy, meatless meals creeping into other days each week as well. This week for instance, sees me making Sweet Potato Pierogies for dinner tonight (so excited!), Eggs and Lentils for dinner tomorrow, and Mushroom Fajitas for dinner Thursday. Seriously, my grocery bill for this week was $15 LESS than usual. Just sayin'

Here is an easy recipe to kickstart your Meatless Monday Meal plan:

Avocadillas
1 medium whole wheat tortilla
1/2 avocado
1 Tbsp chopped peanuts

Scoop avocado from skin and mash in bowl. Mix in peanuts.
Spread avocado mash on one half tortilla and fold other half to close.

Spray frying pan with non-stick spray and lightly toast the tortilla, flipping as needed. Enjoy!

Servings Per Recipe:1; Calories: 297.0; Total Fat: 18.1 g; Cholesterol: 0.0 mg; Sodium: 405.9 mg; Total Carbs: 32.5 g; Dietary Fiber: 10.4 g; Protein: 6.7 g


This recipe has been an evolving creation for me. The first time I made it, I used cheese and called it a quesadilla. Sure, it was tasty, but I decided the cheese wasn't necessary and just added more fat. Sometimes, however, I add a tablespoon of bacon bits (you can find vegetarian options) and they add a nice little flavor zap.

Bad Natalie!

I ate meat last night.

Even though it was Meatless Monday and I was doing really well for breakfast and lunch, I ate meat for dinner. I feel bad, but in my defense there was nothing meatless on the menu!

But it gets worse ...

I ate fried meat last night.

And it was goooood.

Now, in my defense, Your Honors, I was having a VERY RARE dinner with my brother. He picked the place because he is visiting my area for work and was short on time. Sure, there are wonderful food options in Kansas City (right, Renee??), but since he's staying out in the boonies, we were very limited in our options.

I didn't want to make a big deal out of what I "could" eat, so I just picked what I wanted to eat - within reason. Apparently, that was the Fried Pork Tenderloin Sandwich (not the exact picture above, but close; chosen because I couldn't handle chicken after this past weekend and pork tenderloin is pretty tame in the calorie department). I ordered steamed veggies instead of fries, but I also drank beer and we shared dessert. Overall, the meal (and I only ate half of the sandwich and a third of the meat!) was about 900 calories. YIKES.

That follows a weekend of lots of eatin' while Renee was in town - including a night of barbecue chicken from FOUR different bbq places in Kansas City and about 7 beers Saturday night. Not to mention the Bloody Mary buffet Sunday. At least we walked about 10 miles throughout the weekend.

So, you can imagine my concerns going into Weight Day tomorrow. I mean, I decided to shake up my calorie plan a bit, but not that much!!!

But still, it was all very, very tasty and included a lot of choices that mitigated the damages in a way I probably wouldn't have done a year ago. Just sayin'.

Meatless Monday victory!

I planned it out this time and am proud to announce a successful Meatless Monday.

Seriously, we are talking 99.99% perfect food day. I hit my target for calories, carbs, and PROTEIN - I only missed my target fat range by one gram. Yay!

I'm particularly proud of hitting the protein range. Back when I was a vegetarian I doubt I got anywhere near the recommended 60- 120 grams. But not today.

For lunch I enjoyed a yummy egg salad sandwich (borderline vegetarian, but they are from cage-free organic-fed, local chickens!) and string cheese (Sargento has a 50 calorie string cheese, just so you know) and dinner featured hummus soup and grilled eggplant (my tomato topping featured Balsamic vinegar, however). Did I mention the hummus soup is a recipe I made up? Well you'll hear more about that later this week.

And yes, the eggplant was as good as it looks.

I'm already looking into recipes for next week. Don't these Cajun Chili Cups look wonderful? Since it's New Orlean vs. SF for Monday Night Football they really make a nice theme food. Add a little San Francisco treat and you've almost got dinner party food!

Meatless Mondays??

I know a couple of you follow a vegetarian lifestyle, but since a two-year stint in high school, I have been a pretty dedicated carnivore.

Back in my vegetarian days, I did it all wrong. I was terrible at getting the right amount of protein and tended to use it as an excuse for "extra cheese."

Nowadays, I am much more educated about nutrition and still think that vegetarianism just isn't for me. But then I read about Meatless Mondays and got to thinking about lessening the amount of meat I eat. Sure, I'm not big on the red meats (though I did have steak for dinner last night) and rarely have more than 4 ounces of meat a day anyway, but I've been interested in beans and other forms of protein so much, that the idea of Meatless Monday intrigues me.

From MeatlessMonday.com:

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. We provide the information and recipes you need to start each week with healthy, environmentally friendly meat-free alternatives. Our goal is to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet.

Presidents Wilson, Truman and Roosevelt galvanized the nation with voluntary meatless days during both world wars. Our intention is to revitalize this American tradition. We’re spearheading a broad-based, grassroots movement that spans all borders and demographic groups. By cutting out meat once a week, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and lead the world in the race to reduce climate change.

Since Kevin had to work late today, I decided today would be the day I started. I was sitting on a bench during lunch this afternoon planning the food I would cook tonight (Spinach Dal with lentils and Brussel sprouts!), when I realized I was stabbing a piece of leftover steak onto my fork. Oops. So, next Monday will be the day ...

I made the spinach dal and sprouts anyway, and will plan much better next Monday, but until then I'm obsessed with this idea: Grilled avocado with salsa. YUM! How beautiful is that??? And MeatlessMonday.com has many more equally appetizing recipes.

Hooray for Monday!