Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative to encourage people to go without meat one day a week, to improve their health and the health of the planet. Click here to find out more and to sign up to receive a weekly email packed with terrific meatless recipes.
The movement had a big year in 2009 with more awareness and a lot more people backing the cause. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food announced on Oprah that the most effective thing people can do to cut their carbon footprint is to go meatless one day a week. Al Gore lists Meatless Monday as one of the top 12 things you can do for a better world on his blog Climate Crisis. And Paul McCartney went before the European Parliament in December and encouraged all European cities to adopt a meatless day.
I like the movement because it's idealistic but practical. It doesn't ask people to give up meat entirely or demonize them if they still enjoy a steak. It's all about incremental steps, because a lot of people taking small steps adds up.
In my opinion, the best way to encourage people to go meatless is to give them all kinds of meatless options. Foods they love and crave. Things they eat because they love the taste, not because it's good for them or they think they're "doing the right thing."
That's why I love the meatless recipes that are included in the weekly email I receive from the Meatless Monday campaign. I wanted to share one with you because I made it recently and my husband loved it so much he not only ate the leftovers for breakfast, he asked if we could have it every week. I don't want to stereotype men, but a lot of women tell me they could go meatless more often, but their husband insists on meat in all his meals.
My husband isn't exactly what I would call macho, but he definitely qualifies as male. Click here for the recipe for "Cheesy Broccoli Frittata" that he loved so much. I think the key is the potatoes and cheese, which are hearty and what I would call comfort food. I plan on using this recipe freely with all kinds of substitutions. For example, instead of the Jarlsberg cheese it calls for, I used bits of all the cheese we had that needed to be used up, including some "vegan cheese" that was okay but not as tasty as regular cheese. This frittata would work with almost any leftover vegetables as long as you have eggs, cheese, and potatoes. Oh, and it's really easy.
What are your favorite simple meatless meals? Please share them in the Comments section and I'll include them in my next Meatless Monday recipes post.
January 18, 2010
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6 comments:
I enjoy Broccoli with Penne: http://heartnsoulcooking.blogspot.com/2009/12/broccoli-with-penne.html
It is easily modified to include whatever veggies you have on hand. I tend to add lots of extra veggies like carrots and snow peas. I also like to replace the hot peeper flakes with chopped peppers and/or onions.
i agree on the men needing a lot of meat/protein - mine does. in my opinion what works for filling them up in a vegetarian way are hearty one pot dishes with beans, whole grains, sauteed greens or roasted winter root vegetables, and cheese and salsa or hot sauce for flavor.
Oh, "Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili" is one of my favorite meals to make--meatless or not--especially in the winter. I love the unexpected flavors of this recipe and it's so easy to make!
Here's the recipe:
http://lifeblessons.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweet-potato-and-black-bean-chili.html
We actually eat meatless at our house quite a bit- used to be vegetarian, but went back to eating meat about 5 years ago. Man, was it hard for me to cook that first chicken! Anyway, lots of recipes to choose from, but one of our current favorites is Black Bean Soup. I use a super simple recipe I got from another blogger and I posted about it in this post here:
http://tomatosoupcake.blogspot.com/2009/11/second-helping.html
Actually it's what we're having for dinner tonight!
I think you're right about men being less willing to give up meat--I know anecdotal evidence isn't "real" evidence, but I've never heard a man say that they could eat less meat but could never convince their wife to! My stepdad's like that. He claims meatless dishes don't fill him up, but I think it's all mindset. Beans and rice, after all, are a complete protein!
As for easy vegetarian meals, I love beans (black bean soup and black bean salsa wraps are two of my favorites--both recipes are on my blog), pizza (combinations are endless!), soups (who doesn't feel full after a hearty bowl of potato soup?) and plain old beans and rice with seasonings.
I love Meatless Mondays website. I try to hit it up at least once a week for ideals.
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