Monday, February 03, 2014

Reviewing a Week of Eating Meatless

Well, we survived a week of eating meatless! It was actually less than a week--Monday through Saturday, with a deliberate end yesterday to enjoy 'meat-filled' snacks for the Super Bowl (sausage balls. Yum). I tried several new recipes this week that we enjoyed and hope to add to our family's 'rotation'. I did not make it through all of the recipes I wanted to try, even, as a couple of meals made leftovers that we ate more than once. All in all, it was a great experience, and Nathan and I did not find ourselves missing meat at all.

Here is our meals from last week:

Monday :  Vegetarian Quinoa Chili
Colorful and delicious, the only change to this recipe I would make would be to increase the spices for some extra 'oomph'.

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday:  Curried Split Peas (Dhal) w/eggs and tortillas
This is a Bangladesh meal that N enjoyed when visiting that country. The dhal was really spicy, so the next time I will decrease the heat. The kids liked the meal, especially eating the tortillas with their fingers, though they couldn't eat much of the dhal as it was too spicy.

Thursday: Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
I added avocado to my quesadilla--yummy!

Friday: Quinoa Black Bean Burgers
This burgers come together very similarly to my falafel recipe, but they have a different taste and texture. The burgers were very good, and tasted even more delicious with avocado on the top

I had planned a different meal for Saturday but did not put it in the crockpot on time. Instead I came across this recipe and had all of the ingredients on hand. It was a completely different type of meal that what we had eaten last week, so we welcomed it. I used a fresh tomato instead of canned, and a splash of cream to thin out the sauce. It is a delicious meal that meat could be added to if desired.

Our takeaway: we don't have to eat meat. At all. There are many wonderful meat-free meals to explore, and we just scratched the surface with the recipes we used last week. The Finn family is not becoming vegetarian, but we do hope to decrease our dependence upon meat and increase our intake of other sources of protein. If nothing else, I have found several recipes that I look forward to making again in the future! I did not make all of the recipes I intended to make, so I know we will be eating meatless meals in the future. 

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