Meatless Mondays (and maybe Thursdays)

We've been trying (not all that successfully) to do meatless Mondays for a while. But now, I'm really getting serious. I bought loads of things that I can prepare as meatless meals and I swear I'm not throwing them out this time.

Tonight I want to make stuffed Portobello mushrooms. I've stuffed them with spinach, feta, etc. in the past, but since we've been having meals with that flavor profile lately, I want to do something different.

I saw something where they stuffed portobellos with potatoes, pesto and some veggies. I think I'm going to try doing something like that tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Next time I'm going to make faro with roasted veggies...probably in a balsamic dressing.

What are your favorite 'meatless Monday' meals?

Dane is a "meat and potato" eater so vegetarian meals are difficult with him.

But when it's just me I'm fine without meat. My biggest problem is I don't do much with cheese....only melted mozzarella on my list of what I can get down. But I do like quinoa with any assortment of vegetables I have on hand.

Another big one would be eggs...a vege omelette or frittata -yum!

I also like to grill an assortment of vegetables, green and yellow zucchini being one of my standards.

If Dane isn't at my table ....guess what he won't eat?....I'll grill some eggplant, brushed with evoo and sprinkled with dried basil and salt, grilled to perfection, then a slice of fresh mozzarella and a half of a grilled Roma tomato....OMG...heaven......

And you don't miss the meat at all.

Well, I made the stuffed Portobello today, but didn't take a photo. Here's what I did. I cooked some quinoa in chicken broth. I ground up some button mushrooms, green onions, red pepper with salt and pepper and added the quinos.

I grilled the portobellos on an indoor grill after I cleaned them and rubbed them with olive oil. I grilled them until they were just about done.

Then I filled the mushrooms with the quinoa mixture and topped with a slice of pepper jack cheese and heated them on the grill again. They were really good, although next time I'll use swiss or provolone. Even DH, who came home famished, loved them (although he turned his nose up when I told him it was meatless Monday.)

I'll tweak the recipe and make it again, and provide photos. It was definitely a keeper.

Jana, did you spoon out the gills on the portabellas? I think they are more appetizing when all the black is removed.

bethk wrote:Jana, did you spoon out the gills on the portabellas? I think they are more appetizing when all the black is removed.

Yes. That's what I meant when I said I cleaned them. The gills and the stem were both removed. Yuck to both of them.

I wish I could do meatless days too.. we are meat eater, it's hard for me to survive without eating meat

Imelda HL wrote:I wish I could do meatless days too.. we are meat eater, it's hard for me to survive without eating meat

We are, too, but we're trying hard to change things. Now I didn't say that I went meatless at lunch I guess I should.

I find it easier to go meatless than carb-less....shame on me!

I can do without the meat a couple times a week if Dane's not home but then I get tired of the "meaty" vegetables, like mushrooms and I resort back to meat.

Tonight's going to be another one...not on purpose though. I am making creamy tomato basil soup with a salad. It's hot here and I just don't feel like having meat. The soup can either be eaten hot or cold so that works out well.

Now I have to run out and get the ingredients to make it.

I'm trying here.. for starter we try to eat meat only once a day

Well, for me the choice would be bacon at breakfast every day!

as many of you already know, I'm meatless everyday ...

I'll share some recipes and pics in here from time to time ... may not always be on a Monday or Thursday, though!!

Since I've been gone quite a while, thought I'd make up for lost time by sharing a coupla recipes with y'all that I've already made and have photos for ...

In March of 2012, our local newspaper was planning a feature article on artichokes ... they were looking for submissions from home cooks that showed unusual ways of preparing the thorny thistles ... I submitted this recipe, and was a big WINNER (along with two other folks), which meant my recipe and photo were published, and I had bragging rights ... shrug ... ya take what ya can get, right?  

This is my own original recipe I developed, drawing inspiration from bits and pieces of several different recipes.


MUZIC'S ARTICHOKE VEGGIE PAELLA

   1/4 cup  of olive oil
   5 cloves minced garlic
   ½ tsp cayenne pepper
   ¼ teaspoon saffron powder*, dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water
   2 bay leaves
   1 large yellow onion, diced
   ½ fennel bulb, cut into strips
   4 cups vegetable broth
   2 cups brown rice ( I used medium grain brown jasmine – if you use white rice instead, cut the rice cooking time in half from 40 minutes to 20 minutes)
   1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (could sub one can diced tomatoes)
   1 small (or ½ 1 large) red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
   1 small (or ½ 1 large) green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
   1 small (or ½ 1 large) yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
   1 cup baby lima beans (par cook for 5 minutes, set aside)
   about 2 cups artichoke hearts, cooked and quartered (5 medium sized chokes is what I cooked, or I guess you could use frozen artichoke hearts)
   black olives
   2 tbsp roughly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley


Put the saffron in the warm water, set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet (or paella pan, if you've got one,) and saute the onion and garlic and fennel, until the onion is tender and translucent.

At the same time, heat the broth in a separate saucepan until simmering.

Pour the rice into the skillet and sauté for about 3 minutes, or until the rice is beginning to toast a bit. Add the bell peppers, tomatoes, and cayenne, and cook for a further 3 minutes, or until rice is looking nicely toasted. Stir in the saffron with its soaking water, mixing it in very well. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Add the simmering vegetable broth and bay leaves, and cook covered over medium low heat for 40 minutes or until almost tender and almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the lima beans, cook for another five minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed.

Just before it is done, added the cooked artichoke hearts (sprinkled with a few drops of lemon juice), black olives, and chopped parsley, arranged over the rice in an attractive pattern. Continue cooking for a few minutes until all is heated through. Serve warm directly from the dish.



*If you are using saffron stems instead of powder, rub 2 -3 stems between your fingertips, and then let them dissolve in a tablespoon of warm water

Yes, it’s fairly labor intensive, but not difficult, just a lot of slice and dice. The end flavor is worth it.

It’s a good dish to make on a day when it’s cold outside, and you have all day to hang inside and make the house warm and good smelling!

Okay, here's another one ... a local deli/café style restaurant ran a contest looking for submissions for healthy, inexpensive family meals ... the winner (me)  got a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant, but what's even cooler is they featured my recipe as a special in their restaurant (for only one day,) too!!  I got a little thrill outta that!    
Hubby is pretty much a die-hard meat eater, and he LOVES this stuff!!

This recipe was previously posted in the old cooking.com forums, so I hope you'll excuse me for reposting it here:


Here’s a link to the original recipe, this lady is credited with inventing the term “Snobby  Joes",

http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/snobby-joes/

but there are many other versions out there, here’s my spin on it:

MUZIC'S SNOBBY JOES

1 cup uncooked green or brown lentils (don’t use red, they cook too quickly and will turn to mush)

4 cups water

1 TBs olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

1 green pepper, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBs chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 TBs miso

1 TBs wet mustard (I use a brown stoneground, but you can use yellow or whatever you like)

1 TBs sriracha (or your favorite hot sauce)


1. Put the lentils and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, cook for 20 minutes. Drain, set aside after cooking.


2. In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion and pepper in the oil for about 7 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and saute another minute. Add the cooked lentils, chili powder, and salt and mix. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, miso and mustard and stir until thoroughly mixed. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, or until thoroughly heated through.

Serve on your favorite toasted bun or bread, with fixin’s of your choice.

We like this open faced, on a toasted, buttered slice of Beckmann’s French Whole Wheat, or Trader Joe's Multi-Grain British Muffins with sliced avocado and romaine.



This photo is the serving platter, btw  - with TWO servings of Snobby Joe's, two servings of asparagus, and TWO servings of tater tots.  (lest anyone think that doesn't really look too healthy! )

I've made a variation of your lentils.  I made some subs to suit my taste but it was very good.  I had picked up a bag of French green lentils at Trader Joes and you posted your recipe at just the right time for me.  I ended up using a sweet red pepper because the green gives me more intestinal distress, had to eliminate the garlic for the same reason.  I even purchased the miso specifically for the dish and ended up using it only that one time...  I told Dane it was a "bean" dish, ok, so I stretched the truth a little bit.  He had his as a side with a burger and I had a marinated and grilled portabella with mine.

I also tried a method I saw on Barefoot Contessa where she waits to add half the lentils so some are more well done and some have more texture, and it's something I like to do with lentils and something like split peas.

Very good...

Oh, and I'm fairly certain I cooked it on a weekend, not a Monday.  LOL

We're still doing meatless meals a few days a week, although when I came back on Monday and my freezer broke (in my new fridge, no less), I had to cook all the meat in it, so meatless this week....not gonna happen.

I do meatless meals myself. I eat lots of salads.However I am big meat eater,love my beef,pork.  

I also eat lots of just veggie meals,like spag squash,most other squash.

Not a fan of high carb grains.Rare for me to eat pastas of any kind.

stir frys are big with me too.Love all those veggies.

Last May a few of us tried to cut way back on carbs...not easy, to say the least. But I will say after two weeks of no carbs the cravings finally went away somewhat.

But once in a while I just HAD to have one piece of toast with my eggs, but I tried to be good by only having one slice and I cut the crusts off, telling myself it was prettier that way. In essence, I cut off about 1/4 of the bread I would have normally have eaten.

But here's a meal that is meatless and yet very satisfying....I played around with braised kale and found if I don't overcooked it I can freeze the leftovers and then reheat and top with a couple soft boiled eggs. The warm egg yolks are almost like a hollandaise sauce feel when they mix with the greens. I did this meal a number of times when I was cooking for just myself in the villa last spring.

I have tried everything to get my hubby to enjoy kale. He likes it overcooked and grey and I can't eat it that way. I loved it, though, and think he's gonna have to get used to eating it properly cooked and green!!!

not a fan of uncooked yolks myself, though I know many love 'em ...


I am very careful about carbs b/c I am diabetic - I only eat whole grains, and in moderation ...

there is ONE pasta I have found, Barilla Plus, which is a multi-grain pasta with added protein, fiber and omega 3's - it's made with semolina (coarse durum wheat), blended with oats, chickpea flour, flaxseed, spelt and barley - high fiber, and complex carbohydrates. It's actually pretty good for you.

I prefer the farfalle variety ...
http://www.barilla.com/live_better_plus

it is a little "toothier" than white pastas, but I like it. Much better flavor, imo, than whole wheat pasta, (which can be very sweet)

The ingredients are:

Semolina (Wheat), Grain and legume Flour blend (Grain and Legume Flours [lentil, chickpea, barley, spelt, oat], ground flaxseed, egg whites, oat fibre), durum flour, niacin, iron (ferrous sulfate), thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid

A whole meal of nothing but veg is not satisfying to me. I need a little bit of SENSIBLE carbs to pad it out.

Jana, try cooking it in ham stock for him. Oh, and add just a tsp. of brown sugar - it makes a huge difference. Dane didn't realize I had kale, he thought it was southern greens. I also like to use kale in my soups instead of spinach because it holds its texture so much better, even when you freeze it.

I will make a stock from ham hocks, also, but it's almost too salty for me. Sometimes I'll cut it with 50/50 ham hock stock and sodium free boxed chicken stock.

JanaAZ wrote:I have tried everything to get my hubby to enjoy kale.  He likes it overcooked and grey and I can't eat it that way.  I loved it, though, and think he's gonna have to get used to eating it  properly cooked and green!!!

Kale can be so very fibrous and chewy, it's tough for some folks to eat ... it gets stuck in my teeth a lot, and I find I have to chew and chew ...

A friend of mine gave me a good tip regarding prepping kale ... roughly chop it, then take it by handfuls, and thoroughly "massage it" ... throw the "massaged" kale in a big bowl with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, let sit for 20 minutes or so, then prepare in your usual manner ...

this helps break down the fibers, and makes it easier to chew and to digest!

Muzicgirl, when you're looking around you'll see pics of a faux quiche I made with a spaghetti squash crust. I just put the pics in Barb's spinach quiche breakfast thread this morning. Barb was the one to alert me to low carb (yet starchy) vegetables like the spaghetti squash and butternut squash. Who'd a thunk you could have squash on a low/no carb diet?

But, back to the spaghetti squash crust....just pressed baked squash into a buttered dish and baked until it browned and dried out. I had to blot a bunch of liquid about half way through the browning process but once baked it made a good quiche crust. Fun with food - I love experimenting with that stuff.

bethk wrote:Muzicgirl, when you're looking around you'll see pics of a faux quiche I made with a spaghetti squash crust.  I just put the pics in Barb's spinach quiche breakfast thread this morning.  Barb was the one to alert me to low carb (yet starchy) vegetables like the spaghetti squash and butternut squash.  Who'd a thunk you could have squash on a low/no carb diet?

But, back to the spaghetti squash crust....just pressed baked squash into a buttered dish and baked until it browned and dried out.  I had to blot a bunch of liquid about half way through the browning process but once baked it made a good quiche crust.  Fun with food - I love experimenting with that stuff.

shredding yams make a tasty, healthy crust, too

bethk wrote:Jana, try cooking it in ham stock for him.  Oh, and add just a tsp. of brown sugar - it makes a huge difference.  Dane didn't realize I had kale, he thought it was southern greens.  I also like to use kale in my soups instead of spinach because it holds its texture so much better, even when you freeze it.  

I will make a stock from ham hocks, also, but it's almost too salty for me.  Sometimes I'll cut it with 50/50 ham hock stock and sodium free boxed chicken stock.  

I made it with bacon and sautéed the mushrooms in bacon fat. He still wanted it cooked to death. I can hide kale in soups, though, and he doesn't have a problem with it. I don't think he knows its kale.