Meatless Mondays :: Recipes Part 1

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I am sure you have heard of the trend “Meatless Mondays,” and in honor of FULL DISCLOSURE, I (obviously) did not invent it, but as a nutrition professional (NDTR), I have heard much about it and I have totally jumped on the band wagon. Why? Several reasons, but mostly to SAVE:

Reasons to incorporate Meatless Mondays into your dinner repertoire:

1. Save money: we all know one of the most expensive items we put in our shopping cart is meat. As an added bonus, by replacing the meat with more high fiber and nutritious fruits and vegetables, you might save on your health care costs, too!

2. Save the environment: animals raised for food use water and fossil fuel to farm, and at a much higher rate than growing vegetables, grain, or fruit. The US consumes more meat than any other country, by almost a quadruple amount! Taking just one day a week off from meat improves our carbon footprint.

3. Save your life: OK, not exactly, but you can lose weight, reduce fat consumption, reduce cholesterol, reduce risk for diabetes and cancer, and maybe even live longer. Go to Meatlessmonday.com to see all the details.

March has four Mondays and you have plenty of time to get organized, make your list, and do the shopping. This will be a four-part series to get you started, but you can always use whatever recipes you like. All of my recipes have been kid (and picky husband) tested and my family loves them! You don’t have to only do it on Monday; pick any day that works for you. If you enjoy it, you can always add more days, too, which I do for my family often. We skip meat about three times a week, on average. One of the best things to come out of this experiment is that my four year old is more willing to taste new things, and she isn’t turning her nose up to all things green as much as before.

Meatless Monday Recipe #1

Eggplant Marinara

Ingredients:PicMonkey Collage2

1 small onion

3 carrots

1 green pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 medium eggplant

1 cup baby Portobello mushrooms

3 Roma tomatoes

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons prepared coffee

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon honey

fresh oregano

salt/pepper

red pepper flakes

3 Bay leaves

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons olive oli

Pasta of choice

Directions:

Finely chop the first four ingredients and saute’ them in olive oil on medium heat, until soft. Chop the eggplant, mushrooms, and tomatoes and add them to pan. Add spices, chicken stock, vinegar, honey, coffee, and Worcestershire Sauce; bring to a boil and turn down to simmer. I usually transfer it to a crock pot at this point and let it simmer 2-4 hours on low. Serve over pasta, and top with cheese. Enjoy!

Please let me know how this recipe (and the upcoming ones) work for your family and be sure to check back for the rest of the recipes in this series. What other recipes would you like to see here at Knoxville Moms Blog?

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