Meatless Monday (a day late)

Sorry this is a day late, this was going to be posted yesterday but I got a bit excited about my first blog award so had to blog about that first!!

I have been following Tamara over at Mad Boastings of a Cheapskate Mom since she was a Blog of Note and look forward to reading her daily posts. She was also one of my first followers who didn't actually know me personally! One thing that struck me as interesting on her blog was that she has made every Monday, Meatless Monday and drops meat from her diet on that day.

I was intrigued and as a bit of a cook and foodie I thought it would be a great way to challenge myself in the kitchen. And then like the sieve that my brain is it went straight out of my head. (this happens quite a lot!)

That is until I purchased the launch issue of Prevention Australia Magazine. Right there on page 52 was a half page article on the Meatless Monday initiative. Here's what it said:

"One meatless day per week may reduce your saturated fat intake by 15 per cent, which can mean improved wight and heart health, report researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of public Health in the United States. The Meatless Monday initiative claims to save about 70,000,000 litres of water in the US each week (producing meat requires huge amounts of water). Try these part-time-vegetarian strategies (once a week or more) from dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner:

1. TRADE MEAT FOR HEARTY LEGUMES Substitute 3/4 cup of cooked beans, peas or lentils for each 100g serve of meat in recipes; try it in pasta dishes, soups and casseroles.



2. REDIRECT SAVOURY CRAVINGS The Japanese call that rich flavour you crave umami, which means 'savoury'. Umami is common in meat and fish , but you can also find it in aged cheeses, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes and walnuts.



3. REINVENT OLD FAVES Exchange the meat in your burger for a black-bean patty, replace diced chicken with cubed tofu and substitute edamame (soybeans in their pods; at Asian-food stores) for seafood in a stir fry"

You can go to the Meatless Monday website which is in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States HERE. They have loads of recipes and articles so pop over to find out more.

So with that in mind I declared that Mondays, including Grumpy, Middle and Happy, be Meatless Mondays in our household.

OK. Hubby was none too pleased. Monday's are his last day at home before flying back to work and usually (if I am not too grumpy) I will cook him up whatever he wants. After 2 weeks of mine site food he loves his home cooked meals so this was going to be a tough sell.

I think he thought I wasn't going to go through with it (sucker) but then saw those dreaded ingredients come home in the shopping bag.

I thought I would start with something that I knew Hubby would like, that Grotbag would not turn his nose up at and something I have cooked before. So yesterday's Meatless Monday recipe was 'Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni'. Not the most original vegetarian meal but a start. I served it with garlic bread and side salad.

Hubby went back for more and Grotbag ate all his so it couldn't be that bad!

Now, I would have a photo for you and I did actually take a few but to tell you the truth, although in person it looked lovely, it didn't look that good in the photos so I won't post the photo.

So now I have to think of something for next weeks meal. I am thinking Vegetable Frittata because I know Grotbag will love it. Meatless Monday is certainly going to be a challenge for me to come up with new and exciting meals every week but I am up for the challenge!

So let me know if you have any good Meatless recipes. What do you think of the Meatless Monday initiative? Do you think it is something your household could adopt?