Hi Friends!
Some strange, yet wonderful things have been happening around The Bean household lately. The hubby’s been saying things like, “We need more hummus” and “It tastes pretty good” (with regards to tofu) and “This is the best thing I’ve ever made” (about something that has no meat in it).
Let me back up a little bit. Two weekends ago, I was working in the family room on my computer and the hubby came into the kitchen. He said, “Do you want to not eat meat for the next 6 months?” Not gonna lie, I may have had a mini heart attack! Who was this guy and what had he done with my hubby?
If you’re a long-time reader, you know that I quit eating meat for 3 months last year and I don’t eat a lot of it to begin with. My hubby, on the other hand, loves his meat- especially steak (which he rarely gets because I don’t eat red meat). As shocked as I was, I immediately wanted to jump on board with this challenge. I said, “Sure! But six months might be a bit of an aggressive goal….maybe we try one month and see how it goes?”
I already had salmon thawing in the fridge so I used that up to make these Thai Peanut Salmon Burgers and the next day we were off to the races. We’re still eating eggs and drinking milk…but no meat!
So what have we been eating for dinner this past week?
Let’s recap!
Wednesday: Spaghetti with Veggie and Lentil Bolognese
Thursday: Flatbread Veggie Pizzas
Friday: Spicy Bean & Mushroom Curry with Rice and TJ’s Naan
Saturday: BBQ Tofu Tacos with Corn & Fiesta Quinoa (quinoa mixed with garlic, onion, red pepper, spinach, mushrooms, corn and black beans)
Sunday: Portobello and Fried Egg Sandwiches (sorry, can’t find my picture of that one!)
Monday: Soba Noodle and Veggie Bowls
Tuesday: Loaded Sweet Potatoes (topped with Fiesta Quinoa for me and a mixture of brown rice, black beans, onion, red peppers, tomato, cheese, cumin and cholula for him)
Wednesday: Leftovers!
For lunch we’ve been kind of obsessed with veggie wraps. Usually they include a mix of homemade Roasted Garlic hummus, baby spinach, carrots, red peppers, portobello mushrooms, avocado and fresh mozzerella cheese. We’ve also turned these into veggie quesadillas. Fresh fruit with Greek yogurt is always a lunchtime staple and I’ve really been loving my fiesta quinoa.
Everything we’ve had so far has been great! I’m so proud of my hubby for doing this challenge! I’m working on trying to get him to write a guest post about what he thought of the whole thing. Whaddya think? Would you guys like that?
Now here’s where you come in. The first week of a challenge is always the easiest. Give me your best veggie ideas (meals, lunches, snacks…whatever you got) to help us get through the next three weeks!
Here are some things that are already on my list:
Veggies with roasted red pepper sauce
Mediterranean chef salad
Miso soup with sweet potato dumplings
Veggie potstickers
Portobello philly cheese steak sandwiches
Portobello parmesan
Black bean burgers
Taco salad (rice & beans)
Veggie grilled cheese
Barley and vegetable soup
Frittata
Pesto pasta
Veggie spring rolls
Veggie potato lasagna
Veggie fried rice stuffed mushrooms
Veggie pot pies
Indian- not sure what yet
Got any good recipes for any of those?!
Wish us luck 🙂
Enjoy your veggies!
–Lindsay–
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That’s awesome!! It’s so neat that your husband took the first initiative in wanting to go veg! ….I caught the link to your blog post over on facebook– good to catch up on it! Hope your summer is going well!
You go girl! Love your list. My husband and I talk about doing this. Sometimes I feel totally game and other times I’m just not interested. Can’t wait to see how it goes for both of you!
I totally love this! We usually go a week at a time and allow seafood. You should try gazpacho with your veggie grilled cheese! And maybe some veggie fritters or corn fritters!
Good luck! With all the crazy good recipes under you belt already, I know you’ll do great!
That is awesome!!! I am interested to see what it does to your monthly grocery bill (i bet it goes down!) with two veggies on board!
wow, awesome! my hubby gets nervous when i make a meatless dinner. haha!
here’s the frittata recipe i use- it’s quickly becoming a favorite. http://thepajamachef.com/2011/08/04/kale-frittata-for-two/
i’ve also made the spicy black bean burgers from eat live run- those are great!
SO fun! You are off to a really great start. 🙂
How exciting! I don’t think Vishnu would ever ask to go veggie 🙁
You can’t go wrong with veggie burgers and veggie lasagna! 🙂
Wow! That’s awesome! Definitely have your husband write up a post of his thoughts at the end. I go meatless a lot of days but my husband isn’t as much of a fan, so I’m excited that with some good recipes and some time, maybe there’s hope that we can both skip the meat once in a while.
Fun challenge! Josh would go nuts if I asked him to go meatless! I have a few wonderful veg recipes on my recipe page
Yay yay yay for going veggie!!! I love it 🙂 Almost every one of my recipes is vegetarian. I hope you find lots of new things to try in your meatless world for the next month!
I am really pumped about your challenge! It looks like you guys have been eating much better than my first month as a vegetarian. I have a couple suggestions for you…
1) You can buy super cheap falafel mix @ Mediterranean Food Imports on High Street next to Hound Dogs. You just mix it with water and fry or bake, sooo good in wraps or over quinoa! They also sell about 8 different kinds of feta cheese by the pound, at insanely low prices (their standard feta is the best though). AND if you are into lentils & couscous, I suggest their french lentils (they are small and black, sooo much better than the brown Kroger variety, tip: plain yogurt goes really well on top of lentils instead of sour cream.) Also – try their whole wheat or Israeli couscous. We buy olives and eggplant there as well. The whole store is a vegetarian’s paradise, I’m incredibly sad to leave it behind when I move!
2) Zucchini can be bad-ass when done right. When we were in San Diego, they sliced it long ways into 4ths like pickle spears and breaded and fried it. Then they put the spears into soft tacos with cabbage and other fresh ingredients -best tacos of all time! They were vegan but more popular than any of the meat tacos @ that restaurant.
awesome! thanks for the info. i can’t wait to check out that store this weekend.
We’ve recently done a Greek salad, minus the lettuce, plus baked tofu (http://breadandcheeseplease.blogspot.com/2011/07/greek-tofu-toss-to-atone-for-fun-summer.html); and vegan stuffed shells that were seriously amazing (http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/stuffed-shells/). My vegetarian Indian food standbys are saag paneer (sometimes with tofu instead of paneer), chana masala, and dals (one I adapt: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/red-lentil-dal-with-charred-onions-10000001662903/). best of luck with veggie month!
oooh all of those sound great! thanks for the links 🙂