Meatless Mondays

I suppose I've been living under a rock because I'm just now hearing about Meatless Mondays. If you're not familiar with it, Meatless Mondays is a campaign to introduce one vegetarian day to your diet a week - every week - for several reasons. One is financial - families can save around $1000 a year just by going meatless one day a week. Another is healthful - you can lose weight and gain energy by replacing meat with fiberful fruits and veggies, plus whole grains, nuts, seeds and good-for-you oils. There's the environmental reason too - supporting your local farmers or co-ops will better your hometown community and lessen the footprint we each leave on the earth.

All of that is to say, I'm willing to try it. I am an omnivore (like most humans). I enjoy a nice meaty steak just as much as that giant salad, but I fear I cannot live on veggies alone. I do think, however, that I can leave meat off the menu one day a week and be the better for it. My husband, though, may not see the benefits behind it. But that's another story.

While researching Meatless Mondays, I came across lots of recipes (on the Meatless Mondays website, of course, as well as others) that I'd really like to try. Nothing too outlandish; baby steps are best I think. This past Monday I went for only seafood proteins (since my husband is still a 7-days-a-week meateater) so it wasn't completely meatless, but I tried. Breakfast was easy. I just ate a granola bar and some fruit before work. I had tuna salad on a slice of wheat bread, loaded with veggies, for lunch and dinner was a great spinach salad (with veggies, sliced egg, toasted almonds and sesame seeds and this fantastic warm vinegarette - which I'll post about later) topped with shrimp that I just tossed in some cornstarch and crisped up in a nonstick pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil. All in all, really filling, super satisfying and honestly delicious. All those veggies kept me full longer and I managed to curb my 9 PM snack cravings :o).

So, while Monday #1 was just shy of completely meatless, I think it went well and I'm willing to give it a go next week too. Perhaps this time I'll leave the meat off altogether and the husband won't even notice.

Try going meatless one day a week and see how creative you can get! Happy Eating!