Hubby and I have been on a diet since January. We have also been on a budget diet. With this in view, we had promised each other to plan and eat at least one meatless main meal each week.
For some of you, this would be no problem...in our house, it was sort of daunting at first! Hubby is a meat and potatoes and meat kind of guy and I tend that way as well.
Here are some things we discovered worked for us and made the process simpler too.
1. Italian spaghetti. We subbed a bag of frozen mixed veggies for the meat. I have also used lentils instead of ground beef, but hubby liked the veggies better.
2. Melt sandwiches. We like for a change from the ordinary diet food to make tomato melts, open faced on french bread...we go light on the cheese and serve these with a big salad. makes a nice, easy supper those evenings we get home late.
3. Any sort of veggie soup, also served with salad. We use tomato juice as a base instead of meat broth.
4. Cut up veggies and toast sticks or pitas with salsa, hummus and other home-made dips. This is one of my favorites, we do this on movie night, when we are eating in front of the TV.
These are just some ideas that have eased us in to healthier eating and I hope my ideas spur your imagination as well. If you have other really yummy meatless meal ideas, please leave them here for me!
Fore more great tips for you kitchen, go to: http://tammysrecipes.com
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Meatless meals the painless way
Posted by AmyG at 9:40 AM
Labels: Frugal Living, Kitchen Life
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5 comments:
Thanks for your ideas.
I just wrote out a long elaborate comment and it got deleted! So here's what I wrote in a nutshell:
Have you tried soy "meat"? It can be really good! I recommend LightLife's Smart Ground. It's really good! But if that's not available in your area you can try pasta dishes like a primavera dish with tons of veggies lightly stirfried over thin spaghetti (don't forget the olive oil!).
Or homemade meatless pizza. We like to make ours with a pesto base, artichoke hearts, black olives, onions, roasted bell peppers (purchased in jars), mushrooms and feta cheese, to just name a few of our toppings. The artichocke hearts really make it feel more substantial than just eating veggies (although we love that too) and marries perfectly with the pesto base and feta cheese. It's one of our favorites.
Hope that helps!
Great ideas! I like to use black beans and make bean patties. do you make your own hummus? I'd love to find a good tried and true hummus recipe that's mild and creamy.
thanks MiMi,
Here is the Hummus recipe I use I posted it a few months ago. I am nevere very exact when I make recipes up like this, I just monkey around until we like it...
http://apilgrimstillinprogress.blogspot.com/2008/01/hummus.html
Great post!
We are trying to lower fat, and stay on a budget too.
Sometimes I use say..chicken and I take what I normally would use for one meal and use it for 2 or 3, using it more for flavor than substance. I pack the rest of the dish or soup with grated veggies.
I made a chicken and lentil 'goulash' this way.
Here's a meatless recipe you might would like: http://momsfrugal.blogspot.com/search/label/MEATLESS
-Donna-
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