Meat Free Monday Reviews!

Happy Meatless Monday! Today I thought I would give you a couple reviews of some fast (read: frozen) meals I've tried recently. I've kept it reletavely simple today for food- an apple for breakfast (I was kinds hurting this morning, so this was all I could handle), some edemame with tamari (the uber-good soy sauce) and leftover spinach pizza from my favorite Italian place, and So Delicious Coconut Milk yogurt in chocolate for a snack. Dinner is "baked" gnocci with pesto (recipe to follow) and maybe some salad.

I'm trying not to eat so much processed/frozen dinners, prefering to save the processing for when I really need it like packaged tempeh, seitan, and Tofurky deli slices. However, while cruising the aisles at Central Market the other day when the word "NEW!" caught my eye. Morningstar Farms (my favorite breakfast sausages by the way) now have TV dinners- Sweet & Sour Chik'n and Lasagna. I am a huge sweet & sour fan so I decided to try it. The sauce is good, as are the chik'n bites, but there are not enough of them. The box promised chunks of pineapple, carrots, and peppers. I think mine had three small pieces of pineapple (Okay by me. I don't really like pineapple) and was over running with carrots and peppers. Mostly, what I had was peppers and rice with carrots and a bit of chik'n. Maybe it's because I haven't had a TV dinner in a while, but I also thought it was a bit salty. Overall, I'd give it 3 stars- Perfect for a quick meal when you're out of time, but not good enough to make it into regular rotation. This is also good for anyone just starting out on a more veggie friendly path.
My favorite new discovery is the Naan pizza by Tandoor Chef. So far, I've only found them at Whole Foods but they are to die! Your choices are Margharita, Roasted Eggplant , Cilantro Pesto, and Spinach & Paneer (which I had). I am in love with paneer, a soft Indian cheese, but have never found a good "instant" version. I don't know how one pizza would feed two people because I would have cut someone if they tried to take the other half! It is delicious and flavorful and I want one right now. I can't wait to try out the other versions (Minus the eggplant. I'm just not there yet). 5 stars! Everyone will enjoy.

What are you eating this Meatless Monday?

Another Meatless Monday: Now with movies!

How was your Meat Free Monday? I may have partaken a bit too much in the ol' Irish cure on Sunday to have a really good one (seems my bronchitis is back), but I still managed to eat pretty well and surprisingly easy. As my daily diet becomes more and more vegetarian I have to worry less and less about what I'll make on Monday. It's the other days of the week that are still giving me trouble! Thankfully, I've got a couple new cookbooks I'm reading and hope to share my insights with you soon. Breakfast was a bit lame with some So Delicious Coconut Milk yogurt and a bag of pretzels. Lunch was much better- Boca burger on whole wheat toast with shredded cabbage, onions, and BBQ; served with pickles and some sauteed green beans. I love green beans!

Last night was my 3rd film 101 class/movie club. Every month we meet up to watch a classic or neo-classic film picked by me. The goal is to educate and entertain my friends one some great films that everyone should see. Previously we watched "Raging Bull" and "All About Eve". Tonight, I threw out all the stops and screened my favorite film of all time "Vivre sa Vie" by Jean-Luc Godard. You can read all about our movie nights here or by clicking on 'WWQTW' in the tags section of The Art of Throwing Stones.

What was even more exciting was that all the food we brought to nosh was vegetarian. We didn't even plan it that way! I (attempted) to make Goat Cheese with Sun dried Tomato Profiteroles from Giada on the Food Network. They were delicious, but somehow my profiteroles did rise the way they should. Instead, they came out looking more like biscuits (hence the picture above is from The Food Network's site) but still tasted great! Also at our spread was a veggie tray with homemade dip, pita chips with hummus or spinach artichoke dip, salad and bread sticks from Olive Garden (genius! I hope people forget to make things more often if it means OG salad- surely the best thing on the menu), and Oreo cheesecake cups. Didn't help my healthy eating much, but at least I didn't have to worry about what I was going to eat. Setting these movie nights on Meatless Monday is certainly a risk, but all my friends have been really supportive.

On a separate note:

**An Opera Singer in the Kitchen is having a great giveaway right now. Check out her site for how to enter to win a really cool Sunbeam mixer plus Naturally Nora products to use it on! She also has a lot of really cool vegan recipes that I can't wait to try. Definitely one of my new favorite food blogs! ***

Meat Free Monday!

I've been paying for bread like a sucker! Did you know Whole Foods has a frequent bread card? (Worst name for a card ever). They do, and after you buy 5 loaves of their 365 or Whole Foods brand bread you get the 6th for free. For free!!!! I'm almost positive I've purchased at least 3 loaves there already and I got nothing to show for it except a possibly cleaner colon (I don't mean that to be gross, just you know, whole grains guys!).

It's been a pretty successful Meatless Monday so far. Last night I made Oatmeal (Steel Cut Oatmeal!- sounds gnarly) for the first time ever. Seriously. I'm not sure why, but oatmeal always skeeved me out and I never ate it as a child. I love cream of wheat though, how ironic. Anyway, it was another impulse buy while at Whole Foods (I really should be banned) and a recommendation from the "Becoming Vegetarian" handbook. What's great is you can make a big batch and keep it in the fridge til you're ready to use. Another tip: be sure to set your timer or at the very least check what time it is when you start cooking. I'm a genius and totally forgot to do this until I had already stirred the oats a couple times. I ended up over cooking them just slightly for re-heating but they were perfect last night around 1 AM. I also used a 3:1 ratio of water to coconut milk instead of all water or all milk. Now, all I need is something called blackstrap molasses and I'm good to go!

Lunch was supposed to be a salad made at home but of course I went to Whole Foods to get bread (and join the bread gang) and ended up buying some prepared foods too. I had some delicious roast garlic and tomato soup, smoked mozzarella pasta salad, Asian cabbage slaw, and French lentils. I have no idea what made them French, but there were carrots.

If I'm lucky, dinner tonight will be pizza with olive oil, roasted red and yellow peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, goat cheese, and mozzarella. Yum!

What did you do for Meatless Monday?

(I seriously need a better camera phone)

Meat Free Monday

Today's Meat Free Monday is brought to you by meat free Easter. Since I knew I was going to my parents Monday, I decided to dedicate Easter to the veggie cause! Easter is always a tough food time for me as ham is traditionally served and I haven't eaten pork in at least 10 years. The whole thing was a lot easier than I imagined.

We brunched at Ozona Grill since they have a beautiful patio and extensive Make Your Own Bloody Mary bar. They also have several vegetarian options on the brunch menu. After my second bloody mary (complete with horseradish and picked green beans- I love it spicy), I ordered the Eggs Benedict-O; a veggie version of the classic with sauteed spinach and mushrooms taking the play of the bacon. I love brunch, but it's always hard for me to find something to order. I refuse to order something that I make at home, so french toast, pancakes, even migas, were out. Eggs Benedict is something I never order- it's too rich and to "hammy". This option was perfect and delicious.

Our next stop was Barcadia, a place I usually couldn't pay people to go! Now, it seems as if my friends are in on the fun, and who wouldn't be? Classic arcade games, giant Jenga and Connect Four, plus great food and an extensive draft beer list. I was so full from brunch that I didn't have much more than a couple bits of my friends fries and some hummus. The only negative thing I can say about the hummus is to avoid if you like flavor. It's pretty mild (bland) stuff in desperate need of roasted garlic or red peppers. After stealing a few bites of that, I knew it was time to go home and eat some of the good stuff.

Dinner was roasted garlic hummus (I can't remember the brand, but it's made locally in Texas) with an Ezekiel pita pocket and some green bean casserole. It was so good and I was so exhausted I feel asleep on the couch. When I woke up, it had only been an hour but I listened to my body and headed to bed at 10 o'clock!

All in all, it was a wonderful Easter and I am thankful for all my friends who spent it with me.

PS- Recently, I wrote about a vegan cheese by Daiya. It is currently difficult to find in all markets and must be ordered. The other day, I received an email from them saying that they were rolling out to every Whole Foods in the country this spring! I can't believe I cannot find the email to thank her personally, but thank you! Look for it soon.

Meat Free Monday

[side note: I don't know why Blogger isn't working properly, but if the recipe doesn't show up let me know and I'll post it somewhere else.]

Since February, I have participated in Meat Free Monday (aka Meatless Monday) which was founded by the McCartney's (yes, of Beatles fame) to support environmental causes. From their website:

"Meat Free Monday is an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption. Many people are unaware that livestock production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than the entire transport sector."

Forgoing meat every Monday turned out to be a lot hard than I anticipated, mostly because I often forgot it was Monday and had to have a meatless Tuesday instead. Whenever you choose to participate, the edict is clear- skipping meat one day a week will lessen pollution, better your own health, and bring attention to animal rights/causes. So easy! Meat Free Monday's website not only contains information and links to environmental causes but also delicious recipes. The U.S. version of MFM also has an email newsletter full of recipe ideas they will send you every Monday. You can sign up for it here.

Today's newsletter featured the cutest idea ever and I just have to share it with you: Green Eggs No Ham. I am totally making this for dinner tonight; I've even already made pesto so I'm ready to go!


My menu for today is:
Breakfast- Cantaloupe, tea
Lunch- Roasted sweet potatoes, salad
Dinner- Green Eggs No Ham, green beans, ??

On a sad note, I was so excited about the avocado's I purchased at Whole Foods Friday. All I could think about all day was avocado. Guacomole. Avocado Ranch dressing. Avocado salad.