More Vegetarian Meals!

So as you know, Sean's meatless month came to an end on Oct 2nd.  He lasted exactly 1 day.  I can't really blame him though. He's been eating meat his whole life.  It's not an easy thing to give up cold turkey (pun intended).  That's the thing with most diets, people expect to change lifelong habits over night.  In my mind, that's just not realistic and it's why most diets fail.  Being healthy is a journey.  It's something you have to work on and choose every day, every meal, every bite.  So although Sean hasn't been able to give up meat entirely, he wants to continue with meatless dinners at home for the rest of the month.  After a rocky start, we got back on track and finished the first week with tacos and pasta.

Vegetarian Taco Bar

I don't have an exact recipe for the tacos as what we use varies each time we have them.  We usually use organic whole wheat wraps and/or organic blue corn hard taco shells along with a variety of fillings.  This time we had  refried beans, blacks beans, brown rice flavored with taco seasoning (these 3 help to replace some of the bulk that you might otherwise miss when omitting meat), tomatoes, shredded lettuce (or spinach), fresh guacamole (1 avocado, chopped onions, tomatoes, cilantro and fresh lime juice), shredded organic cheddar cheese for Sean and shredded zucchini for me.  Top with hot sauce if desired and enjoy!  This is a great meal if you have picky eaters in your house as everybody can always find at least 3 or 4 fillings that they like. 

Fresh Tomato Sauce
From Vitamix Whole Food Recipes pg. 139
6 medium Roma tomatoes, quartered
1 small onion, peeled, halved
1 small carrot
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1. Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
2. Select Variable 1.
3. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
4. Blend for 2-3 minutes, using the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades.
5. Pour into saucepan and simmer for 35-40 minutes.
6. (Optional)- I chopped up some mushrooms in the Cuisinart and added them to the the sauce to simulate the texture of ground beef.

Cook Whole Wheat Fusilli according to directions on the box.
Pour Tomato sauce over pasta and mix. 
Serve hot and enjoy!

Zuchhini with Kale and Green Onions
Zucchini, quartered
Kale, small handful
Green Onions, chopped
Sautee all of the above vegetables in olive oil with salt and pepper to taste.

I hate to admit it but the garlic bread was from the freezer.  Ideally we would have had homemade garlic bread on a fresh whole wheat baguette but we didn't have any.  Sometimes you just have to make due with what you have on hand.

The meat-free menu for this week includes vegetartian chili, homemade pizza and veggie burgers.  Recipes to follow!