A Vegetarian Holiday

We had our first holiday veg meal today and it was GREAT!!! Here's the menu:

Fried green tomatoes
Fresh tomato slices (just because we had a really good tomato on hand)
Corn bread sticks
Joggin' John from a Robin Robertson recipe (vegetarian sausage, rice, black eyed peas)
Citrus Collards with Raisins (Which we all liked better than we thought we would! They were delish.)
Fresh Squeezed OJ (The Middle Child's contribution)

We are all STUFFED now; I don't miss our ham of years past at all. DH and I worked together to get the meal on the table which I always enjoy. We're usually too busy to make the time for both of us to be cooking at once so it's a treat when we are in the kitchen together.

Now we're off to FINALLY take the kids to see The Princess and the Frog. We've taken a stab at catching it before but it never panned out. It's getting pretty good reviews so I think we'll have a good time.

Meatless Monday Update

Meatless Monday is proceeding well. We don't starve on our meatless days, on the contrary we have found filling meals that leave the whole family satisfied. We failed yesterday, though, I have to admit, but it was in the name of not wasting food. I added too much chicken to chicken soup I made over the weekend and it was either eat it on Monday or throw it out. Either way, the chicken was already purchased and cooked so it wouldn't help anything (or any cause) to waste it. (We got 3 meals out of that soup.) I think that maintains the karma of the Meatless Monday challenge, as long as we don't do that regularly. We'll make up for it with an extra meatless meal later in the week so things will balance out, consumption-wise, and that's the whole point. Reduce meat consumption for the good of the planet as well as the good of our own bodies. You don't have to give up meat completely, just open yourself up to the wide variety of meatless choices out there. Check out Food Gawker's vegetarian section if you don't think meatless food is appealing!

Meatless Monday Report

Our first "Meatless Monday" was a success! We had Black Bean Patties with rice, applesauce, and carrot salad for lunch and Pasta and Bean soup with a baguette for dinner. The kids were happy, DH and I were happy, and I don't think anyone was even tempted to sneak any meat products. It was a vegetarian day as opposed to vegan since we had mayo (made with egg) in the carrot salad and DH added butter to the pasta and bean soup. No creatures had to die for us to eat yesterday, though, so that's a good thing, and definitely a step in the right direction for my family.

One of my fondest hopes for my kids is that one or more of them will turn out to be vegetarian (or vegan). I'd be so proud! :)

On a side note, I did have kind of a funny moment at the grocery store. I realized I needed to buy chicken for today, not a meatless day, but it was Monday. Does "Meatless Monday" mean I can't buy meat on Monday, either? Of course I have to decide for myself, and I decided it would probably not be honoring the spirit of our promise if I buy meat on Mondays, so I didn't. If we didn't have what we needed already in the freezer, we would have to figure something else out.