I am a big fan of Meatless Monday. Even though it is sometimes very difficult to get my family on board! Meatless Monday is a movement founded in 2003 by Sid Learner with the John Hopkins Blomberg School of Public Health. Since it’s beginning, the Meatless Monday movement has spread to over 40 countries! Skipping meat once a week is great for your health, the health of our planet and the health of your pocketbook. A trifecta of health by changing your habits just one day a week! Check out the movement and find great recipe ideas at https://www.meatlessmonday.com/the-global-movement/.
Let’s talk a bit about meatless recipes that have worked for my family, and ones that have not been so successful. When I say “it’s Meatless Monday” in my house I still get a resounding chorus of “AWE”, and “I not eating that!” The rule in our house is that you have to try new things at least once. If you have truly given something a chance and you REALLY hate it, then you don’t have to eat it again. Truly giving something a chance means eating more than a bite or two. Going meatless at our house is not vegan, but vegetarian. I have one son who is highly dairy intolerant so I substitute with dairy free “cheese”. So, here is a short list of meatless favourites at our house:
- Vegetable Alphabet Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Eggplant and Ricotta Pasta
- Vegetarian Lasagne
- Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Dairy Free Mac and “Cheese”Mushroom and Broccoli Stir-Fry
Here is a short list of recipes that did not work for us. Either the family veto’d these completely, or I found them to finicky to make on a weeknight:
- Cauliflower Meatless Meatballs in a Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
- Vegetarian Shepard’s Pie
- One Pot Vegetarian Spaghetti
- Portobello Mushroom Burgers
I am certainly not saying you couldn’t give these a try; my husband and I really enjoyed many of them. However I would give the Cauliflower “Meatballs” a hard pass, they were SUPER finicky and took way longer than the recipe stated. Here is a how to on the latest favourite, Mushroom and Broccoli Stir-Fry!
Mushroom and Broccoli Stir-Fry was very easy to make and took about 30 minutes from start to finish. My kinda recipe! Especially for a Monday evening! The first thing I did was set my rice to cook in my rice cooker. While that was cooking I started chopping my veggies. I used about 12 white mushrooms sliced thick, 2 large Portobello’s cut in half and then sliced thick, about 3 cups broccoli flowerets, one red pepper sliced thin, a medium onion, cut in half and then sliced thin, 2 cloves of garlic, minced and a thumb size section of ginger, peeled and minced. Time to prep the sauce!
Once my veggies were prepped I moved on to preparing my sauce. I used about ¼ cup of Low Sodium Soy Sauce, ¼ cup of Oyster Sauce and about 1 tbsp. of lime juice. Mix these together well. Now you are ready to put it all together.
Heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil in a large deep skillet and add the onion and the ginger. Sauté until onions just start to caramelize. Add the red pepper, broccoli and mushrooms and continue to sauté until the veggies are tender crisp and the colours are bright. Once the veggies are cooked, add the sauce and toss with the veggies, making sure that everything is well coated. Your stir-fry is ready!
Serve this over rice or soba noodles and have with a fresh green salad. So easy and so delicious!
