If you don't know what meatless Monday is, you can check them out on their website.
Basically, they promote giving up meat once a week. From their website: "Our goal is to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet." After looking in to the program and giving it a lot of thought, as well as doing my own research, I pledged to go meatless every Monday! I don't think it's any secret to my friends that I would really love to go vegetarian. But I think the leap and making it "official" is intimidating. I already strive to eat primarily meatless, and only incorporate lean, farm-raised meat. And I haven't had any red meat in nearly 2 months. I'm really not a "animal cruelty activist" or whatever. It's definitely sad how animals are treated to provide meat, but that's not what sparked my interest in eating meatless. I am really more interested in the health benefits for ME! As selfish as that sounds.. I just know that months ago when we ate primarily greasy beef.. I felt awful all of the time. My body felt like giving up, and I'm only 20 years old! I'm not ready for digestive problems this early on. So do your own research and think about it, but I really encourage people to join the Meatless Monday campaign!
Anyway, so Meatless Monday can sound intimidating if you've never given the idea much thought. But for newbies like me, there are so many alternatives that resemble meat enough to ease you in to it. Not all vegetarians eat tofu! One of my favorite meat alternative products are Quorn brand Chik'n Tenders!
I'm not going to lie and say they taste just like chicken. Cause they don't! But they taste really good regardless. They have a taste similar to chicken, but you're probably not going to fool many people. But if you're looking for something to try and ease you in to meatless meals, I definitely recommend these.
Last night I used Quorn chik'n tenders to make chik'n fajitas! It was a quick, simple meal that left me feeling VERY satisfied!
I started out by cutting strips of onion and green bell pepper. If I had other colors on hand, I would have used those as well, but I stuck with green since that's what I had. I tossed these in a little bit of olive oil and cooked them until they were just starting to turn soft.
Then I pulled out the chik'n and these plain wraps I got. I would normally use tortillas, but they were frozen. lol (yes, I freeze my tortillas.) So I forgot to take a picture of the chik'n cooking, but use your imagination here that I'm cooking the chik'n with the peppers. Most people take the peppers out with cooking the meat for their fajitas, but since these aren't meat, I just tossed them in :) The peppers continued to get soft and the chik'n warmed up and browned a bit. I didn't have fajita seasoning, so I just grabbed some of my mexican seasonings and tossed them in with the chik'n with a bit of water.
When the chik'n was done, I opened a can of black beans, rinsed them really well (always make sure to rinse canned black beans) and warmed them up just a few seconds in the microwave. the peppers and chik'n were hot enough that I probably didn't have to warm up the beans, but I decided to anyway. Then I put together my fajita! Black beans, peppers and onions, chik'n a bit of cheese, and then salsa and a dollop of greek yogurt post picture.
And I just have to say, this fajita DID NOT disappoint! It was so good and very filling. I think this is something Brent would be okay eating on a Meatless Monday :)
So this is just the beginning of my yummy meatless meals. I have many more ideas in store. Also, some new recipes coming your way (like carrot cake protein bars! you'll see that tomorrow) as well as my recent eats. :) I am very excited to be sharing this experience with you.
So tell me, do you or anyone you know participate in Meatless Mondays? Would you consider it?
ohhhh these sound (and look) so yummy! I may try this next week!
ReplyDeleteif you do, let me know how you like them! :)
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