Favorite meat-less recipes

[Magic Microbe]

I cannot comprehend main dishes without onion.

[radial]

I have decided to reduce my carbon footprint by eating only things I can harvest from the woods and fields.  For example, I found this delicious persimmon while walking the dogs yesterday.  Zero carbon was generated in the course of picking it up off the ground.  And, it's totally WLC compliant!  Can't wait for dinner.   

[Kumbaya]

I have decided to reduce my carbon footprint by eating only things I can harvest from the woods and fields.  For example, I found this delicious persimmon while walking the dogs yesterday.  Zero carbon was generated in the course of picking it up off the ground.  And, it's totally WLC compliant!  Can't wait for dinner.   

That's the kind of thing I scootch to the edge of the plate while looking for the good stuff.

As an update I have reduced eating meat to 3 (and sometimes 4) days a week.  And only at one meal, and half the portion I would usually eat.  I am eating probably 5 times the amount of veggies I used to eat.  And this has forced us to try all kinds of new stuff, which is fun.

Today we had a sun dried tomato, spinach, potato, goat cheese strata thingy that was awesome.  We put some chicken sausage in it, but I just picked it out.

However, I have also learned the meatless dishes I like best are very fattening.   

[radial]

I'm a fan of simplicity where vegetables are concerned.  Dinner tonight actually involved a little more than my carbon free persimmon.  But it wasn't much more trouble.  I cored a couple of tomatoes and set them in a pan. Gob of butter on top with a sprinkle of curry powder, salt and pepper.  In a ring around the tomatoes, I scattered a mixture of quartered beets, chunks of onion, and sweet potatoes all drizzled with olive oil.  More salt and pepper, some crushed red pepper, and a handful of chopped herbs on the root veggies.  After 45 minutes or so in a medium hot oven, everything was roasted to perfection.  No recipe, just using up stuff so it won't go bad.  But it was very tasty, and that's the joy of vegetables.  With veggies, you don't need complicated recipes to turn out good eating. 

[radial]

It turns out that September is "Fruit and Vegetables Month!"  Got a note from the gym at work this morning saying the cafeteria is going to be featuring various fruit and veggie dishes.  This seemed like good general advice:

Overwhelmed by the choices in the ILC Café?  Try following The Plate Method when building your lunch.  Make ½ of your plate fruits and vegetables (tossed salad, steamed or roasted vegetables, fresh cut fruit), ¼ lean protein (fish, chicken, turkey, pork loin, or tofu), and ¼ whole grain (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or quinoa) or starchy vegetable (potato/ sweet potato, peas, corn).  This method provides you with at least 2 serv-ings of fruit or vegetable, keeping you on track. 

Also some good info on preparing veggies here: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/main-recipes?catrec=15&com=2&recid=1495

[rocketgirl]

I've been very happy with vegetarian chorizo in dips, and scrambled egg things, and on pizza.