Note: There are two vegetarian recipes included in this post and you’ll find more delicious reader-submitted recipes in the comments section.
Each January, our church does a 21-Day Prayer and Fasting Emphasis.
Everyone who wants to be involved commits to spending extra time in prayer, Bible reading, and devotional reading; in addition, we are all encouraged to fast in some way–meals, Facebook, desserts, TV, meat, favorite activities, etc., as a way of fostering.spiritual and personal growth
Over the past couple of years, our family has decided (among other things) to fast meat.
Now that sounds pretty simple just typing it out like that, but I have to admit that giving up meat is a lot harder for me than I thought it would be. I have always been a meat and potatoes kind of gal and coming up with meatless meals for 21 days in a row has been a challenge!
With one week down and two weeks to go, I thought I would share a few of the dishes I’ve accomplished so far.
Since I was sick last week, someone brought a meal by the house for us. Unhappily, the cook didn’t realize we weren’t eating meat and brought the most delectable-looking pan of freshly cooked, onion-sauce laden chicken I have ever laid eyes on. It was accompanied by a magnificent salad, rolls, and a rice pilaf.
Well, I just froze that wonderful looking chicken for a later enjoyment date and then started thinking about what I could do with the pilaf in order to make it into a main dish.
I knew I needed protein of some sort and my first inclination was to add black beans or kidney beans in order to offset the taupe-y color that is inherent to rice pilaf.
Alas, there were no black beans or kidney beans to be found languishing in any corner of my cupboard and so I added what I had–cannellini beans. I think we can all agree that they do absolutely nothing to relieve the bland landscape of a rice pilaf.
Since I am all about color when I cook, the thought of setting an entirely beige and brown dish on my family’s table did not bring me culinary contentment. I gave the matter some additional thought and remembered that I had a can of petite diced tomatoes (with added garlic and olive oil) which I stirred those into the pilaf.
Ahh. Much better.
But still not quite enough color, still not quite enough pizzazz.
Out came the shredded cheddar.
Flavor. Color. Protein. What’s not to love?
Instead of spreading it over the whole dish, I just put a line of it down the middle. That not only saved on calories and but also allowed the red tomato color to show through.
A few sprinkles of parsley and a dusting of Parmesan and we had an easy and very tasty dinner.
This is something I will definitely make again although I will try to have more colorful beans on hand the next time.
(Note: Since the pilaf is made with an Uncle Ben’s mix, it’s a very simple dish. The guy who made this for us used broth in place of water and added 2 t. Italian seasoning.)
The day after the pilaf success, Sarah whipped together Spinach Tortellini Soup for us. We each had a big bowl the first night and it was fabulous.
There wasn’t quite enough left for a second meal, so I just added another can of tomatoes and some more broth and it came out just right to feed us again. Also, since I had some of the rice pilaf casserole left over, I stirred that into the soup too, since beans and rice are perfect soup ingredients.
Here is the recipe if you would like to try it.
[yumprint-recipe id=’12’]
If anyone has any simple vegetarian dishes, or helpful tips, I’d love to hear from you!
I just saw this recipe http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/easy-quinoa-pizza-bowls/ and immediately thought of you. If you’re still doing no meat, then you can leave out the pepperoni.
Jan,
That recipe looks very doable AND tasty, plus it will give me a chance to cook with quinoa, which I am still learning to do. Thanks for posting that! 🙂
One more vegetarian recipe! I made this from a Rachael Ray cookbook during the great snow of 2016. Best ever!
Provencal Vegetable Stew (from RACHAEL RAY EXPRESS LANE MEALS)
4 SERVINGS
1/4 cup EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), 3 to 4 times around the pan
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 pound button mushrooms, trimmed and halved
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 medium to large eggplant, cut in l-inch cubes
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped (a few sprigs)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped ( a couple of sprigs)
1/2 cup dry white wine (eyeball it)
1 14-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
Crusty bread, such as baguette
Heat the EVOO in a deep skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add the garlic, bay leaf, mushrooms, onions, celery, and peppers. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the eggplant and season everything
with salt and pepper and the fresh herbs. Cook for 15 minutes or until the eggplant is tender. Deglaze with the wine and scrape up the vegetable bits from the bottom of the pan, then stir in the tomatoes or tomato sauce and heat through. Turn off the heat and discard the bay leaf. Let the vegetables stand a few minutes, then stir and serve with the warm crusty bread and butter.
Kristy,
Thanks for coming by again and leaving another recipe! Anything by Rachael Ray has GOT to be good. 🙂 I have only cooked with eggplant one time and it was not a success. I am going to take your word for it that I will love this dish!
Our meat fast is over Saturday night but I am determined to eat vegetarian several times a month throughout the year so this will give me something new to try.
just checking to be sure you are ok……..
Becky,
Thanks for checking in! Except for a relapse of my cold/flu, all is well in Smithellaneous World! 🙂
If you are not yet tired of black beans, the following recipe makes a great main dish (served wrapped in soft tortillas with or without a little sour cream and cheese). Also works wonderfully as a side (serve hot, room temp, or cold). I garnish mine with fresh cilantro and fresh jalapeno. The best part is that most of these ingredients are nonperishable, so I always keep at least one of each on hand.
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can hominy, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can white or yellow corn (or 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn)
1 small onion, diced
1 tbsp cumin
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, stir together well and cook on low for several hours, or on high for just a few. Or, heat together on top of the stove or in an oven proof casserole baked for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
I’m so glad you posted this – I’ve eaten it many times (especially in my vegan days). It’s delicious – and I’ve eaten it with a spoon, too (no tortillas needed!). 🙂
Stefanie,
Glad you got reunited with a favorite recipe. I’m eager to try it!
Kristy,
Hominy . . . another new food to be added to my list of things to try. The recipe sounds terrific and I especially like the fact that all the ingredients can be kept on hand. Perfect. Thanks so much!
Here is the best recipe for tomato basil soup and oh so easy to make.
BIBLE STUDY FELLOWSHIP TOMATO SOUP
1 jar Alfredo sauce (Paul Newman all Natural Alfredo Sauce works well) Put in saucepan.
Equal amount of jarred spaghetti sauce (Can use empty Alfredo sauce jar to measure. Add.
1 can chicken broth. (Can use slightly less.)
2-3 teaspoons green pesto sauce. Stir in and heat well.
Judy,
Love the title of the soup and love how easy it is to make. I could switch chicken broth to veggie broth to make it vegetarian and we’d be good to go. Can’t wait to try it!
Watch jar sauce or packaged things like mushroom ravioli (I know your not a huge fan of fungus) as they have chicken or chicken stock! Also, if eating prepared minestrone soup it’s often pork or chicken based!
Thanks, Jodi. Good to keep in mind!
I’m with you on the mushrooms-as-meat-substitute. My hubby loves them, but I can’t do it!
We went vegetarian for a few months (I even went vegan for a full 30 days) and felt soooo good! Finding protein sources is easy for me: I like beans, but my hub doesn’t. My favorite is white beans (great northern) and cornbread – with a slice of white onion on the side, and a dollop of chowchow (if available).
I have to point out – using chicken broth or cream of chicken soup means you’re eating meat (in the strictest sense of vegetarianism). I sub vegetable broth for meat broth when I’m eating veg. 🙂
Stefanie,
I’m not sure if I’ve tried great Northern beans; will have to look for them. And good point about the chicken broth; thankfully, it’s an easy switch-out.
I am quite convinced I could never go completely vegan. I’m impressed you did it!
Yes – I missed cheese too much to stay vegan. 🙂
My daughter and I eat meatless about 85% of the time, just by choice, we feel better eating less meat and it is good for her marathon training. When we do eat meat, it is usually chicken or fish. Cheese is a wonderful addition and eggs are an essential also. We eat a lot of pasta with simple meatless sauces – love to add mushrooms – we also have a few vegetable casseroles which, unfortunately, are very labor intensive and when I make one – it is a very LARGE one so that it can last most of the week. I have a very simple fettuccine Alfredo recipe. I will look it up at home and send it to you. We eat lots of salads – especially with baby kale and spinach and loads of other veggies and CHEESE and eggs. A good crusty bread is always a great filler for meatless meals. The soup and the rice dishes look delicious. If you are only eliminating true “meat” from your meals, you can always add chicken broth or beef broth to a recipe and that really boosts the richness and flavor. My sister is a true vegetarian – she will eat nothing that has a face! Something I think about and also helps me stay away from a lot of meat. I make my sister the best vegetarian stuffing at Thanksgiving – I have actually replaced the chicken/turkey version I used to make with this one – just make or buy a good vegetable broth and it is just as delicious. Our bodies do much better without a lot of meat and the animals do better also. Good luck! I will search for some recipes.
Mary
Lots and lots of helpful information in your comment; thank you! I think it’s so cool that you and your daughter do this together–besides love, a healthy lifestyle is one of the best gifts to share together.
I totally agree about the “crusty bread” idea. Bread is my love language!
Looking forward to the Alfredo recipe.
Chicken Tortilla Soup without the chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans of fiesta nacho cheese soup
1 can of red enchilada sauce
2 cans of milk
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of corn
Top with shredded cheese and tortilla chips or Fritos.
Put all into the crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. When you are done fasting add shredded rotisserie chicken to it or other diced chicken.
Not healthy but its delicious.
Rachel,
I love crock pot soups and this one even has the beans for the added protein without the chicken. Hooray! Thanks so much!
That soup looks delicious! The recipe looks simple enough that I think I will have to give it a try!!
SueEllen,
I promise it is very easy and really, really good. I’ve never been a huge fan of spinach but I really like it in this soup. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
OK, so I am even more so completely out of my element with this food post than I am with the clothing posts, and that’s saying something! My self esteem is shrinking, into tiny bits. I am so very impressed with all that you know Becky. Very creative 🙂
Lesley,
Well, I actually feel like I know very little about cooking so I’m impressed that you’re impressed! 🙂
I do love learning about food, especially how to prepare it economically and tastefully and, of course, colorfully. By the time I’m 90, I should be quite the accomplished cook!
Your January fast reminded me of my Catholic childhood back in the day with its meatless Fridays and Lenten days of fast and abstinence. I remember mac and cheese, lots of fish, eggs, and tuna and noodles, vegetable soup, grilled cheese and tomato soup… As these were among my favorite foods, I never felt deprived. Now giving up candy – that was penance!
Jan,
I hear ya. Some things are MUCH harder to give up than others! 🙂
This vegetarian is impressed! I`ll have to try those recipes on my family! Some potential vegetarian meal ideas: quesadillas or tacos made with cheese and veggies; spaghetti with white tofu crumbled in (the tofu is basically tasteless so will add protein while taking on the taste of the tomatoe sauce); noodle soup made with veggies, lentils, and potatoes, or chili made with kidney beans and ground round. I think most of the meals I cook for my family are veggie versions of meat meals. My grocery store carries a lot of `meatless tofu alternatives that you can use in place of meat (ie ground round in place of ground beef; neatballs in place of meatballs; meatless chikn nuggets; tofurkey instead of turkey etc).
Jenna,
I’m always glad if I can impress a vegetarian! 🙂
I have never quite gotten into tofu. We tried it once a long time ago and I thought it was sort of weird and never tried it again. I guess I need to give it a second chance, since you said it just takes on the flavor of the dish instead of adding its own flavor. It just seems so . . . I don’t know . . . mysterious to me!
I always think of dried beans or black-eyed peas when I think of meatless meals. We are having tossed salad with almost every night meal now and usually without meat. Sometimes I do add grilled salmon or chicken tenders. Usually do not have them, though. Tonight will be salad and some homemade chicken salad I fixed last night. Was going to cook cabbage but getting a little late for that. I try to have meatless one night a week if possible. Glad you are better.
Ann,
Good for you and Jim, eating meatless once a week! I always say I’m going to do that throughout the year and then somehow forget. Thanks for the reminder.
Quinoa-edamame salad. Quinoa and edamame (edamame is available frozen) as your base, then add what sounds good to you; I like corn (again frozen), red pepper, and a little bit of green onion. Toss with olive oil and whatever sounds good….lemon juice, lime juice, I’m pretty fond of balsamic vinegar. It’s great to make a large bowl of it, then grab some for breakfast or lunch (even dinner if I’m feeling lazy), and I feel really good about myself because I know I’ve packed away all kinds of good nutrients. You like color in your plates; the edamame is a pretty green, yellow corn, red pepper. You could be daring and add blueberries.
Jan,
I have to admit, I have never tried quinoa. In fact, it was just last year when I first tried edamame. (STILL can’t pronounce it.) You have piqued my interest and I shall have to give it a try!
Google the protein (and other nutrition) in both quinoa and edamame, and you’ll see why they’re healthy additions to your (temporary) vegetarian diet.
A few years ago, I used Scopolamine patches for vertigo for several months….and I couldn’t stand the smell or taste of meat until I’d been free of the patch for several months. I learned really fast how to get nutrient value out of veggies (including beans), grains, and nuts!
Jan,
I just did some reading on quinoa. Pretty impressive! Now I just have to learn how to incorporate it.
Just replace rice with it! Or any starch, actually.
My favorite would be a good old grilled cheese sandwich. Add some tomato soup and maybe some fruit and you have both a meatless dinner as well as a comfort food meal.
Phyllis,
Comfort food. NOW you’re talking my language. And I agree–there are few things better or more basic than tomato soup and grilled cheese. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
I go meatless a lot because meat is more expensive than veggies and tofu. One of my favorites is quiche – only I don’t put it in a pie plate with crust, I just put the filling in a casserole pan and bake it up. I stirfry together my favorite veggies (and tofu, but I know not everyone is a tofu eater), and put it in the pan and pour over a mix of milk and eggs. I bake for about 45 minutes (or more or less – it depends on the depth of your pan). Then it can be served up – sometimes I put salsa on it, sometimes nothing.. whatever I’m in the mood for.
Brooke,
I have a terrible confession to make–the only reason I love quiche is BECAUSE of the crust!
But it’s nice to know that a healthier, lower calorie/carb option exists and the filling can be put right in the pan. I would never have thought of that.
You can do the same thing in muffin tins (just spray them well) & make many batches to freeze for future breakfast ideas & super quick dinners (& lunches too)!
My fave meatless go to is homemade mac and cheese. I have a great baked recipe:
2 C cooked macaroni (cook as directed)
diced onion (as much as you like)
4T butter (divided)
3/4 C bread crumbs
s&p
1.5 C milk
2 T flour
2 C shredded cheese (I use cheddar or colby/jack)
1 t powdered mustard
Melt 2T butter and cook onion until soft, add s&p and mustard. Add flour and stir until it’s paste like. Add milk and stir until thick and bubbly. Add cheese and stir to combine. Pour over macaroni in a baking dish. Stir. In another pot, melt other 2T butter and add bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbly.
It’s a family fave. I actually got this recipe in Home Ec when I was in HS a few (haha) years ago!
Krista,
Thanks so much for sharing that recipe! If it has stuck around in your life since High School, it has GOT to be a winner! 🙂
I think the addition of mustard sounds really interesting; will definitely give it a try.
The food has been great. Let’s do this all year!
Steve,
In your dreams! 🙂
We aren’t in the habit of going meatless, but tonight we are having cheese-stuffed manicotti which can be a great meatless meal. I will add meat (and sautéed onions, garlic and green peppers) to the spaghetti sauce that will go over it, but without meat is just as tasty. Most manicotti boxes of pasta have the recipe on the back. (Ricotta, mozzarella, 1 egg, parsley for the stuffing.) And stuffing the cooked shells is super simple when you spoon the stuffing into a plastic, resealable bag and snip off one corner; then just squeeze and fill ’em up. My hubby requested this one this week….he loves it!
LeeAnne,
I have made many kinds of pasta but don’t think I have ever done manicotti. It sounds like a fun recipe to do–especially getting to squirt the cheese out of the bag. (It also sounds like a recipe Noah would have a ball with.)
Thanks for the great idea!
Try lasagna roll ups or grilled portobello mushroom “burgers!” After grilling the mushrooms serve them on a bun w/ all the fixings as you would a beef or turkey burger! Try veggie burgers too! Or veggie paninis w/ mozzarella cheese for the protein!
I was a strict vegetarian for 15 years b/f getting so sick in 2002! Being a veg head didn’t cause me to get sick but the GI disease I developed caused me to have to omit high fiber foods (veggies/fruit) & high fat! Also things like pasta, rice & breads aren’t recommended! So, unhappily & after a lot of convincing I had to add chicken & turkey (NO beef, fish or pork tho….icky) into my diet to supplement my tube feeds!
Good luck!
Jodi,
I really wish it weren’t true, but I have NEVER been a fan of mushrooms–not their texture, or their taste. Your idea of grilling them and adding hamburger toppings though, almost makes me want to try them again. What a great idea!
I admire the way you have made the necessary adjustments along the way to take good care of your health. I can only imagine how frustrating it gets. You’re an inspiration!
Try the portabellas on the grill, they really do have a beefy taste and nothing like the mushrooms we are used to eating. The other thing we do is eat Morning Star Spicy Black Bean burgers (frozen section). The DH almost likes them better than real burgers and no, they are not really spicy.
Here is couple of others we use:
Baked Tortellini
1 pound frozen or refrigerated cheese tortellini
2 cups marinara or spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup ricotta
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Sliced fresh basil to taste. I usually use half the package.
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Mist a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook tortellini according to package label instructions (8 to 10 minutes for fresh or 12 to 15 minutes for frozen). Drain thoroughly. Spread tortellini evenly over bottom of baking dish.
3. Combine sauce and ricotta in a large microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on high until hot, about 2 minutes. Pour sauce over tortellini. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan over pasta. Bake until heated through and Parmesan is bubbling and golden, approximately 15 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and serve.
Margherita Pizza
I usually use premade pizza crust(hangs on a hook by the pizza sauce),but you can make your own or use flatbread.
Use the extra sauce from above and spread on crust.
Slice “Fresh mozzarella” (In the dairy section, comes in a ball, drain well) and place on sauce.
Snip up the leftover basil(from above) and spread around it around.
Bake at 425 until done as you like it.
These are usually in the same week as #2 uses up the leftovers from #1.
We have been eating vegetarian at least once a week just because we enjoy it!
Deb P,
I guess I didn’t realize that there was such a big difference between portabella and other mushrooms. The ones I’ve tried always seem so gray and slimy–I guess I need to give portabella a chance, especially if it has a beefy flavor!
The recipes you shared sound wonderful–thank you! I am a huge fan of tortellini and always happy to find a new recipe to utilize it.
I’ve never tried fresh mozzarella in a ball so that will be another new food experience.
Thanks for sharing your great ideas and recipes. Will give them a whirl!