Meatless Mondays

Today is our first ever official Meatless Monday as a family. I'm a flexitarian, as in I eat some vegetarian and some carnivorous meals. Most days, I get at least one vegetarian meal. Recently at work, Patch asked their dietitian how she could lose weight and be at her healthiest, and told the dietitian about my current method of eating. The lady said "Do what he's doing" so Patch has started heading down the same path towards health I'm on. Now I'm no dietitian, so I plan to meet with a dietitian myself to make sure that we're getting all the necessary nutrients, but in the mean time we're basically following the DTOUR plan with some vegan or vegetarian meals mixed in, and a few of our standard favorites, or some new twists on old comfort food.

While on vacation, Patch and I agreed that we will start having vegetarian and vegan meals all day every Monday starting today. Carlie wasn't there and I can't remember if we shared this little gem with her, but the two of us are a go, and Carlie will either join in or not. Often if we prepare delicious food, everyone else eats it too, so maybe she'll start having some accidentally vegetarian days. I'll ask her tonight if she wants to try it out with us.

So here's what today's food adventures look like:

Breakfast: (serves 1)
Shredded Wheat spoon sized cereal, 1 cup
Almond Milk, unsweetened, original, 1.5 cups
Raw cashews, 1 oz
(Shredded wheat really soaks up the milk and I would have liked to put some berries on there too, but we were out)

Shopping trip! I looked up a couple of vegetarian meals, made a list of the ingredients plus a few salad fixins, and we went to Fresh and Easy where found everything on our list, most of it in the organic section. Put Vegetarian Chili on to cook after shopping for Dinner, it takes 3 to 6 hours to cook down to the correct consistency depending on method of cooking.

Snack: (serves 2)
1 head of Romaine Lettuce
1 cup arugula
2 oz pistachio nuts
1 stalk celery
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic

 Lunch: (serves 4)
Vegetarian Stir Fry
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups water
1 head bok choy
1 can baby corn
1 can water chestnuts
1/2 cup raw cashews
3 baby sweet peppers (1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 stalk celery
2 cups bean sprouts
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons seasoning sauce of choice

 Snack: (serves 2)
1 apple
1 whole grain bagel
4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

Dinner: (serves 8)
Vegan Chili (This smells amazing!)
2 cans sliced pear tomatoes, 28 oz each
1 can diced roasted red tomatoes, 15 oz (in basil sauce)
1 can tomato paste, 4 oz
1 can black beans, 15 oz (remove liquid)
1 can butter beans, 15 oz (remove liquid) 2 cans pinto beans,
15 oz (remove liquid)
1 medium sweet potato
2 cups diced celery
1 medium red onion
3 baby sweet peppers
1 tablespoon garlic
3 tablespoons chili powder
top with cheese if you're vegetarian, cheese substitute if you're vegan

Dessert: (serves 3)
6 whole grain fig cookies
12 large strawberries, sliced
6 tablespoons spray whipped cream (fat free)

Movie snack:
Kale Chips from 1 head of Kale, flavored to request (see previous entries for various recipes)

Obviously these are just lists of ingredients and not full recipes. If you would like to see the full recipes for lunch and dinner, please let me know and I'll write them out.