January 17, 2011

Meatless Meals

In an effort to make adjustments towards a healthier lifestyle, I've been looking for some meatless recipes. Many websites & blog promote "Meatless Mondays" and offer lots of suggestions on how to make the switch, which is helpful to get more ideas other than pasta & salads.

While we have not fully adopted Meatless Mondays in our house yet, I am trying to make one meal a week that does not include meat, poultry or seafood. So, here's my first recipe for a meatless dinner:

Mariana, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
2 portobello mushroom caps

Mariana sauce

Fresh spinach leaves

Feta & Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to broil setting. On medium heat, saute mushroom caps in some olive oil on for about 5-10 minutes, flipping the caps to cook on both sides. Place mushrooms in baking dish and fill the caps with marina sauce, spinach, feta & shredded mozzarella cheese. Broil in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This is a very informal recipe - I didn't do any measuring of the ingredients, so just go with the flow on this & fill the mushrooms with whatever amount looks good to you and bake them up. I'm sure you could also bake them on 375, but I like the cheese a little browned, so the broiling them worked out great for my tastes.

If anyone has any suggestions for meatless meals, I'd love to have your recipes. One good thing for me is that JJ will eat anything, so that's great to have someone who's up to trying new things. I am the one with the less than adventuresome taste buds, but I am trying to expand my palate and have done so in the past few years. I feel this challenge will help push me beyond my comfort zone when it comes to food. Just this weekend we enjoyed a night out at some friends house and I tried some chili with beans, so that was a big step for me. I didn't eat all the beans, but a few snuck in and it wasn't too bad!

So, suggestions and thoughts on this topic are welcomed. Let me know what types of meals you & your families are eating this year!

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