Happy New Year! Have you made any New Year’s resolutions yet? One of the things I am really passionate about is reducing the amount of meat my family and I eat. These are some of my favourite meatless recipes from the past year.
I’m an advocate of the Meatless Monday and Meat Free Monday movements, and I genuinely enjoy vegetarian food. Of course, it doesn’t have to be Monday that is meatless, the whole idea is simply to cut out meat one day a week.
Not only does cutting out meat one day a week benefit your health (studies have shown a whole range of health benefits to reducing the amount of meat you eat), it also helps the environment. Raising livestock requires huge amounts of land, food and water, and places a big strain on the environment. It can also help your food budget, as meat is generally the most expensive grocery item we buy.
Having said all that, I’m certainly not ready to commit to being totally vegetarian. I enjoy eating some meat, and I can see benefits to eating it. As with so many things, I think balance is the key. I do think I’m ready to take things a step further though, and as part of that I’m committing to cutting out meat two days a week instead of just one. Not only do I think it will benefit my family’s health, I also want to challenge myself to create more delicious and nutritious vegetarian recipes.
What about you? How do you feel about the Meatless Monday movement? Do you cut out meat one day a week, or have you taken the plunge and embraced a totally vegetarian lifestyle?
In the meantime, here are some of my favourite meatless recipes from 2011 for inspiration!
Cheesy Tomato Vegetable Pasta Sauce
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