Meatless Monday meals

Are you curious about going vegetarian but not sure you could commit to an entirely meat-free lifestyle? Do you think you could dedicate one day a week to going meat free? SheKnows can help!

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A simple solution for beginning a meat-free diet: join SheKnows in its support of the Meatless Monday movement. Based in the US, Meatless Monday is a grass-roots initiative spearheaded by The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Like several organizations around the world, Meatless Monday encourages people to set aside one day of the week to commit to meat-free meals. There is momentum behind the movement. Many famous (and not-so-famous) chefs and restaurants, school districts, hospital systems, corporations and universities across the country have committed to the initiative.

Related story Rachael Ray Calls Her New One-Pot Recipe a 'Vegetarian Winner'

Watch for tasty meat-free recipes each Monday

SheKnows serves its visitors many meat-free recipe options. Each Monday, we’ll designate a recipe as a Meatless Monday option to make it easy for you to find something almost everyone can enjoy eating.

What’s the point of Meatless Monday?

For one thing, your mealtimes will become more interesting. You’ll get the chance to explore new flavors, vegetables and recipe options. Even more, there are many benefits associated with cutting back on meat consumption, for your personal health and the health of the planet.

According to Meatless Monday, there are a number of studies that show the health and environmental benefits associated with going meat free at least one day a week. Consider the following:

For your health:

• Diets high in fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer risk
  
• Replacing saturated fat-rich foods (like meat) with foods rich in polyunsaturated fats (nuts, vegetable oil, seeds) can reduce the risk of heart disease
  
• Diets high in red and processed meats may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes
  
• A reduction in meat consumption can lower long-term weight gain

For the environment’s health:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions — Studies show the meat industry generates about 1/5 of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions
  
• Reduce water usage — Anywhere from 1,800-2,500 gallons of water go into producing a pound of beef vs. 220 gallons of water for a pound of tofu
  
• Cut fossil fuel (coal, oil, natural gas) dependence — Forty calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the US compared to 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of a plant based protein

Give it a try! Going meat free one day a week can help you feel good about yourself and help your environment. You’ll be sure to find some tasty new recipes along the way.

Who knew?

• Famed chef Mario Batali has implemented Meatless Monday in all 14 of his US restaurants, serving vegetarian options and marking them with a special MM logo on the menus.
• Fitness trainer, Bob Harper, from The Biggest Loser encouraged his followers via Twitter to go meatless one day a week.
• Self Magazine encourages its readers to join the Monday movement.
• Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. offers Meatless Monday options in its employee cafeterias.
• Syracuse University offers Meatless Monday in its cafeterias.
• Sir Paul McCartney launched a meat-free campaign in the UK, Meat Free Monday.

Read more about Meatless Monday >>

tasty meat-free recipes

Broiled mac & cheese with veggies
Simple & spicy vegetable burritos
Colorful crunchy coleslaw
Greek spaghetti with feta
Tomato & egg tart
Crunchy French toast sandwiches