VEGGIE MONTH WEEK 3 MEAL PLAN

TGIF! This pasta will make everything all better.

It’s already week 3! I’m finding that this year’s vegetarian experiment is much easier and smoother than last year’s. My boys aren’t mutinying and Scott and Owen are even battling it out for who will win the vegetarian lunch challenge. Owen is currently winning; Scott slipped up by eating a Caesar salad with anchovies in the dressing, but Owen ate his peanut butter sandwich while all his friends had hamburgers at school. He reported it was “torture.” I’m pretty sure a school lunch hamburger is its own form of torture.

I also think it is easier because cooking methods and ingredients are more familiar, and since I had to cut most cheese and dairy after my heart attack, I’m finding it easier not to rely on cheese as the protein. This opens up new categories (beans, beans, and more beans!) and new recipe options.

Some new resources I have on hand have also helped make it easier, including my vegan cookbook “Veganomicon” and the “Moosewood Restaurants Low-Fat Cookbook.”  After some disappointments with low-fat cookbooks that merely try to substitute or fake dishes usually made with high fat ingredients, I realized that I should start with something that tastes good because it is a good vegetable– or lean protein-based recipe, not a modification. This has definitely improved my enjoyment of cooking and eating, and broadened the range of available meals.

I hope you enjoy this week’s menu!

DOWNLOAD THE MEAL PLAN