Well it’s been a month since we embarked on meat free week in our household. It was mostly a success, with meat only being consumed twice during the week – and each time when I was out and someone else cooked for me.
A huge thanks to everyone who provided me with recipes, inspiration and support! Especially twitter friends @brocklesnitch, @CeliaFigJam, @Bittersweet_Qld and especially @_JulieGoodwin, who emailed me her favourite meat free recipes [and by her favourite, I mean the ones all the carnivores in her house love. Perfect.]. While I didn’t use all your recipes, they certainly gave me loads of inspiration, as well as a great repertoire for future meals. Thank you.
Hard to go wrong with a breakfast of mushrooms, haloumi and an egg. When I’m extra hungry I’ll add a piece of toast with avocado too.
We started on a Friday night, and I deliberately chose a weekend when we had Mr12. He is a massive carnivore [just like his dad] and not known for his love of the veggie [fortunately, very unlike his dad, who loves veggies]. However I must say, he has been a lot more accepting of trying new food and eating veggies over the last 12 months, which gives me no end of joy. Particularly as I didn’t believe I would ever see the day.So, what did we have. Well, breakfast was the easiest of all, thanks to our chickens. Most days I had eggs, and often with sautéed mushrooms and haloumi. To tell the truth, I could eat this most meals. Lunch tended to be leftovers from the night before’s dinner, and dinner, well, that varied.
Haloumi and roast veg salad – particularly good with fresh corn stripped off the cob
A favourite of Mr12’s [and all of ours], is a Thai green curry, previously always made with chicken. I made a veggie version, and the look on his face was priceless when he realised there was no meat. But not as priceless as I’m sure mine was when I realised I had WAAAAYY overdone things with the green curry paste. A cup of yogurt later and mine was edible. Hubby loved it [sans yogurt], Mr12 looked like he was in pain [he wasn’t prepared to try it with yogurt], so I relented and gave him a blueberry and spelt muffin to eat. No curry paste in those!
The killer Thai green curry
Saturday night I made one of the most gorgeous meals I’ve ever cooked. Massive thanks to whoever suggested this one, straight from the VeggieNumNum site. This veggie korma kofta took a bit of time to make, but was so worth it. The leftovers for lunch the next day were even better. It was also the first time I’d ever deep friend anything [yes, I know!].Veggie meals could only improve from there!
The korma in this dish was absolutely sublime. I’ll definitely be making it again and using it as the base for a bunch of dishes, with and without meat. It was also incredibly easy to make.
However the winner of the weekend, and possibly the whole week, were these little bites of awesome. These vegetarian sausage rolls, made with oats, walnuts, fetta and a bunch of other good stuff come courtesy of Cindi O’Meara’s website. Mr12 went back for thirds, saying “anything wrapped in pastry is good”. Talk about a massive light-bulb moment for me! I’ll be making these again next weekend when we have Mr12, but adding in a zillion more veggies. Mwah hahaha [insert evil cackle…].
Thank you Cindi, but mostly thank you to the 4-5 people who told me about these!
The week couldn’t go by without eating vegetarian versions of my favourites – a toasted wrap, this one with spinach, cheese, tomato, mushroom, capsicum and a couple of felafel. And of course, pizza, but this one vego. And not on a Friday night.
A toasted wrap is a regular lunch fixture for me – great way to get in a couple of serves of veggies, and also to use up leftover meat. Or not, as in this instance.
So to wrap up, the week was a success. Since then I’ve tried to be a bit more adventurous with my meat free cooking, and am trying to have many more meals without meat.
Pizza is my all time favourite food, and something I could eat almost every day. But I don’t.
Did you participate in meat free week? How did you do? And how are you faring now that it’s over?
Wow… very impressive. I’d probably exist on pasta and carbs all week, so don’t think I could do it.
Well done!
Ahh yes, that Mae Ploy curry paste can be a tastebud ripper! 🙂 Great to read about your week Mel, especially as we got to follow along as you went through it! Meat is so often a default meal for us – vego dishes take more planning, but can also be so much more rewarding! 🙂
Haha! Deb I was very tempted to live on bread and cheese all week!
Celia, it is! And thanks. Meat is very easy especially when there is vego resistance from others in the house. Making Spanikopita tonight 🙂