I was a
vegetarian for about 16 years. When I
started a family I found it was easier to start eating meat again rather than
cooking multiple meals. As a family we
don't eat a lot of meat. It is not
uncommon for me to take one chicken breast, dice it up, cook it up with some
garlic, onions and broccoli and toss with some penne then add a salad and we
have dinner for four people! We only eat
grass fed and finished beef, and pastured pork and lamb that we get directly
from the farm which runs our CSA - Community Sponsored Agriculture
program. It is much more expensive than
meat you buy in the supermarket so we eat much less of it. We eat it less often and in smaller amounts. The rest of our plates are filled with
veggies and whole grains as much as possible.
Some days we eat meatless meals.
Since having kids, my ideas for meatless meals are pasta with marinara,
pizza, veggie burgers, mac and cheese. I
was stuck in a rut.
Earlier
this month I started the Beachbody Ultimate Reset. Beachbody's Ultimate Reset is a three
phased program designed to detoxify and restore your body. The Reset takes a
total of 21 days. By week
two, all the meals are vegan. I will
admit, some are a little boring, but some are quite good and even kid
friendly. Well, at least for my kids. My boys, to different degrees, are
foodies.
Here is
a meal I made based on a dinner found in the Beachbody Ultimate Reset and a
recipe I love from Jeanne Lemlin’s Vegetarian Classics.
Garlicky butternut
squash over brown rice and tofu
1 medium
butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 cloves
of garlic, minced
Small bunch
of kale, (stem discared) chopped into small pieces
¼ cup
water
1/8 tsp
nutmeg
3 sage
leaves, minced (or more to taste)
2Tbs
minced parsley
½ tsp
salt
Ground pepper
to taste
1 package
of extra firm tofu, drained and diced
2 cups cooked
brown rice
Heat
some olive oil in the largest skillet you have over medium-high heat. Sauté the kale and one clove of garlic until
the kale wilts. Remove the kale from pan
and set aside in a large bowl.
Add a
little more olive oil and sauté the squash for about 5 minutes adding a little
of the salt to the squash. When the
squash starts to get a little golden, add the garlic. After about 2 minutes when you start to smell
the garlic, pour in the water and cover.
Let the squash get tender but keep an eye on it since it can get mushy
quickly. It may take about 5 minutes for
the squash to cook. At this point add
the rest of the salt, nutmeg, sage and parsley and mix well.
Once
again, add a little olive oil to the pan and cook the tofu until it is heated
through and golden. I usually don’t add
more garlic since the tofu will pick up the garlic flavor from the pan. When
the tofu is done, stir in with the squash kale mixture and add a little ground
pepper.
Serve
the squash mixture over ½ cup of brown rice. I have been using short grain brown rice. This stuff is wonderful. It has a chewier texture and is way more satisfying to eat than regular brown rice.
This meal is quite yummy. It has your veggies and a fair amount of protein
from the tofu and the brown rice. You
can change it up a bit and add a different veggie rather than kale. The
original squash recipe from Vegetarian
Classics serves the squash over penne pasta, which is very tasty. I’ve
also made this using a garlic Tahini sauce instead of just garlic. It adds a nice nutty flavor to it.
Kat this "sounds" great! Thanks so much for sharing at The Ugly Duckling link party. We weren't sure if people were going to like the idea, so glad to see some embraced it!
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