Just Another Meatless Monday

Not too long ago, I read about a new movement called Meatless Monday. It's an effort to improve the health of the population, to show people how to make more ethical food choices, and to help the world as a whole by going without any meat once a week (check the link above for a lot of great information about how and why you should go meatless for at least a day). While I think those are extraordinary reasons to go meatless one day a week, I'll take it a step further and suggest it for money-saving reasons, too.

Years ago, my husband and I didn't eat meat. We had fish occasionally, but we didn't eat any poultry, beef, or pork. For the most part, it wasn't that hard to do. Sure, we had to be a little more resourceful and inventive about what to cook since most recipes and meals center around some kind of meat, but it still wasn't so bad. Plus, it saved us a lot of money.  Today, we eat meat but not too often -- we go meatless at our house probably 2-3 times a week.

When people would find out that my husband and I were vegetarian, the most common response was a baffled, "What do you eat?" I was surprised by how many people just couldn't get their heads around not having meat in a dinner. Truth is, going meatless doesn't relegate you to a life of solely cottage, cheese, beans, and Tofurky (though I never minded the tofu hot dogs, to be perfectly honest) -- there are so many options and ways to cook without meat, I swear you won't even miss it that much.

That's where my newest feature on this blog comes in -- every other Monday or so, I'm going to share a meatless recipe with you. It might be one of my tried and true recipes or it may be one I'm trying right along with you.  And, please, send me your favorite meatless meals {my email address is parsimoniousprincess(at)gmail(dot)com} so I can share them with everyone.

As for tonight, try this recipe...

A couple Mondays ago, I tried out Pioneer Woman's recipe for taco pizza (though I used my go-to recipe for the crust since it's much faster). Yeah, the picture's not much to look at, but trust me, it's really, really good. We'd already eaten half of it by the time I thought to take a picture. The recipe is so simple to make and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand. Black beans, cheese, lettuce, sour cream mixed with Cholula? Mmmmm...a great way to start the week.