I shared my two-week meal plan last Monday. Today, I’m sharing one of my meal planning strategies…
Whether you’re celebrating Lent or aim to improve your health or your budget, try adding meatless meals to your meal planning. I know that in many families, men balk at meatless meals; one of the keys that’s helped in my home is including my husband in the planning. I show him recipe ideas and am sure to include other favorite foods along with the meatless entree. Consistency has also helped; he originally didn’t like the broccoli pie and quiche recipes, but now that we’ve been eating them for so many years, we’ve tweaked the recipe to one he really enjoys (this works with picky-eating kids, too).
Several meatless meals are in our regular rotation, and my kids now react with “Yum, I love that!” instead of “Where’s the meat?”
Pizza and Calzones
Most families have a “pizza night,” and it’s one of the easiest ways to include more vegetables and serve a meatless meal. We usually do green pepper, mushrooms and olives, and I serve a big salad on the side. When we make homemade calzones, we have ricotta and mozzarella cheese along with spinach or other vegetables, and the meat is not missed at all. If you don’t make your own pizza, consider adding vegetables to a frozen cheese pizza.
Macaroni and Cheese
There are so many macaroni & cheese recipes in the world, you could have a different one every week for a year! You can add broccoli or other veggies right to the mix, or just serve them or a salad on the side. With comfort food like this, no one misses the meat at dinnertime. I use two recipes regularly: a Baked Mac & Cheese Casserole that has cottage cheese and sour cream in it and “Real” Macaroni & Cheese, where you make your own sauce instead of using a powder packet. Yum!
Quiches and Pies
Over the years, we’ve found several recipes that use eggs, cheese and vegetables to satisfy. One family favorite is Italian Spinach Pie, which is savory and very easy to make, all in one bowl. I’ve also used Bisquick’s “Impossibly Easy Pie” recipe and replaced or substituted all the parts. You can use GF flour if needed, change the vegetables or cheese around, and get creative. Our favorite combo is broccoli with cheddar.
Italian Food
It’s easy to adapt your favorite lasagna recipe to meatless; just replace the meat with your favorite sauteed vegetables. We like spinach, mushrooms and onions. My family loves this Easy Manicotti with its filling of pesto and ricotta cheese, and Vegetarian Baked Ziti can be customized with whatever vegetables you like–zucchini, peppers, spinach, etc.
What meatless meals does your family love?
This post is linked up to Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom, Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie and Meatless Mondays at Midnight Maniac.
