As a vegetarian, I’m always on the lookout for healthy, meatless meal ideas. But even if you’re a meat eater yourself, going veggie once a week can be a good thing for your body and for our planet. Meatless Monday is a “thing” these days. Just don’t let it be your excuse for “Pizza Monday!” If you’re going to take a night off from animal protein, holistic nutritionist Kelly Leveque recommends focusing on fiber. Kelly says that on average people only get 13 grams of fiber a day—about half the recommended amount. Fiber is important. It feeds your good bacteria, keeping probiotics alive and flourishing in your gut. So, we asked Kelly to put together a few Meatless Monday meal ideas that you could whip up for dinner tonight. These three recipes she suggested are not only delicious, but they are chock full of healthy fiber to leave you feeling full and satisfied…
Surfer Slaw Salad
It’s hard to eat a cold salad for dinner and feel truly satisfied. I love the warmth of roasted vegetables on salad greens that can handle the heat. Choose the fibrous vegetables to stay full and feed healthy gut bacteria!
Ingredients:
Slaw:
2 cups chopped kale leaves
¼ cup shredded carrot
¼ cup shredded red cabbage
¼ cup shredded green cabbage
Dressing:
3 tbsp. homemade Aioli, Primal Mayo (used here) or Olive Oil
1 tsp Organicville Sriracha (more if you like it spicy)
2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Salad:
½ onion thinly sliced
2 cups Brussels sprouts halved (or other cruciferous or root vegetables of your choice)
ghee or coconut oil
cojita cheese (to taste)
cilantro (to taste)
Instructions:
Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk dressing ingredients in the bottom of the bowl. Add all slaw ingredients on top and hand mix.
Slice root or cruciferous vegetables of your choice into ½ -1 inch cubes. If you are using Brussels sprouts, remove 1 or 2 of the top leaves. (This will allow the sprout to cook faster and creates a caramelized crunchy topping for your salad.) Toss Brussels and onions with melted ghee (or coconut oil) and roast for 20 minutes, flipping and stirring halfway through.
Top with cojita cheese and cilantro. Enjoy!
Green Goddess Soup
Change of plans? Hot Date? When your vegetables are going to go bad, blend up a quick puree up and take it to work for lunch or freeze it. Start with an aromatic or two (ginger, onion, garlic) and a little oil. Allow the flavors to open up and the bulb to become translucent, and then throw your veggies in with a little broth. Take your soup up a notch with bone broth and ingest all gut health healing benefits of the collagen. If you don’t have bone broth, a few tablespoons of powdered collagen gives each bowl extra protein. Are you vegan? Consider adding a few tablespoons of plain flavored grain protein to your personal soup bowl.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp of olive oil
3 garlic cloves minced
½ yellow onion diced
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup roughly chopped Kale
1 cup asparagus
1 cup broccoli
½ cup carrots
4 cups bone, chicken or vegetable broth
Suggested Toppings:
parsley
walnuts
cherry tomatoes
hemp seeds
fermented cashew cheese (I love the Heidi Ho! brand)
Instructions:
In a large pot on medium heat, sauté garlic and onion until translucent (do not burn) for 2-4 min.
Add broth, all vegetables except spinach, and bring to a boil. Cover and bring heat down to a rolling boil for 15-20 minutes until vegetables are tender, adding spinach a few minutes before the heartier vegetables are cooked.
Using an emulsion blender or regular blender, blend the soup into a puree. Add more broth to thin.
Enjoy puree with nut, seed, cheese or herb toppings.
Roasted Eggplant Chickpea Curry
Beans are an inexpensive and filling plant-based protein. They are one of the 10 pantry staples Lauren always has on hand, and can be used to quickly upgrade a veggie side to a hearty main.
Ingredients:
4 cups of eggplant (or zucchini), cubed
2 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)
1 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup chopped onion
1 can of coconut milk
3 Tbsp curry powder
2 sliced dates
2 lemon slices
cilantro to garnish
Instructions:
Preheat oven 425. Toss eggplant in 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil, and roast on a baking sheet with sides for 10 minutes. Flip eggplant and add rinsed garbanzo beans to the baking sheet and roast for another 10 minutes.
In a large frying pan, add 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, onion, and sauté until tender and translucent.
Add 2 cups of coconut milk, curry, and salt. Whisk and bring to a rolling boil.
Toss roasted vegetables, chickpeas and curry sauce together in the pan.
Serve with sliced dates, lemon, cilantro and an optional side of quinoa or rice.
Which one of these Meatless Monday meals are you going to try tonight?
I’m planning on whipping up the eggplant chickpea curry!
xo Ilana
Team LC
Photos: Kelly Leveque