One of my new year’s resolutions was to be “part time” vegetarian. I have actually kept this up, for the most part, this year. The surprising thing is I am not missing meat anymore when I’m eating a vegetarian meal. Sometimes I definitely crave a burger but I think that’s because I need some iron. I’ve been more deliberate about eating spinach (and other iron-packed veggies) and those burger cravings have decreased. Let’s be honest though, I still want to eat a burger sometimes which is why I am only a “part time” vegetarian.
This past week though, I started watching “Eating Animals,” a documentary about the farming industry and the horrendous conditions of it. Now I’ve watched these documentaries before but for whatever reason, this one hit home more for me. I talked to Ryan about it and we’ve decided to be even more intentional about eating vegetarian and trying our best to focus meat eating around local farms with humane farming practices (I realize that eating any meat though can be seen as inhumane to animals).
To keep vegetarian eating interesting, I’ve decided to pick a veggie each week to focus meals around and learn more about.
This week I picked the bell pepper because it is my daughter’s favorite vegetable. She even asked for some to eat with her breakfast the other day…Cheerios + red bell peppers, a new meal combo perhaps?
When I first started eating these, I couldn’t figure out how to cut them without getting the seeds everywhere. Over the years doing some research and watching my fair share of cooking shows, I found the best way (IMO).
How to cut a bell pepper:
- Cut off the bottom so that you have a flat surface to work with.
- Put bottom side down on a cutting board and then slice the sides off in 4 pieces.
- Remove any unwanted ribs left on the peppers.
Like most veggies, they pack a nutritional punch. Bell peppers give you 169% of your daily vitamin C needed (and you thought an orange had high vitamin C?!). They come in green, yellow, orange and red. The different colors are based on how long they had to ripen. Another fun fact is that paprika is made up of bell peppers that have been dried out and made into powder form (I totally didn’t know that!).
Here is our meal plan for next week:
Sunday:
- Lunch: Mother’s Day lunch of salmon and green beans
- Dinner: Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Monday:
- Lunch: Kale Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Dinner: leftover turkey burgers and salad (from a weekend meal)
Tuesday:
- Lunch: leftover Kale Salad
- Dinner: leftover stuffed peppers
Wednesday:
- Lunch: leftover Kale Salad
- Dinner: Grilled Pork Chops with roasted asparagus (basically drizzle olive oil, lemon, salt & pepper and roast)
Thursday:
- Lunch: leftovers or go out
- Dinner: leftover pork chops
I was able to go to the farmer’s market today where I picked up pork chops from a local farm and asparagus. It was a beautiful morning at the market! I picked up some plants and veggies to plant as well this weekend. I will share more about that in next week’s post.
Hope you are having a great weekend! We’ve been enjoying the warmer weather playing outside and doing yard work.
What is your favorite veggie to make a meal around?
