Meatless ?day

Two years ago I made some New Year's resolutions related to our cooking/eating habits, one of which was Meatless Mondays.  In an effort to reduce grocery bills (since meats tend to be the more costly items) as well as increase our healthy eating habits, we decided on Mondays we would prepare a vegetarian dish for dinner.  It resulted in us finding some really fantastic vegetarian dishes that we would find ourselves choosing over other meaty options.  We kept it up for a good six months, and then I got pregnant again and we I kind of threw that baby out with the bathwater.  We would still make an occasional vegetarian dish, resorting to our favorite Meatless Monday recipes, but were not religious about seeking out said option on a weekly basis.  We have resolved to return to this way, though slightly altered.  We do our grocery shopping for the week on the weekend (it takes us 1 hour at the store with all of us working together so it is a weekend must for us!).  Since we are purchasing several meat/protein options for the week, I prefer to use those up as quickly as possible to prevent spoiling/waste.  Therefore, our meatless option may not be confined to Mondays, but rather will happen later in the week (or whatever day makes sense given our activities for the week).  Last week was a crazy week with all of the weather related issues that kept us confined to the house for the early part of the week, but we rounded out the week with two delicious, meatless options.

The first was Quinoa, Black Bean, and Corn Tacos (above).  This was a Pinterest find, and since we eat Mexican at least  once twice a week, I couldn't pass this option up.  This is a moderately easy dish to make and tastes great!  The recipe makes a ton, resulting in enough for our dinner, lunches the next day, and extra to make a Quesadilla for Cooper the following day.  There is so much flavor and substance to this dish that you won't even miss the meat!

The next was Eggs in Purgatory (above).  This dish was shared by Ryan's cousin, Ali; her husband is a vegetarian, so she is always on the prowl for good meatless dishes (try the quinoa tacos Ali!).  Ryan and I both enjoyed this dish immensely (though we weren't so honestly vegetarian with this dish since we left in the pancetta).  This dish has a ton of flavor and some heat (we used diced tomatoes with habenros which were oh so spicy!).  We served over warm corn tortillas with avocado slices since we're half Mexican (Ok, not really, but rumor has it my brother is Chilean...).

Happy Sunday everyone!  Hope you enjoy some delicious food while you take in all of this football action.  Only a few more football Sundays this season!!