Meatless Meal - Chilean Dal

In an ongoing effort to decrease my environmental footprint, I've been experimenting with meatless meals. Meat uses up a lot more resources than vegetables/grains, so by decreasing my meat consumption I become more environmentally friendly!


The latest experiment is a Chilean Dal recipe that I found at The Simple Dollar. I give it maybe 2 stars out of 5. I made a few substitutions (I don't like cooked carrots, so I threw in some tofu and broccoli) and I just didn't have any cilantro. I found that the recipe made A LOT of food, even though Trent's version was already cut down from the version he first found. We had three adults for dinner, and I have enough for at least 3-4 more meals for myself (I doubt my husband will eat this). I have to admit I found the recipe to be disappointingly bland. The salt and pepper to taste help, but it needs something more. Hot sauce also helped. Maybe the addition of some curry paste, or a lot more onion and garlic. If I try this recipe again I'll try spicing it up a bit. I doubt I'll be cooking it anytime soon, I'm sure I can find other recipes that are more to my family's taste.

Trent’s Chilean Dal

1 cup of lentils
1 large red potato, chopped but unskinned
1 chopped carrot
2 chopped tomatoes
1/2 hot pepper, chopped
1/2 small onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
8 ounces tomato sauce (small can)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp beer or sherry
olive oil
1/8 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper

Night before:
1. Chop potato, carrot, tomatoes, pepper, onion, garlic, and cilantro.
2. Soak and cook lentils till soft. Drain and rinse, set aside.

Next day:
1. Sautee onions, garlic, hot pepper, and cumin in olive oil. Add beer or sherry.
2. Add vinegar, potatoes, and carrots, cover with water, bring to boil.
3. Add tomatoes and cook till potatoes are soft.
4. Add lentils and tomato sauce.
5. Salt and pepper to taste. Add more water or beer if it’s too dry, or add hot sauce if you like it spicier.
6. Throw in the cilantro, take if off the heat. Serve after a few minutes.

Meatless Meal - Lemon Basil Pasta

Due to the higher environmental cost of raising meat compared to vegetables, I'm trying for one meatless main meal a week. If I find enough of them that we really like, it could expand to multiple meals in a week. This week I tried a Lemon Basil Pasta dish from the Budget Confessions blog. I didn't have angel hair pasta, but spaghettini worked just as well.



The dish was easy to prepare and didn't take long at all. I served it with some grilled vegetables which added variety and had the added benefit of using up all the vegetables I thought could go bad by this week's Food Waste Friday! The portions near the bottom of the dish are definitely very lemony - I might use a bit less lemon juice next time. My husband liked this dish as much as the Black Beans and Rice, though I rated it a bit lower. We had some guests over while we ate, so I can tell you that the dish is kid-approved! The two and a half year old really liked it and ate everything on her plate. I think I'd like to try the Garlic Basil version discussed in the Budget Confessions comments, but this dish could get made again.

Meatless Meal - Black Beans and Rice

Due to the higher environmental cost of raising meat compared to vegetables, I'm trying for one meatless main meal a week. If I find enough of them that we really like, it could expand to multiple meals in a week. Last week I tried a Macaroni and Cheese recipe that was ok, but lacking in flavour. This week I grabbed another recipe from the book Frozen Assets Lite & Easy, Black Beans and Rice. The dish took maybe 15 minutes to prepare, and just over an hour to cook. We had friends over for dinner that night, and I'll definitely be making this recipe again. Everyone enjoyed it! A few things I'd change in the preparation...stir the rice and beans about three quarters of the way through the cooking time, otherwise you end up with hard rice on the top layer. One of my friends also suggested crushed tortilla chips on top as a garnish, I'll definitely try that next time. I also doubled or tripled the cheese topping - I didn't measure but just grated until the top was well covered.

I'm rating it at four stars out of five. In fact, I'm going to make it again next week for the freezer to use up the rest of the tomato juice. I'll probably make two 8x8 pans instead of a 9x13 so that it's in meal sizes that better suit my family.



Black Beans and Rice

30 oz. black beans (drained and rinsed if canned)
20 oz. frozen corn kernels
2 cups long grain rice, uncooked
32 oz. salsa
3 cups tomato juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the shredded cheese.
Pour into a 13x9 inch casserole dish; bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees.
Remove from oven. Cool, wrap with foil, label and freeze. Thaw when ready to cook (only if cooking for the freezer)
Sprinkle with shredded cheese and cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and the beans and rice are heated through.

Meatless Meal - Macaroni and Cheese

According to a lot of research, eating meat is far more resource intensive than eating plants. That makes sense when you realize that for every kilogram of beef produced, a cow needs to eat 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. There's also the fact that cows produce more greenhouse gases than human transportation. With all that in mind, it's easy to see that reducing the meat in a typical North American diet is one way we can lower our ecological footprint. I'm not planning on becoming vegetarian, but I would like to ensure that meat isn't the main focus of every meal we eat, so I'm going to be experimenting with some meatless main courses. This could be a bit challenging since my husband believes that vegetables are 'food for food'!

I thought I'd start with something easy like macaroni and cheese, even though I know that mac and cheese alone is not a balanced meal. I grabbed a recipe from the book Frozen Assets Lite & Easy and got to work. The meal didn't take that long to prepare, though I had to make a couple substitutions (I didn't have skim milk or fat-free cream cheese so I used 1% milk and Philadelphia Garden Vegetable cream cheese). Total prep + cooking time was about 1 hour.



I'm not sure if my tastebuds have been corrupted by KD, but we found this dish to be a little bland. As it is, I'd give it three stars out of five. After tasting, there are a few changes I'd make to the recipe. First of all, you need about four times the topping....we all know the topping is the best part. When reheating, the taste was improved by sprinkling extra grated cheddar on top, and also by adding some garlic/parmesan sauteed mushrooms. I think that salsa or hot sauce could be used as well. I'll make this recipe again, but will definitely add a bit more spice to make it a little more interesting.

Three Cheese Mac-n-Cheese (6 servings) - original recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat cheddar cheese, grated
2-oz fat-free cream cheese, cubed
1/3 cup Italian flavoured bread crumbs
1 tablespoon margarine, melted

Preparation:
1. Cook and drain the macaroni
2. Combine flour and pepper in large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup milk, whisk until smooth.
3. Gradually add the rest of the milk, stirring briskly. Cook over medium heat until mixture just barely begins to boil.
4. Remove from heat; add cheeses, stirring until melted.
5. Stir in macaroni. Pour mixture into 9-inch square baking dish.
6. Mix bread crumbs with margarine. Sprinkle over top of casserole.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees farenheight, or until golden brown and bubbly.