a Month of Mostly Meatless Menus

Planning meals without meat being the "centerpiece" is pretty hard sometimes - so in case anyone is interested, here's a whole list of possibilities for those who are taking the eating of meat "sparingly" more seriously. Asterisks mean the recipe is already on the blog, taking requests for others if you're curious :)
Even if you just want to start once a week having meat be a side or flavoring rather than the main course, this might help. Of course you can switch out veggies for the ones you like best, you can tell broccoli is the "default" green veg right now in this house - the one everyone eats.

(suggested side dishes are in parentheses)

Big Baked Potatoes with mushrooms and onions or with black bean fiesta (baked squash, roasted green beans with tomatoes, salad)
Seasoned black bean spread on sandwich thins with grilled red & green peppers & onions and guacamole (good alone or with baked sweet potato, sweet potato fries, or confetti spaghetti squash below)
Sweet-n-Sour root vegetables with couscous (big veggie salad)
Fettuccine Primavera (use chicken broth, a little real butter, a bit of romano cheese and lots of veggies)
Potato Roesti (a big high-class hash brown patty) lots of "sauteed" veg, baked squash or black bean/corn/asparagus salad)
Minestrone with garbanzo or cannelloni beans (*crispy bread, green salad)
*Lime-cilantro Rice and Beans (broccoli or green beans, snap peas & tomato salad)
Potato-crust mushroom and broccoli Quiche(thin sliced potatoes line pie pan bake very hot 10 minutes)
Vegetable "upsidedown cake" (slaw and fruit or beets and green salad with tomato)
Tortellini Toss with asparagus, julienne carrots, and zuchinni (*crusty bread, melon)
Portobello or Veggie Quesadillas or Fajitas (Spanish brown rice, shredded lettuce)
Sicilian Eggplant Marinara Penne (crusty bread, green salad, green beans or broccoli)
Baked Risotto with Veg (baked sweet potato, green beans, slaw or salad)
Confetti spaghetti squash - slivered red and green peppers and onions in a little butter with the spaghetti squash and favorite seasonings and a little Parmesan or other cheese
Spinach Fettuccine with Summer Squash (cheesy crisp bread, snap peas, etc)
*Nacho Bake (greens)
Soy Ginger Noodles from package add stir-fry veg (baked sweet potato or Sweet Potato Hash)
Butternut Squash soup, then Sausage Cornbread and green veg and salad
Starving Shepherd's Pie (sauteed veg mix instead of meat)
Roasted Veg Lasagna or eggplant lasagna (french bread or breadsticks, green salad)
Eggplant and Ricotta "manicotti" (use no-boil noodles softened in hot water and roll up) (sides as above)
Spinach-Lentil Pilaf  in baked acorn squash --or stuffed in peppers
Black Bean/corn quesadillas or black bean/olive enchiladas, (rice, lettuce, guac, etc)
Mushroom Stroganoff (green veg, salad, etc) replace part or all of meat with portabellos
Split Pea Soup, Black Bean soup, Lentil soup,.........(*French bread or sticks, cabbage wedges, turnip slices or sticks, etc)
Sesame-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Broccoli over millet or noodles or quinoa
Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew (chewy bread, fruit)
Spaghetti- fill sauce whit any veggies chopped small, or mushrooms, or roasted and processed eggplant, etc.(*French Bread, salad, etc)
*Veg Pizza (big salad)
*Sweet and Sour Veg (fill sauce with water chestnuts, onion, carrot, broccoli, celery, snap or snow peas, summer squash, pineapple, green peppers, etc) over brown rice, throw a few chow mein noodles on top
Cassoulet (recipe coming soon)
Vegetable Fried Rice (spring rolls, snap peas and little carrots)
*Yaki Soba (whole wheat bread and butter)
Pita Pizza with hummus for "sauce" and vegetables
Grilled eggplant and zucchini sandwiches (with sweet potato fries and cabbage wedge and fruit)
Quinoa Pilaf (if you haven't tried quinoa, its time! rinse it well before cooking like rice, and use in any favorite recipe like rice or couscous)

breakfast cookies

I tried several "Breakfast Cookie" recipes and found them a little better than the sawdust of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, but even with extensive tinkering they didn't measure up to a really pleasurable car breakfast. So I decided to try the other direction and start with a good oatmeal cookie recipe and make it healthier. Here's the original:

good oatmeal cookies
preheat 350
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
whisk together and set aside

cream
1 c butter, softened (actual butter is by far best)
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar packed
2 lg eggs
2 t vanilla

stir in flour til moist and then add
3 cups oats NOT instant (five-minute, not one)
1 1/2 c raisins

drop 2 inches apart
(I like these on parchment paper, otherwise spray cookie sheet)
bake 11-13 minutes, should be golden but moist in cracks

Then I started making them more like breakfast:
*use whole wheat flour (no one even notices!)
*Add either a chopped apple or reconstituted crumbs from the can of dried apple pieces
*Add a finely grated carrot microwaved a minute to soften and sweeten
*Put raisins plus 1/2 cup craisins and 1/2 cup dried apple bits in a liquid measure with a spoonful or two of apple juice or orange juice concentrate, cover and microwave for one or two minutes and let sit while starting the rest of the recipe (driest thing at the bottom) - or any old dried fruit you need to use up, in small pieces.
*Since you have all the sweet fruit, cut down the sugars by 1/3, and add another 1/2 cup oats thanks to the extra liquid (the juice - or add a smashed banana!)
If you want to try using cooked and processed white beans for 1/2 the butter you can, but so far I've left it buttery to make sure we don't go back to sawdust :) - everything else is healthy, after all.
You can add nuts of course.

You can bake a few and make the rest into balls and freeze (on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, then toss into a bag) for cooking whenever needed.
This is a great way to use old withered apples and hard, dried-up raisins.......
You can also mix up the dough and then add the fruit to one half and chocolate chips to the other half to make everyone happy

Nacho Bake

for some of us who grew up wishing we could have "Tuna and
Potato Chip Casserole" more often (the tastier, faster, costlier and less healthy version of tunafish & noodles), here's a Mexican version just about as fast to make and pretty healthy, and easy to adjust to taste:

(Quick and Healthy) Nacho Bake

1 bag crushed baked tortilla chips
1 bottle of salsa (watch for sales)
handful of snipped cilantro (or tsp. dried)
one can each:
    Mexicorn (or "southwest" style corn, or regular corn)
    chopped tomatoes with mild diced green chilis
    black beans, rinsed and drained

stir it all together, bake til heated through (about 30-40 minutes at 350), throw some cheese on top and heat til melted


For the curious:  Tuna Fish and Potato Chips
one or two cans tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
pkg potato chips, crushed
extra milk if needed to moisten

stir together and bake until heated through and crispy on top
(nutrition facts: extreme sodium and fat content, but then again, tuna is healthy food, right? and you can serve green beans and squash and salad and fruit alongside)