Every day should be Earth Day.
But today is one special day that everyone can pop up on social media and share pictures of themselves out in nature, or share quotes boasting about their love of the earth. I did it. But have you ever thought about doing more? Recycling has always been a big deal, reducing or eliminating the use of plastic has been on fire as of late (WHICH MAKES ME SO HAPPY), and people are being smarter about their waste, and electricity use. All great things, all things that make me happy. But what about our diets? What about how what we put in our bodies effects the Earth too?
If you’re not a vegan or a vegetarian, I’m sure you have your reasons and I’m not the kind of person who is going to pester you about your own personal life choices, BUT every once in a while I will the person to ask you how about one day? One day a week where you don’t eat meat, Or be like me, where I’m still a vegetarian but the majority of my meals are vegan, totally dairy free, until I am in a better position to become fully vegan ( Because you do need to be smart about it ). Small steps can still make change.
So I thought on this Earth Day, that just happens to fall on Meatless Monday, I’d put up some super quick and easy recipes for you to think about.
Grilled Cheese.
This was one of my favorites go too easy meals, but the less I ate dairy, the more it bothered me when I did, so it wasn’t an enjoyable meal anymore. I had a hard time finding a vegan cheese that I liked until I DID.
This Follow Your Heart brand cheese is perfect, there isn’t any kind of weird after taste like some vegan cheeses can have!
I use can’t believe it’s not butter vegan butter, regular old bread, and yummy tomatoes and BAM, vegan grilled cheese, done in no time.
Breakfast Protein Shake.
These are my usual ingredients, usually three strawberries, tsp of peanut butter, fill up that bottle you see in the back there with unsweetened almond milk, and add a Vegan Protein powder. I love the Vega brand, I usually use this protein and greens kind but I just bought the Vega Clean Protein which has added BCAA’s in it to add additional amino acids into my diet and I’m hoping it makes me feel even better. I’ve also added Chia Seeds lately as well. Either way, it takes less than 10 minutes to throw together and I have it for breakfast on my way to work every morning.
Gardein Chick Dinner
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I was a little sceptical of this at first because sometimes you buy these dinners for like $8-9 a bag and there’s like nothing in them, well not with this. This was exactly two meals like it suggested, super easy in a pan on the stove and was delicious! A complex looking meal that isn’t complex at all! Give it a try.
Tacos.
Even when I ate meat I was never big on beef, I really hated it. Tacos like this are even better. I use eithe morning star farms crumble or light life brand is my favorite and both are simple and quick to cook. Add lettuce, tomato, cheese if you’d like, dairy free Daiya cheese is a great option. I added honey mustard to this one, making it just a vegetarian taco but there are many vegan options for a dressing on it. So dang, good. OH and less greasy obvi which is the best.
Tofu Hummus Wrap
Some people who have never had Tofu before are turned off by the look, texture or the taste, and I get it, Tofu, if not cooked correctly is AWFUL. It might take a few tries to perfect what works for you but it’s so versitle that it’s worth the time. Here I did a Tofu scramble, with Tumeric, tomatoes, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus on a whole wheat wrap. Cooking up the tofu can take some time, but if you make an entire container you can keep it in the fridge for a few days and warm it up when you need to add it so something. It’s a great protein source and I always recommend everyone at least TRY it, before they say they don’t like it.
Those are just a couple of option to think about adding into your weekly meals to help ease your way out of an all meat diet, try something new, and do a little good for the planet and honestly for yourself. There are even more recipies on my blog here under the LifeStyle, then plant based and cruelty free tab, and the internet itself is FULL of ideas that only take a simple google search. Basically no one turns vegetarian or vegan overnight and they shouldn’t. Research goes into it. You have to make sure that you have the right nutrients but it is possible and it’s not incredibly hard of a process to go through with the right tools.
Miss Raee 