Meatless Monday

I was already planning on writing about this today when I saw that one of my new favorite blogs just wrote about it too! http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/2010/04/guest-blogger-meatless-monday.html

It's really cool what NYC is doing, especially the entire notion of giving parents this kind of voice in a public school. Basically, NYC public schools are giving parents an option to create a wellness team and request to meet with their SchoolFood manager from the Department of Education's Office of SchoolFood. This Wellness team in particular was concerned with the heavy amount of fat from meat and cheese in their children's school lunches. One of the changes they made was incorporating "Meatless Mondays" into the menu. And I'm not talking about grilled cheese and fried fish like Siena used to serve during Fridays of Lent. The NYC school's meatless Mondays consist of healthy vegetarian food such as Vegetarian Chili with rice and African Gumbo. Ummm if my school served this for lunch I would actually buy the school lunch at my school!

But I've been hearing a lot about the Meatless Monday Movement. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a resolution pushing for more vegetarian offerings on Mondays, without requiring them.http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/homestyle/04/26/meatless.mondays.green.healthy/index.html?hpt=Sbin

So I've been thinking it's a good idea for a number of reasons. I'm not doing it because of animal rights or anything like that. For me, it's more of a money issue and just the challenge to see if I can do it. I think it will help me be a more creative chef as well. Is anyone else up for the challenge? I would love a buddy to do this with - (Michelle, you are my #1 buddy as a vegetarian every day)

This is what I ate today for my first Meatless Monday:

Breakfast- Oatmeal (quaker quick oats) with Almonds and Splenda and Green Tea
Snack- Pistachios
Lunch- Corn and Potato chowder I made yesterday, an orange, and a chocolate chip cookie
Snack- Grapes and 100 calorie bag of popcorn., I also had another cookie, whoops.
Dinner- I made a black bean quesadilla. I sauteed onions and spinach with taco seasoning then put it in one whole wheat, high fiber wrap (only 100 calories and it's huge!) then I smothered it with black beans and canned corn. Then, since I stopped buying shredded or block cheese (it always got moldy before I could finish it)I shredded and cut up a light string cheese and topped it all with hot sauce. Grilled that on the George Forman for about 10-15 mins then I was done! I ate it with salsa and it was awesome and filling.

Meatless Monday= Success!

A huge shout out to my Grandma (who is very computer savvy) and my Aunt Jean (you are too!) for sending me the most amazing care package today!! This may be the best one to date! Peanut M&Ms are my favorite and with this cold I got the chicken noodle soup will be perfect tomorrow :) You two are the best, I love you!!