World Vegetarian Day is being held on Oct. 1, which is also the kickoff of vegetarian awareness month.
Some of you may know that I’m an on-again/off-again vegetarian. I’ve had a couple of vegetarian stints in my life. I haven’t eaten red meat for about 9 years, but I do currently eat poultry and fish on occasion. For the most part, I try to make a variety of vegetarian meals, but meat is sometimes a part of our diet.
Wondering what the big deal is and why vegetarianism so important?
Some of the Benefits of Vegetarianism are:
• reducing the risk of major killers like heart disease, stroke and cancers while cutting exposure to food borne pathogens;
• offering a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry, through more efficient use of grains and other crops;
• saving animals from suffering in factory farm conditions and from painful slaughter;
• conserving vital, but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources;
• preserving irreplaceable ecosystems, such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats;
• mitigating the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture; and the list goes on.
Eating vegetarian doesn’t just mean salads and veggie burgers (though it certainly can). There’s a whole world of tasty, meatless meals out there. :) To help you commit to going meat-free on Oct. 1, I’m listing some of my favorite vegetarian recipes that I’ve blogged about in the past:
- Grilled Panini with provolone and basil
- Oat Nut scones
- Six Vegetarian recipes includes: Vegetarian Minestrone Soup, Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup, Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Pasta, Tortilla Lasagna with Swiss Chard, Banana-Cornmeal Pancakes, and Rotelle Primavera
- Granola Bars sans Allergies
- Avocado Hummus
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Chickpe Lunch and Kentucky Fried (Baked) Tofu
- Peanut butter Tofu stirfry
- Vegetarian Chili
- Pseudo Indian dinner and Chocolate-covered peanut butter balls
- For more vegetarian recipes, click on over to Vegetarian Times (which is a great magazine whether you are vegetarian or not)
- Looking for something even easier? How about cheese pizza and salad, or using veggie crumbles instead of ground beef/turkey in your tacos, spaghetti or otherwise generally meaty meal? You could do grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup. Breakfast for dinner (eggs, quiche and/or pancakes) is always fun too.
Are your taste buds tantalized? Feeling hungry? Feeling motivated? If you want join me in pledging to have a meat-free day on Oct. 1, please sign Mr. Linky below. (Already vegetarian or vegan? Awesome! Please sign up and join in too!) I’m personally going to try my best to make the whole month of October as meat-free as possible for me and my family. I’ve been on a roll already this week making only vegetarian meals (some of which I need to post on here and add to the list).
If you feel so inclined, please feel free to snag my button (above) and blog about this too – linking back to this post if you like. We don’t have much time before Oct. 1, so I hope some of you will spread the word. Feel free to share any vegetarian recipes you have on your blog. The more people we can have join in, the merrier! :)
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