Our Meatless March became more of a “Mainly Meatless with a side of Meat.. March” and that’s OK, I wasn’t that interested in the title anyhow. It was the awareness of a more plant-based diet that I wanted for myself, hubby and kids, and I’m happy to report that we all feel happier, healthier and more informed after this month-long culinary adventure.
There are many reasons to consider cutting back on meat in your diet; health and minimizing your environmental footprint tend to top most lists. Aside from these obvious motivators, I thought finding substitutes for the expected beef, pork and chicken dishes in our house, could be just the culinary challenge I was craving after a winter of casseroles and stews. Eating vegetarian requires you to broaden your cultural references, I have been having a blast experimenting with Indian, Ethiopian and Thai dishes. I cannot wait to play with produce from the farmer’s markets with my new spices and pantry staples this spring.
North America has become a society dependent on meat. No longer for any assumed health benefits (protein, iron), but because “everything is better with bacon”. Beliefs like that are literally killing us, (diabetes, heart disease, cancers) and are plaguing the entire planet with pollutants.
Let’s play, ‘Did you know?‘:
- Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems
- Industrial cow growth and slaughter generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation
- Livestock uses more than 30% of the earth’s entire land surface
- Factory farming is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where about 70 per cent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing
- Global meat and dairy consumption is expected to double by 2050
We need to consider that more than 25 billion animals are killed by the meat industry each year – in ways that would horrify any compassionate person. With numbers so high, there is simply no way to treat all of these animals in a humane way. The incessant market demand allows for the major manufacturers to continue to cage, overcrowd, and prematurely slaughter livestock.
Eat less meat and make sure what you do eat originates from more humane/environmentally kind sources. If we could collectively cut back to more realistic portions of meat, like one and a half pounds of meat a week, a major shift towards positive change would happen. Control your portions and buy your meat from a local vendor. Consider this, just because it says “organic” and costs a small fortune, doesn’t always mean it is smart option. Each country has its own terms for classifying “organic”, and anything shipped to your grocery store, has you contributing to all of the energy, emissions and pollutants released transporting it to you.
The time is now to acknowledge that a local, plant-based diet is the key to healthier lifestyle. Call it “Meatless March”, “Meatless Monday”, or “Weekday Vegetarianism”, the name doesn’t matter. Don’t pressure yourself, pressure causes panic, and panic can make healthy changes in diet that much easier to abandon. What matters is that you become more consciously aware of where your meat comes from, realistic portion sizes, your health and the well-being of our entire planet. Approach a more-meat-less diet with curiosity, fun and without pressure and you could save the planet, and feel pretty great doing it.
A few snapshots of some of the goodies my family and I have been enjoying this past month, sans meat. Click on any image for a larger view.
- Get the whole family excited about their meatless meal with handcrafted pizzas and calzones.
- Grandma’s kale chips for a little energy pick me up.
- A great bocconcini sandwich can put any chicken sandwich to shame.
- Load up on avocados for potassium, fibre and healthy doses of monounsaturated fat.
- Veggie burgers can’t be beat.
- Amy’s Gluten-Free Cheese and Bean Burrito is an excellent lunch on the go.
- Out for lunch with a vegetable minestrone soup and veg quiche from Cameron Street Co-op in Cannington, On.
- Mango pop!
- Without the protein of much meat, a hearty breakfast becomes even more important to your day.
- Vitamin-rich homemade soups to cure the strongest meat cravings.
- No need to fret, sriracha chili sauce will save any and all tofu dishes.
- Panago’s veggie korma pizza will forever be my favourite delivered pizza pie.
- We just found out that dry roasted edamame are amazing. High in protein but also high in fat and calories so snack wisely.
- On a vegan tip, these mini ice cream sandwiches made with coconut milk are perfect kid-size, very tasty and less than 100 calories.
- Grilled tofu steaks will impress the most meat dependent. Recipe will be posted this week, not to be mised.
- Be creative with your falafel wraps.
- These ready made falafel balls are a new weekday favourite in my household. Spare yourself the nightmare of homemade falafel and have these ready for your pita in less than a minute.
- Discover a new vegetable. Broccoli rabe is a great side dish and amazing in a crusty sandwich.
- Invent your perfect grilled cheese sandwich. Here, I’ve layered monterey jack cheese, camembert, tomatoes, and loads of pesto.
- Fun with cheese! Oh yes, baby, deep fried brie.
- Acquaint yourself with a full selection of dips (hummus, spinach, baba ganoush) to keep your fresh fruits and vegetables interesting.
- No need to render fat when working with soy ground round.
- A hearty veggie chili made with chick peas, plenty of beans, fresh pepper, and Yves ground round is great on it’s own, with chips, breads, and/or loaded with cheese and guacamole.
- Yves Meatless Ground Round, it doesn’t look that pretty straight from the package but a brilliant time saver, low in fat and an ideal substitution for all traditional ground beef dishes.
- Vegan hot & sour soup. This recipe will be posted this week.
- Buckwheat flour pancakes with blueberries and meyer lemon rind. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all-day nibbles.
- Homemade mac n’ cheese with fresh peas makes for great dinner and even better weekday lunches.
- I have fallen in love with Coconut milk-based veggie curries.
For more material on this subject, please check out:
2006 UN Report: Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars
Mark Bittman on what’s wrong with the food we eat – TED Talks (Watch this!)
Canada’s Food Guide – Learn what they recommend for daily and weekly portions of meat, fish, fibre, fruit, etc.
MeatlessMonday.com – Recipes, guidelines, resources.
Post Punk Kitchen – From tamale sheppard’s pie to chocolate loaves, one of the Internet’s best resources for vegan recipes.
Feel free to post your recommended reading/ watching below.


What I needed was a little kick in the pants and a whole lot of ideas. Thanks!
in a word? YUM! kale chips are super popular with the kiddos here too as is hummus (so easy & cheap to make at home)and I was just talking about edamame yesterday with a client of mine. We buy the ones in shells and roast them – but my fave is buying the shelled edamame, and roasting them on high heat with a bit of sesame oil and chili flakes and storing in an air tight container – so much better than chips but still the crunch that we love. The Yves ground round is perfect for taco’s as well! my family doesn’t even realize they are eating meatless tacos when I make them! throw some black beans in with the ground round and (forgo the salt and make your own)taco seasoning and you have an incredible meal – also make some guacamole or just slices of avocado to top them with rather than sour cream – YUMMY!
Love it keep up the good work 🙂 now, I am going to have to pull out the dehydrator and get some kale to be making some kale chips! Cheers!