Meatless May

I would like to explain that I am not trying to torture my family.

Years ago when we drove by the Cargill feedlots for the first time, my mouth dropped open and I got a sickening feeling in my tummy. We were already rare fast food eaters, but it was more than that. I wondered for hours how is that okay? I wasn't so much alarmed by the smell, though it wasn't pleasant, I was more hit over the head by, 'do I not care where our beef comes from?' The farms I grew up seeing were so classically farm like, and this didn't resemble any of them! This was like a field of mass production at an heartbreakingly scale.

We drove by those feedlots everytime we went to Target or Joann's during our time in NM. It always gave me a sick feeling. I had started grinding my own ground beef from top round hunks of meat, within a couple months of moving to New Mexico. Not because of those feedlots, just because I hate biting into the hard things that are in ground beef.(Ruins my dinner everytime!)

Then I saw the last 10 minutes of the man that made Food Inc, on Oprah talking about his documentary. Interesting. I looked it up on Netflix and you can watch it instantly.... So Dave and I watched it that night. That is when I really was hurt. Sad things, alarming facts. We started eating organics right after that.

Well, the moral of this really lengthly story is that one thing that I learned from Food Inc was that the average American eats 200lbs of meat every year. That factoid really hit me over the head, and that feedlot made sense. But not like 'oh yeah okay I get it'.... more like 'oh hell no!'

That comes to mind every time I plan my weekly menu. I have really started limiting our dinners to one chicken, one beef, one pork per week. So if you have been wondering throughout my rant if I'm turning us vegetarian, that would be another 'oh hell no!' But I really wanted to expand my meat free meals with real feedback from Dave, and I knew if I just tried new recipes out here and there he wouldn't be really paying attention, but just focusing on the next night's meaty dinner. You are thinking that I'm a nut...maybe, but when I presented my reason to Dave he gave me his guilty grin and told me I was right.

So as to not torture ourselves the rules are -no meat for dinner unless its bacon

-No tofu

-lunchmeats will be freely available for lunches.

So on our first night we actually had something that I had made before. My knockoff of a wrap I always ordered at Jason's Deli in Texas when we would go to the airport. If you ever happen upon a Jason's Deli you should try it! They have Henson's pop at the fountain, organic suckers at the checkout and lots of YUMMY stuff on their menu.

Grilled Portobello Wraps

I heat 1Tbsp Butter with a touch of Olive oil in a pan and then cook up sliced baby portobello mushrooms that have been hanging out in some Worcestershire sauce.

I get the veg chopped but don't mix them cause you want to put them in at different times.

After the mushrooms have their head start add the red onion... let it cook for a bit

Then add chopped green pepper and chopped(or grated) garlic.. let it cook for a few

Then fold in some baby spinach and let it wilt for a minute

Turn off the heat and stir in the diced tomatoes.

Heat a skillet, put some mushroom stuff in a tortilla shell or wrap... top it with cheese and sliced avocados(I forgot to buy an avocado...sad)

Just let it brown up nicely.

We enjoyed some sweet potato fries with our wraps....

On a scale of 1-10 Dave this meal satisfied him at a 10... a good start I think this meal will fit into our menu somewhat regularly.