Today is World Vegetarian Day and I can’t think of a better day than today to launch my new series: Meat-Free Meal of the Week! You may remember my mini-series: When Veggies Come to Dinner, where I wrote about being a vegetarian. I also gave some tips for accommodating the vegetarians in your life without feeling like you have to sacrifice something. I received wonderful feedback from lots of you and I wanted to share some of the simple veggie meals that I eat. Some of the recipes are from the professionals (of which, I am not) and some are just made-up using leftovers from my fridge. They will all be easy to make and aren’t just for vegetarians, even if you do eat meat, these are tasty meals that happen to not have meat in them. I hope you’ll give one or two of these a try!
This week’s Meat-Free Meal of the Week is easy to make, very filling and tastes fresh and simple.
Ingredients:
- 8 oz. button or baby bella mushrooms, cut into 3/4″ pieces (if you don’t like mushrooms, you can substitute eggplant)
- 7-8 small round tomatoes, quartered or 12 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1-2 tbsp. fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped (about 1 tbsp.)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 8 oz. spinach pasta
Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes and finally add the tomatoes and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and toss with 1 tbsp. olive oil and the cooked vegetables. Add additional olive oil if you prefer and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the tossed pasta with the sliced basil leaves. You can keep it vegan or add a scoop of ricotta cheese for a creamier dish. Enjoy!
