Hi friends!
You’re all receiving this newsletter a day late because this week’s newsletter is all about Meatless Monday, and well, I had to wait for Monday to be over to tell you about it. And yes, only I would create a fictional deadline for a hobby. Something is actually wrong with me.
It’s pretty self explanatory, but Meatless Mondays is a simple concept that encourages people to skip meat for just one day a week to improve one’s personal health and the health of the world around us, and because we all have high aspirations to pick up good habits at the beginning of the week, Monday is the perfect day. Also, it’s an alliteration, and who doesn’t get high off alliterations?
While culture’s consciousness of eating meat and its negative side effects is trendy right now, Meatless Mondays is definitely not a new idea. Its origin goes way back to World War I, but the Meatless Monday as we know it was really re-vamped in 2003 by Sid Lerner and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. You remember 2003, right? The first season of The Bachelorette aired, iTunes was created and Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna made pop culture history with their juicy MTV Video Music Awards smooch. I just rewatched the performance, and it’s still legendary.
One of the many reasons Meatless Monday has seen so much success all these years is because, like Melissa Clark, they’re not asking you to give up on meat entirely. You don’t have to go full vegetarian or vegan. It’s just one day a week where you let veggies or other forms of protein take the main stage. And if I can do it, you definitely can do it considering most, if not all, of my favorite meals are meat-forward. Have you had a french dip sandwich? Like come on.
We started doing Meatless Mondays at the beginning of 2020 when we still had plans for this year LOL. And while it started as an attempt to be healthier and environmentally conscious, it ended up being a fun creative challenge for us each week. We were forced to step outside our usual weeknight meals and think of something new to make— something without meat. Once we realized we could actually be full (and satisfied) by eating meatless meals, we excitedly explored our way through vegetarian recipes we would’ve never considered before. We even came up with some of our own. This is when our roasted curry cauliflower and zucchini parms/ pizza were born.
We found countless recipes that were just as good, if not better, than some of our favorite carnivorous meals. If you’re even remotely interested in doing Meatless Mondays with us, or just want to make something delicious, here’s some of our favorites:
Making Thyme for Health’s Butternut Squash Enchiladas
Alison Roman’s Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut and Tumeric (you can find that in Newsletter #2)
The Simple Veganista’s Kale, Quinoa & White Bean Soup
Spices in My DNA’s Crispy Quinoa Chickpea Bowls
SkinnyTaste’s Potato Leek Soup
Cookie + Kate’s Extra Vegetable Fried Rice
But look, I’m not going to stand up here all high-and-mighty pretending like we never eat meat on Mondays. In fact, as we’ve gotten deeper into quarantine, our commitment has lapsed. But here’s the great thing about Meatless Mondays— you can always pick it back up again. There will always be another Monday around the corner. Another chance to try again.
And after weeks… maybe months… (I’ve lost track of time), we’re picking it back up again, and what better way to restart this routine than making our all-time favorite Meatless Monday recipe— Vegetable Pad Thai.
Inspired by a Pinch of Yum recipe, this colorful dish is jam-packed with veggies that’ll leave you thinking— meat who? In fact, the times we’ve made it with meat, we felt it overshadowed all the delicious vegetables— the bell peps, carrots, zucchini— and why would you ever want to overshadow them?
The nice thing about this dish is that there’s a million different ways you can make it. I’ve shared my favorite way below, but add what you like to it. I’m sure some cabbage, broccoli or bok choy would be phenomenal in it. Add a thinly sliced hot pepper for some kick. Either way, you’ll have a meatless recipe in your wheelhouse for any Meatless Mondays to come.
Here’s what you’ll need:
8 oz rice noodles — You can find these in the international aisle of your grocery store
1 large zucchini, spiralized
1 red or orange bell pepper, spiralized or thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, spiralized or thinly sliced
2 large carrots, made into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons neutral oil like canola, vegetable or grapeseed
2 eggs, beaten
Green onions, sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Lime, cut into wedges
For the sauce, the ingredients are:
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon chili paste or sriracha
Let’s start by talking about rice noodles. Every package of rice noodles requires different directions. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE PACKAGE. Otherwise, you might end up with really crunchy noodles, and that’s just sad. Trust me, I’ve messed this up one too many times. Learn from my mistakes!
For our noodles, which were A Taste of Thai’s Rice Noodle Linguine, we let them soak in very hot water, occasionally stirring to separate the noodles. We let them soak for 25-30 minutes.
While the noodles soak, spiralize or chop your zucchini, bell pepper and onion. We like to use the spiralizer, especially for the zucchini, but if you don’t have one, you can cut the vegetables into thin, long slices— similar to julienne.
If you choose to spiralize the zucchini, make sure to lay the spirals into a single layer in between two pieces of paper towel. Push to get out all the excess water. Zucchinis contain a lot of water, and if you skip this step, all that water will release when you’re cooking, and make a wet mess in your pan. For the carrots, I’ve found spiralizing carrots to be nearly impossible. Instead, I’ll use a food peeler, and going from top to bottom, make long, thin strips.
After your veggies are prepped, you’ll want to make the sauce. In a mason jar or bowl, combine the fish sauce, brown sugar, broth, vinegar, soy sauce and chili paste. Mix until well combined. Set aside.
Once your veggies and sauce are ready, heat a tablespoon or so of neutral oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the veggies and stir fry until cooked through, about 7-10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Drain your noodles. They should be softened by now. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the sauce and cook for another minute or so, until the sauce thickens and sticks to the noodles.
Pushing the noodles to one side of the pan, pour the beaten eggs into the pan and scramble. Toss everything around with tongs. Add the vegetables back to the pan, and toss until combined. Remove from heat.
We like to serve our pad thai with green onions, cilantro and wedges of lime.
For what’s giving me life this week, it was buying, reading and then finishing Home Body by Rupi Kaur in the span of two days. Home Body is Rupi’s third book of poetry, and yes, I do feel like we’re on a first name basis. If you have not read Milk and Honey or The Sun and Her Flowers, I will let you borrow mine because everyone should read her work.
Ordering a pizza-size chicken parmesan from Quality Italian gave me life this week. When it came out, we were overwhelmed by the quantity of food, only to be ecstatic about having some chicky p leftovers. It was being not at all surprised by my Spotify 2020 Wrapped, which of course had my girls Dua Lipa and Ariana at the top. It was mastering— well, being mediocre— at making my morning latte. Lastly, it’s also my dear friend Deechi’s gift guides — send her your holiday wishlist, and she’ll make you the cutest guide to share with your friends & fam. And while you’re at it, go ahead and screenshot some of her Christmas phone wallpapers. You’re welcome.
Wish I was with you,
Maddie