Meatless Monday: Why I Am a mostly vegetarian - Meatless Taco Salad

I became an "at home vegetarian" about 2 years ago. For almost the past 20 years of my life I have been learning about nutrition and trying to figure out the best way to eat in order to be the healthiest possible. 2 years ago I returned to studying one of the commandments of my church, the Word of Wisdom. The Word of Wisdom is God's law of health and it tells us to avoid harmful substances like coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol, and narcotics. It also tells us to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, grains and to eat meat sparingly.  I thought I was already doing okay in the eating meat sparingly department but as I did more research and more self reflection I realized that my idea of "sparingly" perhaps was still too much.


We have lost close family members to cancer and if you start to do your research you will see that eating a lot of meat increases your risk of cancer. With this family history I feel like I need to be even more careful about what my family eats. As I have done this research I am convinced that the revelation to eat meat sparingly was truly inspired.  


Now, I know some times the idea of giving up meat can be an overwhelming and emotional idea. But what about this idea of "Meatless Mondays?" I think that could be a good start  and then from there you could continue to decrease the amount of meat your family eats. Do you need to be a complete vegetarian or an "at home vegetarian"? Maybe not. I am a true believer in you being able to be the expert on what your family needs. I think you do your research, if you are religious - pray and if not, trust your intuition because I think you can figure out what is best for you.


For the first 8 years of our marriage my husband would often say that he didn't get full unless there was some kind of meat in the meal. I was worried about that when I wanted to go "veg" but now my husband thanks me all the time for making this change for our family. So it is possible. I swear.


Meatless Taco Salad - no taco required

* This is how we do Mexican at our house. I pile all this on a bed of romaine lettuce:
Mexican rice, beans, sauteed peppers and onions, fresh tomatoes, salsa, guacamole ( my family crumbles tortilla chips on top).

Mexican Rice (original recipe from my awesome sis, Jen)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 medium chopped onion
1 1/2 cups  brown rice
2 1/2cups vegetable broth
1 cup salsa


Sauté the onion in the oil in a saucepan for about 5 minutes on low heat. Add the rice and stir until slightly browned. Add the broth and the salsa. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for about an hour, check after 40 minutes.

Beans
2 - 4 cans of beans with liquid (I usually do a mixture of pinto and black)
2-4 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
3 tsp onion powder
3 tsp garlic salt


Stir all into a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour or more. (You could stick these in a crock pot in the morning and have them cook all day.)


Guacamole
1 Roma tomato diced small (I use my food processor)
1 clove minced garlic
2 avocado
1tbsp lime juice
salt to taste


Hand mash the avocados and then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Super easy and yummy