Meatless Mondays

I love vegetarian food. When I lived in Nepal, I didn’t eat meat or seafood for an entire month and enjoyed dhal baat (lentils and rice) and curried vegetables at least twice a day. Reducing your meat consumptions is good for both you and the environment. The energy costs to “make” a cow is way higher than grain or plant based foods, and excessive meat consumption has been linked to high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and a variety of cancers. Here is one of my favorite recipes for Meatless Mondays, Mushroom and Swiss Quiche. It uses polenta in place of a traditional pie crust to cut calories and saturated fat down tremendously, and makes this dish gluten free for those who suffer from celiac disease. For those hardcore vegetarians out there, I suggest purchasing Rose Reisman’s Light Vegetarian for easy, delicious and nutritious recipe

http://www.amazon.ca/Rose-Reisman-Light-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/1896503667/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336690217&sr=1-2

Mushroom and Swiss Quiche (makes two servings)

½ cup cornmeal

1 ½ cups water or low sodium vegetable stock

3 eggs

3 slices reduced-fat swiss cheese

½ cup skim milk

½ cup diced mushrooms

¼ cup diced onions

1tsp. basil and oregano

1.  preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

2.  bring water or stock to boil. Slowly, whisk in polenta, constantly stirring to avoid lumps

3.  once cornmeal is thick and pulls away from the sides (5-10 minutes), press into bottom and up sides of 8-inch prepared pie pan and bake for 20 minutes

4.  meanwhile, in bowl combine eggs, cheese, milk, mushrooms, onions and spices, beat well

5.  pour egg mixture on top of polenta crust and bake for another 30 minutes.

6.  Let cool before serving. I like to serve mine with salsa for extra flavour!

I don’t “count calories”, I count food groups to make sure I get enough fruits, veggies and milk servings every day, but a rough estimate of calories per serving for this meal would be 380 calories.