Friday Five-Recipes

In response to your burning question....No, I am not going vegan.  At least not yet.  I am however, going to try and eat less meat and dairy.  For a multitude of reasons.  But, you should know that none of the reasons for going vegetarian or vegan include a love of animals.  I firmly believe that God put chickens and cows on the earth for us to eat.  I am just not convinced that it is healthy to consume as much meat and animal products as we do in our culture.  And frankly, I think I have been pretty open about how I feel about conventional vs. organic meat so you can assume I still don't really care for how we treat cattle or chicken on conventional farms or the health consequences of that treatment.

Anyshways,  now that we have that straightened out.  I am trying some new recipes.  I am hopeful they will be delicious.  Once I know, I will let you know!  If you try them first, be sure to leave me a comment telling me what you thought.

1.  Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Marinated Garbanzo Beans, Feta and Herbs.

Looks yummy, doesn't it.  Not vegan obvi, since it has cheese, but vegetarian for sure.

2.  Healthy Mexican Sweet Potato Skins.

Again, yum.  We love pretty much anything that includes black beans and cheese.

3.  Rainbow Stuffed Bell Peppers.

Recipe from a good friend, Susan H.

4 small to medium size bell peppers
 1 color each, red, green, yellow, orange
½ lb. ground turkey
 For vegetarian substitute can of pinto beans
1/3 cup diced red onions
1 (16oz) can refried beans
1 (8 ½ oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
¾ cup chunky salsa
¾ cup cooked rice
1/8 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. cumin
Salt to taste
8 oz. Colby jack cheese, shredded

Cut bell peppers in half from top of stem to bottom; discard seeds and membranes.  In a large pot of boiling water, blanch peppers for 3 minutes; invert to drain.
In medium, skillet brown turkey with onions.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer until mixture is hot and bubbly.  Place peppers in 13x9 pan sprayed with nonstick coating.  Stuff peppers with bean mixture.  Top peppers with cheese.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

4.  Avacado and Grilled Corn Salad with Cilantro Vinegrette.

This recipe had me at avacado.  I could eat those things by the bucket full.

5.  Spinach Lasagna. 

I have made this before, but I think I added differnt veggies last time.  I am too lazy to type out the recipe, but if you google spinach lasagna you will get a TON of results.  I am going to make it just according to the recipe this time.  Thanks to Elaine for the recipe!

So there you go, some vegetarian, not vegan, recipes.  I can't vouch for any of them yet, but will for sure let you know as I make them.  If you have any delish recipes I should try send them my way.