I know, I know. It is Friday. But I am posting next week's Meatless Monday Recipe Round-Up a tad early this week to convey my support for the movement - which this week has been ridiculously thrashed and bashed by the food bullies known as the USDA. And this week my MM round-up is super-sized..
"USDA Backs out of Meatless Monday Endorsement."
"Retracting a Plug for Meatless Mondays" - NY Times
"Why It Was Silly for the Beef Industry to Freak Out Over USDA’s “Meatless Monday” Newsletter" -Time
"Eat your vegetables. No, wait, don't. USDA publicly kowtows to Beef Association." - NRDC
..this week's news headlines were not all about the the Olympics, the Jacksons or even the vampire-ish scandal between KStew and RPatz. There was a bit of Meatless Monday dramaz in there too. Robsten can heal, but I'm not so sure about the lobbyist tainted USDA...
I learned of the news when I read a tweet from Kathy Freston saying: "This is what we are up against as we move towards @meatless.." -KF
My headline would read: "Beef Bullies."
I read the NY Times article (linked above) in complete disgust. This quote stood out..
"Among those who objected to the Agriculture Department’s apparent plug for vegetables was Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, who tweeted: “USDA HQ meatless Mondays!! At the Dept. of Agriculture? Heresy! I’m not grazing there. I will have the double rib-eye Mondays instead.” " -NY Times
But I'm over the negativity - and here to bring some positive vibes in the form of yummy, delicious vegan recipes to the MM movement.
Why do I back MM? Well even though I and many of you eat meatless + vegan every single day - I know there are also many of you that are still dabbling and experimenting with meatless and vegan meals. So while part of me doesn't really want the USDA telling me what I should or should not eat at all - the bigger part of me thinks that this retraction of support for such an honorable movement is absolutely, positively absurd.
But like I said - lets get positive. Spread these MM links and show your support. The recipes below are all meatless + vegan.
Featured Meatless Monday Recipe of the Week: My Mexi-Chopp Salad.
Meatless Monday Recipe Round-Up
1. My vegan recipe links from Babble.com's Family Kitchen
2. Highlights from blogger-submitted posts over at FindingVegan.com
3. Other Links to Love
My Vegan Babble.com Family Kitchen Recipes
1. Healthy Dessert: Healthy Makeover: Chocolate Frosty - with a secret ingredient
2. OMG Desserts: 25 OMG Vegan Desserts - this round-up was WAY too much fun to put together
3. Matcha Love: The Buzz on Matcha: 7 facts! (my obsession continues)
4. Chia Love: Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding + raspberries
5. I Love Beans!.. 15 Recipes to Power-Up with Beans
6. Easy Snack or Lunch: Speedy Taco Toast - super easy recipe for lunch or a snack!
7. Baked Bean Dish: Lime Fiesta Baked Butter Beans
8. More Dessert: Chocolate Coconut Vegan Fudge Bars - made using coconut oil
10. Vegan Ice Cream Party: 25 Flavors: Vegan Ice Cream Recipes from your fave bloggers.
11. Skinny Shake: Skinny Pineapple "Milkshake" - easy + delicious frosty fun
12. Yonanas Fun: Pina-Colada Soft Serve
Finding Vegan Highlights (from your fave bloggers on the web!)
*Want to have your vegan recipe link considered for these highlights? Submit it to FindingVegan.com today!*
1. Mango Lime Muffins topped with toasted coconut by That's So Vegan.
2. Vanilla Bean Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, coconut milk by Healthy Food For Living.
3. Coconut "Bacon" by Fettle Vegan
4. Triple Dose Chocolate Cookies by Bread Without Butter.
5. Mini Black Bean Sweet Potato Taco Bowls by Keepin' it Kind
6. Stuffed Avocados by The Simple Vegenista
7. Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower "Wings" by PETA
8. Bouquet Popsicles by Family Fresh Cooking
9. Banana Bread Smoothie by Healthful Pursuit
10. Quinoa Basil Bean Burgers by Spa Bettie
11. Mac N Cheese with broccoli and peas by Vegalicious
12. Chocolate Avocado No-Milkshake by j3nn
13. Vegan S'mores Donuts by Boy and the Rabbit
14. Cashew Cream Stuffed Strawberries by Namely Marly
15. Yogurt Cake with Lemon + Blueberries by Liz Lemon Nights
And check out the all new FV blog for site updates!
Other links I love this week..
* Soy-Wasabi Spread from Martha Stewart
* BBQ Tempeh Sandwiches with slaw via The Kind Life + PETA
* 21 Foolproof Vegan Recipe Substitutions via Greatist.com
* The Perfect Guacamole via The Kitchn
* Onion and Poppy Seed Bialys vis Saveur (reminds me of NYC!)
* Coconut Rice Pudding via Saveur
* Black Bean Vegan Mini Burgers via Ellen's site via Warner Brothers
* Spring Rolls with carrot ginger dipping sauce by Martha Stewart
* Cafe Green Salad via Food Network - by Melissa d'Arabian
* Oatmeal Cookies via PCRM
Guest says
Had you thought of the fact that Meatless Mondays lead to gassy Tuesdays in offices and schools across the country.
Fridays and Saturdays are better.
You don't get nasty notes from your kid's teacher if you do it on those days.
Brighton Restaurants says
Good Initiative to promote a vegan Diet. Cheers to your efforts !
Lizzy says
Coconut, banana!
Carol Paustell says
"Don't Defend Yourself: Defend The Truth" USDA, AARP, and so many others are evils in sheep clothing. I LOVE your site and all that you stand for. Please know that when you are working for good, You never work alone.
Msrose says
I didn't know any of this was going on, but you'll be happy to know that I work for a very large hospital and they recently started doing MM in their cafeteria. I work from home now, so I'm not able to eat any of it, but they send out pictures of their menu and it looks so good.
slywlf says
Good thinking! As one of those 'on the fence' it helps to have a recipe - or choice of recipes - in advance to ensure all required ingredients are on hand! While my omnivore days are not quite over, in my case I could realistically give myself an Omni-Wednesday or Friday - as I am meatless more often than not. However, as I am still adjusting my diet, and I live in the boonies, there are some ingredients I have to make sure of ahead of the day I will need them. The nearest market - 12 miles away - doesn't carry tempeh or seitan. For those requires an hour long trip each way, or learn to make it myself. Eventually I will do that (I actually did make tempeh once back in the 70's in a small foam cooler fitted with a tiny light bulb for warmth) but planning makes it easier to stick to my plans. So does having a really good organic farm stand about 10 miles down the road 😉
Love the site, love the email updates, and looking forward to expanding my repertoire!
Marty says
I'm gluten-freehand vegan and rarely don't eat tempeh, can't have seitan. You don't need them to eat a great well-rounded plant-based diet. All plants, legumes, grains, seeds, nuts contain protein. Since that's the main concern of everyone who's not vegan, I experience eating a much more variety diet since converting to a plant based one 7 years than when I was a carni. And you can still be B12 or Iron deficient as a carnivore. Getting a blood test yearly is a great indicator how you're doing. Good luck on trying to move closer to a plant-based, healthy diet!
Marty says
Whoops, meant to say I rarely eat tempeh and don't eat seitan (wheat).
slywlf says
Thanks 😉 It's kind of funny how things go around - I had gone vegetarian in my late teens, but it not only didn't seem to be helping either my weight or my thinking - both were getting worse - I thought I was mentally defective - scary!!! Then I discovered that my problem was a serious, nasty allergy to all things dairy - at least from cow's milk. That was the root cause of my weight problems, my mental fuzziness, mood swings and various other problems. At the time I figured my only option was to go back to the omnivore diet - vegan wasn't well known in my area in the 70's- early 80's. Since then I adapted to soy, rice and almond cheeses, and other substitutes. I have since discovered, by cautious experiment, that I can have sheep and goat yogurt, kefir and cheese in small quantities, but not the milk. My discovery of vegan was the result of looking for viable substitutes for certain dairy products for which I couldn't find readily available subs in the store. That started a whole new obsession - learning all I could about this alternative. I currently have more vegan than vegetarian cook books, primarily because of the excessive cheese dependance I've found in most veg cookbooks. So the adventure continues 😉
Carrinastanton says
Sometimes I just don't understand why we can't all get along. I mean, really, do we have to be offended by the simple notion of eating more fruits and veggies when most Americans do not get enough in their diets? Why does this kind of thinking always get labeled as extremist. Thank you, Kathy, for fighting the good fight.
Ashley says
Can we start an oil-free Tuesday as well!? I would love to see more oil-free vegan recipes and desserts! <3
Kristy says
This USDA news is so discouraging and frustrating. Thank you, Kathy, for promoting meatless mondays right when we need it most.
Also, thank you for mentioning my taco bowls! You are so sweet. 🙂
Fatkasumi says
"Meat-Free Friday"?