Half time vegetarian

When it comes to eating dinner I want variety and stuff that taste good. When it comes to cooking dinner I want something that can be made in 30 minutes or less with one pan and no extra dishes. So, needless to say I don't do much of the cooking at my house, that privilege is left up to my husband. He really likes to cook and do dishes so it works out really great..for me!

Our dinner choices had been getting somewhat routine and we wanted to make some changes to our diet. We "generally" eat healthy, there are certain junk foods that you just can't resist and buy organic when possible. So what else could we do? There is a lot of buzz around meatless Mondays these days so we decided what the heck, let's eat vegetarian a couple nights of the week.

I have been pleasantly surprised with the outcomes of the meals we have had so far. My favorite by far is black bean tacos. I will post the recipe below! I am also a big fan of the hummus Abe made last night...he found the recipe in a cookbook we had and it is a copycat of my favorite hummus from Oasis in Iowa City,(again I will post the recipe).

I decided to look into the benefit of eating a vegetarian diet a couple nights a week, of course there is the health benefit but what else? What I found was amazing!

This is from alternet.org
If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:
-100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months.
-1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, would be enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year.
-70 million gallons of gas which would be enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare.
-3 million acres of land which is an area more than twice the size of Delaware
-33 tons of antibiotics

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:
-Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France
-3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages
-4.5 million tons of animal excrement
-Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

For all that 1 day seems reasonable to me!

Here is the recipe for the Black bean Tacos:
1 can black beans
1/2 tsp ground cumin
couple cloves of garlic pressed
1/2 red onion
1 Tbsp olive oil

Cook olive oil, onion and garlic until onions are done, add rinsed black beans and cumin until beans are warm.

For the toppings I use, fresh cilantro, feta cheese, black olives, a little guacamole, a drop of sour supreme ( it is tofu based imitation sour cream, really taste the same to me) and some Frank's hot sauce.

Hummus Copy Cat: We got the recipe from the cookbook Best International Recipes
1(15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup of tahini (This is a little pricey at the store but you will get several batches out of one jar)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of water
3 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
1 medium garlic clove, pressed
3/4 teaspoon salt
Simply Organic cayenne pepper.... shamless plug for my company! :-)

Process all the ingredients, including cayenne to taste, together in a food processor until smooth, about 40 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill to let the flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Sprinkle the cayenne lightly on top and serve with pita chips or your favorite veggie. Enjoy!