Five Favorites: Meatless Meals for Lent

Linking up with Hallie at MoxieWife for Five Favorites. Click over to her site for more favorites.

We actually eat a lot of meatless meals around here, and I have several recipes that we love & just keep coming back to.

1. Vegetable Enchiladas
This recipe is great! Cheesy, flavorful, a little spicy…and you can make one for dinner & put the second one in the freezer for later (all in the instructions). The Pepper Jack cheese can be a little too much for little kids, so you could mix half & half with Monterey, or just skip the Pepper Jack altogether.

2. Black Bean Soup
This is a really simple recipe, though possibly high in sodium because canned beans have a lot of sodium in their sauce…

2 cans black beans
1 cup fresh salsa
2 green onions
1 -2 cans Broth (vegetable or chicken)
1 cup frozen corn

Toppings:
Fresh tomato
Avocado
Cilantro
Cheese
Sour cream
Tortilla Chips

In a saucepan, briefly sauté salsa & the whites on the onions in a tsp of olive oil. Add the beans and broth. Being to a soft boil. Reduce heat & simmer for a few minutes. Remove 1-2 cups of soup & pulse in the blender. Return it to the remaining soup. (Thicken the soup) Add the corn and heat through. Serve with your desired toppings.

3. Sweet Potato Veggie Soup
This one is my moms, and I have no idea where she found it. But I made a few adaptions so it can be made as a freezer-to-crockpot meal.

2 Tbs.. butter
1 lg. Onion, chopped
3 med. Sweet Potatoes, peeled & chopped
3 med. Zucchini, chopped
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 medium potatoes – peeled & shredded
2 quarts chicken broth
1 tsp. celery seed
1-2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1-2 tsp. cumin
2 Cups light cream (for serving)

Combine everything except the cream in a freezer bag (this will probably have to be split into two bags since it makes enough to serve 16). Cook in the slow cooker on low for 6. Add cream at the end and serve with fresh bread.

Note: If you’d rather make on the stove, the instructions are to use 4 Tbsp. butter & sauté the onions & sweet potatoes first, then add everything but the cream. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until all the veggies are tender. Then add cream, heat through and serve. It’s so good, but even better on day two!!!

4. Caprese Grilled Cheese

Fresh Mozzarella
Fresh Basil leaves
Fresh tomato, sliced
Sourdough or other favorite bread

Balsamic Mayo Sauce:

1/4 cup Mayo
1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar

Mix together and spread on the sandwiches prior to frying them on a griddle or frying pan.

Butter (for frying)

Another fairly simple recipe. Except the five-year-old, everyone in our house loves these. Make a grilled cheese with sliced mozzarella, tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. Spread with the Balsamic Mayo. Granted, we eat this more in the summer….maybe it is not so helpful for Lent…I’ll give some bonuses below to make up for this.

5. “Snazzy” Butternut Squash Soup

I made up this recipe back when we lived in NH. I badly wanted a butternut soup that had a little sweet and a little spice to it similar to something I had tried at The Common Man restaurant. And after a few trials and experiments, I came up with this recipe. A little spice from the curry, and it’s rich & creamy (thanks to the coconut milk). You could serve with some crusty bread or a fresh salad.

1 Butternut Squash
3 cups Chicken Broth (or water + 2 chicken bullion cubes)
1 can Coconut milk
3 Tbsp. Brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp.red curry powder
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. or less cayenne pepper (I really just did a quick shake of the bottle over the pot, but it was not much)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Wash the squash and cut it in half. Lay it open in a baking dish filled with 1/4 inch water. Season with salt and pepper and dab with butter. Cover and bake 40 minutes.

2. Once squash has cooled enough to handle, remove skin and put chunks of squash into the blender. If your blender is like mine, you may have to add some of the chicken broth to make it blend smoother. You will also probably have to puree the squash in batches (2-3). Empty into a soup pot.

3. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

A Few Bonus Ideas and Links:

• Sometimes we do baked potatoes and salad for dinner (but if you’re going meatless, don’t forget to SKIP the bacon bits!
• For a side or as a lighter supper or lunch, this Wheatberry Waldorf Salad is amazing.
• And this Quinoa Salad with Cucumber, Red Pepper, Avocado & Lime.
• Pizza! We have been making a lot of pizzas at home, and you can easily make some really tasty creations without meat! Try some mushrooms, Kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes and zucchini. Or try a pesto sauce, goat cheese, and fresh tomatoes. (I love me some goat cheese! One reason that I sometimes entertain the idea of getting a few goats for the backyard…goat cheese…feta…all that for another post!)
• Don’t forget about the Red Curried Lentils from my Five Favorite Freezer-to-Crockpot meals! They are awesome!

Do you have some favorite meatless meals?

Tags: five favorites, freezer-to-crockpot, Lent, meatless meals, mexican, recipes, soup