weekend challenge

It's finally Friday and Joel is on his way home! I couldn't be more excited to see him! 

Life just isn't as interesting without him around. :)

The last couple of days I have been getting ready to host my very first Friendsgiving! The house is clean, the Christmas tree and most of my Christmas decorations are up (I couldn't resist!), and I have a delicious list of vegan recipes that I will be preparing! Don't worry, I'm not going to force my guests to eat nothing but vegan food. There will be a turkey and plenty of meaty options for the carnivores - and lets be honest, I will be enjoying some of the food they bring over as well. (french onion dip?! you know it!) :)

I do want to challenge all of you to something this weekend.

Since it will be Thanksgiving soon and most of you will be binge eating on turkey, turkey gravy, ham (for those of you who live on the edge), stuffing made with meat, and so on. I challenge you to make one day - just one day!- of your weekend meat free. Scary, I know. But just try it. I'm not challenging you to go vegan for one day - just vegetarian. Feel free to use eggs, milk, butter, cheese (if you are feeling really adventurous try and cut this stuff out as well, or use as little of it as possible!). Just leave out the steak, chicken nuggets, fillet of fish, ground beef ... you get the point.  

Here are some ideas for those of you who read this and thought to yourself, "she wants me to starve for a whole day this weekend!!!":

Breakfast:

-yogurt with granola (try soy yogurt if you can!)

-French toast

-Pancakes

-cereal (use soy milk or coconut milk if possible)

Lunch:

-loaded salad with lots of veggies (use spinach for added nutrition)

-Trader Joe's vegan chili

-1 cup of macaroni whole wheat pasta added to your favorite Amy's soup

-pizza loaded with veggies (mushroom, peppers, olives, onions, pineapple, etc)

Dinner:

-any of the lunch items (obviously)

-chipotle quinoa burgers with crunchy guac (recipe on blog!)

-loaded veggie burgers 

(tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, sauteed mushrooms and onions - I'm getting hungry just talking about these!)

-pasta with your favorite sauce 

(rustic pasta (recipe on blog!), spaghetti loaded with mushrooms and onions, pasta with cream sauce, etc.)

These are just a few ideas. Go crazy! Just leave out the meat. 

xo

P.S. If anyone takes pictures of each of their meat free meals (no cheating!) and sends them to me at (stroup.amanda@gmail.com), I will pick a winner and send that person a goody box full of a few of my favorite things!