MEATLESS MONDAY PASTA



I read more and more about the advantages of eating meatless. Yes, there are environmental benefits, which are important to me, but the health benefits are very impressive!  It's the main reason I am drawn more to a vegetarian diet. Our daughter is a strict vegetarian and her husband and daughter are not. They've worked out a system that works well for them so that they're all happy with what they eat. Fortunate for me, Richard is happy eating vegetarian for the most part so I don't have to cook two meals! He likes his occasional hot dog or burger, but rarely requests a 'meat' meal.

I'm convinced that the reason is the delicious meat-free meals we cook and eat.  We just don't miss meat!  The dish we had last night is a great example.  Pasta is Richard's favorite food and making a meatless pasta dish is quite easy.  Pasta is pretty much a blank slate and takes well to almost any ingredients  you have on hand to add to it. 

Last week I cooked up a large batch of garbanzo beans and froze some. I thawed out the frozen chick peas to use in the pasta dish. Last summer I made and froze a lot of fresh pesto and I also thawed a jar of this out to use in the dish.  Sweet red peppers were on sale this week so I chopped one up along with an onion and about 8 baby bella mushrooms.  I sauteed the mushrooms and veggies, and then added the beans and about 1/4 c. pesto along with 1/2 c. of the pasta water.  Rigatoni was my pasta of choice and it was perfect for this dish. The 'sauce' clung to the pasta tubes.  The beans and mushrooms gave the pasta a hearty flavor.  We didn't miss the meat and it was healthier for us!

We have a good friend who is at a clinic for cancer treatment.  This clinic is out of the country and this is what the doctor at the clinic has to say:

God gave us an immune system to fight invaders and disease - if it is strong it will ward off all diseases.  Second, the American diet tends to cause people to be acidic and an acid environment supports and promotes disease.  It is better to be alkali.  An Alkaline environment kills disease.  So vegetables and fresh fruits promote and alkaline environment.  He wants his patients to be on a vegetarian diet.

I thought this was interesting information and it could (?) be why one of the benefits mentioned of a diet high is fruits and vegetables reduces cancer risk.

So, that is my story for today. We're happy to see more signs of spring every day. I love the sound of frogs in the springtime. The grass is beginning to green up and many trees and bushes have begun to bud. My lilac is looking like it will be full of blossoms this year along with the forsythia. I can't wait!