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Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which means we are starting a new season of Lent leading up to Easter! This totally snuck up on me this year and every year, I try to give up something - soda, fast food, one year was just french fries because I was out of control! But this time around, I had already committed to myself that I would be giving up meat again since my Daniel Fast went so well earlier this year.
This time, I will be including shellfish and other seafood in my diet, and will not be going full-on vegan, so I will also include eggs, cheese, yogurt and other dairy.
My biggest struggle while doing the fast was coming up with recipes that my family would love that I could actually eat as well, and many nights I ended up cooking 2 different meals : 1 for my family and 1 for me. But there's one ingredient that we can all say we love and
that is PINEAPPLE!
Pineapple is a fave in our house so I wanted to share my top 5 FAVE MEATLESS RECIPES that I think your family would also enjoy! You will notice I use canned pineapple most of the time due to my daughter's allergy to fresh. Her mouth literally burns due to the strong enzymes in fresh pineapple, but feel free to use fresh if that is what you prefer!
Some of the recipes are from a couple of my favorite blogs, others are recipes I came up with myself -- and I promise, they're SO SIMPLE!
1) Individual Pineapple Margherita Pizza
This one is perfect for lunch or dinner because you can make as many or as little as you want PLUS if you use the tortillas I recommend, each pizza is under 170 calories!! The recipe is portioned for 4 individual pizzas but just cut everything down if you're only making 1-2.
Ingredients (ALL divided out for each pizza)
- 4 spinach tortillas (use the Ole Extreme Wellness Wrap in Spinach & Herb for low calorie!)
- olive oil spray
- 1/4 cup pizza sauce (you want to make it? go for it! I got the Food Lion brand for under $1!)
- 1 cup skim mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup of trimmed and torn spinach leaves
- 1 roma tomato, thinly sliced
- 1 can of pineapple chunks
Steps
- Heat a skillet over medium heat with a spritz of olive oil spray. Preheat oven to 350.
- Once skillet is heated, brown your tortilla just enough to make it a little crispy. About 5 min on one side, then 2-3 min on the other.
- Remove from heat and start layering on the toppings, about 1 TBSP of pizza sauce, then a 1/4 cup cheese, then top with your spinach leaves, slices of tomato and pieces of pineapple
- Bake for about 5 min in your preheated oven, just until your cheese is melted. You do not want to go too long and burn your tortilla.
- Enjoy!
2) Delicious, Easy Pineapple Salsa by Nora at Savory Nothings
This recipe is so, so easy and can be used as a topping on your veggie or fish tacos OR a dip with your favorite tortilla chips (I recommend the Late July Organic Chia and Quinoa Tortilla chips - sooo good and stay crisp for a long time!)
You can find the recipe for Nora's Easy Pineapple Salsa here!
3) Hawaiian Shrimp Kebobs by Sparkles of Yum
So, I mentioned I would be keeping shrimp in my diet, but if you want to go fully vegetarian with no seafood, you could totally just remove it would be just as delicious!
Go here to find Sparkles of Yum Hawaiian Shrimp Kebobs
4) Teriyaki Pineapple Veggie Stir Fry
Ok, yall. This is could not be more simple and more delicious! Plus, it only takes about 5 min once your rice is cooked
Ingredients
- bag of frozen Asian vegetables, you know the one with the baby corn, yum!
- 2 cups of cooked brown rice (or white)
- 1 can of pineapple chunks
Teriyaki Sauce
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 TBSP honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 TBSP rice wine vinegar
- 1-2 tsp corn starch
Steps
1. Cook your rice and pop your veggies into the microwave according to directions.
2. As those are cooking, make your teriyaki sauce. Start by combining all ingredients in a small sauce pan on medium heat.
3. Once it starts boiling, reduce heat to low and slowly add in your cornstarch, while whisking.
4. Let simmer for few minutes until it reaches the consistency you desire.
5. Carefully put your cooked veggies in a mixing in bowl and fold teriyaki sauce over.
6. Put your teriyaki veggies over rice and top with pineapple. Serve immediately.
Pineapple and Black Bean Quesadilla
This is another one that is perfect to fix for lunch or make a few for a whole meal for your family! Pair with rice or refried beans or enjoy on it's own. It's very filling and you'd never believe each quesadilla is under 400 calories!
Ingredients
- spinach tortilla (same as one mentioned above to keep it low calorie)
- olive oil spray
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed
- 1 small can of chunked pineapple
- 1 roma tomato, diced
- avocado
Steps
- Heat your skillet on medium heat and spritz with olive oil spray.
- Once heated, place your spinach tortilla on skillet, and top one side of with cheese, then beans, then pineapple, then a little more cheese. Fold the other side of tortilla over.
- Let it cook about 5 min, until cheese starts to melt and tortilla starts to brown. Flip over and cook another couple min.
- Remove from heat and top with diced tomatoes and avocado. Serve immediately.
Going meat-free is not that difficult if you can still be creative with your flavors. Let me know in the comments which recipe you'd love to try!
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