Have you heard about the Meat Free Monday campaign? It's "an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption" founded by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney. We're vegetarians so every Monday is meat-free for us, but I'm thinking maybe we should challenge ourselves to have a lower-impact eating Monday. See, Mondays are the busiest day of the week for us - it's the day we're most likely to fall back on frozen, prepared (albeit vegetarian) foods. With a little advanced planning, I could probably prepare a healthier, more environmentally conscious meal that didn't rely on prepared foods. Here's ten of our favorite, easy to prepare vegetarian foods:

• Replace the meat in lasagna with veggies like broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and garlic.


• Green smoothies served with cracker, hummus and cheese make a nice light meal.


• Veggie tacos: Beans, rices, tortillas, and guacamole are all your need but you can sautee onions, peppers, and mushrooms for more robust tacos
  
• Beans and rice: Do it New Orleans style by using red beans, plenty of Tabasco sauce, and some bread on the side.


• DIY pizza: Make a dough in a bread machine or buy premade dough at the store (we've even used French bread in a pinch), and top with sauce and your favorite toppings - sometimes we just do cheese, sometimes we add sauteed veggies to the top.


• Brown lentils over rice with carmelized onions: This is one of the faster, cheaper recipes and it's so delicious!

panini - get some fancy bread at the store (or make it yourself if you're so inspired), add some sauteed veggies, olive tapanade, hummus, or cheese then grill

• Veggie pot pies are always a hit in our house, stuffed full of carrots, squash, mushrooms, green beans and covered with a cheese sauce in a pastry shell. Our favorite recipe comes from the Moosewood Celebrates cookbook. Bonus? Make two, they freeze great!


• Egg or tofu scramble: Add peppers, onions, cumin, and a touch of chili powder, serve on a tortilla shell for a savory breakfast at dinner.


• Rice and veggie sautee: Sautee and serve whatever veggies you have in the fridge on top of brown rice.

The health and environmental benefits of reduced meat consumption are well-established, but vegetarianism isn't for everyone. If you're a meat eater, have you considered participating in a weekly Meat Free Monday? For a month? For six months? For a year?