Protein Meals with No Meat

I've often been asked how we get protein in our kids and our diets when we rarely buy meat. In fact, we get plenty of protein and use meat only a few times each month. Although our kids are quite the vegetarians and despise most meat, Brigham and I love ourselves a good hunk of beef, chicken, fish, or pork. It's just too dang expensive for us to regularly buy, so we treat it like a treat instead. Eating semi-vegetarian can also be a healthier lifestyle since we are avoiding many of those fatty meats.

So what meals do we come up with that don't include meat? I mean what can you have for your main dish if you don't have meat? Well there are plenty of things. And often the meals don't include too much work to make since meat is usually what you have to spend so much time prepping and cooking.

I've broken down some of our go-to's based on the different kinds of proteins that we use. However, after compiling a list of our favorite dishes, I realized I had way too many for just one blog so I decided to do a new blog segment about mostly-vegetarian meals. Lets make it Meatless Meal Monday...well after today since it's clearly not Monday. This time we'll start with eggs. I hope you enjoy!

Eggs:

Eggs are a staple in our diet. They are cheap and delicious and we have them a few times a week. Here are some of our favorites.

Breakfast burritos:

These are a delicious, hot dinner that you can whip up quickly and make a variety of ways, depending on your mood. Scramble up some eggs, saute some onion and mushrooms, warm up some tortilla's, and toss it all together with some cheese. Sometimes we'll cook up some of the Banquet precooked turkey sausage, that you can buy frozen for a dollar, and throw that in there too, yum.

Or add some potatoes, or salsa, or ham, or whatever you like! Rummage around your fridge to see what you think would be good in your burrito.

I recently pinned this breakfast burrito idea, because I thought it would be awesome to make a bunch and freeze them. Then, when I'm too lazy to even whip up scrambled eggs and tortillas, I can just warm some frozen burritos up. I think next time we have breakfast burritos, I'll just whip up a few extra while I'm at it so we can freeze some for later. Genius.

Eggs and cheese will give you any protein you're looking for, especially if you add ham or sausage. Extra bonus if you use whole wheat tortillas since those are packed with protein as well.

Egg Salad Sandwiches:

Mmmm, we love egg salad sandwiches and you can eat these for lunch or dinner. What's nice is that you can make it ahead of time, when it's convenient for you, and then it tastes even better as all the dressings and eggs marinate together.

Breakfast for dinner:

From scrambled eggs, fried eggs, or omelettes that you can fill full of healthy veggies, we have a lot of dinner options when we make breakfast for dinner. We'll pair ours with toast, hash-browns, and fresh fruit. Omelettes are another great way to change up your eggs by adding whatever you want or have around the house. You can cheesy, veggie, or meaty.

Egg McSandwich:

One of my favorite breakfasts, lunches, or dinners is what I call an Egg McSandwich. Basically an egg McMuffin, but we rarely have English muffins, so I just use bread.


I fry up an egg, slather some mayo and mustard on toast, layer a piece of ham and cheese, then let the hot egg melt it all together. I seriously eat this every morning for breakfast when I'm pregnant. I find the protein keeps me full, which wards of sickness, and it's mellow enough that I don't immediately puke.

We often have these for dinner as well because they are so yummy. Sometimes I have them twice a day: once for breakfast and then again for dinner. They have some fat, however, so I probably should watch my Egg McSandwich intake. But they will provide that hearty protein meal you're looking for and are scrumptious.

Chef Salad:

And finally (I told you we eat a lot of eggs), we really enjoy chef salad. Cut up some hard boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, cucumbers, ham, croutons, green onions, broccoli, or whatever you want, and throw it on some lettuce and spinach, and you've got a super healthy dinner. I let my kids eat some extra eggs or garlic toast on the side as a reward for eating their lettuce well.


And for those puking right now from pregnancy (ahem, Caitlin), as I very well know, lettuce is the devil to barf up - number one worst thing, in fact. So just have all the chef salad toppings without the lettuce. You'll be surprised at how delicious a bunch of hard boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumbers, croutons, all mixed together and covered in dressing is. I actually eat it for lunch all the time and call it my peanut salad since I add peanuts (more protein!). It is SO good. With the eggs it because high protein and low carb. Perfect.

Hard boiled Eggs:

Hard boiled eggs make for a delicious, fast, high protein snack. You can cook a bunch up one day and then have them ready to grab and go. I love them. In fact, we fight over them at our house and complain at whoever ate the last one.

So there are our main egg recipes. Simple, easy, delicious, and full of protein. Next up: beans.