Challenge Update: Success!

How did your almost meat-free week go? I have to admit, mine went fantastically, as opposed to what I was expecting. I have had an incredible amount of energy this week, I've noticed that I slept a little better than usual, and my cravings for fast-food and sugary stuff has diminished even more.

We started out the week with these awesome Quinoa Patties.
The recipe is fantastic! I had a red quinoa that I used instead of the regular white kind, and then I made some oven-roasted red potatoes and fresh green beans to go with it. Super filling, and Dallin even loved them! He told me we would need to make them again. Best bonus? Meat-free!

The next day for lunch (and for several more lunch meals this week), I made this healthy veggie burger sandwich. No recipe followed, I just simply took a slice of whole wheat bread, spread a little mayo and avocado on it along with some lemon pepper, and then put my pan-cooked veggie burger on top of it with a little mozzarella cheese. It was to die for! Like, really. I thought it was going to be nasty, who likes veggie burgers anyway? Well, I do now, and I bought some more at the store this week. Successful meat free meal #2. :)

Meal #3 was a baked potato with chili, sour cream, green onions, cheese, and a really yummy side salad. No pics available of this one. My chili did have some ground beef in it (I made it about two months ago and froze it, so I wanted to use it up), but the meat was minimal compared to the beans and tomatoes, and chili is SO easy to make without meat. That meal was also a total success. 

The creamy spinach and mushroom lasagna was probably my second favorite of the week (right behind the veggie burger. It was SO good. No pics available on this one either...I forgot. ;) My pictures wouldn't hold a candle to the ones on the recipe website, anyway. This yielded lots of leftovers, so we enjoyed this recipe for another day or two after the initial making of it. As a side dish on this one, we steamed an artichoke and enjoyed it with a little mayo/lemon/garlic dipping sauce. 

Finally, one of my other lunch favorites was this greek-style salad that I made and a slice of my homemade bread. I chopped up some artisan lettuce, and then put red onions, tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese on top along with a simple vinaigrette dressing. It was delicious! (Forgive the funny hole in the bread....I must have not quite kneaded out all the air pockets haha). 

All in all, it was a total success! In all reality, I only ate one meat-meal this week, and that was meatballs and pasta with green beans, so it stuck with my "small servings" guidelines. I have REALLY enjoyed doing this and Dallin and I are totally keeping up with it. We have both felt so good this week and incorporating variety and protein was much easier than I thought it would be. Any recipes you tried and loved? I'd love to see some in the comments.