What's the easiest switch you can make for the environment? Eat less meat!

Every week we are exploring vegetarian meals for meat eaters. Cooking with seasonal vegetables can seem really limiting at first, but the possibilities are endless. And it is worth it. Just cutting one day of meat eating out of our diet can keep thousands of pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere a year. No seriously, it's that big a deal. Plus, it's a great opportunity to have some new adventures and try new things. Just another way to take care of the planet AND make life a little bit better!

I love cherries. They are my absolute favorite fruit, and they could not be better than in the Pacific Northwest where we live. This time of year, all I want to eat is cherries.

Like most fruits and berries, we don't always think of adding them to our meals, because they feel like a treat, breakfast or dessert, but I think this could be a fun challenge to try to switch up our menus (and keep more meat out). The goal here is to find other ways, so let's get way out on a limb and try cherries.

Brinner might go without saying, but you can find some cool cherry breakfast recipes. Why not just do one for dinner?

from Home Cooking Memories

Another option might be these grilled cherries and peaches from Home Cooking Memories. They have it with vanilla ice cream, but I feel like you could do them with waffles or pancakes for a cool summer brinner.

from Heather Cristo

I feel slightly ambivalent about this cherry salad, because the pictures seem to have flower petals in it? Anyway, it might be too much fuss, but I think this Heather Cristo recipe that pairs cherries, almonds, and ricotta might be on to something.

from Joyfully Healthy Eats

I am really excited about this cherries and balsamic salad from Joyful Healthy Eats. It looks sooo good! There is bacon mixed in, but you could skip it. Or even eat it on a non meatless day, but stretch a few pieces of bacon over many people's plates. It is all about cutting down.

from Bon Apetit

For some simple cherry goodness, how about goat cheese and cherry crostinis? This recipe from Bon Apetit seems just weird enough to be really good. And I've said it before, no one complains about missing meat when they get lots of carbs.

from Recipe Runner

Love the cherry and goat cheese idea? How about trying it on a pizza! This pizza recipe from Recipe Runner looks so weird and amazing.

from Half-Baked Harvest

This salad from Half-Baked Harvest might be a hard sell, because it just looks so healthy. Sometimes people are suspicious of things that are just that good for them. But corn and cherries actually sounds genius together, so I have to try it.

Ok, I am so excited to try these ones and to try to work more fruit into our summer dinners. Who is with me?


Want more vegetarian recipes to try? Awesome! Adding more meatless meals to your diet is such a fun challenge and you can discover so many things you like. Check out this page for all of the Meatless Monday Recipe Round Ups!