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

On Mondays, 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 pears, and I especially love pears at Christmastime. My Mother in Law gets those Harry and David pears, and I could eat a whole box of them.

On the other hand, my husband hates pears. He treats them (specifically their texture) like an abomination. He makes that face like a baby who just tasted a lemon for the first time. Since he is the head chef in our house, we don't eat a lot of pears.

If you are luckier than me, pears can be a seasonal way to add some fruitiness to these dark winter months. You see them with certain meat-filled meals, but since we are trying to cut down our meat consumption for the environment, I thought we could find some vegetarian gems that feature this controversial winter fruit.

Savory dishes with pears are a little harder to come by, but with a bit of research, I found a bunch of recipes I can't wait to share with you. Let's do this!

from Fox and Briar

Ok, let's kick this off with something that sounds absolutely amazing. Fox and Briar's pear, roasted onion grilled cheese sounds ridiculously good. And if one year of eating more vegetarian meals has taught me anything, it's that all things that grow in the Earth pair perfectly with goat cheese. Don't ask me why. It's just science.

from Flavor the Moments

This butternut and pear soup from Flavor the Moments also looks like an absolute treat. Butternut squash gets thrown in with apple a lot, so I think this would be just odd enough to be interesting while also familiar enough to be comforting.

from Best of this Life

Pear is also a perfect addition to a winter salad- something bright and fruity without being totally out of season. The more seasonally you can eat, the better for the Earth! So I love this salad from the Best of this Life which looks delicious and features all sorts of ingredients you can still find easily.

from Mantitlement

For a total twist, I found a delicious and delicate vegetarian recipe on a blog called Mantitlement- it's a pear and pecan vegetarian stuffing. And it looks so dang good. Some people do their stuffing this time of year, so this could be a perfect accompaniment (or replacement) for whatever bird or ham is going on the table this week.

This persimmon and pear caprese from Yummly seems kind of insane to me- does it really work? Well, clearly we need to try it and find out. It is just crazy enough to be genius, and what can go wrong with a bunch of balsamic and mozzarella?

from Vegetarian Adventures

Lastly, a lot of us have a quiet nesting time after the Santas leave the stores. In this quiet, lovely season after the chaos, it can feel really good to nest- doesn't waffles with carmelized pears sound like perfect nesting food? This recipe from Vegetarian Adventures is giving me all sorts of ideas.



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!