Meatless Monday (Tuesdays edition!) ;)
Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.
Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.
Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?
This recipe is inspired by one I found on the Philadelphia Cooking Creme package. I omitted the meat & green peppers, added black beans and tomatoes w/green chilies. This was as tasty as some of the Southwest Pastas we have had in restaurants so we were very pleased with the result!
You will see I’ve added in the cost I paid for each item in the ingredient list. Sometimes I know these costs and sometimes I don’t but all of these items were recent purchases. I’m excited that the total cost of this meal is just a fraction of what you would pay at a sit down restaurant for one entree! It was a super quick and easy meal to prepare.
Southwest Pasta Skillet
Ingredients
- 1/4 c. black beans ($0.25 – cooked from package of dried beans and froze)
- 1 small bag of frozen corn (FREE from grandpa’s garden from 2010)
- 1 can tomatoes w/green chiles ($0.25 – scratch & dent can from Meijer)
- Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe Blend (FREE after triples at Marsh)
- 2 cups cooked Rotini ($0.25 for 1/2 box after coupons)
- 1 c. Monterey Jack Cheese ($1.50 for 1/2 package as didn’t use coupons to purchase this one!)
(This whole meal cost us $2.25 to eat! $5 Dollar Dinners would be proud!)
Cook Rotini noodles according to the directions. In a separate skillet, add the black beans, frozen corn, tomatoes, and Philadelphia cooking creme.
Cook until warmed up. Add the cooked Rotini noodles and top with Monterey Jack cheese.
So simple.
Serves 4
Post Dinner Analysis
This was a complete success with the three oldest members of the household. Meaning, the three youngest refused to even try it. You know, the whole, we don’t eat anything with green pieces in it.
I realized later that I forgot to top with Monterey Jack cheese, which reduces the total cost of this meal considerably! It was still delicious without cheese and I didn’t feel like we were missing anything. You may be able to get away with omitting this and reducing calories and cost a bit!
Freezer Friendly
Not sure how this would freeze as it has cream cheese and noodles. I’ll try it and let you know.
Meat it Up
Add diced or shredded chicken. I warmed up a package of chicken I froze awhile back for the meat eaters in the household.
If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.