First Semi-Meatless Monday Down

When I first mentioned Meatless Mondays to the husband I expected him to give me that I-love-you-but-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. You know what I'm talking about. It's the look I often get when I suggest we stop off at Hobby Lobby for a quick second after going to Lowe's on a Saturday afternoon. To my surprise, the husband said Meatless Mondays didn't sound like a bad idea. "So we'll have pasta on Mondays," he said. Oh, no, my friend. He had no idea what I had up my sleeve. But I decided to take it easy on him our first week.


I made Pepper and Tomato Soup Sunday night, so I thought: "Great idea! Leftover soup and we're on our way to our first - complete - Meatless Monday meal." Unfortunately I need some more practice at this whole going meatless thing because I made the soup with chicken broth. What was I thinking?! Apparently some habits are hard to break. I did, however, make caramelized onion and grilled cheese sandwiches - on leftover Hearty Whole Wheat Beer Bread - to go with our soup. It was the perfect way to warm up on a very cold evening here in the Southeast.


So, I'm still considering Monday our first attempt at going meatless. I can't call it complete failure because we really did make an effort to cut the meat out of our daily routine, and neither of us missed it. (I even packed the husband PB&J in his lunch; I had sweet potatoes and cottage cheese. Who needs a turkey sandwich?)


Already I have a few ideas in mind for next week. I'm a huge fan of lentils and would love to get the husband to eat a lentil casserole. Or, if he won't go for that idea I guess we can always have chickpea burgers. Surprisingly, he actually likes those!


Does anyone else have ideas on to how to ease two carnivores into going meatless?