The more that I improve my overall health (yes I’m still doing yoga every day) and the more I learn about digestion, meat, and the factory farming industry, the more I like the idea of vegetarian meals. The thing is, I know that it’s not a change that I can make overnight because the truth is that I do love meat.

Luckily for me I also do love vegetarian foods so when my friend Kathy told me about Meatless Monday I was on board. The basic and fairly obvious idea is that one night a week meat-eating families forget their usual burgers, roast chickens, or meatloaf and eat a meat-free dinner.

I went one better and actually went meat-free all day. In fact I had two meat-free days in a row. Both days I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast and both days I had veggie and cheese wraps for lunch. On Sunday we had macaroni noodles with tomato-alfredo sauce (and salad on the side – I am ALL about salads lately). For Meatless Monday I made Cheesy Vegetable Pasta.

It’s not 100% healthy because the sauce is made with a canned soup but other than that it’s delicious, easy, and definitely vegetarian. It’s not vegan of course, but I love cheese and yogurt too much to go vegan without a fight.

-1 1/2 cups dry macaroni noodles (give or take)
-2 cups mixed frozen vegetables (I’ve used fresh too but frozen is just convenient)
-1 can cream of celery soup (I used reduced sodium)
-1/2 cup milk
-1 cup (or more) of shredded cheddar cheese
-1 tbsp prepared mustard
-Garlic powder to taste

Cook noodles and add vegetables in last five minutes of cooking time. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix well, then heat through. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

I add pepper to mine and George adds hot sauce. We also added some grated parmesan cheese.

It worked out well. I asked around on Facebook and got tons of great recipe ideas from vegetarian or veg-friendly people but if you have a favorite vegetarian meal to suggest I’d love to hear it!