Green Options

One way to help the environment is to eat less meat. Like I discussed in 5 Ways to Cut Back on a Carnivorous Family’s Impact, you don’t have to go whole hog vegetarian (hee - unintended oxymoron there) if you don’t want to. Choosing to have just one or two meatless meals a week can make a positive impact.

I’m committed to going meatless at least twice a week in my house, and as I find or create good recipes, I’ll be sharing them with you from time to time. This recipe is perfect for vegetable gardeners right now because it uses several garden ingredients just when you’re getting a little tired of making the same old thing with them.

Today I made 17 Bean and Barley Soup from a mix I bought at Trader Joe’s over the weekend. The bag has a mix of dry beans and barley, and I provided the rest of the ingredients, mostly following the recipe on the back of the bag.

“You’re going to go there, aren’t you?” my husband asked with a scared look on his face last night at dinner.

“No, really, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are, you’re going to go there.”

“No, I’m not planning on going there. And even if I were, I wouldn’t expect you to go, too. I would never expect that from you unless you wanted to.”

Where did he think I was going? To a land that scares many a man - the land of vegetarianism.

Since my six year barely touches meat, my nine year old is a light eater, and I can take most meat or leave it, I’ve begun to cook a lot less. A regular sized portion for my husband and a much smaller portion for the kids and me to split does just fine. Last night was the first my husband noticed. He’s been very supportive of all the environmentally friendly changes I’ve been making over the past couple of years, but this one got him a bit defensive. He understands the environmental impact of meat, but he’s a carnivore through and through.

I really don’t expect him to change his carnivorous habits, not unless he feels he should. But I can make wiser meat choices for him and for the rest of my meat eating (to various degrees) family. Here are five ways.

1. Offer a bigger variety of foods when you’re offering smaller portions of meat. I grew up with a dinner plate full of a big slab of meat, some type of potato or pasta, and one vegetable. That’s how I used to cook my own family’s dinners, too. But now I’ve changed that. Now I offer a smaller portion of meat and several sides including two different colored vegetables every night. By adding more vegetables, beans and whole grain pastas, the meat isn’t missed so much.