Meatless Meals

One of my New Year's resolutions was to try and have one meat free meal a week. Once I started thinking about it, I realized it was easier than I expected. Plus, it's going to be fun to cook new things. 

Then I looked into some of the benefits of my resolution and found out a whole lot of great things. 

Going meatless only one day a week is great for not only you, but also the environment. 

You might have already known that going meatless once a week can help reduce your risk of getting preventable diseases like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, but did you know how great it could be for the environment?

Studies estimate that the meat industry generates almost 20 percent of man-made the greenhouse gas emissions that are increasing climate change throughout the world. That's a lot more than even transportation...

Plus, the water needs of livestock are enormous. Studies estimate that 1800-2500 gallons of water go into each pound of beef! 

So do your part for yourself and the environment; stay meatless once a week.  

Corn Soup with Roasted Tomato and Garlic Salsa

4 cups of vegetable broth
1 large sweet onion, peeled and chopped
1 medium / large potato, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups of frozen or fresh corn kernels
1 pinch of salt and pepper
1 large can of whole tomatoes, drained
1 head of garlic
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Slice the top off of the head of garlic, place it on a piece of tin foil, pour a 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in the centre of the garlic, and wrap it up. Place the garlic on a cookie sheet and spoon the tomatoes onto the cookie sheet beside the garlic and slip the cookie into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the garlic the soft.

3. Add the onion to a large soup pot and cook it on medium heat with the remaining olive oil until the onion begins to sweat.

4. Add the potato, stock, and corn to the pot next and cook until the potato is cooked through.

5. When the garlic and tomatoes are finished cooking, peel the garlic cloves and roughly chop the roasted veggies. Place in a bowl to garnish the soup.

6. Puree the soup and season with salt and pepper. But remember the salsa will have a little smokey, savoury bite to it so don't over season the soup.

7. Ladle soup into bowls and top with a dollop of salsa. Enjoy!

P.S. You might have noticed I mentioned that meatless meals are one of my New Year's resolutions earlier in this post. I made a few resolutions because I feel bad if I try to keep one up and just can't continue. I hope that I'll be able to keep at least this one through the year and hopefully that will make me feel not so bad about ditching the rest. :)