Every year, after Thomas’ bodybuilding season ends, we decide to go pescatarian, but it seems like we are more pescatarian than anything almost the entire year now a days. It is a conscious choice that we make together to not only eat healthier, but also help with minimizing our carbon footprint on the earth.
Here is an excerpt from EarthDay.com’s article named About Meatless Monday found here talks about the difference small changes can have on the overall impact on the planet earth and our overall carbon footprint.
“For instance, if over the course of a year you:
- Ate one less burger a week, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for 320 miles.
- Skip meat and cheese one day a week with your family, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for five weeks – or reducing everyone’s daily showers by 3 minutes.
- Skip steak once a week with your family, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for nearly three months.
- And if the entire U.S. did not eat meat or cheese for just one day a week, it would be the equivalent of not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.”
Can you believe that? I find it fascinating that our diet doesn’t only impact our bodies directly, but the environment that we live in. This is why we decide to go vegetarian/pescatarian for a few months each year, but we may stick it out for the entire year if I can come up with some great recipes to hold us over!
Printable recipe The Modern Day Betty Tasty AF BBQ No-Meatballs.
Speaking of great recipes to make you forget about meat, these quinoa and sweet potato bbq no-meatballs are amazing! I like to pair them up with some steamed veggies but if you need a heartier meal you can add cauliflower mash or even on a roll with extra bbq sauce, my favorite is Sweet Baby Rays! You need to stock up because it is the best!
- 4 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 small sweet potatoes – steamed
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese shreds + more for topping
- S&p
- 2 Tbsp Smokey or Spicy unsalted seasoning mix (Mrs Dash or @FlavorGod )
- tsp garlic powder
I cook my quinoa in a rice cooker, which lets me cook a large amount fast. I usually do a 1/1.75 ratio quinoa to water in the rice cooker. I like to multitask as well so I steam my sweet potatoes in the rice cooker, cut in half with flesh upwards, while cooking the quinoa. My rice cooker has a steam basket which makes this easy; you can find it HERE. I use it almost weekly for my meal prep and you can do so much with it. When cooking it this way they both come out perfect!
When the sweet potatoes and the quinoa are all cooked, scoop out the cooked sweet potato flesh and mash it in a large bowl. Add the quinoa, all of the seasonings, the Parmesan cheese and set aside to cool, I am impatient so I throw it in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool completely, then add the eggs and mix together completely. It is good to let the mix cool before adding the eggs to ensure they don’t scramble in the hot quinoa. Use a small disher, like this one, and scoop out meatball shapes onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil sprayed with coconut oil. Cook in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes until the edges start to brown. Take the quinoa balls out of the oven and toss them GENTLY, and I stress gently, in BBQ sauce (remember the Sweet Baby Rays I mentioned earlier, always a great choice!) then put back in the oven under the broiler until lightly browned on the outside.
Here is where you can top with a little extra Parmesan and eat them right away OR put them in meal containers with steamed veggies or that cauliflower mash as mentioned. Mangia Taci! (Shut up and Eat as my Grandpa always says)
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Modern Day Betty 