Garlic's Great! Meatless Monday Recipes Featuring Garlic

After today's batch of recipes, you might need a stick of gum, but the health benefits and flavor you get from adding garlic to your food is undeniable.

Garlic has many health boosting characteristics.  From battling high blood pressure and reducing high cholesterol, to acting as an anti-inflammatory agent.  It also offers a total immune system boost thanks to its powerful antioxidants.

Let's get things going with our first recipe and only entree for the day.  Garlic Butter Mushroom and Provolone Melts are just tasty.  The smell alone while cooking is just short of heavenly.  Brought to you by a Pinch of Yum, the addition of white wine makes this melt kind of fancy...not too fancy, but just fancy enough.  A perfect recipe for a quick dinner one night.  And if you need a side with it, then try one of the three following recipes that also feature our friend, garlic.

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower could be a nice pairing with the melt above, or use it with just about any other entree, for any day of the week.  Simple and satisfying, it's quicker than making mashed potatoes and healthier too!  From Fueling with Food, they add that this recipe offers 2 servings of vegetable, which is around the average of what your daily intake should be.

Or how about some greens?  Broccoli and asparagus are two of our favorite.  Try Skinnytaste.com's Garlic Broccolini or Eatingwell.com's Roasted Asparagus with Garlic-Lemon Sauce.  Two very different takes featuring garlic, but you can't go wrong with either.  These recipes act as a great side dish to compliment any meal, whether you're participating in Meatless Monday or not.

For more delicious recipes, check out our Meatless Monday board on Pinterest!

Meatless Monday: Easy Easter Inspired Dishes

Here comes Peter Cottontail... Easter is just under two weeks away and although it's on a Sunday, we thought we'd share some cute recipes you can use that are meatless for your holiday celebration.  Don't forget to check out our last post that also ties in with the Easter theme here, featuring dishes that include carrots!  

Bunny-face pancakes will make your little ones squeal with delight!  Get creative or let your kids decorate their bunny's face.

Need to make a festive appetizer?  How about this Vegetable Carrot from Saavy Mom?  Super easy, and can be paired with any veggie dip you can think of!

Or use up some of those hard boiled eggs to create these super cute Deviled Egg Chicks.

Hungry Happenings gives a great picture tutorial on how to make these adorable egg salad stuffed croissant carrots.

Here's to a Happy Easter!

Meatless Monday: Carrot Craze

Carrots are one of the 40 best anti-aging super foods according to Menshealth.com, so we thought today's Meatless Monday post should encompass this wonderful orange veggie.  Often associated with the benefit of improving one's eyesight due to vitamin A and beta carotene, carrots hold an array of features and benefits that can aid your health.  It can help prevent heart disease and cancer, as well as flush toxins and lower cholesterol, making carrots a worthwhile investment in your diet.

Today's menu features some unique ways to try this tasty root vegetable.

An orange puree made of yams and carrot from Parenting.com can be used to introduce your baby to solids, as well as a way to sneak veggies into your child's entree.  We even like it as an alternative to mashed potatoes as the consistency is thick enough for adults using standard dinnerware, like a fork.

Not into pureed versions of food?  Then this ginger, citrus, and carrot medley, courtesy of The First Mess, may be for you.  With black sesames, avocado, and edamame, this vegetable medley covers all the nutritional bases.  With a citrus-y Asian dressing, this will surely brighten up your taste buds.

Looking for more of a comfort food to warm you up until spring gets here?  A Carrot and Parmesan Risotto from What's Gaby Cooking, is just what the doctor ordered.  All it takes is the patience to cook risotto, but oh what the payoff will be!

And if you just need a quick and easy alternative for a side dish and want a new recipe, then Carrot and Parsnip Fries is the answer.  Our favorite crafty lady, Martha Stewart, shares this wonderful recipe, that bakes, not fries the veggies, so you don't lose any of the nutritional benefits.

Check out our Pinterest board for more carrot and Meatless Monday recipes!