Meatless Monday: Cornbread and Pinto Beans

Cornbread for Meatless Monday

You never know what you will learn when you listen to the radio, right?

Today we were listening to NPR whilst doing errands, and heard about a new marketing plan for better health: Meatless Monday’s

The announcers made a lot of good points about how much fat and cholesterol you could avoid adding to your diet by not eating meat on just one day a week. Whose diet would not benefit from a little cut in fat, cholesterol and calories? So we decided to give this a try.

Our Meatless Monday Meal: Cornbread and Pinto Beans

For the cornbread we used the Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix and make a few additions of Pepper Jack Cheese & Green Onions before baking.

Cornbread with Pepper Jack Cheese and onions

We followed the Trader Joe’s box directions and then added ½ cup of pepper jack cheese cubes and about 1/3 cup sliced green onions just before we slid the pan into the oven. WOW the whole house smelled wonderful for the 30 or so minutes that this baked…

Trader Joe's Pinto Beans

For the Pinto Beans, we just opened up a can of Trader Joe’s Pinto Beans, and heated them up with a teaspoon of Trader Joe’s Taco Seasoning, onions and a clove of garlic. (you could add any your favorite spice blend too) You could also serve baked beans if you like…. We wanted to serve the beans up, but if we wanted to make a quick bean soup- you could add water and Trader Joe’s vegetable stock to the pan….some leftover veggies….yum…. Maybe we will try the soup in the fall?

This was a wonderful inauguration to Meatless Monday for us! The whole place smelled great, and we had a delicious meal. We also nibbled on some carrot sticks and some cherry tomatoes- as well… YUM! This is going to be a tasty new tradition around our house!

Cornbread hot from the oven

Oh yeah, the cornbread… here is a small warning… the cornbread smelled wonderful and we dove right into the pan just as it came out of the oven…. If you could wait a bit (yes I know nearly impossible, right?) your slices will look a bit better. Our pieces were all crumbly and just about fell apart on us… but when we went back for a second piece, the squares held together much much better.

What did you serve on Meatless Monday?