Meatless Monday

It's Meatless Monday. Join the movement and enjoy this first day of the week sans meat.

It makes sense if you are trying to cut back on your consumption of meat to make Monday the day to do it.

It's the beginning of the week, a time when it's easiest to implement changes in one's behavior; and "meatless Monday" sounds rhythmic, which means you're more likely to remember today as an intentionally meatless day.

In recent posts I've written about reducing, refining and replacing the meat in your diet, and some months ago I wrote an article on the budgetary advantages of re-thinking our relationship to meat.

If you peruse Why Meatless on the meatless Monday website, you'll note a number of health benefits to reducing your intake of animal protein too.

Grocery shopping this weekend, I continued my search for ethically-farmed meats poultry and eggs, and I'm happy to report that at Vitamin Cottage, the natural grocer located in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, I found NestFresh eggs.

NestFresh boxed eggs are stamped "Certified Humane" and the small print reads thus:

"Meets the Humane Farm Animal Care program standards, which include nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors."

I felt good about these eggs, more specifically their stamp, so I bought a dozen. Best of all, they were around the same price as other brands of eggs not stamped "Certified Humane" -- that's just under $2.50.

For a delicious Sunday brunch, I used several of the eggs to make Marmalade Bread Pudding (pics below), a sweet version of the Savory Bread Pudding (pic above) I wrote about this time last year.

Savory bread pudding is a delicious, budget-wise Meatless Monday dish so do follow the link and try out the recipe; it makes the most of early spring greens too!

I wouldn't suggest following savory bread pudding with sweet bread pudding for dessert, but you might like to try the sweet version for brunch this weekend.

Marmalade Bread Pudding
1) Using any bread (wheat, rice, millet, brioche, baguette) you have on hand, slice it (if it's not already sliced) and then butter 3-4 slices.
2) Top it with your choice of marmalade. I used Kumquat, but you could use orange, ginger, orange and lemon, lime -- whatever you fancy.

Note: David Leibowitz posted a recipe for Bergamot Marmalade on his blog last week. I confess I had no idea that bergamots are a member of the citrus family! Yet they are, in fact they're a type of orange.

If you're in a part of the world where you have access to bergamots, you might like to try his marmalade recipe and then use it in this pudding recipe.
3) Slice the buttered, marmalade bread into quarters and line a baking dish with the slices.
4) Sprinkle with your choice of dried fruit, i.e. raisins, cranberries, cherries, chopped pieces of dried apricot or a combination of any of these.
5) In a bowl, beat two large eggs with one cup of half and half and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg.
6) Pour the egg mixture over the bread (pic to left), and allow the dish to stand for about 15 mins so that the bread soaks up some of the liquid.
7) Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 30 mins or until the top is slightly brown and the egg custard has set around the bread pieces.

To Serve: The recipe above will serve two, so divide the pudding in half and scoop portions onto plates or into bowls; on the side add a blob of marmalade.

You might like to top each serving with some walnuts or on any day, other than Meatless Monday, try a couple slices of grilled bacon on the side. I found that Applegate bacons are also "Certified Humane."

Because there's no sugar in the custard, only in the marmalade, maple syrup or honey drizzled over the lot is delicious.