Recipes to lighten up the 9 days!

I dread the 9 days every year. I find it really difficult to cut meat out of my diet for 9 days. It sounds easy to do, but I really find cooking dairy meals much more time consuming and labor intensive. It doesn't help that the 9 days are over summer break, which means that I'm cooking labor intensive meals while 2 kids are underfoot. Grilling a steak just sounds so much easier!

Aside from being labor intensive, let's face it: dairy meals full of flour, potatoes and cheese just don't make the healthy list. I get the moderation argument, but 9 days IS NOT MODERATION! and then in the middle you have shabbat, so its literally 9 days off from your healthy meal regimen.

So, how can we lighten up the 9 days and keep it interesting? How will we get through without our skinny jeans feeling tight from all the carbs and fat?

Here are 3 fabulous meat-free recipes from the upcoming "Weight Loss Made Simple" 8 week online group program.

Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Mini Frittatas

1 cup cooked butternut squash chunks

3 Tbsp. Crumbled Goat Cheese

6 eggs

Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

½ Fill the cavities of a greased 12 muffin pan with butternut squash and small amounts of goat cheese (1tsp maybe each cavity). Whisk eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture into the cavities. Bake for 18 minutes. Let cool. Freeze extra mini frittatas for longer-term storage.

Tamagoyaki (japanese rolled omelette)

5 Eggs

2 TSP Coconut Oil

1.5 TSP Tamari

1.5 TSP Silan

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Preheat a pan on medium- high heat with a ½ tsp coconut oil. Add ¼ of mixture to the pan, to make a thin layer. When cooked, roll it gently to one side of the pan and add more of the mixture. Keep rolling and adding until all the mixture is used, about 4 times. Transfer to plate and cut into 1 inch thick pieces. Serve with rice and/or salad.

Cauliflower Coconut Curry with Rice

2 tsp olive oil 1 head of cauliflower, chopped 1⁄2 onion, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 1 1⁄2 tsp curry powder 1⁄4 tsp cumin 1⁄4 tsp turmeric 1⁄4 tsp paprika 1 can coconut milk 1⁄2 cup Pomi Diced Tomatoes 2 cups cooked rice or quinoa, according to directions

Heat oil in a nonstick saucepan over low-medium heat. Brown vegetables. Add spices and cook 1 more minute. Add coconut milk and diced tomatoes. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice or quinoa.

With new recipes packed with flavor and a little bit of the exotic... the 9 days are sure to be light and flavorful!

Bon Apetit!