Yogurt and the BBC

Good morning. Surprise, it's Monday already. Yes, another week has begun and ready or not, we must plunge right in. I've got a couple of great recipes to help start your day in fine fashion. But first a look at the headlines (of the imaginary newspaper I've made on my computer through judicious use of RSS feeds, e-mail subscriptions, blog blasts and twitter). If parts of that last sentence sound like gibberish, rest assured that they are all real things.

Do you ever go out in search of a meatless meal on Mondays when you have no energy to use one of the many delicious recipes I've been providing? You're not alone (hello kids eat free night at East Side Mario's). April may be the cruelest month, but Monday is the cruelest meal prep day. And a Monday in April? Fuhgeddaboutit. This is a good night to let a chef do the preparing.

And it may soon get easier to eat out. At the recent Research Chefs Association conference at Atlanta, restaurant chefs were encouraged to get creative with their meatless meals, in part because of people looking for more meatless options who weren't necessarily vegetarian. Also, look for the wow sentence about the Chinese Prime Minister proposing one meat free day per week. Meatless Mondays China? Now that's 15% worth saving.

The 15% reduction in meat will also have a quantifiable impact on your risk for diabetes and heart disease, and let's face it, both of those are nasty business. A new study out of Loma Linda University showed that vegetarians were lower on average in all the metabolic factors which lead to these diseases: "blood sugar, blood fats, blood pressure, waist size, and body mass." Lower scores on these markers leads to less diabetes and heart attacks, which leads to more Mondays to enjoy in life.

So, since you're eating out tonight and this message isn't reaching you in time for your weekend grocery gathering, today's recipes are drinkable morning-style beverages. I didn't invent either of these recipes, I have to admit. The yogurt drink was designed by Christina and Stella yesterday, because Stella is always asking us for the crappy yogurt drinks in plastic bottles that her friends all have (yep, Yop). We wanted to make our own with healthier ingredients. And the BBC smoothie (beans, banana and cocoa) was invented by my brother Steve and it is wicked healthy and tastes like a chocolate milkshake. Either would be a great start to your day today. Have a good one.