Veggie Journal

April 22, 2008

Vegetarianism is going really well. Almost 8 months in now and I’m doing really well. I’ve eaten salmon 3 times and a piece of meat two other times out of a desire not to have it throw away. That’s a dilemma I”m facing! But – even though my protein needs have gone up, I’m eating really clean, feeling great and very pleased with my decision to step up my ahimsa practice. I’m also doing excellent at avoiding the perfectionism trap.

Saturday, October 4th

Dan and I snuck out tonight and went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Hmmmm. There were only a couple of vegetarian options on the menu, and I could have created my own invention. Instead, I went with a vegetarian warm grilled veggie salad. Hmmmm. Not so good – I didn’t eat very much of it. We made up for it by swinging by See’s on the way out. And in the spirit of Satya I am starting to see that this chocolate attachment is not such a funny joke anymore. It’s been in my awareness more and I’m almost, I repeat, almost ready to stare it down. Easy to say after a couple of milk chocolate bordeaux.

Wednesday, October 1st

I made it one month and it was very enlightening. So this week has been a piece of cake. I made veggie burritos Monday night with grilled peppers and onions from Farmer’s market… Last night I threw the leftover black beans into some vegetarian chile (beans from a can are pretty good), and tonight I’ll throw the leftover chile into the middle of some cornbread for tamale pie. Easy. I wonder what I can do with asian food? I love the idea of recycling leftovers and cooking in 10 minutes or less.

Friday, September 19th

So far, so good. No big cravings. Today I had a knee jerk reaction though – I almost thoughtlessly grabbed a chicken baja taco at Baja Fresh for lunch. I had a small pang of wishing I could have it, but then opted for a veggie sandwich instead. No biggie, no craving. Looking ahead, I do think that eating out is will be the hardest part of vegetarianism for me.

Today making our weekly menu, Dan wanted to make pizzas on Sunday and bought bacon for a topper. You can’t beat bacon. Bacon and pizza? It’s the best with a little rosemary and some champagne grapes. I better go finish watching meet your meat – I didn’t make it far enough to see the pigs. Tasty beasts. Anyway, I’m already at the 19th of the month and haven’t missed eating meat yet. This is not as hard as I thought it might be.

Tuesday, September 16th

Can it really be this easy? I don’t miss meat at all. Even Dan asked for more vegetarian meals and wants to cut back. He’s also keen on the idea of buying all of his meat free range and hormone free. Don’t even think about taking away my chocolate though.

Friday, September 12th, 2008

I made a fun discovery today while eating lunch with Lisa, Quinn and Drew. When meat is not an option anymore, you have extra calories to play with and can justify branching out of the norm. Yum – it feels like years since I’ve had an onion ring! (which brings up my secret fear that I’ll get fat while being kind to animals…)

Day Five: Thursday, September 11th, 2008.

It’s an auspicious date. No meat. Easy peasy. Made tacos today and guess what? They’re even better with grilled onions and peppers and no meat. Everybody was happy and nobody seems to notice my absence of meat. Yet.

Day four: Wed, Sept 10th, 2008

Wednesdays are a challenge. Honestly, it’s embarassing. Drew has had hand-foot-mouth disease. Sounds horrible, it’s not that horrible, except that she’s been starving and it hurts to eat because she’s had sores in her mouth. She was finally better today and was really sick of popsicles. After her first day of preschool she asked for a milkshake and fries from McDonald’s. I hate to support McDonald’s, but they do give a good Polly Pocket in the Happy Meal, and that brings hours of fun to our house. Anyway, I was in line and really wanted a disgusting happy meal hamburger. Easy to pass up, being so gross, but the craving was there non-the-less. (The same thing happened to me after 1 1/2 years of being a vegetarian when I was pregnant with Brandon. Stupid, gross hamburger.)

Day Three: September 9th, 2008

Honestly, this has been really easy lately. Skip the meat – no biggie. Pasta with marinara instead of meat sauce. Whoopie. It’s been fun to look at other blogs and get ideas on what to experiment with. There’s some good stuff out there. Because the rest of my clan is all eating meat – I’m trying to figure up how to work the budget to buy it all free range and cage free and organic and all at Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods. We’ll see. It’s certainly cheaper without me indulging in the flesh as well. My 13 year old makes up for it though. He’s a picky eater who has just embraced a carnivorous lifestyle. What is it with boys and burgers?

Day Two: September 8th, 2008

Yummy lentil soup, avocados and tomato/mozarella salad. Yum. Chase it down with a bit of chocolate – good to go.

Day One: September 7, 2008

Here we go… documenting the transition of one wanna-be vegetarian, from grilled chicken to – ??? I don’t know!!! – to be honest, I’m still not sure what to eat now. What I can promise is a frank and honest look at the process.

After a week without meat, and finding it kind of fun, I’m looking around for veggie blogs and not finding very much about the process – mostly just a bunch of recipes. Let’s talk about the recipes!…. I just can’t stomach tofu. TVP is OKI guess, but I really could live without it. Seitan??? I still don’t know what it is. All of that processed vegan crap in the freezer section of the health food store? Well, I don’t like regular hot dogs, so I can’t even think about stomaching that disgusting looking processed crap in sausage form, let along anything called tofurky.

Yes, it’s going to be interesting. It’s a good thing I’m a creative person and enjoy cooking. I also love what I call “real” food. I’m thinking avocados here… yea, lots of avocados. As long as chocolate is not in the animal family, I think I’m going to be just fine.