Why Vegetarian?
Vegetarian eating became a way of life in my household about 2 years ago when I began to experience arthritis pain in my hands and joints after the birth of my 3rd child. Subsequent tests showed it’s likely the result of an autoimmune problem. At the same time, my sister in law just happened to be binge reading on the subject of health & nutrition and directed me to a few books that discussed health benefits of decreasing/eliminating the consumption of animal products (i.e. The China Study and Eat to Live). Not wanting to spend the rest of my life popping obscene amounts of Advil, I read up and figured changing my diet was worth a shot.
With some skepticism, I began to first, eliminate meat from my diet and second, significantly increase my consumption of fruits and veggies. In a short time, I noticed the swelling and pain in my joints had diminished. However, after about a month of vegetarian meals, I had a hankering for a big hunk of meat and indulged at Texas Roadhouse. Within hours, the inflammation in my hands had returned and I knew my eating habits would need to change permanently.
I don’t call myself a vegetarian. Because honestly, I eat meat a few times a year. I know some people feel very passionately about vegetarianism and I have definite strong opinions about it myself, but I’m not into labels. If I eat meat, I don’t want to feel like I’ve failed. Instead, I just pick up where I left off and continue to follow my vegetarian menu. I also LOVE cheese, so veganism is out of the question, but I do try to limit my dairy intake as well.
How Can Your Family Stand Eating Vegetarian Food?
Luckily, I am married to the least picky man on earth. Only occasionally does he joke about being deprived of meat and then I remind him he is welcome to make his own dinner anytime he wants. He and the kids do eat meat when we go out, but even then, he still might order a vegetarian dish. My kids complained A LOT at first, but now I’ve found they don’t complain any more or less about dinner than they did before. It doesn’t matter what I make, they just complain, period. But obviously I try to cook the vegetarian foods that they actually like to eat and I don’t make them eat vegetables they haven’t acquired a taste for (yet!).
What Do You Eat?
The easiest way to transition to vegetarian eating is to determine what you already like to eat and then think about how to make it vegetarian. Or you can just let Google think for you – that’s what I do. So when I wanted “vegetarian shepherds pie”, I googled it and found a recipe that looked good or adaptable, at least. There are also a number of vegetarian/vegan blogs out there to inspire you to broaden your taste bud horizons – VegKitchen and OhSheGlows are just a couple of good ones.
I’ve found that there are certain staples of some vegetarian diets that I just don’t like – tofu is one, cooked greens are another. Believe it or not, you don’t have to eat tofu to be a vegetarian. I incorporate plenty of beans, lentils, and nuts into our foods to make them more substantial. Since I have a texture issue with most cooked greens, we instead eat raw salads almost everyday and drink plenty of green smoothies to get all of the nutritional benefits of leafy greens. It may sound disgusting, but trust me; if you throw a ripe banana in your smoothie with leafy greens and other fruit, it will taste fruity. All 3 of my kids will testify to this. We even drink them enough that my extremely cheap husband splurged on a BlendTec blender for Christmas – woot! (And in case you are in the market for a BlendTec or VitaMix blender, the best deal I’ve found is to take a 20% off coupon into Bed, Bath & Beyond and order it from them if it’s not in stock).
Occasionally, I purchase vegetarian “meat” products and have actually found them to be pretty decent. Tofurkey Italian Sausauge is good in tortellini soup and Morningstar meat crumbles are good in chili if you want it to seem meatier. Boca and Morningstar burgers are also good - I bring them along to BBQs frequently. Be advised, vegetarian “meats” purchased from the store are heavily processed and nothing you should consider as a health food.
Recipes to Get You Started
(disclaimer: I have 3 kids and a budget. I don’t do gourmet vegetarian.)
Easy Peasy Vegetarian Dinner – Tasty Lentil Tacos from Allrecipes
Vegetarian Comfort Food – Shepherds Pie – I am notorious for changing recipes, so I cook 1 cup of dried red lentils and add it to the veggie mixture. I use Normandy Blend frozen veggies and season the creamy sauce with poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and salt. (If there’s one thing I learned from Rachel Ray, it’s that you can throw pretty much anything together and call it dinner). This is probably my kids’ favorite meal.
Favorite Soup – WholeFoodsVeganMomma: Vegan Zuppa Toscana Soup - FYI, nutritional yeast can be found in the health food section of grocery stores or in the bulk section of health food stores.
Kids (or grown up kid) Snack – homemade Lara Bars from Enlightened Cooking
Whether or not you want to transition fully to a vegetarian diet or just have Meatless Mondays at your house, vegetarian food is not scary or hard. Use Google wisely and know that those really popular vegetarian and vegan bloggers are popular for a reason – they make tasty, beautiful vegetarian food!
1 comments:
Great article. This was really enlightening. Especially since Megan has a family and is not trying to do "vegetarian gourmet" and also not putting expensive meat substitutes in everything.
Thanks for the article.
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