Going out for Dinner?

I’m supposed to be going for dinner this weekend with friends. Also, for lunch too. 2 different days, 2 different friends.

For dinner I am going out for thai food. I’ve looked on the online menu for the restaurant, and the vegetarian choices they have are pretty good. Some things with tofu, some not, but there was a decent selection of things to choose from. It all looked really tasty, and I am looking forward to going.

For the lunch (not at an ethnic restaurant), I have also looked at the menu online, and have discovered that I am pretty much limited to…..salad. Or really expensive fish. There is no good reason why fish should EVER cost that much! (Kind of the way I feel about sushi on the island vs the mainland….why is a spicy tuna roll on the island $6, but on the mainland it’s $4?)

This got me looking at a few more online menus, and I have discovered that in ethnic restaurants there is much more of a selection of vegetarian choices. Why is it that if I go to Siam (my favorite thai place) I have the choice of an entire page of things, but if I go to Boston Pizza, I have basically a salad, an overpriced pasta dish, or a vegetarian pizza? Never mind asking for substitutions, because you will get charged $1.00 for replacing this for that, $3.00 to add this on, and so on. I understand that the business has to make money, but does it have to be such a pain to get a decent meal that has no meat, and is a reasonable price?

And I may as well forget about fast food….not that I would reccomend fast food all the time for anyone, but we all know what it’s like to be rushed for dinner or lunch, not have time to cook and think ‘I’ll just swing by McDonalds and get a cheeseburger and small fries’ There is basically nothing on the McDonald’s menu that is meatless. Burgers, McNuggets, Wraps…they all have either beef or chicken. The same with Dairy Queen. And Burger King. The only place in my town that has any kind of vegetarian option is Subway. The option? A veggie sub. I vaguely remember hearing something about them having some type of veggie patty, but I’m not 100% sure about that.

I don’t mean to sound like I am winding up, I don’t want to be one of those harping-type of vegetarians where the whole world is out to get me, but is it too much to ask for a little bit more selection in the non-ethnic restaurants? Besides a salad.

Dinner tomorrow is at the thai place, I am looking forward to it. Good food, good friends, always fun. As for lunch….well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Even if I have to create my own meal =)

Roasted Squash and Bean Enchilada

What you will need:

2 medium squash (I used butternut, but acorn would be nice too)

Half a small onion, diced medium

1 can each black beans and pinto beans, drained and rinsed.

1 can corn niblets, drained

1 can diced tomatoes (or use fresh) drained

2 tbsp chili powder

2.5 tsp chipotle puree or 2 chipotle peppers, mashed.

1.5 tbsp maple syrup

Juice of 1 lime

Salt (to taste)

8 whole wheat flatbreads

1 cup salsa

1.5 cup cheese of your choice. I used mozzarella and marble, but montery jack would be good too.

What you do:

Preheat your oven to 350. Peel the squash and cut into about 1 or 1.5 inch cubes. Place in a bowl with the onion and toss with the chili powder, syrup, lime juice, salt and a bit of olive oil. Pour into a baking dish and roast for 20 – 25 minutes, flipping half way through. Place the corn in the same bowl and toss with a bit of olive oil, and add to the squash and continue to roast for another 10 minutes.

While this is roasting you can put your beans (washed and drained) and tomatoes in a large bowl with the chipotle puree and season with salt to taste. When the squash/corn mix is finished roasting, add that mix to the bean mix and stir. Taste, and season if needed.

Get 2 9×9 casserole dishes and cover the bottom of each with 2 tbsp salsa, to ensure the enchilladas won’t stick.

Take one of the whole wheat tortillas, place about 2/3 of a cup of the squash/bean/corn mix in the center. Roll, and put in the casserole dish with the seam side down. Repeat until you run out of tortillas, squash mix or both. I was able to fit 4 enchiladas in each dish, but could have fit 5 in if needed.

Spread salsa over the top of the enchiladas and cover with the cheese.

Bake, covered, for 35 minutes. Remove the timfoil and bake for an additional 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Enjoy with your favorite salsa and sour cream.

Serves 8

**Recipe inspired by one I found in the Rebar Cookbook, I just added a few things to it**

My Community Farm Store

I have to admit, that up until I started this transition of the way I eat, I had only ventured into my local organic market once or twice, ususally while browsing in the second hand bookstore that is across the hall from it. I had ordered coffee from thier coffee bar before, and have had the odd veggie roll with it (amazingly good) but had never really gone back into the store part to take a good look around. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, I was really intimidated by it. It’s a scary thought, going into a store that is so focused on a way of life that you want to have, but at the same time know very little about. Second, I thought it would be outrageously expensive because I have heard that organic stuff costs you an arm and a leg. Also, I really didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.

Last week I decided to brave the store on my own. Normally I take my husband grocery shopping, but I decided this time I needed to go on my own. Why it was causing me this much anxiety, I have no idea. It was only grocery shopping!! I went in, grabbed a basket and started looking around. Having no idea what it was I wanted, I felt kind of lost. I thought ‘this sucks’ and was about to leave, when one of the staff asked if they could help me find something. I told them that I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but that I was trying to cut meat out of my diet. She told me to wait for one minute while she went to get someone who could help me and came back with…..the store nutritionist! (I know. The store has it’s own nutritional specialist!!)

She was fantastic!! She explained the difference between a lot of the things I would be now eating, explained that if you mix beans and rice in the same meal it will create the enzyme found naturally in meat, reccomended a few things to try, she completely put me at ease. After speaking with her for only a few minutes, I totally felt that I could do this!

I left with a few basic things, and some new things to try (orange chipotle mustard) and she told me that if I came back the following day she would lend me a book on switching to a vegetarian diet.

I now make the store a manditory stop on my weekend shopping trips. I try and get something new to try each week (this week, smoked tofu and pinto beans) and look forward to visiting it every week. I make it the last stop on my way home from shopping so that I can take my time, look around and check out the things that I would have never, ever thought of buying before.

I ended up using the pinto beans last night in a roasted squash and bean enchilada…..recipe to follow!

Changes!

It’s been nearly a week of this self inflicted torture. Tomorrow will mark day 7. It hasn’t been too terrible, aside from going through the meat withdrawal (which I learned is a real thing!)

That is the part they don’t tell you in all the ‘Becoming Vegetarian’ books out there. They give you fantastic recipe ideas, explain the importance of  making sure to get your daily protein, and to be careful of your iron levels so you don’t end up anemic. What they don’t tell you is that your body will begin to detox after about day 2, and you will begin to feel slightly like you want to crawl out of your skin, or in my case, like you just want to sit in bed and eat candy and cry.

It was a complete emotional rollercoaster. I was miserable. Everyone around me irritated me to no end, my bones hurt, my joints ached, my skin hurt, I was easily annoyed (even moreso that ususal. I am not an overly patient individual) and had no tolerance for anything that upset or angered me, the list of which kept changing every 5 minutes. If something didn’t bother me half an hour ago, you could pretty much guarantee that within the hour I would be complaining that it was now bothering me.

I asked a friend at work about this who had taken healthy eating to the extreme last year, he told me that how I was feeling was similar to that felt by people who try and quit smoking.

I put a post up on my Facebook page about how crappy I was feeling, another friend answered. Her husband is working towards being a naturopath and she told me that basically what was happening is that I was going through meat withdrawal, that my body was detoxing and trying to balance its self out as it was no longer getting meat. She said that most cases last a week, that I was to drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep. Which I had been doing.

I went back to Friend #1 and told him this, he said that I must be getting the better side of this detox, because it hits some people extremely hard. If this is detox being easy, I would hate to see the opposite. Even my husband was politely trying to avoid me, it was that bad.

However I have begun to notice some changes. Today and yesterday I have woken up and have actually felt…..awake. Normally I wake up and am so groggy, I can’t believe it’s morning, and am wondering how 8 hours could have gone by so fast. Yesterday I woke up feeling wonderfully awake, and I noticed the same thing today. I also noticed today that I don’t feel quite as psychotic as I did yesterday, and the day before that. (Thank goodness. I couldn’t handle much more of that.) And (the best part!!) my husband commented today that my skin is looking really healthy….almost glowing.

Tonight’s dinner? Potato crusted halibut, baked yams with honey and lime, some kind of whole grain (maybe a rice dish?) and of course, plenty of veggies and salad. An excellent start to the weekend, I’d say.

Meat Withdrawal?

Is there such a thing as meat withdrawal? If so, this is what I am suffering from. My symptoms include extreme irritablility, anger, frustration, exhaustion…..what gives? It’s not like I woke up thinking ‘Hey, I want a steak!’ becasue I didn’t. In fact, right now I don’t even miss meat. It makes me sad when I see a recipe for something like a really yummy chicken cacciatore, because I can’t have the chicken, but I wonder, is there any kind of substitute I can add? They’ve got fake meat strips and the flavored fake chicken, but is there such a thing as unflavored fake chicken? Either way, I am feeling extremely not good today.

Every book I have read has said that switching to a plant based diet will give you more energy, help you feel balanced, and make you feel better. So far, this is not the case. I know I am only 3 days in, but you would think that I would start to feel something other than crappy. Maybe I need to include something into my diet that is not there already. I have discovered that I don’t mind avocado in salads, and I have bought a container of miso to try. The girl at the store where I bought it said that it’s super easy to make miso soup, just mix a spoonful of the miso paste with some water. Tonight I am trying veggie Ground Round in slow cooker chili.

I am still waiting for this ‘I feel good’ moment to happen. Also, to have more energy. I went to my boot camp class last night, and nearly died! I am not sure if this is because the workout was harder than ususal or because of my diet change, but it was not a pleasant feeling.

So what is it I am missing? What will make this horrid mood/feeling go away? I am waiting for the vegetable goodness to take over, and I hope it does fast.

Let them eat cake.

Cupcakes should have a food group devoted entirely to themselves.  I love cupcakes. Anything with sugar in it actually. Which is what makes this decision to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle AND to cut out bad foods like refined sugar AND to try and eat more locally grown (and organic, when available) produce just that much more interesting. If I could live off cake and candy, I  would. Oh, and pasta.

Truth be told I am a sugar junkie. Gummy bears, chocolate, sour candy, you name it. I love candy. I love sugar. My husband has caught me on more than one occasion eating brown sugar right out of the bag, In my defense this is usually while baking, and I have learned that more than 3 teaspoons makes you feel really sick.

The main part of my little project is to convert over to the vegetarian side of life. Without starving, wanting to eat a whole cow, or living off carrot sticks, pasta and salad. The beef and pork won’t be an issue, I’m not much of a red meat fan anyhow, but chicken…..it’s just so convenient. And yummy.

I am a huge fan of animals. I love animals, my husband is forever having to tell me to stop asking for more. We currently have 3 cats and 1 dog, and if we had the room to bring more in I would. 2 of the cats are rescue cats, and the dog is as well. I love animals, but prefer them living in their fields, rolling in the mud and looking cute rather than being on my plate. Don’t get me wrong, they are tasty but at the same time so cute. There is a small cow farm by my mom’s house and there is a baby calf that’s probably a few months old. He is all white and I just want to bring him home to live with me, as a pet. I would much rather have him living in my backyard than on my plate.

A girlfriend of mine recently adopted a vegan diet after reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (yes, the actress) and reccomended I read it too. I love to read, so I went and picked it up and by the time I had finished I thought that while I couldn’t commit to vegan (no dairy, fish or eggs) I could try vegetarian.

So, the decision to switch to a vegetarian lifestyle was made and at the same time I figured I may as well give it my all and try to cut down on crap like candy. And cake.

Today was day 1. So far, not too bad. Oatmeal for breakfast, a pesto pasta veggie dish for lunch (home made!) and fish and moroccan cous cous for dinner, with a few healthy snacks during the day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good, if not better.