Chilli

This past week the company I work for had a chilli contest. People from all the different locations made different types of chilli, and then the staff could come and try it and judge it. A group of us decided to walk over to where this was taking place, which at first caused me a bit of anxiety. The chances of there being many vegetarian chillis were slim, as most chilli has meat. (duh)I went anyhow, thinking I would just try the veggie one(s) and leave it at that.

Things changed on the way over. It had been almost 2 months without meat, and I wanted to know if my opinion of meat had changed. So, I gave in and decided that I would try them all, meat or not.

The first one I tried was amazing. Lots of flavor, tasted fresh, was delicious!! I figured it wasn’t too bad, maybe cutting out meat hadn’t made the difference I thought it had. The food tasted fine!! I later learned that this first one was the lone vegetarian option. No wonder it tasted amazing.

The other ones all contained meat, anything from ground beef, bacon, steak, bison…..it was quite a selection. I only tried about a tablespoon of each of the meat chillis, and thank goodness for that. While the flavor was good, I couldn’t help but taste….well, meat. And after not eating it for a long time, it actually tastes kind of….rotten. Rancid. Icky. Bleck!!! By the time I got to the last table I was done. I was greatful for the bun they gave me to accompany the chilli (bison and beef sausage) and drank a ton of water.

On the walk back to work I noticed that my tummy had started to hurt. Not extreme pain, but kind of a dull throbbing, the kind that you would normally expect to have in your head. I felt extremely heavy and uncomfortable, but the real surprise came the next morning.  Since I had cut out meat I usually wake up before the alarm goes off, I snuggle my dog for a bit, and then get up and take her for a walk before I begin my day. I noticed this change about a week and a half after cutting out meat, and since I am not a morning person at all, was pleasantly surprised by it. I thought maybe it was just because of the change in season and weather, but no. It was the meat.

The morning after the chilli was like the darkest dawn I had ever felt. I did not want to get up, hit snooze repeatedly, and barely made it to work on time. It was not a good feeling. The dog did not get her walk, my husband had to help me get organized and out the door, and all day I felt off. It took about a day and a half before I started feeling ‘normal’.

The positive thing is that this just re-confirmed my decision to not eat meat. Clearly it is not my friend.

Easy French Bread Pizza

This is one of the easiest dinners I know to make….and so tasty too!! I like to add a fresh green salad or a bowl of soup on a rainy day, but sometimes I am lazy and just have the pizza.

What you Need:

1 loaf of french bread (the bigger kind, not a baguette)

Tomato sauce (or paste, whichever you prefer. I like tomato paste as it is thicker.)

Basil, oregano, or any other spice you like to put on your pizza. I like Epicure’s pizza seasoning too.

A nice selection of pizza toppings. I ususally like roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, roasted asparagus, zucchini and onions, green peppers (not roasted) mushrooms, I have yet to try the veggie pepperoni, but have heard it’s not too bad. This is good for carnies too, my husband prefers his half to have pepperoni, bacon, ham and green pepper. Also the odd sundried tomato.

Cheese (either regular or soy)

What you Do:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cut the french bread in half longwise. I like to toast mine in the oven before I put all the sauce and toppings on, it usually takes about 10 minutes. If you are doing this you will need to watch it carefully, as once it starts to turn that yummy golden brown color, it doesn’t take long to burn. Also it helps to put the bread on cookie sheets. You don’t have to do this, but it just gives it a bit more flavor and crunch.

Once the toasted bread comes out of the oven, spread the tomato sauce or paste evenly over the 2 halves of bread. Top with basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and whatever tasty spices you have decided to add. (make sure you add the spices before you add the toppings….I have done this backwards  a few times and it’s not nearly as tasty)

Add your toppings and load up with the cheese.

Put the 2 halves of bread on a cookie sheet (you may need two sheets) and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes, until the cheese is all melty.

When you take it out of the oven, let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting it into slices. This lets the cheese firm up a bit so you don’t end up with a mouthful of only toppings, and a handful of soggy bread.

Re-meating.

So, with summer coming and all, I realized today that I kind of miss meat.  Not the meat its self, because really, the idea of meat doesn’t really interest me, I think it’s more the idea of meat. Summer comes, you throw a steak on the bbq, it smells super tasty, and then you crack open a beer……yum.

There isn’t a whole lot that I have discovered that you can do that would give you that same feeling. Don’t get me wrong, when I ate meat I quite enjoyed it. A good hamburger, a nice grilled chicken breast, they were all very tasty. And so many options. You could marinate them in pretty much anything for a long time, throw it on the bbq and in 20 minutes, dinner.

It’s not quite the same when it’s a veggie skewer. I mean, yes, you are outside, you can have your beer and wine, but it’s not quite the same as a steak.  I had kind of a small meltdown today while walking through Winners and announced to my husband that I was going back to eating meat. Well, if he wasn’t a fan of my not eating meat when it started, he has definitely changed his tune. He turned around and began telling me that no, I was NOT going back to eating meat. Not after all the changes he has seen in the last month. No, he decided that I was definitely not going back to eating meat. So, the decision was made….I am still not going back to meat.

Although, I have no idea what I will do when summer actually comes and bbq season is upon us……I guess I will deal with that when it happens.

Sugar Fix

So, I fell off the wagon this past weekend. Things were going great until Saturday night, when I gave into my craving and went to the store for a bag of candy. (Love those sours!!)

I’m sure part of the cravings stems from my just having finished writing a fairly major exam, and I decided that one small bag of 5-cent candies wouldn’t hurt. Oh boy was I wrong.

I felt so incredibly sick after eating them (I only bought $2 worth!) and the next morning was my tummy ever angry at me. Not only that but I felt tired, was kind of irritable throughout the day, and just seemed to be….run down.

I know that everyone had said that I would notice a difference, but I didn’t realize how much sugar was affecting me!  My husband and I went on a mission when we went grocery shopping this past week, the mission being to find foods that were sugar free or had very little sugar in it. Juice? No. Jam? Uh-uh. Crackers? Nope. Even the stuff that said ‘No sugar added’ was still ridiculously high!!!! I was blown away. Juice was by far the worst. Then cookies, followed by jams and jellies.

Changing how I eat has definitely made me more aware of these types of things, but it still amazes me to see that the things I thought were healthy are far from it!