Happy "One Month" to me!

It's official. Yesterday I have been a vegetarian for one month. I remember when Oprah went on the one month cleanse where she ate vegan. She really seemed to be craving stuff she couldn't have and she couldn't wait till the end. It hasn't been like that for me, besides one night when my daughter Taryn and I went to Red Robins and I craved a hamburger (I stayed strong and ordered the veggie burger on a Bleu Burger). I've been eating lots of great yummy food and haven't missed meat at all.

I've been working on eating less and less dairy, eggs and honey. For the honey I need to get rid of what I have. Mostly it's just trying to come up with alternatives. I bought the book Go Dairy Free based on the many positive review's I've seen on the many blogs I've read, as well as quite a few vegan cookbooks. I've made two wonderful dishes from The Vegan Table cookbook. They were absolutely wonderful (No Queso Quesadilla & the African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew).

Here is another great contest at Hangry Pant's great blog. This one is for a Aurorae Yoga mat. Good luck everyone!

Sick but still hanging in there.

I've been sick since Thursday and Friday night I really wanted a hamburger, but I just hunkered down and kept putting a face to the thought and was able to get through that momentary lapse of reason. So proudly I can still say I haven't had any meat since November 11th!

Friday night my 17 year old daughter, Taryn and I went to see New Moon and went out to dinner. We ate at Red Robin, per her request. We shared an order of fried zucchini. We originally wanted the artichoke dip, but since I found out it had bacon in it I decided against it.

I had the Veggieburger with onion rings. I only ate about half of it, we were so full from the zucchini. The veggieburger is so salty too.

Saturday we all went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This is the 4th year in a row we have gone and we absolutely loved it as usual. We sat in the 2nd row, and my 12 year old son Ryan was given a TSO jean jacket and a pick by the creator of the TSO. He was so excited and it's a really cute jacket on him.

I'm home sick today, so I'm just trying to eat what makes me feel good.

B- 2 slices of Ezekiel cinnamon and raisin with earth balance organic whipped regular (normally I'd add some nut butter - but I was just wanting the buttery taste)

L - Ezekiel tortilla, roasted organic onions, organic broccoli and brussel sprouts lathered in homemade organic hummus.

S - Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl.

Have you tried this stuff??????????? Seriously good. I've tried the plain coconut and tried the chocolate peanut butter swirl. Who needs dairy ice cream with this stuff. The problem is I could easily eat the entire pint (did with the plain coconut) and it contains 4 servings over 200 calories each -yikes! Seriously it tastes better than the real chocolate peanut butter dairy ice cream I used to eat. It does have a tiny coconut aftertaste that does take about 2 bites to get used to, but then it's just heaven. The only thing I hate about it is the price. Why oh why is it so darn expensive.

The writing was on the wall

I think I’ve seen the writing on the wall for a while now. I think I’ve known for a while that I would become a vegetarian at some point.

Perhaps it could be some of these reasons:

• I eat mostly vegetarian meals and have for quite some time.
• Besides a few dishes of meat that I did crave, most meat just didn’t taste good anymore.

I think the most compelling reason was this:

Aren't these guys so cute?

There is a slaughterhouse near where I work. Many days as I am exiting the turnpike I see trucks with pigs in them pulling up next to me. Those cute pigs stick their snouts out of the slats in the truck and I have to look those cuties in the "snout" all the while wanting to go open the truck door and let them all out.

Of course pigs running around a road with lots of cars, is not such a good thing either, but you get the idea. There just so cute. I get images of one of my favorite childhood books "Charlotte's Web" stuck in my head. I also want to know why they spray paint blue lines on those piggies. I wonder if it's means their time is up? How sad.

A turning point:

On November 8th, my hubby came to take me to lunch. We went to Chipoltle and then stopped at the bookstore. I picked up the new book by Alicia Silverstone called “The Kind Diet”. I had been wanting to read the book, but knowing it was about Veganism I was not sure.


















This book really spoke to me in a way that other books haven’t. Sure I knew in the back of my heart that I was moving in this direction, but Alicia has a really kind way about her that shines through in this book. I think this book really speaks to those who are on the fence or who were looking for someone to explain it in a non judgmental way. She never makes you feel bad that your a meat eater and I love that she encourages flirting with eating more vegetarian/vegan foods. It’s not preachy and I really appreciate that. That was the last day I had meat. It’s now been 11 days since I went meat-free. I haven’t missed out on anything and I’ve had some incredible meals since. The key to feeling satisfied is to eat plenty of plant protein as well as protein from whole grains.

I read almost all of it that night. I told my family at dinner that night, that who knows I might become a vegetarian. I've talked about this before with my husband, so it was nothing new to him. I woke up the next day and just made the decision that I was done with meat. It's been 11 days now with no meat and I feel good with my decision. Not sure if I will become a vegan or not. I think I'd like to because I don't like how the animals get treated to give milk and eggs. I also don't want to overwhelm myself by trying to do everything in one day, but I think it's something I may move towards.

This blog will be about my new journey of being a vegetarian and my movement towards possibly becoming a vegan. It was super scary jumping off that cliff and making the decision to do it, but I've been so excited at how easy and yummy it's been.