Still at it..

Well, I have had some meat over the last couple of days. Mostly some chicken yesterday. I fed a fair bit to the dogs though. I am back to veg stuff for today though. I am going to look in my new books for something new to make. The eggplant parmesan was a hit.

Flexitarian?

I was doing some reading the other day and the author described herself as a ‘flexitarian.’ She defined her eating habits as mostly veg with occasional meat. This seems to describe now. I don’t really eat meat as the centre part of my meal but more as a condiment. I think I can embrace this approach quite easily and my natural inclination will be to include less and less meat as time goes on.

I know that denying myself something never works, it never has. Even when I quit smoking (which is really an all or nothing proposition) I walked around with cigarettes for 2 weeks and told myself I could have one if it was still this bad in five minutes. It never was. I have not had a drag of a cigarette since I quit April 21, 1991 at 10 pm. I have never looked back. I am sure I can do the same thing with meat…over time!

Oh and I made a wicked eggplant parmesan for dinner!

Another good day…

Yesterday was another succesful day! Yippee for me. I am very pleased with how I am progressing towards my goals. I would like to say that I feel better but that is not the case as of yet. I had the worst attack of IBS I have ever had yesterday. I had pain all night, then all day. I finally had to dig into my leftover morphine supply to relieve it. I tried walking and moving around and that only made it worse. I think it was caused by the stress of this week: the roller-coaster of almost getting a job and then not getting it and the big fight with worksafe bc to get Deb covered for an injury she sustained at work. It was all very stressful. Today is much better.

A little meat yesterday but mostly progress…

We went out for chinese food last night as we were kind of celebrating a victory over a major bureaucracy. I had one chicken wing and a few pieces of pork rib but it was not very good and certainly not good enough to keep eating it. It is getting to the point now where the thought of eating a large piece of meat is not really appetizing. I think this is progress.

We went to Costco today and I picked up some quick vegetarian options so that at least I have stuff to eat that is easy and quick. I am going to make soup tomorrow and perhaps some eggplant parmesan when I feel up to it.

No posting…sorry

I have not posted for a couple of days mostly due to job seeking craziness. I had an interview that went very well, I was sure I had the job and then didn’t get it so I was bummed.

I have managed mostly meat free for the last several days still. I did have a caesar salad with bacon in it one day but I have not had any other meat. I am starting to think more in terms of eating vegetarian. Yesterday I made a pizza with fresh basil, grilled zucchini, tomatos and mozza. It was pretty good although I found it a bit sweet for my taste. Not sure what was sweet…

So all things considered things have been going very well on the vegetarian front. I am going to make some more soup I am just not sure when. Not today I have decided that. I will have pasta for dinner tonight and shrimp for lunch.

Third meat-free day in a row!

Wow, I can hardly believe it but I have had three meat-free days in a row! No wild cravings or anything. Although today I do want caesar salad with bacon bits and will likely have that for dinner. I had a salad with chick peas and a piece of veg pizza for dinner last night.

Now, if I can just stop eating those damn butter tarts Deb made…

Update

Well, I managed another meat free day yesterday!! Yah for me. I did have prawns for dinner but as I have mentioned they don’t have the acid that causes inflammation. However as time goes by I may try to eliminate all animal protein. Bacon will be the hardest but I digress. It looks like today is shaping up to be another meat free day. I have had no major cravings for anything meat related which is really good. We are going to a bbq this afternoon but burgers won’t tempt me. I will eat salad and potato salad that Deb made.

On another note we went out for dinner with Carol from SAINTS. She was telling us how cows cry real tears. This really affected me. I think we see the expression of emotion as strictly a human thing but apparently not. More thought needs to be given about animals and our effect on them.

meat-free day

Well, I didn’t have any meat yesterday. I had veggie soup from the other day, eggs and mashed potatos. It was a good day. I was craving an Italian sub from subway but managed to talk myself out of it because I knew it would not taste as good as I thought it would.

We are going out for dinner tonight and I will likely stick with seafood or salad. So far meat free today as well!

things are coming together…

So I have not been cataloguing my meat sins here but I have had a bit here and there over the last couple of days. I have to say that I have not been as enthusiastic about it as I once was. It actually does not seem to taste as good as I think it will. A couple of times it has not been great. The good news is that the cravings seem to be going away as well. I think part of the problem for me is that as soon as I restrict something from my diet that is all I can think about. It is crazy-making. I am also getting some ideas from the new cookbooks I bought. My dish for next week will be eggplant parmesan. I love eggplant!

Last night for dinner I made grilled zucchini pizza with tomatos on a tortilla like base. It worked well except the tortilla went soggy. I had baked it and I think that may have been the problem. So I will broil it next time on something that will allow air to circulate underneat. I also used an Italian cheese blend rather than mozzarella and found that to be too overpowering. I love fresh tomatos on pizza so that part was excellent. I think it would also be good with some cilantro but I couldn’t find any. Maybe I need to grow my own…anyone ever grow cilantro?

My soup from yesterday…

It was pretty basic. I cooked some barley first – about 1/2  a cup or so and when it was done I set it drain in a colander.

1 onion

some olive oil

1/2 pound of okra sliced

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 cups water or vegetable stock

1 cup cooked barley

2 tomatoes (I had them in the fridge)

1 can of chickpeas, drained

Brown the onion in the olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients except the barley. Cook until okra is tender. Add the barley at the end enough to heat it through.

I think it would be good with some cilantro added as well.