Part-time Vegetarian

I decided a couple weeks ago that there needed to be a change in Stephen's and my diet.

There were a few factors contributing to this decision.

Those factors being:

The lack of vegetables in our diet.

The squishiness of Stephen's middle section.

And all the research that has been coming out about health benefits of vegetarianism.

We have been eating pretty healthy for a while.

We always buy hormone free meat and dairy products.

We try to buy local produce when we can.

We never eat fast food (well, I never do, Stephen sneaks it at work every once in a while, but not much)

We try and stay away from overly processed foods.

And we almost never drink soda.

But with all that, I was still finding myself including very few vegetables in our diet.

So I decided that we would become part-time vegetarians.

Now some of you who know Stephen and I know that a couple months ago we bought a bulk order of local, hormone free, beef.

We will still be eating that meat but only once or twice a week.

I am just shooting for most of our meals to be vegetarian, not all, we like meat.

Now we ate plenty of "vegetarian" dishes before, but all in the form of pasta, way too much pasta.

So to help me, I went out and bought this book:



I LOVE it!

I always hated recipes that call for 20 ingredients and 15 of them are things you don't have on hand and that you will only use twice and will go bad before you use it the second time.

Not with this book.

Only 5 ingredients and that includes everything but salt and pepper.

Many of the recipes are vegan too.

A lot of the recipes call for different kinds of grains and beans.

This is great because I just stocked up on canned beans and grains and always have them on hand.



(I love any chance to use jars and my label maker!)

So here are some of the recipes we have tried so far.

(Sorry the pictures aren't great, I had to take them while being badgered by a hungry husband)

Cheese Tortellini with Zucchini


Black-Eyed Peas with Bulgur and Tomatoes (vegan)


Warm Potato and Goat Cheese Salad


Gingered Coconut Rice and Garlicky Black Beans (vegan)


Brown Rice with Chickpeas and Tomatoes (vegan)


Spinach Pasta with Zucchini, Squash and Tomatoes


Pasta with Asparagus and Goat Cheese


Now as I have been making these meals I have made Stephen rate them 1-5 stars so I can keep track of what he likes and what he doesn't.

Now the problem I began to find was that he never rated higher than a 3.

I finally asked why and he said "Oh, the food is good...and I would want it again but....it's a "3" compared to like Chef Marvo."

Chef Marvo!

Chef Marvo is a Michelin star rated chef!

No wonder I was only getting a 3.

I had to explain to Stephen that it's apples and oranges here and restaurant food can not be included in the scale for rating my cooking.

I told him, "A "5" is like your favorite beef stir fry I make, NOT filet mignon with a red wine reduction sauce served on black truffle infused mashed potatoes. Ok?"

He is still having a hard time going above a "3".

I think the highest I have gotten is a 3.75.

But overall most of the recipes have been really good, though neither of us liked the spinach pasta.

Hopefully we will keep it up and be healthier because of it.

Tonight it's Quinoa, Broccoli and Cheese Casserole.



PS We don't do tofu. We don't like the taste and I have developed a fear of soy products. Just google the health dangers of soy and you will develop a fear too.

RIP Soy milk

I miss you.

Almond milk is not half as good as you.