No Eat Meat February

[Monday]

Right, so I have no idea if I'll actually keep this journal/ way to mock myself through the pain thing going. But I thought it was a nice idea so we'll see. ;D

[Monday]

Today is a Wednesday.

I think it’s a good thing that I happen to be off work on the day this whole thing starts. So, since midnight last night (or actually before then probably), I have not eaten any meat. I think I should outline the goals of this little experiment first. Really, it’s pretty strait forward and simple.

1. Don’t eat any meat for the entire month of February.
a. This includes beef, pork, chicken, and fish.
b. I will, however, still be eating dairy products like milk and cheese, and eggs as well. I don’t want to starve to death, after all.

When I got off work at midnight last night, I went to taco bell and got a cheesy bean and rice burrito. Bless Taco Bell for having meatless food that actually tastes good.

This morning I had about four Girl Scout cookies and a Dr. Pepper. Perhaps it’s not the healthiest meal but I didn’t feel like cooking anything. Also, I serious grocery trip will have to be done sometime today. Hello, vegie burgers!

For lunch, I’m having a Berry Blast Smoothie (strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries… I’ll have to go get all the seeds out of my teeth before Spanish starts) with a protein booster. Getting enough protein in my diet is obviously a concern but that’s where the lovely Nurse Kaitlin comes in handy!

So now for a little story that only vaguely relates to what I’ve been writing about! So this smoothie and all its’ berries makes me think of The Sound of Music, which I just watched yesterday. The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies but it is surprisingly hard to get a hold of. I suppose I could have looked for it at Hastings but that place always lets me down and I really wanted to own it. I thought it would be simple enough to buy it on Amazon but the DVDs were like fifty bucks… So I bought it on Amazon instant video.

Anyway, there’s a part of the movie where all the kids go to visit Maria at the abbey after she leaves without telling their father (by the way, is Captain Von Trapp sexy or what!). When they get back, he demands an explanation at which point they tell him that they were picking blueberries. When their father tells them that it’s too early in the year for blueberries we get this awesome line from one of the kids. “They were strawberries! It’s been so cold lately that… they turned blue.” So good. I love that scene almost as much as the one where Maria makes all of the children cry at the dinner table by being super nice.

Now that I’ve sufficiently gone off on a really random tangent, it’s time for me to go to class. I might post again later after I go shopping, we’ll see. Either way, it will hopefully be a much shorter post…

[Monday]

Alright so it's day two of not eating meat. And I haven't starved to death yet, so that's good.

After Spanish yesterday, I went to Walmart and picked up a bunch of Vegetarian foods to eat. Many of these items are things that look like normal meat but actually have no meat in them. Examples of some of these items include:
1. Meatless Chicken Nuggets
2. Meatless Bacon
3. Meatless Hamburger patties

Well the list goes on but you get the idea. I’ll review these items as I eat them and let you know if they really do ‘taste like the real thing’ or not. Today I’m trying the Chicken Nuggets, which I’ve gathered from the ingredients list is mostly made out of tofu. I have faith in the philosophy that anything can taste good if it’s fried and dipped in Ranch. I’m also making some green bean fries (which are so delicious OMG) in case the Nuggets don’t go over too well.

Last night I went to Chili’s and was quite proud of myself for ordering nachos without any meat on them. Hopefully I can keep this up!

In parting, I will leave you with this awesome clip from Parks and Recreation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXhJPey3i_A

*sigh* I wonder how Ron Swanson would fair as a Vegetarian?

[Monday]

Right. Day three!

I am having another smoothie for lunch today (with a protein booster). This time it's something mango... I can't remember the name but it has mango, strawberries, banana, and passion fruit. It’s a very pretty peachy orange color.

So what I wanted to do today was just give you a quick rundown of what I’ve been eating.

First: The “chicken nuggets”. Now, I don’t want to be too harsh because this is my first try at this, after all, and out of six nuggets, I did eat five and a half so really they weren’t that bad. They just didn’t, you know, taste like chicken. And I know what you’re thinking. Obviously, they didn’t taste like chicken, Meghan; there wasn’t any chicken in them. What was slightly disturbing wasn’t that they didn’t taste like chicken, but that they almost tasted like chicken. They were close, but not quite there, and that little bit of difference made for a very weird experience. That being said, I will probably eat them again. ;-p

Before work I had this really good spinach lasagna that tasted surprisingly delicious. And after I got off work (at around midnight) I got Whataburger taquitos with potato, egg, and cheese only.

For breakfast I had this biscuit thing with egg, cheese, and you guessed it: sausage that wasn’t really sausage. That actually ended up tasting really good and I never thought I would say this but I really couldn’t tell any difference between it and real sausage.

Anyway, I have to go to work late again tonight but I’ll be sure to fit dinner in there somewhere. Here’s to hoping it tastes good, whatever it is!

Toodles!

[Monday]

So I hope you can forgive me for not writing over the weekend. I think I’ll make this a brief review today because I also have my letter to write and I have work tonight.

So this whole vegetarian thing is really hard. But I’m beginning to sense a pattern that might make this a little easier on me. I don’t like tofu. I think I’ll try the “chicken nuggets” again, just so they don’t go to waste, but they really weren’t my favorite. I tried a tofu hamburger patty last night and I didn’t much enjoy it either. I can’t really describe what it tasted it like outside of not good. I might try it again with better sandwich toppings though, like some avocado or tomato or both.

What I do really like is the food that just does without meat instead of trying to replace it with fake meat. That organic spinach lasagna was so good and I tried this organic black bean enchilada with rice this weekend that was always really tasty. So I’ll probably try to take that approach from now on.

Alright, that’s all I feel like writing for today, but maybe I’ll have a more extensive entry tomorrow. :-)