In the past, being a vegetarian was incredibly taxing. My junior year of high school, I almost successfully managed to get through the summer on a vegetarian diet. But my iron dropped, I was becoming anemic, I had no energy and I was so weak. So I said “peace, sistah!” to the vegetarian way and cut out all red meat. Seafood and chicken became my new best friends.
That worked fine. I felt better and I wasn’t so hungry all the time. However, I still didn’t like something about meat. Not necessarily the texture, chicken and turkey had a very soft, silky texture if cooked properly. Even certain red meat products had their charm, if it was overwhelmingly spicey and smokey, completely masking the flavor of the meat, I was a fan - that pretty much was just sausage.
I think it was the overall taste of meat. The cruelty towards slaughtered animals was unimaginable and drove me, finally, to the edge of vegetarianism.
A year ago, on the 1st of December, I bid a final farewell to meat and dived headlong into being a vegetarian. I haven’t looked back since.
And sure, a few times I’ve wondered if I should eat meat again. Times, like last summer, when I was so poor that even the last package of beef ramen started looking appetizing. One time I tried a little piece of JT’s chicken tender, only to spit it out and gag. Fil and I have heated discussions about “when I’m pregnant, should I eat meat?” and when we were poor, debated the cheapness of meat versus the cheapness of veggies and meat substitutes.
Somehow, vegetarianism has always won out. My parents gave us black bean burgers in our times of need and in times of debatable wealth we ate quite well. Taking vitamins to supplement the lack of protein and iron helped a lot with the irritability and depression that seems to come with a lack of proper nutrients. And recently we’ve had the luxury of actually going to a vegetarian restaurant. Locally, Mother’s is one of the places to go if you don’t eat meat. (Fil and I have a date planned for Friday, we’re going to Mother’s and I’m having the peasant’s meal - pinto bean chili and brown rice, yummy) I think we’ve managed to go twice in the past 3 weeks. We love it, it’s wonderful, and we end up spending about $32 on dinner (including what we get for JT since he loathes the idea of forcibly having a meal without meat) which is a relief on our wallets.
I just wish we had the fortitude like Jon and Kate (Jon and Kate + 8) to raise our son organic, and even raise our future children organic. But something about the prices of organic food just makes me queasy. But, maybe when our income rises.
Well, anyway, even when we can’t go have something delicious at Mother’s, we are constantly finding new things to have at home. For the 4th, my parents made me a Griller’s Delight burger from MorningStar and it was so … delicious, it had that grill flavor you miss with black bean burgers. They sent me home with the rest of the box! We also discovered the Italian mozzarella burgers, MorningStar sausage patties, veggie cakes, chicken patties (I still can’t find the ones made by quorn, I used to eat those all the time!) chicken nuggets and the best of all? FACON! Yeah, fake bacon. I guess we’re behind the times, but recently it’s become our obsession. And is the entire reason for this post.
Yesterday we made it for dinner, thinking “well the first time it was bad and burnt, but maybe if we don’t burn it it’ll be good.” We were totally right! We ate the rest of the package (about 6 pieces each!) and were craving more. Fil convinced me we were out so I got some at WalMart (she totally overlooked the one in the freezer still) and came home searching for a reason to make some. I was completely starving, because I’d finished running several errands AND a class at school. Not to mention I need some good TLC since I’d just started my period.
Well, there was one of thos Griller’s Delight burgers left over. I thought, I pondered and
got it. A facon cheeseburger! I quickly set about, sneaking a few precious slices of facon out of a mauled package and into the pan. I tossed the patty into the oven (set to 450 degrees) and impatiently waited. 20 minutes later, I was chowing down on the most perfect mixture of grilly burger taste and crunchy facon wonder all under a melty cheesy goodness. It turned out THAT many chips, while it sounded like a good idea, was overwhelming and I made JT eat them. They’re jalapeno chips and the flavor gets tiring on the pallet. The water became pink lemonade tea defense and the yogurt was the cherry on top. Something about lemon yogurt just steals my heart away everytime.
Normally I don’t get excited about lunch. I generally just eat a little bowl of cereal or just have a yogurt and some water. But it felt like I was a kid during summer vacation again, anxiously waiting to see what my parents were going to bring home or make for lunch.
Times like these, when I discover something to drool about that is purely vegetarian, I get that relief that going vegetarian is the right choice. I feel healthier, I enjoy eating dinner more, and having special date nights for Mother’s makes my relationship with Fil ever stronger. My only wish is that we had more vegetarian friends, someone we can go with to Mother’s and share in the excitement of vegan apple pie and BBQ tofu.
Well, that’s something we’ll have to work on. In the meantime, have any of you had remarkable food discoveries recently?
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