Vegetarian Adventure - Prep Week Two/Day One

Two days this week: today and Friday. Meal plan is as follows:

• Breakfast
• PB Sandwich
• Dunkin' Donuts Cinnamon Spice Coffee (awesome)
• Lunch
• Two of Chung's Frozen Vegetable Egg Rolls (without Sweet & Sour Sauce)
• A cup of Basmati rice (I know...it's Indian and the Egg Rolls are Chinese...get over it)
• Apple Sauce
• Dinner
• 3-egg Omelet w/ 2% cheese
• Broccoli

Still don't have a tasty spinach recipe for Friday. Help.

Jon's Vegetarian Adventure - Prep day 1 recap

So...it wasn't that bad. I think that it was the first time in...ever that I had a salad from a salad bar that did not contain bacon, turkey, ham, or chicken. I tried to like hard-boiled eggs...I don't. Here are some things that I learned from yesterday:

• Mixed veggies aren't that bad with a little balsmic vinegar and red pepper flakes
• Almost every soup known to man has beef/chicken stock or some kind of meat in it
• I hate hard-boiled eggs
• Little Caesar's Pizza is only good if there is pepperoni on it
• You don't get much indigestion when you don't eat meat, but you get more gas (apologies to my Durango)

The only stuff outside of my comfort zone were the mixed veggies and the eggs. So, we had a split decision. As I said yesterday, my goal for next week is to find a vegetarian dish that I enjoy containing spinach.

Vegetarian Adventure - Prep Week One

As I said in a previous post, I am going to spend the month of February 2010 as a vegetarian. More specifically, I am going to be a Lacto-ovo vegetarian. So, I will not be eating meat, poultry, and fish. This differs from other forms in that I will eat eggs, dairy and honey. For a good description of each, you can check out this page: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/tp/TypesofVeg.htm.

I found PETA's Vegetarian Starter Kit through a google search. They will mail it to you, but I try to keep my personal and contact info from fanatical groups. Although, anyone that can get Natalie Portman and Paul McCartney do make free appearances can't be all bad. My reasons for going veg are entirely different than what they have going on, but the recipes look good.

I would fill out the Pledge to be Veg, but (again) I don't want to be on their mailing list. I know that February is only 28 days, but I'll just eschew meat on the 30th and 31st of January, as well.

Today's menu is pretty innocuous:

• Breakfast: Peanut Butter Sandwich on whole grain/double fiber bread.
• Lunch: Tossed Salad with Balsamic Vinegar, hard-boiled eggs (which I hate, but provide good protein and fat), and a Thai Noodle Salad that they have here at work. If the Potato Soup doesn't have bacon in it, I may have a cup of that.
• Dinner: Little Ceasar's cheese pizza and Crazy Bread

The only departures from the norm for me on this are (1) no bacon or turkey on the salad and (2) no pepperoni on the pizza. Honestly, neither one of these are dealbreakers or especially tasty.

Next week: Tues & Thurs Veg. I'm going to push myself to find a recipe involving spinach that I enjoy.

Jon's Vegetarian Adventure

I saw a story on local media over the couple of weeks about a guy from Cincy that lost over 350 pounds over 3 years. Now, I don't have that to lose. If I did, I would be Jimminy Effin' Cricket. I do, however have about 1/3 of that to lose. He exercised...a lot. The biggest life change, however, was going vegetarian.

Those who know me know that I am a big fan of everything meat: bacon, beef, chicken, pork, bacon...all of it. However, even I am not so delerious as to think that this doesn't have an impact on my health and weight. So, I decided to have a controlled experiment.

Starting on February 1st, I will not eat any meat for 28 days. I will still eat EggBeaters, cheese, and all other animal products. I am not doing this for ethical reasons. God created all of the animals of the land, sea, and air for man's use, and I have no problem with cookin' up a good burger or chop.

Starting next week, I will spend 1 mire day per week not eating any meat. Then, on 2/1, I will cut it all out for 1 month. I want to do this for more than just health reasons, as well. Amy (my wife of 10 years) hates that I am so limited in what produce I will eat. So, I am hoping that these 28 days will provide a chance for me to find preparation methods for some of my least favorite vegetables that Amy, Sam (my 4-year-old), and I all enjoy.

I welcome you comments, recipes, and mockery on this blog's comment pages. Here is a list of my least favorite veggies:
-lima beans
-peas
-brussel sprouts
-cauliflower

Okay...I have about 20 more on this list, so let's just say that I only like corn, potatoes, baked beans, and iceberg. I will also eat soy beans and green beans, but I don't like it.

Bring it on...I need some inside info. What do you veggies and vegans enjoy?