Ivy says:
I’ve had several questions on my vegetarian voyage, and I’ll try to answer them for you here.
Angela asks: So, how does the rest of your family take to this? Is it just you or your whole family? I think it would be hard to cook meat for the fam and not eat it:)
I answered this in comments, somewhat, but let me go ahead and reiterate. The hardest meat for me to give up, surprisingly, is pork. So I don’t cook pork at home at all. I can cook up some chicken or beef and be fine, but cooking pork would be hard. Nothing smells more fabulous than bacon, so I don’t cook it at home. The kids can have it when we go out to eat.
the mom half asks:
Ooohh, please post more on this, my (dear) husband came home the other week and informed me he would like us to try to get to no more then 2 meals a week with meat, preferably fish.
of course he doesn’t like casserole, doesn’t like cheese, doesn’t care for soup (unless it’s cream of ….), or pasta
the children and I love casserole, cheese, soup, pasta
I feel ya, girl. I have 3 kids and a husband and they all come with their own picky eating situations. I have one kid that hates beans, one kid that hates rice, and all 3 of my kids hate cheese, although they all hate different sorts of cheese, so it’s always some kinda drama, even when cooking normally.
I try to cook stuff that appeals to the widest range of things that the kids like. For example, everyone likes eggs, so I’ll make a souffle, quiche, or omelette. There are always complaints when I’m cooking beans and rice, but most everyone will eat it without too much complaining. I also make fried egg sandwiches, grilled cheese, egg salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, etc. And we eat endless salads, which can easily be topped with chicken for the kids and nuts for me.
Michelle writes:
I couldn’t give up pork – I am still waiting for dairy queen to come out with a bacon split.Ummmmmmm bacon! I do love to cook from vegeterian recipe books though- so much more flavorful and I love fresh veggies WITH MY BACON.
Everyone move out of the way while I kick Michelle for mentioning bacon. Just kidding, Michelle. Sort of. I do miss bacon. If anybody knows of a good bacon substitute, let me know.
Taylor asks:
I’m trying really hard to incorporate more beans into my diet. How do you prepare them? What kind do you use?
The cool thing about beans is, there are many different varieties, so you don’t get bored with them. I switch between dried beans and canned beans, depending on the time factor and what I’m making. One of the most fab things to eat that is very easy to make, is to take a can of black beans, a can of corn, and a can of garbanzo beans, mix it up with some cilantro and italian dressing, and serve with some sour cream. It’s really quite filling and it’s very fast to make. You can heat it up or eat it chilled. I prefer chilled, myself.
As far as cooking beans, I just use Heather’s recipe. Sometimes I eat them alone, sometimes I eat them with rice, sometimes I get fancy and make a bean sandwich.
That’s all I’ve got, guys! Let me know if you have more questions!
