Ivy says:
Heather and I were talking last night about how I’m eating about 90% vegetarian nowadays. She suggested I post recipes for y’all, and I laughed, since my cooking is rather haphazard. However, I thought I’d give you guys a primer on how I’m moving from meatatarianism (as my daughter calls it) to vegetarianism. It’s pretty painless, actually. So here’s the Ivy Method Of Going Veg:
Start by making one meal of the day vegetarian. The easiest, I’ve found, is breakfast. I know: ham, sausage, and bacon are fab, but you can eat them at other times of the day, when you’re starting out. You still get to eat pancakes, cereal, donuts, etc, etc.
Give up a type of meat. I gave up pork. Let me tell you, that was the hardest part so far. Bacon is good. Pork chops are good. Ham is good. But I’m serious about this whole going vegetarian thing, so I gave up the hardest, first.
Then cut meat out of lunch. I’ve been eating things like cheese sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches (I’m going with the ovo-lacto vegetarianism), salads, etc.
Branch out and eat stuff you don’t normally eat. I have found I really dig avacadoes. I always liked guacamole, but I like avacadoes on their own and in salads as well. Same with eggplant, only I never really ate it before.
Beans and rice are your friends. Nuff said about that. I eat a ton of beans and rice.
Eventually, once you get comfortable with making vegetarian choices, it gets easier and easier and you’ll end up like me, eating meat fairly rarely (I’m down to eating meat once a week-ish) and then you should be able to cut it out entirely. My goal is to be entirely vegetarian by September 1st.
I was a vegetarian for a couple of years and actually had a decent diet before I got preggo with my first, then I started craving burgers and it’s all been down hill since then! 😉 I had a great veggie cook book, but I recently sold in a a garage sale. Thanks for these recipes!
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:)
This is just for me, although I did have to give up pork for everyone, at least at home. I can’t cook bacon and not want it, so everyone does have to give up pork that comes directly from me. They can still order it at restaurants and stuff.
Everything else isn’t that hard to give up, and because we used to be so poor, they’re used to a few vegetarian meals a week.
WTG, Ivy! I personally could not give up meat. I’m a true carnivore. LOL I have to have red meat! I have to have chicken. I can do without pork since I rarely eat it.
But I’m proud of you for doing something that feels right for you. 🙂
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
just watch my frustration level rise! 🙂
whole grains are easy to add in
but I’ve had to deal with what’s in my pantry, and what should be in my pantry with such a drastic meal plan change.
for “themomhalf” just remember some fish is very high in mercury and other metals and should probably not be consumed more than twice week.
Rather than going “Vegan” we opted simply to cut our meat consumption down. Red meat no more than once a week, Fish twice a week, Chicken or Turkey twice a week, and then “other” (Pasta, etc.)
Inspired by the movie (and another blogger that was willing to try it first), I recently made Ratatouille which was quite nice, and actually simple to make.
i was an ovo lacto vegetarian for about 12 years till i got pregnant with ds2 and then boom MUST HAVE MEAT NOW craving set in. lemme know if you need any help with recipes. i even had eventually cut out cheese!
Ivy, ever since Heather introduced me to your blog, I’ve enjoyed reading your writing. But I have to say I especially like reading your writing when you’re channeling John Travolta a la Pulp Fiction. =)
I was a vegetarian once, but I can’t remember why I stopped, probably pregnancy. 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. -Michelle Smart not Cheap
I’m trying really hard to incorporate more beans into my diet. How do you prepare them? What kind do you use?