And really, everything else.
Sadday for my panda slippers, found on my feet whenever I'm home and pictured on my feet in my before pics. But with the Panda Revelation came another revelation, "As a vegetarian since I was 7, shouldn't I know that already?".
When I decided to juice, I went on FatSickAndNearlyDead.com and looked up some of the Recipes. I then redid my grocery list to fit whatever veggies, fruits, and herbs that seemed to occur most often in these recipes and that I know I didn't have. Beets, Swiss Chard, Kale, and watercress are amoung some of the things I put on there, but have never really given a shot in my own cooking.
I've decided that after this is all over I'm going to have to incorporate some of these things into my cooking. Afterall, they taste good in juice.
I think it's funny whenever I meet someone new and food comes up, or perhaps is part of the meeting place (meeting someone's new partner at a dinner gathering, for instance) and so it becomes obvious in the Midwestern part of the country that I live in, that I am a vegetarian. And they always ask, "Oh, for health reasons?" And to be honest I want to always say, "Does it look like it's working?" But even though sarcasm is my thing, making people uncomfortable really isn't. So, no, not for health reasons. Not because I was raised in a vegetarian family, and not because at some point in college I decided to join PETA. Simply, for some reason, I did not realize until I was told the facts about the food chain, that chicken was chicken. Looking back on this now, I have no idea how I could have missed that for the first 7 years of my life, but somehow I did.
But as I mentioned before, I am in the midwestern part of the country, and also, in a rural farm community, so diet is basically
- a lot of meat
- corn as a vegetable
- potatos as a vegetable
- white bread
- white pasta
- any other veggie = fried or cooked FOREVER {with butter and/or sugar}\
- milk and cheese
And now as an adult who works a side job as a nanny, I can see why this is frustrating to a parent. When all you really have is chicken nuggets to feed the kiddos, and one of them decides all of the sudden they don't like chicken, what are you supposed to do?
I had two really accommodating parents who did not fuss too much about my new found vegetarianism but also had to ask themselves the question, "when all you really eat is meat and potatoes, what are you supposed to do with a vegetarian 7 year old (when children are notoriously picky eaters to start with)." The answer became, to keep making meals as usual and I'd just eat the non-meat parts. However, the meat in midwestern meals is generally the only protein, and thus the most filling part of the meal. With the meat gone, it was mounds of mashed potatoes and extra helpings of carrots cooked in butter and brown sugar. I think the hope was that I would revert out of this "stage", but I did not.
Eventually, both of my parents became more health conscious and more veggies and plant proteins and whole grains were introduced to family gatherings. When this started to happen I was already an overweight teenager, but instead of picking at the whole grain spaghetti and looking weirdly at the almond butter, I found that I actually really loved these things. I became somewhat of a foodie in college, finding that eggplant burgers are awesome and that almond milk makes everything more refreshing. As well as trying to try each of the non-chain Bloomington Restaurants to learn about more foods from different cultures (try Turkuaz Cafe or Roots on the Square if you get the chance) However, when I feel the need for comfort, I revert back to how I ate as a child: cheese pizza, tex mex style tacos, non-meat chili loaded with cheese, crackers, and Fritos. I did not experiment too much in my own kitchen. If I didn't know how to cook it, I generally didn't want to spend precious college job earned money on it.
So, when I was feeling in the need for some comfort, I did not make stew out of random veggies I found at the farmer's market, or try to make an unfamiliar dish from a vegetarian cookbook, I made something cheesy and crunchy and most likely gooey in some way shape or form.
Peeling and cutting beets, making the biggest mess in the kitchen that I've made for quite a while, I decided that I should have experiences like this more often. That I should feel the excited feeling I get while trying new things way more often than I do. I added to My Resolution, to try to incorporate more unfamiliar fruits and veggies more often. It can only do my body well.
I had two really accommodating parents who did not fuss too much about my new found vegetarianism but also had to ask themselves the question, "when all you really eat is meat and potatoes, what are you supposed to do with a vegetarian 7 year old (when children are notoriously picky eaters to start with)." The answer became, to keep making meals as usual and I'd just eat the non-meat parts. However, the meat in midwestern meals is generally the only protein, and thus the most filling part of the meal. With the meat gone, it was mounds of mashed potatoes and extra helpings of carrots cooked in butter and brown sugar. I think the hope was that I would revert out of this "stage", but I did not.
Eventually, both of my parents became more health conscious and more veggies and plant proteins and whole grains were introduced to family gatherings. When this started to happen I was already an overweight teenager, but instead of picking at the whole grain spaghetti and looking weirdly at the almond butter, I found that I actually really loved these things. I became somewhat of a foodie in college, finding that eggplant burgers are awesome and that almond milk makes everything more refreshing. As well as trying to try each of the non-chain Bloomington Restaurants to learn about more foods from different cultures (try Turkuaz Cafe or Roots on the Square if you get the chance) However, when I feel the need for comfort, I revert back to how I ate as a child: cheese pizza, tex mex style tacos, non-meat chili loaded with cheese, crackers, and Fritos. I did not experiment too much in my own kitchen. If I didn't know how to cook it, I generally didn't want to spend precious college job earned money on it.
So, when I was feeling in the need for some comfort, I did not make stew out of random veggies I found at the farmer's market, or try to make an unfamiliar dish from a vegetarian cookbook, I made something cheesy and crunchy and most likely gooey in some way shape or form.
Peeling and cutting beets, making the biggest mess in the kitchen that I've made for quite a while, I decided that I should have experiences like this more often. That I should feel the excited feeling I get while trying new things way more often than I do. I added to My Resolution, to try to incorporate more unfamiliar fruits and veggies more often. It can only do my body well.
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