Major Changes

***DISCLAIMER FOR MY OMNIVOROUS FRIENDS*** Things are going to get a little descriptive. You've been warned. If I gross you out, it's not my fault!

I've decided that I'm making the transition to vegetarianism and quite possibly to veganism. You probably have two questions:

1. What's the difference?

and

2. Why?!?!?!?!?!?

The first one is pretty simple to answer. Vegetarians do not eat meat or animal flesh of any kind. No chicken, pork, beef, fish, etc. But they will eat animal products like milk, eggs and cheese. Vegans don't eat any animal products at all. That includes honey. (There are full websites dedicated to the mistreatment of honeybees. I started reading them with a chuckle but after awhile the smile left my face. It truly is horrible what happens to those poor little bees.)

The second one is a little more difficult to answer. It's hard to explain all of my reasons, but I'll try.

I first want to say that I in no way am trying to change the minds of any of my friends. You all can eat whatever you want and I won't judge. What I'm going to say here applies only to me.

I've never loved meat. Even as a child it was torture to eat it. I learned to eat it as an adult because that is part of eating a well-balanced diet. (At least, that's what I've been told.)

In the last year it's been harder and harder for me to stomach eating meat. I literally can't swallow it sometimes. And, yes, it's because I can't stop thinking about the poor little innocent animals that I'm eating. It grosses me out.

It suddenly dawned on me that I don't have to eat anything that I don't want to. I'm a grown woman and I'm in complete control of my body and my diet. So, I bought a vegan cookbook to see what it's all about. (I haven't made anything out of it yet, but just reading the recipes has me excited.)

I'm going to start slow. VERY slow. Changes like this are huge. The only way to do it, in my opinion, is to start off slow. Otherwise I'm setting myself up for failure.

This week I'm cutting red meat and pork out of my diet. That won't be too hard since I don't eat much of it anyway. I'll keep that up for 2 weeks and then work on cutting out poultry. I'm going to give myself 3 weeks for that.

After that, I'll decide how far I want to go into the vegan diet. There are some things that are really hard for me to get past. Like the fact that cane sugar is whitened with bone char. That means that they take charcoal from the bones of cows and use it to filter the sugar and make it white. (There are other sugars that don't use this process that you can bet your bottom I'll be buying from now on. But, I have to worry about what I'm eating outside of my house.) That's just one example of something I can't stomach anymore. For another example, read THIS LINK about Jello.

However, things like cheese and milk are less of a problem for me. I can't explain it. So, needless to say, I'm still deciding what I will/won't be cutting from my diet after The Great Poultry Purge.

I don't have any intention of forcing my family to take on this diet/lifestyle. Roy and I have discussed it and, from now on, the meat that we do buy for him and the kids to eat will be organic. As will all of our dairy products. The kids and Roy can eat whatever they choose (as long as it's healthy!) and I'll make sure that our meals are well-balanced.

It's going to be quite the adventure, that's for sure.

Wherein I Cook Dinner...And It Doesn't Come From a Box

I'm going to let you in on a little secret:

I.

Can't.

Cook.

Dinners around here usually consist of frozen pizza or something from a box.

I can bake like there's no tomorrow. But baking requires zero creativity. You pull out a recipe, measure the ingredients, mix it up as directed and bake. Easy. Cooking requires a little something more...

I like to pretend that I can cook, though. I even go so far as to make something "from scratch" (spaghetti sauce from a jar is as "from scratch" as I get) invite people over for dinner and, being good friends, they choke down what I serve them.

After Lily was born I decided that we (as a family) needed to eat healthier. My husband and I could both stand to lose a few pounds and I want to set a good example for the kids. That means home cooked dinners with as many fresh ingredients as possible.

As of right now, I don't have the budget for a chef and my husband (who is an awesome cook, by the way) doesn't get home until after 6:00 PM. If we want to eat before midnight, dinner is my responsibility.

A few weeks ago, a friend turned me on to THIS BLOG. My favorite part is that she gives you nutrition facts for all the recipes that she posts and Weight Watcher's points (which is very helpful since I'm on Weight Watcher's).

After browsing her blog I decided that I could try a few of her recipes. I started with (of course) a baked good. These Black Bean Brownies are amazing! Seriously. I know the recipe sounds weird, but try it. Worst case, you're out $3.00 for the ingredients. (Hint: Don't tell the less adventerous types what is in them until they try them.)

When that recipe was a success I decided to take the plunge and make real food.

I was absolutely terrified.

OK, maybe not terrified, but I wasn't looking forward to it.

I decided to start with Cilantro Lime Shrimp. Here's how it went down...

The ingredients.

And a recipe printout, of course.

Step One: Rinse the shrimp under cold water for 5-10 minutes to defrost (per directions on package). Leave it in the sink to drain.

Step Two: While the shrimp drains, chop up the cilantro...

...and the garlic...

...the recipe says to "crush" the garlic but, as I am not usually one to cook, I don't have a garlic press. I decided to mince it and pray that it worked. You want to make sure that you mince it so that it's fairly small, otherwise you risk getting a mouth full of garlic at the dinner table.

(Also, the recipe doesn't say this, but you need to pull the tails off of the shrimp. I gathered this from looking at the picture on the website.)

Step Three: Heat the oil in a pan and add the shrimp.

This is where I panicked a little. The recipe says "Season with salt and

 pepper". Um, can I get a measurement? A teaspoon? A tablespoon? OK, deep breaths...

I just poured some salt in my hand and sprinkled it in until it seemed like enough. Same with the pepper. That was a big step for a "non-cook" like myself.

Whew. That wasn't so bad...

Step Four: (Sorry, no picture...) Let the shrimp cook for a few minutes. Flip it and add the garlic.

This doesn't seem to be so hard, after all.

Step Five: Remove from heat. Add cilantro and lime.

Serve hot.

I served it over minute rice. The picture isn't the greatest, but I'm not a photographer, either.

Honestly, it turned out great. I was afraid there would be too much garlic, but it was perfect. Next time I may add something to spice it up a bit. My family survived, my husband actually said it was delicious. And my brother-in-law, who only eat chicken nuggets and the occasional steak, absolutely loved it. I'm calling it a success!

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