Vegetarianism is easy...when someone else is cooking for you.

So I have arrived at my yoga teacher training as of Sunday! It is already pretty intensive and I will not have access to the internet as easily as I thought I would, so updates here will be rare until I return in September.

I did want to mention on here though that the chef who is preparing our meals is doing an awesome job of creating well-rounded and delicious meals that are also vegetarian. I eat a variety of flavors and textures in every meal and I do not find myself missing meat at all at this point in time!

Funny note, today when I walked into the dorm after a 2 hour yoga practice, I was certain that I smelled chicken cooking for just a second! I was wrong, of course, there was no chicken. But there was a heavenly meal being prepared that I was smelling.

 Still not sure where the phantom chicken smell came from!

Moving Day

Today I am moving into my new apartment! It is a very busy time for me, especially because in the midst of moving, I also need to pack and prepare to leave for my yoga teacher training on Sunday.

Today's meals will likely be carry-out salads!

A Light Bulb

Something I have been doing over this past week has suddenly clicked inside of me. A light bulb has gone off...

I went out of town for a few days and ate at restaurants more often than I usually do. It was incredibly easy to order tasty and filling dishes that were also vegetarian! I had a bite here and there of my boyfriend's meat-filled dishes, just to see if I was missing out on anything special.

One night during this vacation,  I was reading some stuff online about yogis and vegetarianism (find out why I was reading about this over at Seeking the Change Yoga Blog) and one swami had written that by eating meat, you are turning your body into a graveyard for the flesh of those animals. I'm pretty sure I had read this before, but this particular time that I read it, the idea settled into my brain for the night and grew in there while I slept.

The next day I honestly could not stand the thought of eating meat. I felt sick just thinking about all of the meat that I have eaten in my life and (I know, this is gross!) all of the animal flesh that had rotted away in my stomach and intestines, turning gross and toxic. Sorry if that yucks anyone out.

So I think I have now officially moved on from dabbling here and there with vegetarianism, to a full-fledged effort to eradicate meat-eating from my life. Now, I'm not saying that I foolishly believe that I will never have cravings  for meat again, or that my opinions could never be swayed back in the other direction! I am a growing and changing human being who cannot commit to a life-long particular way of thinking. By right now, right here, I have (at least momentarily) crossed over to the other side.

A yucky fast food veggie burger

My friend wanted to go to Burger King while we were out today. I'm not a huge fast food fan, but it had been quite awhile since I had been to one, so I agreed to it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they offer a BK Veggie Burger (made by Morningstar Farms) on their menu!

Just for kicks, and as someone who is not a vegetarian but is rather experimenting in the vegetarian lifestyle (find out why over at my yoga blog), I decided to give it a try. I haven't met a veggie burger that I just love, so I had it piled high with lettuce, ketchup, tomatoes and pickles to help cover up the flavor.

Doesn't look so bad, as far as fast food goes...

I HATED it.

Apparently no amount of condiments and veggies could cover up the flavor. Maybe it's just me, but veggie burgers, made mostly with mushroom filler, are just plain nasty. For like an hour afterwards I was trying to get the taste out of my mouth!

Oh well, I have had some tasty successes so far, so one failure does not discourage me!

Anyone had a veggie burger that didn't taste like a giant slab of fungus?

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

Okay so technically I didn't grill these...I don't have a grill. But I did create a very decent sandwich with a grilled "feel". I found this recipe on a random recipe website, but tweaked it to make it my own; pretty much what I do with anything I cook.

Also, just so you know, I don't measure anything. Which is why you usually won't see measurements when I list ingredients! For example, this recipe called for 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, so I used, what I call, a "plop" of Hain Safflower Mayo.

And here we go....

I started with mixing the mayo spread while I got the bread started toasting. A simple mixture of said mayo, 3 cloves garlic (my best food friend) and a squirt of lemon juice.

Then chop-chop the veggies, I used a zucchini, a red bell pepper, and a red onion.

(I know, I know, there is a summer squash in this picture. I ended up not using it because it looked a little questionably old and funny on the inside. The zucchini alone was plenty)

Sauteed the veggies in a little olive oil and salt until just starting to brown:

Spread the mayo mix on the toasted bread, layer with veggies and top with crumbled feta cheese.

Bake on 450 for about 5 minutes. And voila, you have four open-face sandwiches or two humongous and hearty sandwiches. I chose the latter:

I think that without the garlic-lemon mayo, this sandwich would not have done it for me. But it turned out tasty, fell apart a little too easily, but all in all was filling and did its job!

Still taking suggestions for easy and cheap veggie meals! Thanks for everyone's feedback so far!

Giant Spicy Burritos!

I am a sucker for Mexican food, and really anything with a spicy hotness to it. I used to make my burritos with ground beef or chicken, but tonight I made them free of any meat for the first time.

I am absolutely loving experimenting with making my favorite foods without meat and discovering that I love them just as much!

My burritos were made with:

• whole grain tortillas
• mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, shredded
• plum tomatoes
• white onions
• garlic (of course, this is in almost anything I make)
• black olives (yum! I love olives of all kinds)
• jalapeno peppers
• fresh spinach leaves and hot sauce for garnish

I would have preferred to add some rice and beans to this, but honestly I was way too tired after work to cook those. For this recipe, I just chopped up the veggies,threw everything onto the tortillas, and microwaved it for about a minute!

These came out tasting FRESH and DELICIOUS and it took all of about 5 minutes to prepare!

Any other good ideas for Mexican themed veggie dishes?

New Blog, New Topic

For those of you stumbling upon this blog for the first time, my first few posts have been imported from my other blog Seeking the Change, a Yoga Blog. I decided that I was writing so much about vegetarian cooking, that I ought to start a fresh blog on which I could concentrate on just this subject!

Vegetarian cooking is brand new to me, having been (and still am at this point) a meat-eater of the highest order. I hope you will follow me as I learn to incorporate a great deal more fruits and veggies into my diet as I gradually phase out meat!