Days 21-27 What a busy week!

I am sorry all, I assure you I am still alive and still maintaining a vegetarian diet. I have been so incredibly busy this week and haven't really had but a few minutes here and there to myself. I would like to say I'll be better about posting everyday, but I don't forsee my schedule getting any less busy, but I will definitely update when I can. I should be able to give you all a much nicer post when I get home this evening, so here's hoping!

Days 18, 19 & 20

Been a busy three days and will be a busy weekend too. Will definitely try to post but no promises. I did have a delicious meal at Genghis Grill last night though, see for yourself:

Day 17

AHHHHH!! Today the cravings for meat came down on me pretty hard. I could smell the rotisserie chickens cooking away at the grocery store after work and I could literally TASTE the chicken. I even stopped to look at the chickens, considered buying one...even thought to myself that no one would know if I just did it one time. Then I stopped and said to myself that one time would turn into more than one time and then the whole thing would be thrown off. I've been doing so good and I wouldn't ruin it for a piece of chicken. I'm proud that I walked right past the chicken and bought the makings for the lovely veggie pizza I originally went to the store for, which is baking as we speak.

While I am waiting, I present to you another plate of deliciousness. I admit...I am just too lazy to bust out with the nice camera to take pictures of my food. One of these days I just might. This was smoked macaroni and cheese. It was so good. I have really been working hard on portion control and this is only one cup of pasta. I have been finding I've been fuller on less food, and another weird thing. I've really been appreciating the true flavors of foods like raw veggies. Vegetables are tasting even more delicious to me now than they ever have. I am finding I don't have to load things with as much salt as I did before, which is big for me. But back to the mac...
I started with a basic roux, seasoned it with a bit of fresh garlic, salt and cayenne pepper, then whisked in some milk. Brought it to a simmer until it thickened, added some smoked gouda and havarti cheeses until they were melted, and then poured the sauce over some ziti. Then I topped it with some seasoned panko breadcrumbs and baked the whole thing until it was bubbly and brown. I served it with a lovely salad that I tossed with some sunburst tomatoes, cucumbers, toasted almonds and a little champagne dressing.

Ooo! Pizza's done. Off to eat dinner now.

Days 15 & 16 PLUS a KILLER Tortilla Soup Recipe

Okay so I didn't post yesterday, but I'm here now and good to go. Got busy yesterday and this was my beautiful creation. I'm ashamed of the sloppy plate. Don't judge, 'mkay?

Anyways, this mound of deliciousness is the result of searching through several vegetarian and non-vegetarian tortilla soup recipes. I basically took what I liked from those and tweaked them to get what you see here. My husband gave me one of the nicest compliments he's ever given me about my cooking and said that this was so good it belongs on a menu in a restaurant. My father-in-law, who is SUPER picky when it comes to anything with any sort of spices in it went back for seconds on this. I was very pleased with the outcome. You know it's good when people are silent while they're eating. So without further ado, I present this recipe for your eating enjoyment:

Beth's Wicked Good Roasted Corn and Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

For the Soup:
-One green bell pepper, diced
-One small white onion, diced
-2 Tbsp. minced garlic (have I mentioned that I LOVE garlic?)
-Four ears of corn, roasted (you can use frozen if you want, but I LOVE the flavor of fresh roasted corn)
-Two cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
-One 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
-One small can of green chiles
-One zucchini, diced
-8 cups of vegetable stock
-About 2 tbsp of olive oil for sauteing your veggies
-The spices I added were cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and salt. I was pretty liberal with the spices, though I went easy on the salt. I LOVE the smokiness of cumin and cayenne pepper so I can't really tell you how much I added...I just kept adding a little until it tasted good.

For The Rice:
-2 Cups brown rice
-4 Cups veggie stock (or water...I keep veggie stock handy as I did with chicken broth. It's a WONDERFUL flavor booster and not very expensive. You can even make your own and freeze it.)
-Salt, to taste
-1 tbsp butter (optional...I've always made rice with a bit of butter.)

For the Toppings:
-One ripe avocado, cubed
-Cheddar cheese, (you can omit if you like)
-A handful of crushed tortilla chips
-Lime Wedges

Directions:
(this does involve some prep work, but it is not complicated, I promise)
-Preheat oven to 350, place corn, husks and all on a rack and let roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, remove corn husk and silk and cut the corn from the cobs. Set aside.
-Wash, de-seed the bell pepper, set aside
-Peel the small onion, dice, set aside
-Wash and dice the zucchini, set aside
-Wash and drain the black beans, set aside.
YAY! Your prep work is done! Now it's time to get to the good parts :)
-In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onions, garlic, and bell pepper in the olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. Cook for about five minutes, until the veggies soften slightly.

**SIDE NOTE** When I make soup, I look at it as a layering process. Every time I add something new, I season a little more, so that by the time I am done, the soup is flavorful and delicious.

-Add the corn, green chiles, black beans, and crushed tomatoes. Season.
-Add your veggie stock. Season.
-Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low to simmer for an hour. Longer is better. Ten minutes before your ready to serve, add in the zucchini, so they don't become squashy (HAHAHA...zucchini will become squashy...yeah...moving on)
-Give the soup one final taste, season accordingly

For the Rice:

-While the soup is simmering, combine rice, stock (or water), butter and salt in a pan, and bring to a boil.
-Cover. Reduce heat to simmer for 45 minutes to an hour (DO NOT TOUCH THIS RICE! Rice is sensitive and needs its personal space.)
-Fluff rice with a fork.

Putting it all together:

-Place a scoop of rice in the bottom of your bowl.
-Top with a serving of the soup.
-Top with avocado chunks, cheese, crushed tortilla chips and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!

This soup makes A LOT, so it's great for sharing, and keeps well for freezing. My picky husband said it was even better the next day.

Days 13 & 14

Ugh...I SWEAR I will remember to make a real post tomorrow. I have been so busy these last couple of days, combined with getting over this sickness, I have been COMPLETELY exhausted and not wanting to blog at all. I am 14 days strong now on being a vegetarian.

A kind of amusing but kind of sad thought at the same time...I caught myself today wondering what the HELL I am going to eat at Thanksgiving this year. It's only January and I don't know why it popped into my head, but POOF, it was just there. It's my absolute favorite meal of the year, maybe ever, and probably the only thing I could eat every day and never, EVER tire of. I kind of pride myself on being able to make an amazing turkey. It's just absolutely strange that I would think of this.

Anyways...a real post tomorrow for sure and also a weekly weight update. I haven't stepped on the scale since last Sunday, so we'll see what happens.

Day 12

Someone asked me today if I was craving meat at all. Yes...today I wanted a big juicy burger. I wanted it so badly I could taste it but I am committed to my goal 100%.

Feeling better also. The bronchitis is the last to go but I will resume normal posts this weekend with a few wonderful things I've made this week. Can't stay out of the kitchen even when I'm not at my best.

Day 10 & 11

Still sick but still alive and still vegetarian. To be continued...

Day 9

Spent the day home from work sick. I have a combination of strep, bronchitis, tonsillitis, and acute sinusitis. I spent Friday evening and Saturday into early Sunday morning in a fever induced haze, finally made it to the doctor's on Sunday and got some meds. Still not feeling 100%, but I have been up and about a little cooking a few things. Will post pictures and recipes later. Just trying to keep up with the promise I made to myself to post daily.

Oh hello bed...where have you been all day?

Day 8

Still sick, but I thought I would share a bit of good news. I got on the scale this morning and I am ten pounds down already. I've only been doing some light walking, but eliminating the meat seemed to do the trick. My blood pressure has also dropped from 131/98 to 120/90.

Day 6 & 7

I apologize for the lack of a post yesterday. Hubby took me out to dinner at The Melting Pot last night and despite HUGE temptation I stayed within my vegetarian guidelines. I did indulge a little bit because this was a REALLY late anniversary celebration. I couldn't stop coughing last night and today I am sick with strep throat. Haven't really felt like eating today because my throat is so swollen. Will try to eat some soup later but we'll see.

On the plus side I have some yummy things in store to cook for this week, so stay tuned :)

Day 5-A Bit of Inspiration

Feeling good tonight. Just thought I'd share a video that my sister in law Jade shared with me. Very good and very true. Enjoy:

Inspiration: Powerful Beyond Measure (how great are you?) from Ben McDonald on Vimeo.

Day 4

Four days have gone by and I'm still feeling good. We are strongly encouraged to eat with our class and today was beef stroganoff day. I was REALLY tempted to have some, but I didn't cheat and had my own lunch today. I could hear the little voice in the back of my head saying, "Are you REALLY going to blow it, for THAT?!" I was pretty proud that I didn't have any. Usually I would have justified it by saying I would do better later that day or start over the next day, which always leads to failure.

Tonight's dinner was absolutely spectacular! See? I know...you're drooling. Wipe off your keyboard silly, I shall tell you how I created this deliciousness.

I got the idea for a meatless meatball from a couple of recipes I'd seen while browsing All Recipes, so through trial and error I came up with a super satisfying rice and lentil "meatball." While it does not have the same texture as meat, it is a pleasant texture, and when cooked in just a bit of olive oil, has ALMOST the flavor of the missing meat. As an Italian I grew up eating things like pasta, "gravy" (sauce) and home made meatballs, and I knew I would be missing that, so this is a wonderful substitute. Even my super picky husband cleared his plate. I was impressed, to say the least. Here is my recipe, for those that might be interested. The prep work was a little time consuming, but the "meat" mixture can easily be made ahead, frozen, and used as needed.

Ingredients:

For the Italian Style Lentil and Rice "Meatballs:"

-1 Cup of brown rice
-1/2 Cup of brown lentils
-1/2 Cup of red lentils (this was leftover from a failed experiment the other day. You can use all brown or whatever color you like really so long as your lentil mixture equals one cup.)
-4 Cups of veggie stock
-1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
-1 egg
-Approx. 2 tbsp chopped garlic
-I never measure my ingredients, I just dump things in little by little until they taste good, so I will tell you that I used salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, fresh parsley, Italian seasoning, and a bit of onion powder.
-A small handful of grated parmesan
-About a tbsp of olive oil to cook the meatballs in

For the Marinara:

(PLEASE don't be on me about canned tomatoes. Fresh tomato sauce is super time consuming and I just didn't have that kind of time tonight.)
-1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
-1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
-1 small can of tomato paste
-1/4 onion, chopped
-2 tbsp chopped garlic ( I LOVE garlic, so I tend to be a little heavy handed with it. Feel free to lessen this amount if you like.)
-I used the following herbs and spices to taste: salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, and a PINCH of sugar (to cut the acidity.)
-A small handful of grated parmesan
-a small amount of olive oil to cook the onions and garlic in
-About 2 cups of veggie stock (I keep this on hand. It is very easy to make, I will post a recipe for it later.)

For the Broccolini:

-1 Head of Broccolini, washed and the little stalks cut apart
-a little garlic
-crushed red pepper
-a pinch of salt
-a TINY pinch of sugar

Directions:

-In a pan, toast the brown rice over medium heat until it becomes fragrant (it will have a nutty smell to it.) Cover with 2 cups of veggie stock, bring to a boil, and let simmer, covered for 35-45 minutes. LEAVE THE RICE ALONE! Don't uncover it. Don't stir it. Rice is sensitive. You will hurt its feelings. Don't say I didn't warn you.

-After you start the rice, put the lentils in a separate pan, cover with 2 cups of veggie stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer uncovered. You will have to stir the lentils occasionally to make sure they don't stick to the bottom. By the time they are done they will have turned into a very thick, mush-like consistency. This is OK.

-In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic together in a little olive oil until the onions are translucent. Put in the different canned tomatoes and whisk in your veggie stock. Whisk in your other spices and the cheese. It's important to taste the sauce at this point to decide whether or not you need to add more seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low to simmer while you are preparing the "meat" mixture.

-Remove the lentils and rice from the heat and let them cool for a bit. I put the lentils in the food processor for a few seconds to get a smoother texture from them.

-Combine the lentils and brown rice in a bowl. Add in your bread crumbs, cheese, garlic and spices and mix together. TASTE BEFORE YOU ADD THE EGG. Make sure it's good, THEN add your egg. Unlike meat, you are able to taste at this point, which is awesome :) If it's to your liking, add the egg and mix together. If not, season until it is then add the egg.

-Add a slight amount of olive oil to a pan, turn stove to medium low, form the lentil and rice mixture into balls, and cook until browned on the outside. Be careful when turning these, especially if you are used to making meatballs with real meat. These are FAR more sensitive than meat is, so just be gentle. Once they are browned, set them aside on a plate.

-In ANOTHER pan (yes I dirtied up my kitchen tonight) saute the broccolini until tender, but not mushy.

-Cook pasta to al dente. While pasta is cooking, add the "meatballs" to the sauce carefully. Don't freaking burn yourself like I did :p

Serve the sauce and "meatballs" on top of the pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese if your heart desires. Obviously my heart desired to, so I did lol. Eat alongside with your super awesome broccolini. Enjoy!

P.S. I made eight meatballs then froze the rest of the mixture. It keeps well.

Day 3

Good evening all! Just thought I would share a few things with you tonight.

I've pretty much always been a veggie eater...I'm not too picky when it comes to food and I'll give anything a try at least once. In fact there's only two things on this earth that I will not eat for any reason (aside from meat now that is) and those things are nasty nasty NASTY coconut and okra. With coconut it's totally a texture thing and with okra it's both the texture and the flavor. Those could be the only two foods left on Earth and I would die of starvation before eating them. But I digress...

Thought I'd share a link to the website for a film I watched maybe a month ago which helped to solidify my decision for vegetarianism (along with subsequent research after viewing the film.) It was called "Forks Over Knives" and it dealt with how the food we eat is directly related to various illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer and how FOOD could help to reverse and even CURE those things.

At this point in my life I am not ready to go completely vegan as the film and research suggest. At some point, most definitely. My goal is to get through a year of being vegetarian and then who knows, that may be next year's goal. Right now I feel like the elimination of meat from my diet, along with portion control, cutting WAY down on oils, eating 5-6 smaller meals a day, elimination of highly processed foods, no fried foods, drinking lots of water and exercise are the ways to go. Aside from the elimination of meat, the other things are always what have gotten me to the start of where I wanted to be. I've never really seen eating well as a diet, but something that I should do because it's good for me...a lifestyle change really.

On another note, I was shocked that my dad has been so nice about the whole vegetarian thing since the 1st. That day he texted me and said that they were having portobella mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese, pesto, and marinara served on top of salad tossed in lemon juice (which was awesome btw...I would totally put the mushroom in a sandwich and eat that for dinner. I will totally make this one night and take pictures.) Last night he had me over, but he made sure to have TONS of veggies present for me. Tonight they had me over again, and they were making chicken corn chowder, but before they added in the chicken or the bacon, they made sure I had a portion without the meats and again provided me with various veggies to fix myself a salad. It's really more than I've imagined they would do to be supportive, which is great that they are being so understanding, FINALLY.

I leave you all (I say you all, but I don't know who actually reads it...more for me anyways, but if it helps someone else, then great) with another quote for the evening.

"Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy." -Bill Blackman

Day 2 Dinner and Some Thoughts...

This was my awesome dinner this evening. It was a bed of southwestern style whole wheat cous cous with black beans and a bit of organic AND vegetarian Monterrey jack cheese topped with some various skewered veggies, with a lovely salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes and toasted walnuts.

I am feeling really good so far. I know I can do this. I HAVE to do this and I will do this. I was SO tempted to have just a bite of the steak everyone else had, but I didn't. It smelled so delicious and looked so wonderful, but I am proud that I told myself no and ate what I had. My super awesome husband had originally agreed to go vegetarian with me, but he has a difficult time with new veggies, so he has agreed to cut back on meats and have vegetarian dinners with me at home so I am not tempted. I am proud of him...he tried squash and zucchini this evening and liked them! It was shocking but also nice because those are two veggies that I can now add to the menu that I haven't been able to cook for him before.

I have also requested my husband that he help hold me accountable for my actions and that I will do the same for him. I get so frustrated sometimes when I confess my true weight to my friends and the response is always, "Oh you're not THAT big." Like I would WANT to make up a number that high. Sometimes I wish people would be honest and say, "You know what, that IS bad, but I am here to help in any way I can." I really wouldn't have hurt feelings. My husband was kind enough to say, "You know...you REALLY need to lose weight because I love you and I don't want to see you like this." It was just nice to hear and really encouraging.

I am headed off to bed now. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

"Discipline is remembering what YOU want."

Day 2-Breakfast

This morning's breakfast was a "southwestern" style sandwich. It was super delicious and filling. I appologize for the crummy phone photo (the memory card was not in my good camera at the time so I had to make do.) The ingredients are simple, it's really easy to make, and you can adjust them as you see fit:

Ingredients:

-1 Cage Free, Organic Brown Egg

-2 to 3 thin slices of an organic cheese of your choice (I used brie because it was what I had)

-A heaping spoonful of an organic salsa of your choice (I used Wholly Salsa.)

-1 bagel, toasted

-A light sprinkling of salt, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper (when I say light, I mean light. I used these for the egg.)

Directions:

-Cook the egg over easy, sprinkling with the spices

-Toast the bagel, top with the egg

-Top the egg with your cheese

-Top the cheese with your salsa

-Place into the over on 400 until the cheese is melted

-Top with the other bagel half and enjoy!

January 1-Day 1

"I wake up every day with the realization that this is it, that there's only one shot at this life and I can either enjoy the ride and live it to its fullest and to my highest potential or I can stay the way I am."

Well good morning and Happy New Year to you all! I am going to begin this journey with a photo of myself right now. Please forgive my tired face, I am sick with a cold. I intend to take a picture of myself on the first of every month to track my changes.

Right now I look at this picture and I am pretty disgusted with it. I don't want to be this person anymore and I intend to change it. I am actually excited this time and I refuse to hit 30 at my current weight, which is a whopping 350 pounds. Yeah, I know I said 340 last time, but the last time I stepped on the scale was maybe 8 months ago. What's really shocking to me is how much I gained back in a year. Last January I began a diet, starting at 350 and had lost 35 pounds by April. I was really beginning to feel better and then I hit that wall, which is where I usually fail, and now here I am right back where I started.

This year I vow to push through that wall and continue on a path to healthy eating and living. I know some people may think that becoming a vegetarian is extreme, but it all goes along with pushing through and challenging myself. I am making a lifestyle change and I am committing to vegetarianism for one year. This is day 1. Let's see how this year goes.