Where's the Beef?

Monday was a Meatless Monday, yesterday was a Totally No Meat Tuesday, and today I'm already off to a fruity and bean-alicious start.

Okay, I'm being silly, but I really haven't eaten any meat for the past few days!

And honestly, besides my atrocious salad at lunch yesterday (apparently, the romaine at Price Chopper was on sale for a reason....), I really haven't missed it.

Take my amazing salmon dinner from Monday night...

...next a bed of fresh organic pea sprouts.  So spring!


It's not that I'm really all that interested in being a vegetarian.  But some things have been weighing on my mind lately (in order of importance):


1) I find meat hard to digest.  I've noticed over the past year or so that whenever I eat meat, it sits like a rock in my stomach for at least a day or two, I don't feel well that night, and my already overly-sensitive digestive system gets out of whack.


2) I've watched too many food documentaries to not worry about catching some weird disease from traditionally processed meat, and I'm too cheap to buy local farm meat for a regular weekday dinner.


3) I like animals and I feel a little bad about eating them.  But only a little bit.

Notice the selfishness in my prioritizing.  I care mostly about how I feel. Because, carnivores out there, I feel your pain. I still really love a good steak or burger.  And tacos.  And my grandma's meatballs (ohh, the agida).  Although, I'll give it to my veggie friends, animals are pretty cute.

So much cuteness on one little futon.

I have plenty of friends who are vegetarian, vegan, used-to-bes, and almosts.  But I've still yet to be convinced that all that processed soy is really better for me than meat. (And I've yet to have a decent black bean burger, even at a restaurant.)  I also have a few friends on the Paleo Diet, which is tempting because they look fantastic (and I definitely agree that cutting back the grains and cheese would make me feel great), but I feel really good about my yogurt, and clearly don't do well with all that meat, so I don't think it's for me.

For now, I think I'll just watch my carb and meat intake, and see how that goes.  As Dad always said, "It's all about moderation." We'll see how long my experiment lasts.  I sometimes run out of ideas when it comes to vegetarian dishes.  And if you haven't noticed, I get major Food ADD-- I get bored of things fast.

(In fact, I'm already craving this burger.)


So feel free to share your meat-free recipes!

Until next week... <3