28 days

I used to hate mushrooms... just the smell of them or the thought of putting one in my mouth made me gag. Its funny how taste changes when you get older. About six months ago, I started eating mushrooms more regularly, and tonight... the final night of our month-long Vegetarian diet, I made ricotta and black bean stuffed portabella mushrooms. Not eating meat, eggs, or fish for a month was not quite as hard as I thought it would be. Breakfast was pretty easy... cereal or a fruit smoothie, lunch was usually PB&J, a veggie burger, or a veggie/avo sandwich, and for dinner, Jeff and I ate some of our usuals like grilled pizza, but also tried several new recipes. It was fun cooking some new things as we had kind of gotten ourselves in a rut with the same old (but good) stuff.

I think the hardest thing about eating Vegetarian is having to explain why to other people... especially doing so in such a way that does not come off like "you really should eat this way too", because that is not at all how I feel. Yesterday, Jeff and I checked out a local meat market here in Costa Mesa. Its a small place that carries a good amount of grass-fed beef, and the guy behind the counter was especially friendly and gave us big pieces of buffalo and venison jerky to sample (I am saving mine for tomorrow)! We think that we will try to buy most of our meat from here, and other places that carry grass-fed. It seems that buying "pastured eggs" and perhaps fish will be a little tougher though. Since these items will be pricier than purchasing them in bulk at Costco, as we usually do, we will likely eat less meat overall. As Jeff said to me yesterday, having to go to a different store to buy meat, makes you appreciate it all the more.

I am still learning about factory farming and Vegetarianism, and want to be open minded and flexible. It is hard when there is so much conflicting information out there and so many different opinions. I hope to find a balance between the two... where I am getting the nutrients that I need, and I feel good about what I am putting in my body.

here are some of the things we ate this month... butternut squash soup; apple, walnut & gorgonzola pizza; vegetable lasagna; smoothie bowl w/ berries and nuts. mmm!!!