Romancing the Vegetarian in you

Meat and two veg was always the theme at our dinner table while I was growing up, aside from the occasional spaghetti bolognese.  

Lunch was always a sandwich with devon, ham, silverside, roast lamb or processed chicken and it was accompanied by cheese or salad.  

A cooked breakfast always included bacon, ham or sausages.  

A meal wasn't a meal if it didn't have meat!

And so, people of my generation and older, equate 'vegan/vegetarian' with 'rabbit food'.  Today I am here to attempt to dispel that myth.

I am in New Zealand staying with my VERY pregnant daughter (aka Vegan Chickie) awaiting the arrival of my grandchild (aka Chicklet).  You can probably tell by her name, that her diet is vegan, although since she became pregnant, her food aversions have meant that, temporarily,  vegetarian is her diet of choice.

Needless to say, for the past 8 days, my diet has also been vegetarian/vegan and  I am  pleasantly surprised by how good my body feels.  

My head feels less 'fuzzy', although I didn't realize my head WAS fuzzy until it wasn't!   My body feels less heavy and bloated, likewise, I didn't realize it felt that way until now.  I also feel more energetic ... and that's after just 8 days.   

Vegan Chickie's husband (aka Bare-chested Chef) is, as the name suggests, a chef, and between them, their culinary skills are of the highest order.  

My vegetarian diet has been more scrumptious than you can imagine!  I feel like I have been missing out on this magical experience all of my life because I placed so much importance on meat.  Such a huge range of menus to choose from with many and varied ingredients.  The colours, the textures, the flavours and the aromas emanating from that kitchen!  A gastronomic delight!

If I have piqued your interest or curiosity then I suggest you try this fabulous website http://veganchickie.com/ and I promise that you will fall in love and have a number of these recipes as your weekly favourites.

Even my husband, who can eat the biggest piece of steak in the world and call it an entree (thank you Sharna for the descriptive), drools over the Leek Mushroom Lentil Samosas.  Personally, I'd like to recommend the Vegan Chocolate Tart (see Dec 2009 in archives).

Soon, you too, can be ROMANCING the vegetarian in you!