CBC: The Veggie Queen Asks and I Answer

Oh yay – I was so excited to see Jill’s response to my questions.  I raced through reading it once, and then went back and read it again and loved her suggestions for making a transition to eating more vegetarian meals.  We love chili (although my hubby does not care for beans, so that could be tricky) and soups – and I love her suggestions for introducing quinoa and brown rice!  I’ve never had quinoa – but now I can say I have to because it’s “homework” – LOL!

So now it’s my turn to answer The Veggie Queen’s question to me!  She asked me what has stopped me from trying more veggie meals.

I. love. steak. We don’t eat it often, but I enjoy a good grilled steak.  I also enjoy chicken.  Most other things I can go without – but I’ve grown
accustomed to eating beef & chicken and enjoy them.  Weaning them out of our diet would be feasible if we had tasty options that worked for us.  I would say that’s probably true for a lot of people.

I’ll admit – some of my resistance to change has been the time shopping for and preparing new things.  I’m all about flavor and texture. Not knowing how something tastes, I am not inclined to buy a new product without some kind of personal reference or suggestion from a friend.  And I don’t have many vegetarian friends.

My whole family loves salad, and I’ll admit we don’t like iceberg lettuce but will buy it when its on sale.  We prefer romaine – and my hubby, like Jilly’s hubby, doesn’t like the bitter stuff – but he’ll eat a whole pound of romaine all by himself.  I, on the other hand, get fed up (so to speak) with salads after about 3 days – and need to investigate how to change things up.

I think a challenge is the substitution.  Again – my hubby is very picky (no avacadoes – can you believe it!?!) but we have been talking about our health and know we need to make some changes.  He is likely to try something if I don’t tell him what’s in it. =)

I have on occasion served all fruits & veggies for one meal (steamed fresh ears of corn, raw carrots & cucumber wedges, and cantaloupe, for example).  But I felt the need to eat some cottage cheese along with mine.  Needed some protein and it sounded good.

Our girls will eat just about whatever we give them – and frequently grab an apple or banana for a snack.  That’s one of our favorites, actually.

I’ve only prepared tofu once – and it was not so good.  But I’m open to trying whatever kind of protein additions will add to our diet and contribute to our meal satisfaction.  I can eat grains til they are coming out my ears, but knowing how to bringing in and balancing vegetarian proteins is something I don’t know much about.

We have a small backyard garden with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and zucchini, along with some herbs (lemon balm, fennel, thyme, rosemary, & peppermint).  I’m looking forward to later this summer when we can start harvesting and enjoying our veggies.

We don’t have many local “whole foods” stores in my area, but during spring & summer we have several farmer’s stands and nurseries that sell fresh produce and we want to support our local business – so that’s an option.

But winter in Ohio does not leave much room for fresh produce at reasonable prices, and other than buying frozen, I would be lost.  So here’s my next question for Jill: 

How do you manage to incorporate and maintain yummy meals during winter when “fresh” items are scarce or really expensive?

photo credit: cowbite