Being Meat-Free Everyday

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Next week will mark my one year anniversary of being vegetarian.  The approach of the anniversary has made me think of my progress since becoming vegetarian.  I will admit that it was not easy at the beginning. Not because of will power, but more out of habit.  When you have eaten certain foods for nearly twenty-eight years, it can be a shock to change your diet.  I had never been on any diet before and never really took precautions as to what I ate.  I had my usual favourite items that I ate regularly for lunch and dinner and stuck to those.  Eating meat was a convenience that I took for granted.  It was something I ate regularly, was traditional around the seasonal times of the year and family tradition like kielbasa (Ukrainian smoked sausage) that my grandparents would bring from Montréal.  

When I began my vegetarian diet (although I don’t like to think of it as a diet, but rather a choice because I don’t have desire anymore to eat meat), I started by eating a lot of “meat alternatives” or “faux meats” as they’re called by the vegetarian/vegan community.  Some were good, some were bad and some, well, just shouldn’t exist.  They were a good transitional food that offers a lot of protein, vitamins and minerals that many meat products provide, however, most are made of soy and some people can develop intolerance to soy if consumed regularly.  Not to mention, soy can cause irregularity.  I have greatly reduced my consumption of processed soy products and opted for more wholesome foods that are vegetarian; I still enjoy Yves Mexican veggie ground round for tacos, President’s Choice Meatless Breaded Chicken Strips and Meatless Chicken Breasts (best on the BBQ).

Making the transition to vegetarianism isn’t as hard as one may think.  There are so many recipes that omnivores eat already, that you can enjoy without meat.  I’ll share two of my favourite simple vegetarian recipes here:

Roasted Carrots, Potatoes and Green Beans

You’ll need:

3 oven safe baking dishes
1 small bag of carrots
1 small bag of mini golden potatoes
A handful or two of fresh green beans
Margarine (or if you want vegan margarine)
Vegetable seasoning (such as Club House vegetable seasoning) and Garlic powder

Cut mini potatoes into quarters (as many as you’d like) and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add a little oil (vegetable or olive oil) and seasoning. Mix with your hands, enough oil to coat the potatoes but not so much as to have them swimming in oil. Place in your largest oven safe baking dish.

Heat oven to 400F. When oven reaches temperature, place potatoes in oven and bake for about 40 minutes, watching so that they don’t burn.

Place carrots in one dish. Add about a tablespoon of margarine on top and sprinkle seasoning over carrots. Carrots will take about 13-16 minutes, depending on your desire for tenderness.

Next with the green beans, cut the ends of the beans and place in another dish. Add margarine on top and sprinkle with seasoning.  Beans will take about 10-13 minutes depending on your desire for tenderness.

If you time it right, everything will be done at the same time.

It’s so good to roast veggies in the oven.  I made this recipe for three nights in a row after I bought baking dishes at Costco.

Vegetarian Caesar Salad Dressing (Also good as a dip) – This isn’t vegan, but with modification of substitutes it could be.

You’ll need:

Mayonnaise (Hellman’s Olive Oil Mayo with Free Run Eggs)
Jar of crushed garlic
Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce (find this at any natural food/organic store)
Garlic powder
Salt/Pepper
Lemon juice (if desired)

I make this one by “taste”. Your main ingredients will be the mayonnaise, cream cheese and crushed garlic. You’ll need to add the Worcestershire sauce to add some “bite” to it or it’ll just taste like mayo, cream cheese and garlic. Don’t worry if it’s a little overpowering in one taste or another. You can add more of another ingredient to balance it out. Generally, I start with half a cup of mayo and a quarter cup of cream cheese, two to three teaspoons of crushed garlic, two to three teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper and add about a teaspoon of lemon juice. Make sure to blend well by hand or with a food processor.

I made this one for a work pot-luck social and I don’t think anyone could tell that it didn’t have any fish/anchovies!

We don’t have to all be vegetarian 24/7, but if everyone substituted one meal at least once a week for a vegetarian alternative, many people would realise that as a nation in general and globally, we consume way too much animal products, more than we need to and that meat is not a necessity of the human diet.