There's a First Time for Everything (Well, Almost Everything)

I have always been a food lover. I didn't believe in strict diets and restricting oneself from all things fattening and well, delicious! I'd always loved Ms. Paula Deans' A stick of butter makes everything better, y'all.  But the spark of the "foodie" hit me about 2 years ago. I became wildly passionate about trying new foods and hitting the best restaurants all the locals raved about; and finding those little diamonds in the rough so few knew about. It became a sort of, new hobby that I was able to enthusiastically share with my husband, because believe me, the man can eat! A goal of mine was to visit as many of the places that have been featured on the Food Network; such as Man vs. Food, and Diners, Drive-in, and Dives. Also, I wanted to catch the food trucks whenever they were close by. Luckily, military life allows us to travel to different states and there are tv show and food truck apps that display where these gems are located.


Now, the quandary is, trying new culinary masterpieces that include meat that I have not had the chance to try.

(curtesy of lingolunch.wordpress.com)

This is the new predicament that has been on my mind for the last week or so. I had always dreamed of traveling the world, seeing ruins and historical monuments and first and foremost trying all the food I could possibly get my hands on! Would I be such a hypocrite if I were to only eat meat when it came to something new? I don't care much of what others say or think about me so I suppose if others were to think that to be hypocritical of me it would not affect me so. But would the possible hypocrisy stand foully on my conscience? I don't believe I will make the decision anytime soon; possibly not until I come across a situation like so. Guess we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out... I

Until then, good vibes and happy days everyone.

-Jess

Cheddar Cauliflower Soup

Recently, I had been on the hunt for a recipe of broccoli cheddar soup that didn't include chicken broth, and subsequently came across this recipe. I did end of finding the broccoli recipe but I was out of the green goodness and I had a head of cauliflower in my fridge just waiting to be used. As always I didn't follow the recipe to the tee, but ill go ahead and copy the original here for you along with my tidbits so you can pick and choose how you would like to make it :D

• 
  
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 
  
• 2 large leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced and rinsed
• (I didn't have leeks so I diced up 3-4 stalks of celery)
• 
  
• 4 cups chopped cauliflower florets (from 1 medium head)
• 
  
• 2 1/2 cups low-fat milk, divided
• 
  
• 2 cups water
• 
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon white or black pepper

(I added a mix of italian herbs and a bit of oregano)

• 
  
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

(I added chopped chives at the end)

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring, until very soft, about 5 minutes. Add cauliflower, 2 cups milk, water, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is soft, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup milk and flour in a small bowl. When the cauliflower is soft, remove the bay leaf and stir in the milk mixture. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the soup has thickened slightly, about 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese and lemon juice.

(courtesy of eatingwell.com, sorry I forgot to 

snatch a pic of mine lol)

I found this recipe on EatingWell.com. The hubs and I really 
enjoyed it, and we hope you will too!

Good Vibes and Happy Days <3

-Jess

"You Don't Win Friends With Salad"

Hey there everyone, sorry its taken me a bit to write, I've been working like crazy and honestly nothing new has really happened I would say is worth posting about. So here, I will finally get to write about certain happenings that I hadn't gotten a chance to share.

 When I first contemplated creating this bog, I was having some trouble coming up with my domain name. I went to trusty google to look for some inspiration and typed in "vegetarian". As the results popped up, I noticed a website for poetry and quotes, click. It was a web page with poetry, quotes and snarky snippets from pop T.V. and movie culture. As I began to read them one by one I was strengthened in my motivation to make the switch and pleasantly surprised that a number of great, influential people were veggies as well. Unfortunately there, I did not find my inspiration for my name but I did come across a moment of hilarity (well I found it funny) in one of the excerpts on the page, that continues to enter my mind from time to time. 

The quote came from the husband of a well known and loved American family. They were established in 1988 (year of my birth!) and have brought much joy and laughter into the hearts of many. They are the yellow, dysfunctional fam bam from good 'ol Springfield, The Simpsons. The funny came from the episode in which the prodigal daughter, Lisa, decides to become a vegetarian and tries to get her dad, Homer, to throw a meatless BBQ; which he is throwing in order to outdo "stupid, sexy Flanders". In his response to her crazy notions he states:

     All normal people love meat.  If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say, "Yo Goober!  Where's the meat?"  I'm trying to impress people here, Lisa.  You don't win friends with salad.

Believe it or not, I didn't get my blog title Where's the meat? from this, but it did reaffirm my choice in the decision. It was the only title that was sticking in my head but felt it was mundane. You see, I was once a die hard Simpsons fan (soon to be again haha) and when I read Homer's dialogue I was literally LOL'ing; and took it as a sign that my blog was meant to be titled as such. I'm very thankful that the universe had me come across this website because I find myself singing "you don't win friends with salad", on the days I am having the hardest time coping with the switch. It brings a chuckle and a grin to myself and is a reminder to lighten up, don't be to hard on myself and it'll get easier; I got enough friends anyways haha!

As I had mentioned in my previous posts, my transition to my new lifestyle choice had started to take its toll on my stomach and mind. And though I caved in and feasted on our poor friend Jaques (read previous posts if you have no idea who I'm speaking of, shame on you!) I have yet to touch our bovine, swine and poultry friends (didn't really ever eat any other types of meat). However, this process has not been easy. The hub has tried to make it easy on me, helping me with salads and such, but unfortunately without him trying, he has made it quite difficult at times. I do look at this as a benefit though; I will eventually have to be used to being around meat and not wanting to snatch it and devour it on site. I highly doubt our friends will be so pleased to have me come at them from across the table to steal their steak... don't think so. 

Thanks to the advice on one of the sites I had visited in looking for tips on making the transition (their link is on my page), I began to think of all the reasons I had decided to make the switch. When the smell of hubbys' juicy steak covered in melting butter hit my nose, I would go over and over in my mind of all the reasons I did not want to eat that red meat. You may think it would be overly repetitive and old but if you have true, substantial reasons for your commitment and you're not doing it on a whim or because of a 'fad', I assure you, it helps like you wouldn't believe. And to tie in the Simpsons again, I suppose a PG version of what goes on in my head is similar to when Lisa is at the dinner table and she looks down at her plate, two lamb chops laying there, she imagines the poor little sheep baahing to her, "Liiisaaaa, what did I ever do to yoooou?". Yea after that, even though I want it badly, the meat is not going in my mouth, nope, not gonna happen! 

I of course have my weak moments, we all know that lol, and I am not kidding myself that this trick will help me 100 % of the time. So do not get discouraged if your aids do not get you out of every moment of temptation; if you have great reasons they will serve you most of the time. With that, I leave you all with one of my tricks. 

Good Vibes and Happy Days <3

- jess

"Giving Up is the Hardest Part"

So it happened, my will broke down and it finally happened today. The last 3 or 4 days or so I had been constantly hungry and thinking of ribs. Yea, BBQ ribs. It all started when I was checking my FB feed and saw two different people had posted pics of their dinner that evening. Both so happened to be thick, juicy ribs. I freaking LOVE ribs! At that point I thought to myself "damn I can't have those anymore," and in that moment I was slightly upset. It also didn't help that every other night I would think about them whilst I slept; it's pretty pathetic actually. But I made this choice for the betterment of my spiritual self so I'm going to continue trying.

The "bright side" is I didn't eat ribs today. Like I've said before, I live in BFE and don't know of any good BBQ/rib joints and none probably exist here. And I'm not gonna lie, if I had the opportunity to eat them one last time, well I just might. :( lol Since I luckily cant bring myself to chomping down cow or chicken anymore, I ended up eating shrimp. I made the hubs and I shrimp cocktail with the bag of frozen shrimp we've had in the freezer for about a month now. (Maybe even longer, oops) When we bought the bag forever ago it was initially for shrimp cocktail and camarones a la diabla, but I never got around to it. I suppose it was a good thing I kept putting them off or else that bag wouldn't have been in the freezer to help me with my transition. As people say "everything happens for a reason".

I did feel a little guilty when I was making the dish. As I was peeling the shrimp, hubby helping me at my side, I couldn't help but think of the little guy we had seen at the Aquarium of the Pacific. During our christmas vacay, we visited the aquarium with my older brother and nieces. Inside they have small tide pools where one can see and touch the little critters under water. A new addition (or at least new to me) to these touch pools were shrimp. As I was holding my finger in the water right in front of one, it began to crawl onto my finger. I watched closely as it started to eat at my cuticle. It's claws were so dainty I couldn't feel a thing but it was an amazing sight to see. I put him back in the water and joined the rest of my fam who was at the tide pool next to me. There, I see my husband doing the exact same thing trying to show our nieces the beauty of nature. They were so amazed to see that the shrimp was "cleaning" his nails. It reminded us of Jacques, the cleaner shrimp, in Finding Nemo. :D





I was content with myself that I felt guilty, because in that moment I knew that I would be able to give up all meat someday. So I guess at this point that makes me a pescetarian on my way to vegetarianism. ??
If your reading and new to this too and are struggling, don't give up on yourself. Just because you give in once or even a few times doesn't mean you'll never accomplish your goals. Things take time and like Jess reminded me, your body will need time to transition to the new lifestyle. Take it day by day, we'll get there!

Good vibes and happy days <3

- jess

blegh! Dumb Dogs!

 I was quite disappointed to find that the only veggie/vegan "processed" foods I could find at the grocery store, did not turn out as I had hoped. The item of topic is the good 'ol hot dog; or veggie dog in this case. Now when I tried these links I didn't eat it as a hot dog. Instead, I decided to use a few to make my hubbys' spam and rice recipe. I cut the links up into cubes, tossed them in the skillet, poured in some soy sauce and layered on the sirracha. Once done cooking, I mixed some pieces with rice in a bowl. I grabbed my fork and dug right in... 'spit take'. I spit the food right back out into my bowl and threw it away! I then commenced with grabbing the rest of the links to throw them away too. As I opened the trash can to discard those puppies my husband stopped me. "What are you doing? Don't throw them all away!" I told him it was gross and there was no way I was going to try them out again. I suppose he thought I was over reacting because he asked to try a plain link. I gave him a dog and he took a bite. "BLEGH!" He spit that sucker right out, no hesitation. HA! We abhor being wasteful, but those hot dog frauds had a one way ticket to trashtopia.  

So yea, unfortunately my creative culinary theory of a meal was a major failure. And I was stuck enjoying the yummy aroma of my husbands dinner. It was a veggie lasagna from stouffers for me (quite tasty but probably not the healthiest). Don't know how many people enjoy spam, but I used to be scared of the processed junk. I also have only tried it the way my husband makes it and it is so freaking delicious! If your a meat eater you gotta try it cubed up with soy sauce, sirracha, diced onions and an egg over white rice. But if you don't eat meat, well even better! lol

Again, not sure if I would enjoy those veggie links as an actual hot dog; I have read online they taste better grilled. But the universe sure as heck knows it will be a long time before I decide to try those things again!


Oh well, they all can't be winners.

Good vibes and happy days everyone!

-Jess