When I was a kid, I had some favorite meals that my mother made for dinner. I say made because nothing was cooked from scratch. I grew up eating frozen, canned, or boxed foods.
Granted, some dinners required other ingredients that needed to be cooked. Others were made in the oven or stovetop, like the stuffing. Stovetop stuffing for dinner? I’m staying! Remember that commercial? I loved it.
My favorite dinners were frozen Weaver chicken croquettes or fried chicken with boxed mashed potatoes, fish sticks with tator tots, open-faced hot roast beef or turkey sandwiches with deli meat, jarred gravy, canned green beans, and the box mashed potatoes.
Something she cooked was boneless chicken with Campbell’s cream of chicken or mushroom soup. My friend, Martin’s mother, made that too. London broil was good, and we had it a lot. Shake and bake pork chops with apple sauce were another me and my dad’s favorite dinners.
The granddaddy of all were the nights she made Manwich sloppy joes. When I saw them on the school lunch menu, I looked forward all week to having them.
When I was a school lunch director and lunch lady, I found in a school lunch USDA cookbook from the 1950s and found the recipe. The first time I made it, I almost cried because it was the same sloppy joes I remembered! I was stoked, and the kids loved them like I did.
In 2013, I watched an Indian female cook on the Food Network make Bombay Sloppy Joes. I made them, and they were so delicious and flavorful. Over the years, I’ve made the recipe with slight variations and cooking methods. Above is the link to the original recipe.
My brain thinks about food 24/7, so when we were watching Indian Matchmaker this week, I started craving Indian food. I’ve mastered some easier dishes, but when we go out for Indian food, I choose dishes that are too difficult or have a gazillion ingredients.
I made the version that I call Mumbi Sloppy Joes. The name makes sense since Bombay is now Mumbi, and this recipe is an updated original version. At least, it makes sense to me. Lol.
The dish is made with ground turkey instead of beef with a tikki masala flavor profile. It’s bursting with pistachios, plump raisins, and mixed nuts. If you don’t like any of those things, don’t add them.
You can control the heat by not adding spicy peppers to the dish. I never used the fresh hot peppers the recipe calls for; I added cayenne pepper.
The matchmaker happens to be from Mumbi, and over and over, she introduces herself as Simi Aunty from Mumbi, and I always think of those sloppy joes. A cook’s brain works that way with everything.
I made a double batch tonight and froze three small containers, just enough for a quick dinner on belly dance nights when we eat close to 9 pm, just like my 2013 Facebook post.
Three bags of sugar weighs 15 lbs, and so do the objects below.
I went off the medication Humira towards the end of March and immediately felt better. Not only because I was finally getting over pneumonia but other things I couldn’t explain.
I had more energy than before I was sick and started sleeping better. I didn’t count the minutes to take a nap every day. I had a bounce back in my step.
My gastrointestinal put me on something else for my ulcerative colitis for the time being until I see a pulmonary specialist at Dartmouth at the end of July.
I’ve been to the doctor a lot over the last few years for anxiety, depression, colonoscopies, colitis issues, headaches, insomnia, and pneumonia.
They weighed me at all the doctor’s appointments. I never look at the scale, but the nurses tell me I was the same as last time, for years.
Two years ago, I tried to lose weight; I committed to trying my hardest for six months. I felt like I needed to give it one last college try. I knew I had to be very strict about everything I ate or drank, and I was.
I went back to working out in our home gym. I did cardio and weightlifting six days a week. I worked so hard that I almost puked every day.
I didn’t weigh myself for six months, but I could tell from the mirror that nothing was happening. At the end of six months, I weighed myself; I didn’t lose one fucking ounce or look any different. I felt utterly defeated and mad.
I resolved that if I were going to look this bad, I’d have to try to talk myself into acceptance. Yeah, it didn’t work. While trying to convince myself about acceptance, I wrote the post “This is me.”
As much as I needed to work hard on acceptance, I was grieving that this was the body I had, like it or lump it. So, I bought some cute dresses I wore and still wear, so there’s that. Marty still found me as attractive as the day we met, but it didn’t help how I felt.
The weight gain wasn’t from menopause; that ship pulled out of port long before this. It was upsetting, annoying, and made me depressed.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care what I looked like to myself or other people; it did bother me. I was humiliated when I saw someone I hadn’t seen for years. I was ashamed.
As much as I tried to convince myself this was the new me, I hated the new me in every way, shape, and form. I’d say awful things to myself in the mirror. I was messed up.
I still acted confident, but inside I cringed and felt sick whenever I looked at myself in a mirror or reflection. I didn’t post photos of myself because I hated how I looked in them. Before this, I was the selfie queen.
I hated how fat my face looked in these photos with Sam and Marty last November and December. I was too embarrassed to post them. I can see how uncomfortable I looked in these photos with a phony smile.
My weight gain was physically hard on my body. I couldn’t move as fast, had trouble climbing two staircases at dance, shaving my legs, and giving myself a pedicure was difficult. The weight gain was even more challenging for me emotionally.
I was the biggest hypocrite in dance class, telling women about self-love and acceptance. I was a fucking liar; I was the exact opposite of what I was telling my belly dance students.
Thank goodness I am good with aging and my wrinkles. I believe it’s a privilege to grow old more than ever, so many people don’t get to,, sadly enough. I can accept aging 100%, but I was terrified of it ten years ago.
The end of April, I wanted to see how much Nelly weighed and if she was growing since she’s such a little peanut. I held my breath and had to look at the scale to know what to subtract when holding Nelly.
To my utter shock, I lost five pounds! Wow! How the hell did that happen? I ran down the stairs to tell Marty my surprisingly good news. He was happy for me. I skipped around the house for the rest of the day. Literally. Lol.
I weighed myself a week later and lost another five pounds! I knew I was still losing weight by how my clothes fit, and my big stomach was shrinking; so was my ass! Yippee! It felt like a dream I didn’t want to wake up from.
Besides introducing more fruits and vegetables and vegetarian meals to our diets, and drinking a ton of water over the last year, I didn’t change a thing.
No exercise, no dieting, no anything. Then we realized the weight I had gained and couldn’t lose for so many years was from the Humira. It was also why I didn’t respond to five different types of antibiotics when I had pneumonia since it was an autoimmune suppressant.
I didn’t realize how much damage the Humira was doing to my body, even though it helped brilliantly with my ulcerative colitis. I never put two and two together, I was just happy I was “healthy.”
The Humira caused significant scarring in my lungs, which I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t have pneumonia. What I thought was such a terrible thing being sick for two months, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
I still have to go to Dartmouth Hitchcock at the end of July to see a lung specialist to rule out pulmonary fibrosis. I feel so great it’s hard to imagine I have anything more severe than scarring.
I’ve lost another six pounds in the last 10 days or so and can see a huge difference. I can wear clothing that hasn’t fit in years! I can’t express how good I feel inside and out. Yes, this was a case about vanity, but more than that, it was about my sanity.
I feel fantastic since I am no longer carrying around 16 pounds! When you look at the photos at the top of the blog post, these are a visualization of what it would be like for me to carry around all the time. It’s bonkers!
My energy level is through the roof, and my breathing is better than it has been for years. I didn’t realize how bad I felt for so long. I also realized why I had a dry cough all the time.
This is tough to admit, but I have to be honest, it was pretty fucking disappointing that no one noticed my weight loss, not even my friends. It’s a night and day difference.
I am an extremely detail oriented person. For instance, I can tell when someone gets their hair cut or colored. I always compliment good things I see on people even strangers; maybe that’s why I can’t understand it.
The few people I told said they could see it after I mentioned it. Kathleen never notices anything and still couldn’t see a difference, but said, “Holy shit! That’s three bags of sugar!”
A retired nurse who now works at Battenkill Valley Creamery came over to welcome me back to the Troy Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago. The first thing she said was, “Wow, Julz! You lost a lot of weight! You look fantastic!”
She was the first person to say anything without prompting. I was grinning ear to ear. I gave her a big hug and thanked her telling her how she made my day!
No more big belly!
Why was it so important to me that someone finally noticed? Because it’s a big fucking deal to me, that’s why. It proved it was not just an illusion or all in my head. Someone finally noticed! Yay!
If I ate tons of junk food and fast food, drank lots of soda, had second helpings, and snacked all day, that would be one thing. However, it was the complete opposite in my case.
I can’t count how many times I said after pushing my plate away before I was done with my small portion, “I should be a lot thinner with the amount of food I eat.” I felt depressed every time I said it.
Eating small portions, putting my fork down the instant I felt full, drinking no soft drinks or juice, and cutting down on my drinking by more than a half didn’t matter one fucking iota.
Am I vain about how I look? My true authentic self says, you bet your ass I am. I didn’t know how depressed I was with my weight gain. It’s like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders in my head and literally from my belly to my ass. Lol.
Yes, I am cursing a lot in this piece, but it’s a painful and emotional piece for me to write baring my soul and deep dark feelings. I know I am not the only woman who feels this way.
I have the sparkle back in my eye. I started wearing all kinds of jewelry and earrings again with different outfits that made me look and feel great.
I finally felt like me again. The real “this is me,” not the one I was forcing myself to not hate, but did. I just couldn’t get over it. I felt like I lost the battle; the battle of the bulge so they say.
I felt great at the belly dance class last Wednesday and took a selfie with my friend Maria. I told her how beautiful she looked when I saw her, so I captured it. We both look over the moon happy…
Now, it’s not important to me whether or not people notice my weight loss. My friend Arthur said after I shared my good news with him and David he thought I did but never says anything about people’s weight. Fair enough.
I guess some people think that by complimenting someone’s weight loss, it sounds like, “Wow, you look great now that you don’t look like a fat piece of shit anymore.” 😂
I won’t lie to my belly dance students about self-acceptance ever again. Instead, I will share my struggle with self-acceptance, self-body shaming, and self hate talk.
Let me tell you, it’s hard af to share skrewed up shit about yourself with the world, but I know other people appreciate my saying how they are feeling and don’t feel alone.
As always, I appreciate you guys for reading and sticking with me on ups and downs on my life journey.
Sometimes Marty and I have to divide and conquer when it comes to the spätzle business, which by the way, was launched six years ago yesterday.
He went to the farmers market, and I made deliveries in Saratoga, NY, with Nelly. It was a good decision since it was cold and windy.
After I loaded up the deliveries, we hit the road. Nelly was happy as a clam in her little bed on the heated seat.
She is safe in the truck since she is harnessed in and can’t distract me or jump around the car while I am driving.
After our first stop at Healthy Living, I got her out of the warm truck to pee. When I opened the door, she was squinting at me. Squinting = she doesn’t like something. 😂
She wouldn’t pee since she is stubborn, so we went to the store five below to look at their cute doggie clothes, which cost $5 or less.
When I was looking at little fleece jackets in her size, I heard her snorting. I turned around, and she had a pair of shoes held together with elastic around her neck.
I started cracking up, and so did the customers who saw her. It was hilarious, and so was her reaction. I found her size and some puppy wipes and left.
When I harnessed her back into her seat, I put the jacket over her with the wipes, and she squinted at me again. Lol.
After we made our next delivery at the store Four Seasons, I got her out of the truck again since I wanted to walk across the street to the Saratoga farmers market. She squinted at me. 😆
I was a vendor at the Saratoga market for four years and wanted to say hello to some of my vendor friends. Nelly loved the market.
As I recall, there are many dogs at the market and lots of Frenchies. She got to meet one of my favorite Frenchies named Louie.
Louie used to run to my table and sit for a piece of spätzle every week. He knew exactly where my tent was and would drag his owner down the sidewalk.
We started heading home, and Nelly fell asleep before I pulled out of our parking space. She snored the whole way home.
When we got home, I took her out of her harness and put her down on the driveway. She squinted at me.
When we got inside, I tried on her new jacket; she squinted at me again. By now, I laughed out loud and kissed her on her little head. She is really something.
It turns out she did like the jacket because when I asked her to pose, she did, and I squinted her and snapped her photo.
It was an enjoyable and different delivery day with my little Nelly girl. She was happy to see Klaus when we were home.
The shenanigans began right away since they both woke up from a nap. She was raring to go and ran around like hell on wheels.
Since I wrote about her peeing in the house, the weather got warmer, and she could go in and out whenever needed.
She hasn’t had one accident, even when they are playing hard. I watched her run out the door, run down the stairs, run skidding to the one step down to the grass, and run like crazy until she found a spot to pee, then ran back inside.
I’m glad she finally got the hang of it; we just have to ensure the sliding door is open when they play inside.
Life with little Miss Squinty is never boring; she makes everyone smile when they see her. She really is the best and Klaus is one hell of a good sport.💕
Believe it or not, Marty and I have never visited a Japanese restaurant. We never went when we lived in Jersey, and until a few years ago, there wasn’t one where we lived in Vermont.
We did try sushi when someone served it at their house, which they picked up from a restaurant. I ate it because that was how I was raised, but I didn’t like the nori or seaweed which is used to make a sushi roll.
We watch many travel food shows and like when the hosts visit food stalls in various countries. That’s when I started craving chicken yakitori.
Every country has its own version of yakitori, which means roasted bird on a stick. It started hundreds of years ago as a poor man’s food since off-cuts and organs were used.
When yakitori became more popular with tourists and businessmen, better cuts of chicken were used. Today, behind sushi, yakitori is one of the most popular Japanese foods.
Traditionally, chicken yakitori has bite-size cuts of chicken on a skewer with pieces of spring onion in between. The skewer is cooked over a charcoal fire and basted with a special sauce called tare.
The ingredients in tare sauce are simple; soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, and sake or Asian cooking wine. Super simple and very delicious.
After researching the dish, I made my first batch of chicken yakitori and haven’t stopped thinking about it since we had it on Monday night.
I used chicken thighs for my skewers and followed how to cut the pieces and fold them in half, forming a downward C on the skewer.
I alternated with the spring onion whites; however, I’ll use more next time since the grilled scallions were so delicious.
I made the tare sauce and marinated the skewers with half of the sauce. The rest I used to baste the skewers as they cooked.
I used a veggie grill tray that I sprayed with pan spray, and the skewers did not stick or cook too quickly.
I kept turning the skewers like I saw the food stall vendors do; I basted them after every turn.
I checked the temps and took them off the grill when they were at least 165 degrees. I was super careful not to overcook those babies.
I served the yakitori with thinly sliced flat iron steak and Japanese sweet potatoes with a garlicky, sweet lime compound butter to melt on top. The combo of the two is amazing.
When I tasted the yakitori, a loud mmmmm sound came out of my mouth. It was as good as it looked on tv!
The skewers were moist and tasty. The sauce was perfectly balanced sweet, salty, and sour with lots of umami flavor. The grilled scallions, forget about it; they were spectacular.
Here is the fantastic, easy-to-follow recipe I used to make the Yakitori.
Trimming the boneless chicken thighs and cutting them into pieces took a little time, but can be done ahead.
Threading the chicken and scallions on the skewers was fun and didn’t take long at all. The total cook time on the grill was about 8 minutes.
What else can I say about yakitori? I already purchased two packages of chicken thighs and put them in the freezer so I can make them again whenever I want to.
I know many folks like to grill but get stuck in a rut of making the same things repeatedly. Yakitori is delicious food to grill and serve, along with other skewered meats and vegetables.
Guests will love it; eating anything off a stick is always fun, from salads to desserts. My favorite is caprese skewers dipped in a balsamic glaze.
Fruit salad skewers are also light and refreshing, with endless possibilities.
Caesar salad skewers are easy to make and fun; surprising people, such a thing can be done. Here’s a link to how to make them.
My writing buddies this morning soaking up the early morning sunshine.
That’s it from here. We are in summer spätzle mode and using our spare time to enjoy the pool. The water is in the 90s; yes, it’s still refreshing, trust me.
We are also enjoying the flowers and veggie beds, having coffee cocktails on the front porch, grilling and eating on the deck, and most of all, we are all head of heels in love with Nelly.
The week of dry hot days and cool nights has been wonderful, but we desperately need some rain.
I don’t usually write about what I make for lunch, but I started thinking about lunch this morning while making spätzle batter. There was a salad recipe I’d been wanting to try, and today was the day.
We have been eating our main meal at lunchtime and having smaller, lighter dinners. We go to bed earlier now since Nelly joined the family and would rather digest heavier foods like meats for the rest of the day instead of an hour before shut-eye.
I saved a recipe for a beet salad that sounded delicious. I had all the ingredients for the salad except for the arugula, which was no big deal.
I’ve said it a million times not to shit-can a recipe if you don’t want to tackle something big or not have an insignificant ingredient.
These are the kind of beets I used that I found at a discount food store, but you can use fresh or canned as well. I used them straight from the package and didn’t roast them as the recipe suggests.
I cut the beets larger than the recipe calls for, then coated them with a balsamic vinaigrette. Next, I added chopped pecans, dried cranberries, and feta cheese. I cut the pecans too small; next time, I won’t.
Here is the link to the recipe I used to make the beet salad. This is a great place to start if you aren’t a beet person or don’t know what to do with them. It’s sweet, salty, sour, tangy, creamy, crunchy, and chewy from the cranberries.
Now for the burger that I chose as the protein to go with the salad. I thought about what I had on hand to put on the burger. The best part about burger toppings is there are endless possibilities. I came up with what I called a Frenchie Burger!
We had some mushrooms that needed to be used, and some leftover Swiss cheese. I sautéed the mushrooms and added some tarragon and cognac. I know that’s fancy for lunch, but why not? Honestly, it only took an extra minute.
Marty grilled the burgers, then we spread them with Dijon mustard and melted the Swiss cheese on top. Finally, we topped it with the tarragon cognac mushrooms. OMG! Yum!
The way I made the beet salad today is a perfect side dish, or you can make it like the recipe and have a delicious salad. Not a fan of arugula? Use different greens or lettuce of your choice.
It was an easy salad since I used ready-to-eat beets; I know I would not make it if I had to roast and peel them. Some recipes are worth the time and energy to follow, and some are not.
Have a good night and for fucks sake, cover up your plants and flowers tonight if you live around here; it’s going to freeze again tonight! Hopefully, this is the final FU from Mother Nature for gardeners and retail suppliers. 😜🖕
One thing is for sure; Nelly is not a girlie girl. She isn’t a fruffy princess, kind of like me! She gets filthy dirty when we are outside working on projects. She loves to play hard with Klaus and explore.
When I saw her shirt, I died of laughter! She also needed to be thrown in the Biz bag for those of you that know what I am talking about.😂
After my nervous breakdown in April and my visit to the lower world with Hawk, I was shown all the beautiful things in my life. Right now, right here. After that, I started looking at everything that brings me joy and what does not. I started getting rid of stuff that didn’t bring me joy.
The first thing that came to mind was the joy of gardening. There are plenty of reasons why I stopped gardening; besides not having enough time, I hated kneeling and weeding constantly. The weeds seemed to grow back before I was done. I also didn’t like black flies buzzing around my head and face.
Back then, we planted a culinary garden with different sections. There was an Italian section with Roma tomatoes, Italian parsley, eggplant, and basil. The Mexican garden had other tomatoes for salsa, cilantro, and peppers. The Asian garden had scallions, Thai basil, peppers, and Japanese eggplant, to name just a few.
It was fun growing a culinary garden and planning what I would make with what we produced. When I thought about what I loved about gardening was that concept. When planning our garden in our raised beds, we kept it simple and grew an Italian kitchen garden.
After the septic system catastrophe, we ended up with a new retaining wall and slate terrace, which came out fantastic. This was the silver lining of a costly project that had to be done immediately. I didn’t freak out when we realized what needed to be done. I was looking ahead at the outcome.
Since I went on that journey with Hawk in April, I have been tested repeatedly. So much so that it makes me laugh. I can get over situations quickly, giving the worries or anxiety away and focusing on the now. I see hawks hovering over our house or while I am driving. Hawk, my power animal, is very powerful, which I am grateful for.
I’ve tried to live in the now for years; I have statues of Buddha everywhere to remind me. Now, instead of reminders, I give thanks and gratitude to Buddha when I see them. I bought a Buddha statue for our new garden that greets us when we enter the terrace garden.
Tonight, before I went out to water the garden, flowers, and herbs, I remembered my favorite part of the day was watering the garden with a cold glass of white wine or a summery cocktail like a gin and tonic with a lime.
That’s exactly what I did while dinner was in the oven and the sun was just right. I loved padding around barefoot on the slate pieces of the terrace that were still warm from the afternoon sun. I was caught up in the moment and realized this was one of my favorite joys!
Nelly graduated from her puppy classes. She mastered sit, down, off and come. We practiced at home and out of the house. When she wants to listen, she does, but when she doesn’t, she is a mischievous little puppy.
If you looked up what a mischievous little puppy is, it would be about Nelly. She is better than Hoodini breaking free of fencing or blocking areas off.
She has squeezed thru a tiny space on the side of two different gates and has gotten out. She has given Marty and me numerous mini heart attacks.
She is primarily housebroken but pees a little when she and Klaus play hardcore inside the house. She knows what no and good girl is and loves praise.
She can’t help herself; she is always making discoveries, hiding under the couch, and teasing Klaus, which he loves; they play that way for an hour.
Overall, she is the sweetest girl, so full of love. She loves to cuddle; we look forward to bed every night because she snuggles up to each of us during the night. She burrows way down under the covers and sleeps near our feet.
She emerges and will come up and sleep in between our heads. Nelly loves sleeping in, making it hard to want to get out of bed and go to work.
She can hold it for 10 hours at night, so it’s frustrating that she is “little miss pees in the house.” I know it’s a female Frenchie thing, and most do it. Being stubborn is another well-known trait of Frenchies.
When Nelly doesn’t want to do something, she squints her eyes at us. It’s not only in the sun, but anytime she doesn’t want to do something. We say, “Don’t squint your eyes at us, missy.” Lol.
We are so head over heels in love with her and watch everything she does so she doesn’t hurt herself. She pulls things off tables, benches, shelves, or whatever she can reach. She wears little bells so we can hear her where she is.
Her training will continue now that puppy classes are over. She learns quickly and is incredibly food driven. She wants to please us and be with us.
That’s the update on our little nugget of love, also known as little miss pees in the house. We should buy stock in the company that makes the miracle pet spray for accidents; it works, thank goodness!
My own veggie bean burger topped with mushroom bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and In & Out Burger animal sauce.
Marty and I moved to Vermont back in 1989. We wanted to escape the rat race, traffic, too many people, and, most importantly, my mother.
New Jersey was making me psychically sick. My gastroenterologist, Dr. Wolfman, told me I’d have a colostomy bag by age thirty if I stayed in such a hostile and stressful environment.
We got this bacon from a pop-up vendor at the Troy Farmers Market. I was skeptical, but it tasted like bacon and had a great texture.
We moved to a place where transplants aren’t liked or accepted readily by Vermonters, especially in South Londonderry, where we first landed. We found that out fast. We lived there for four years, and the Vermonters still hated us.
We began to work out like maniacs for something to do. Our landlords were lovely transplants but were in a different place than we were. They had a baby while we wanted to go out to a bar or dance. Yes, there was dancing in Manchester back in the day.
Coconut-crusted tofu instead of coconut shrimp.
We quickly discovered that Vermont was a costly place to live. I made $5.05 an hour, a drastic, catastrophic pay decrease. Rent was the same price as Jersey, and so was car insurance, fuel to heat with, and food. It was crazy!
We were broke and lived hand to mouth but in a beautiful, stress-free environment that agreed with my ulcerative colitis. I was homesick; I needed to keep reminding myself why we moved to Vermont in the first place.
Beans and rice.
Since we were workout nut jobs, we decided to eat healthier and become vegetarians. Not only would this be better for Marty’s hereditary high cholesterol, but also for our grocery shopping budget.
Going vegetarian was a great idea; the problem was neither of us knew how to be suitable vegetarians. I was new at cooking and had no clue what to make or buy. I worked when the local library was open, so taking out a vegetarian book was a no-go.
We wandered the grocery store aimlessly but came home with the same foods each week. I can’t remember what we had for our lunches at work for the life of me.
We lived on oatmeal, cereal, rice, and pasta. We burned off all those carbs in a snap by working out and having incredible metabolisms.
Tofu Italian cutlets two ways. As a sandwich with roasted red peppers and fresh mozzarella cheese topped with basil aioli, and tofu parm for lunch the next day. Both were outrageously good!
We ate very little fat or protein. We ate veggie burgers, peanut butter, and egg white omelets with cheese. We ate no legumes and little to no vegetables or fruit except bananas.
I still find it amazing that so many vegetarians and vegans do the same thing as we did. It’s an oxymoron, for sure!
We were in great shape, and our bodies were terrific, but we weren’t eating as healthy as we thought and didn’t drink any water except during our workouts.
Soft scrambled eggs with chives and avocado and a French omelet with a toasted bagel.
Eventually, we made friends and started making a little bit more money. We got on a fuel plan for heat and saved up each week to go out for drinks and bar snacks with friends.
At some point, neither knew how badly each was craving meat. I would drool just thinking about it. I always thought about eating beef, pork, chicken, and shrimp.
Finally, I fessed up and told Marty, and he said, “Hallelujah!” We went to the Sirloin Saloon that night and ordered steak. It was the most delicious piece of meat we ever ate.
We were both sick after eating meat that first night. That was it for being vegetarians, and since we were both working many hours and had friends to hang out with, we stopped working out.
Eating and working out became our unhealthy obsession, and we were relieved to stop. We gained a bit of weight back, but we were happier.
For the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to introduce more meatless meals and vegetables into our diet.
Learning how to cook with cauliflower made meatless meals easy and delicious. I wrote a blog piece all about cauliflower a couple of years ago. Here is the link if you are interested in checking it out.
It’s different this time, eating vegetarian meals. We are eating vegetables and other sources of protein like beans and tofu. We love apple slices with peanut butter as a snack. I can’t wait for summer fruit to be in season!
Becoming a great cook has allowed me to be creative and explore the vegetarian world with fantastic results. I research recipes and read blog posts to educate myself.
Crostini topped with garlic-whipped ricotta and blistered tomatoes, garlic, basil, and crushed red pepper. Our favorite!
The vegetarian food I am experimenting with makes us not miss meat on those meatless nights one bit and look forward to them. Don’t let me fool you; Marty and I still indulge in our favorite meats, but only about 50% of the time.
We find it much easier to eat lighter and healthier during warmer weather. I am very good about staying hydrated during the day, which I found is better for my skin, and I am not tired.
We are eager to plant our raised vegetable garden beds in the next week since it’s still cold at night here in Vermont.
Every year, I planted everything on Mother’s Day, and I ran around like a fucking idiot covering everything due to frost. I’ve finally learned that lesson.
I look forward to trying more vegetarian dishes this summer, plus there are a hundred to make during fall and winter. As soon as I nail down these recipes and write them, I’ll share them with you.
