Sophia
March
24, 2014
Going meatless was not much of an option during spring
break for me. I ate meatless for a
couple of meals, but I wasn’t home so a lot of it was eating out. One night I ate a variety of tempura fried
vegetables, and another night I ate veggie pizza. However, I was in between cities so many of
my meals were on the go. When I ate out,
I thought about my choices a little more than I usually do. I thought about what was healthy, but some
meals were kind of a splurge since I was on vacation. There also weren’t plant based options
everywhere I went. I couldn’t cook meals
for most of it because the majority of my stay was in a hotel.
This week was good because every week gets a little
easier to handle. It becomes harder to
get ideas, but online sites help. For
breakfast I had an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese along with a
sliced orange. I love bagels even though
they are high in fat content. I had this
with a cup of coffee. For lunch I went
to Panera because I was running errands.
I had half of an Asian Sesame salad with a cup of Broccoli Cheddar
soup. I got some nutrients in the meal
with the greens and the broccoli. I got
hungry at home so I snacked on some wheat crackers with some goat cheese on
them. It was really tasty, and I
probably had about ten of them. For
dinner I made a caprese salad with whole grain pasta. It was whole grain pasta shells with diced
tomatoes, cubed fresh mozzarella, olive oil, chopped basil, salt, and
pepper. This was one of my favorite
meals of the day. I wanted to
incorporate more vegetables so I roasted some cauliflower in the oven with
olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
It was a very satisfying dinner, and it was very easy to prepare.
I felt like the more Meatless Mondays I try the easier it
becomes. I feel fuller after my meals
when they are nutritious. It just
requires a little more effort with finding time to make meals in the
kitchen. I enjoyed my meals and have
been coming up with more ideas.
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI too was on the go during this year’s spring break so I had a similar experience as you. While I was out and about I did my best to choose plant based options at the restaurants and places that I ate. Just like you found out, I also found that plant based meals are really not commonly offered at many restaurants that I visited. Vacation was also a splurge for me so eating how I wanted was one of the things that I did but it did not stop me from assessing my options as far as what there is plant based to eat at different places. Not being able to cook your own food is definitely a huge barrier to eating meatless due to the inability to find places that offer such a menu.
I have to agree with you in the fact that every week that goes by eating meatless is becoming more and feasible. When we started this assignment I was not sure that I’d be able to do it at all however I now find myself thinking up different ways to make meatless eating more fun and enjoyable as well as being healthy. Your lunch and breakfast sound delicious, I too am a big fan of bagels which I ate a lot of on vacation because they’re so easy to take with you and Panera is also a nice place to stop because of their amazing salads and their selection. I really like how for dinner you added in that cauliflower and roasted it in your olive oil and seasoning. That was definitely an awesome end to a great day of meatless eating.
-Brad
Dear Sophia,
ReplyDeleteHope you had a wonderful time on vacation. I too went on vacation. It is very difficult to find nutritious food when eating out a lot. I am glad to hear that you were able to obtain some meatless meals. You did better than me. I ate horribly in Puerto Rico.
I am also glad to hear that you feel Meatless Mondays are getting easier. You are right, creativity is the biggest challenge with this project. I seem to crave familiar comfort foods, and I don’t like trying new things. A lot of times when I try a new recipe, I do not like it. On the flip side of that, this project has forced me out of my food comfort zone. This project has allowed me to expand my repertoire of usual meals. I find that magazine recipes have been more helpful to me than online sites. They are usually fail proof in comparison to online recipes submitted by random users.
I just want to say that I love your meal selections for this week. I too am a bagel lover. Bagels are one of my guilty pleasures. I know they are not the healthiest option, but they are so very delicious. Everything is fine as long as it is in moderation. I am also obsessed with Panera. I think I could eat their Broccoli Cheddar soup every day and not get sick of it. I have never had their Asian Sesame Salad. What is in it? Is it good? Cheese and crackers are always a good snack. I have to admit, I have never tried goat cheese. I’m sort of scared to. Not sure why, but the idea of milk from anything but a cow sort of weirds me out. I have had caprese salad before. That sounds like a wonderful dinner option.
You seem like you have definitely been successful in going Meatless.
Sincerely,
Rebecca