Rebecca
So it is now the fifth week of Meatless Monday. Today, my schedule was quite off, and thus,
so were my meals. My parents happen to
be remodeling their kitchen. My boyfriend and I decided to spend Saturday night
at their house to help them with the demolition. Well, as it turns out, Saturday night turned
into Sunday night as well. When I woke
up Monday morning, there weren’t exactly a lot of options for breakfast (as
they no longer have a sink or stove). My dad made me an enormous cup of
coffee. That was going to have to
suffice until I could make it home. I
had a 12:30 class which I made it into Buffalo for, only to find out that the
class was canceled. With an hour and a half extra inserted into my day, I felt
like I had all the time in the world to prepare food. I decided to go to
Wegmans and purchase something to prepare.
I thought it might be a nice idea to make my parents dinner at my house
(since other than grilling, they can’t prepare anything on their own). I
prepared a nice macaroni salad which contained onions, green pepper, raddish,
and mayo. It came out pretty delicious.
I also bought them a package of cheddar worst sausage (which I was not planning
on consuming, just for clarification). I
was done preparing the salad by 2:00, just in time for my mom to come pick up
her meal—but also just in time for my own lunch. I had a big bowl of the macaroni salad that I
had prepared. It was super delicious, as it has been quite some time since I
had home-made mac salad. I was planning
on preparing couscous for dinner, but it didn’t work out. When my boyfriend
arrived home from my parent’s house, he was all worn out. He told me all he
wanted to do was go out to eat. After
such a long day, I didn’t want to torture him with gross vegetarian options. I
wanted to reward him with whatever he was craving (I was so grateful for him
assisting my parents). I told him we
could go wherever he wanted to eat. He
really wanted to go to the Buffalo Roadhouse. Going to Roadhouse on a meatless
Monday was certainly challenging (Their flat iron steaks are to die for). But, I successfully did it. If you haven’t ever gone to Roadhouse, they
start you off with a big bucket of shelled peanuts (a great source of
protein). After that, they give you a
basket of warm dinner rolls with butter.
Roadhouse is pretty famous for their chicken wing dip, and my boyfriend
ordered some. It is served with
delectable pita chips. I didn’t have any of the chicken wing dip, but I did
make the steal on a few pita chips, because I love pita. For my main course, I
ordered a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup (which was the soup of the day) and a
Caesar side salad. I also ordered myself
a baked potato, because I am just in love with their baked potatoes (perfectly
baked and topped with butter and sour cream).
Basically, I had a steak dinner minus the steak! Honestly, I was so full
after all that food, that I didn’t even miss the meat. I have to admit, that
eating vegetarian at a meat-based restaurant was challenging. But, I am proof
that it can be done. Eating out is
always expensive, but you would think that cutting out a steak would severely decrease
the price of a meal. I found this to be untrue. I had to order many small sides
instead of a single combination meal. In the end, it cost about the same for me
and my boyfriend to eat (except he had both steak and chicken wing dip and I
ate vegetarian). I found this to be peculiar. I know that I did not eat the
healthiest on this meatless Monday, but I am still proud that I was able to
remain Meatless at all. I hope that next week, I can do some home cooking. As a
vegetarian, I feel like it is easier to eat more nutritiously at home than when
you eat out.
Becca,
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling of not having many options come Monday morning because the weekend was busy. I too was away from home this weekend and was not able to shop for food or plan any of my meals ahead, which definitely threw off my day as well as having to travel four and a half hours home that morning. I’m sorry to hear that you drove to school only to find out that class was cancelled but having the extra time in the day to cook was a good thing especially for your meatless Monday. That was really nice of you to make food for your parents, it sounds like from what you’ve posted this Monday as well as others that you are pretty good at preparing meals and making delicious food. That being said I’m jealous because I am not so gifted at that. Macaroni salad is one of my favorite things to eat but because I’m not good at making recipes I usually get mine from Wegman’s deli. Your choice to go to Buffalo Roadhouse is definitely a good one, I love that restaurant but I don’t know how you passed up on a steak or a burger there I guess you’re a stronger person than I. It sounds like Roadhouse still did not fail you because you had a delicious meal and enjoyed it just as much as eating meat there. For not having anything ready or prepared that weekend you certainly did an excellent job making it through the day and you had some awesome meals that were really healthy as well!
-Brad
Hi Becca,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I can see that you had a very busy weekend. For me being at my parents isn't always a relaxing experience because their is always something going on. A few years ago my mom completely gutted her house and remodeled the whole thing and that was months and months of work. So I completely understand how remodeling isn't easy at all and can also be a hassle on preparing any type of meal that requires time to cook. I really like the fact that even after learning your class was cancelled you were able to salvage the time and cook. I enjoy even more that you used that time to cook for your parents. That is something that I admit I don't do a lot of and when I am home for the summer I should do more of. I am sure your parents enjoyed your meal very much! Its awesome that you gave your boyfriend the choice on where to go out and eat because he was there helping you. I think that it shows that you care what he wants to do and appreciate him for what he is doing to help. It sounds like you two do a lot of good things for each other and I admire that. The Buffalo Roadhouse sounds like a very good place to eat! Yet, it also sounds like a very dangerous place for a meat eater to eat on meatless monday and just as hard for a vegetarian to find the foods they can enjoy. You should have been my role model this week because you stuck to your guns and made the most of the Roadhouse. When I went to Applebee's it was so hard to find anything that was good that didn't have meat in it that I finally just compromised. And of course I have to blame my girlfriend for the choice of Applebee's and therefore making me eat meat on meatless monday. It can't look like my fault. I guess I have to blame it on someone, right? But on a serious note, my girlfriend really does support and tries to help me on meatless mondays. The other meals I had that day were all her ideas so I have to give her credit on helping me. You also make a really good point in that eating meatless really doesn't mean a cheaper meal at a restaurant. Some places I go to when looking at menus, the pastas and stuff can be just as expensive. Even though pasta is way cheaper than meat to buy at the store. And with making a meal like you did, piecing it together and making something enjoyable for you, you are right in that it comes out to the same price. I actually was thinking about doing that with Applebee's but I really couldn't find anything that would work for me and could be turned into a full course meal. I mean I probably could have if I sat there long enough but you gotta eat sometime haha. I hope you can get back on track with your meals next week and make something that you absolutely love!
-Quentin