Day 4, 5 & 6

Leftovers have been a good friend to me this week.
Besides not wasting food, it means I am not stressing out about every single meal.
Leftover lasagne without a side salad satisfied me for lunch on Day 4 after a breakfast of toast. Super boring. Dinner was a repeat of lunch WITH a salad again. I'm not a huge fan of salads everyday but it is going to be something I am going to have to get used to...

Day 5 was scrambled eggs on toast before a fabulous walk up the local gorge. My fruit snacks were enough to get me through to lunch where I politely refused a ham sandwich from my friend and hurried home to leftover falafels.
Dinner was a macaroni cheese - without the bacon.

Day 6 - today was a little more adventurous. Breakfast was scrambled eggs on portabello mushrooms (the pic at the start of this post). I am not a fan of mushrooms but I really am trying to embrace new things. Besides, they didn't taste too bad.
Lunch was a vegetarian version of a caesar salad... clearly no bacon or chicken for me.
And tonight was a spinach and ricotta agnolotti with a creamy cabonara sauce sans bacon. Mushrooms also featured in this sauce as well as peas.

Yesterday after my walk I ventured to the local library and borrowed a couple of books for recipe inspiration. Looking through the meal ideas really got the ideas flowing and I wonder how I am going to go this week when I go back to work. Usually when I get busy at work I resort back to the tried and tested meal ideas when I plan our eating for the week.

Even 6 days in I am not missing the meat. No other noticeable difference weight or feeling-wise at this stage but my increased chocolate consumption (thank you Xmas presents) may have something to do with that!

Day 3 and the lunch challenge

Today was going to be my first little challenge - eating out.
Breakfast was super boring pieces of toast with some Vegemite as I was saving myself for a lunch date with my friend, Maddy.
I chose the place because I figured being a Chinese restaurant they would have quite a few vegetarian options... unfortunately I was wrong.
While waiting for Maddy I scoured the menu - sweet and sour pork, beef and black bean, combination noodles with chicken or beef, king prawns and plenty of other dishes that were all based on meat.
I was about to ring Maddy and tell her to meet me somewhere else when I saw a stirfry with vegetarian option - bingo! Crisis averted... this time. Admittedly I did order a side of fried rice which when it arrived did have a few little pieces of pork through it. I dodged those and reminded myself to next time ASK if they could make it without meat.
Dinner was a vegetarian lasagne with side salad while my husband enjoyed the lasagne with a roasted chicken maryland. I didn't even flinch when serving it up. Not even a quick sniff to see if I miss it.
At the moment this challenge is a choice which leaves me to wonder if that makes it any easier. Usually when we are told we can't have something we crave it even more. I haven't told myself I can't have meat per se... it is more about choosing to not have it for now.
Day 3 was a success.

Day 2...

Day 2 has come and gone and was successful as far as vegetarian eating was concerned. Not so much on the chocolate front.
Breakfast was left over bechamel sauce with sweetcorn on toast.
Lunch was this vegetarian pizza  I whipped up at home on pita base with bought tomato sauce. Topped with three different types of cheese and some baby spinach right at the end it was really good!
Dinner was leftover cauliflower curry with chickpeas.
So far so good!

Surviving day 1

Well I did survive and it wasn't as big a deal as I imagined...
Breakfast consisted of some leftover bechamel sauce mixed with tinned corn on toast (an old favourite).
Lunch was some leftover roast vegies from my last roast lamb dinner (see photo from the last supper above) and some falafels with a divine spiced pumpkin chutney.
Dinner was my cauliflower curry with chickpeas.
Done and dusted. So how do I feel? Just fine!

Going vegetarian...

The preparation has begun for Vegetarian January. In less than 2 days I am forgoing meat for 1 whole month. Doesn't really sound like much and for those die-hard vegetarian folk out there I am sure it isn't.
But this month means cooking new dishes almost every night or I face the boring option of eating salad. Cooking I enjoy but when I go back to work the inspiration and ideas tend to go out the window when I get busy and we revert back to the protein (meat) and vegies.
So now I am prepped. I searched for inspiration on different vegetarian recipes that I can adapt to include meat for the others and that look really appetising. They have been saved to my Pinterest board here if you want to see what I have found.
This morning I got up early to go to the local markets and stock up on half my vegetable list and then I followed up with the supermarket to get the other items. I did have some lentils in the pantry but the mouse my cat let into our house (a whole other story) somehow managed to get to the third shelf and help himself to my legumes and pasta packets.
Just to start getting into the swing of things I whipped up a cauliflower curry with some items I had... the chickpeas I purchased today will be added to it to make it a bit more filling. That is Monday's dinner sorted!
To celebrate the last day of being a meat eater (for 1 month anyway) I am having roast lamb tomorrow night. It is my intention to enjoy every mouthful but to also remind myself that this is a new challenge and anything I usually set my mind to, I do it.
Wish me luck!

7 years

It is nearly 7 years since I posted on this blog. So much has happened (as does in life) and yet not much has changed.
I closed by hamper business and shed a lot of tears.
I stopped working with my husband and have worked at 3 different places (about to be a 4th).
My son has graduated high school and is about to start University this year.
Family relations have dramatically changed and some friendships have solidified while others have dissipated.
I took a year off from soccer to try different things and returned last year for what seems to be my final year.
And yet here I am writing again.
The real reason behind starting up my blog again is to document some of the self-set challenges I am going to do this year.
First up - January = Vegetarian.
31 days of no meat... as I mentioned on Facebook, it could be the best 31 days of my life or the worst. But it is just for a month. To start.
4 days out and I have begun to prepare. Will you join me in this journey?

Update on list....

Here it is, just past the middle of January and I decided I had better do a little report on how my list is going.

My original list of 37 jobs blew out to 44 in the end and I am sure it will get another few before the end of the month.

And I am happy to report that I have done 26.5 of those jobs! Yahoo and yippee for me! Why 26.5 I hear you ask? Ok, so I have half finished a job.. that is I have done the taxes for both businesses, but have not completed the BAS for them.

In all honesty I should have made them two separate jobs, but too late now, it stays as it is.

The last few days of the holidays are here now and work and school routines will soon begin again. Hopefully (with all fingers crossed) I can get the last 17.5 jobs done before life kicks in again properly and becomes pure chaos.

Stay tuned....