Ups and Downs

Through previous experiences trying to be vegetarian multiple times, I can say that this time for some odd reason? It's been a bit easier. I was hoping to write a blog post every day for the blog, but with midterms coming along and the course load being exponentially more difficult, it was hard to get it going. But let's start from the beginning.

I started this journey to be a Vegetarian last Wednesday, before Wednesday I told myself that I would give myself a "Pilot run". In this Pilot run, I tried to get ingredients for my Journey but of course I never "cooked for myself", and by cooking for myself I mean -- having to creatively figure out recipes without depending wholeheartedly on frozen chimichangas and frozen breakfast sandwiches. Which posed a challenge for me, as on the first day in my Pilot week I ate roasted potatoes over rice. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious but not necessarily a balanced dinner. So I put myself in front of my TV screen and watched what YouTubers did for their week as a Vegetarian. Some of these YouTubers were such skilled at-home chefs I was jealous. I didn't want to depend on salad kits, I wanted to feel like I was eating a meal rather than sides. So on my shopping trip, I made sure to get some noodles, pasta, key ingredients to keep my hunger at bay (natural PB and marmalade for PB&M sammiches), cereals, oat milk, and even sauces to help spice up my cooking skills. And I was feeling great. Excited for the Journey.

The difficulty came with what my parents would cook for dinner and I would sit there having to feel hunger pangs for the food that I was so accustomed to and attracted to. My dad suddenly got interested in making Kababs, my mom made my favorite Guatemalan stew Chojin (stewed sear beef chuck), my dad bringing fancy $3 Pastor and Carne Asada tacos, and even my dad roasting kielbasa sausages, it all made it difficult to transition to a veggie diet. It's these moments I'm glad I'm not vegan cause life without cheese would be even more of a struggle. Regardless, I tried to push on. The actual move to being vegetarian took a while since the proposal date actually. I kept telling my family that "I'll start tomorrow", after scarfing down three pounds of seafood boil. But after eating the Chojin stew, I told my parents that I would commit myself and of course, they'd laugh and tease me but I told myself I'll force myself.

But so far, I have had some interesting... yet boring meals since Wednesday. Meals including soy burgers, salads, soy hotdogs, fried rice, prepackaged ramen noodles, eggs, and... that's about it. Some days, going out was what saved me from eating simple foods, like the impossible burger at Burger King, Vegan Thai, and even vegetarian burgers at Diners. But after this post, I feel that I have to get more creative to make sure I don't feel so bored with the same old meals. This brings me back to a lot of the issues I had in my first attempts being vegetarian years ago, I felt that salads were boring and I only enjoyed the fancy salads from places outside of my house. Packaged salads felt the same and boring and I wasn't creative enough to make... nut flour and use that to make bread or make homemade hummus.

Regardless... HERE are some pictures of the food I've eaten so far that I tried to nab before I devoured them.

Vodka sauce rigatoni pasta, with power green, cooked together... kinda boring tbh.

Soy Burger with power greens mix and cheese, pretty good actually.

Fried rice I made with... days old rice haha.

Soy Hotdog, with Powergreens, siracha, Kimchi, and mayo. Don't look the greatest but it tasted alright. Sadly, I completely forgot that Kimchi at times is made with fish sauce, which made me already fail the challenge but I learned my lesson and will be more careful next tiem.