Vegging In

Feeding myself and, maybe more importantly, others has been a bit hit and miss. For the last 2 weeks a friend from university has been staying with me while on work experience with my practice. I was happy to cook meat dishes for her, or let her cook meat herself, but she chose to go veggie with me (mostly!). There were definitely a few successes, especially veggie chilli with nachos and risotto. Trouble was, it being Lent its also lambing and calving season, so on many days I/we were exhausted and got in late and so didn't have a lot of time or energy for cooking. On one night I don't think I would have eaten at all if she hadn't offered to cook for us! We did resort to beans on toast at least once though.....

Perhaps its just because I am more used to omnivorousness, but cooking vegetarian food seems to have required a lot more thought. There seems to be some debate among vegetarians in particular over how much protein a person needs - there being the suggestion that the average person eats too much protein. But I still think its the hardest part to balance in a vegetarian diet, especially as cheese and eggs, which would be the easiest source, are also relatively high in fat. I don't mind kidney beans and chickpeas etc but not with every meal. There doesn't seem to be the variety of protein sources in a vegetarian diet compared to an omnivorous one.

I am surprised that I haven't been tempted to break the rules or restorted to meat when in a hurry. But I have to say I am a bit bored of the vegetarian diet now. I am sure there are loads of different foods I haven't tried, but I don't think I am experienced enough with a wide enough range of vegetables, herbs and spices. I seem to end up with roughly the same vegetables in everything from curry to pasta dishes, with just a change in sauce and herbs. And it seems pointless to me to put so much extra flavouring in that I can't taste the veggies.  I am still enjoying the experimenting, when I have the time and energy, but I am glad its the final week now.

My parents and younger brother are coming for the Easter weekend. I'll be breaking Lent on Easter Sunday with a roast dinner with the family, but plan to feed them vegetarian main meals on Friday and Saturday evening. It will be interesting to see how that goes down. Only 3 more days to go!