ON BEING VEGETARIAN FOR ONE WEEK

Last week my parents went on holiday and left me at home by myself, which means I was in charge of all my meals for the first time, fact that somehow led to being a vegetarian for said week. It started unintentionally but when I realized what I was doing I decided to keep going, just to see how it was.


Obviously being vegetarian is so much easier than being vegan: I didn't have any problems at all (though I have eaten out twice) and I didn't crave meat as well, which was quite surprising, considering I love meat. I've eaten meat yesterday evening and I've actually found it quite challenging as my body wasn't really attracted to it (though it all changed after the first bite). I've never felt tired or anything like that and I also think it helped me getting through a bad cold quicker.

The reason behind this experiment in first place is that all the food blogs I follow are vegetarian / vegan blogs. This happens because I found most normal diet food blogs provide recipes that are very high in calories and fats, and not very healthy in general. I think it's also interesting how nowadays most vegans make this choice for a health reason, and not for animals. You don't see things like 'Meat is murder' as much as 'Sugar is our enemy' anymore. I personally don't think meat is bad for your health, neither that a vegetarian / vegan diet is a equilibrated diet, though I respect who makes this choices anyway, I just wish there were more blogs like The Iron You, which shows how you can stay healthy even without a plant based diet.

Anyway, here's a quick review of the recipes I've made this week, plus a few tips. I  hope you find it interesting!

» GREEN KITCHEN STORIES' NEW YOGA POT

The Yoga Pot aka the best flu remedy. This is a quick and delicious stew filled with ingredients like onions, garlic and spices, known for helping getting through a cold. I've noticed such a huge difference in my flu in a few hours just because of this, which I swear by now. I know from now on this will be my secret weapon against a runny nose.

» COOKIE + KATE'S VEGETABLE AND GRILLED BREAD SALAD

This is by far my favorite dish I've made. It is so good, like so good. It's got zucchini, salad, garlic bread and red peppers and God, just writing this makes my mouth water. And to think it is basically a sandwich...

» AVOCADO TOAST + POACHED EGG

That's an old favorite of mine, which I love to pieces. You toast the bread, mash the avocado, cook the egg and you're done. The perfect lunch in five minutes. Also, can we appreciate how good I've got at poached eggs? Seriously, this one is perfection.

» GREEN KITCHEN STORIES' AVOCADO SOUP

This is a thick spicy soup that goes perfectly with toasted bread. I've added parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds on top to change a bit the texture, but just by the fact that you only need a blender to make it you can tell it's a winner.

» TIPS / THINGS I'VE LEARNT

• Cauliflower is Satan. I'm not talking about the taste, but about the cooking process. I've tried to do a cauliflower crust twice, using two different recipes, but it never went down well. All I was left with was a weird mixture of eggs and cauliflower and little white grains everywhere.
• Vegetables keep you full. I've found myself arriving at dinner time without being hungry at all after a avocado / egg based lunch.
• Cooking makes you appreciate more the food you make and also makes you eat less. Some nights I was so tired I couldn't even think about getting dirty all those pans, and then having to wash them again, and decided to have just a raw fennel for dinner.
• Greens are so cheap. Said fennel was just  €0,25! I've spent something like €5 in vegetables for this week and I still have some left.