Please click here to see where this started, and how we're maintaining our diet for now.
First - I want to thank everyone for the support! We are excited to be starting this journey to a healthier family. There are so many of you who have sent me links, emails, all sorts of messages with helpful links, blogs to read, and have commiserated - you are the best, thank you!
I'll only be discussing dinner as our main topic, since breakfast, lunch and snacks are usually by the seat of our pants, instead of planned out - we do eat meals other than dinner, and unless there's something of note to remark upon, I'll only tackle weekdays since I'm longwinded. :)
The recipes more often than not, have been changed slightly, as per our taste {or Christian's kitchen wizardry}, or we used some substitutes because I'm picky.
You can find upcoming recipes and ones we've already tried on my Live To Eat Pinterest board.
Week One - Welcome To Purgatory
Tip: First time shopping to fulfill a vegetarian menu? Go with a game plan!
Christian and I stupidly thought we'd walk into Walmart {of all places}, find all the fruits and veggies and beautiful looking fish and walk out with mounds of creative dinner ideas.
HA! One: it's Walmart, where the bagged vegetables look fresher than the fresh vegetables and you are unable to discern a mango from an avocado without cutting into it, and even then - beware. Two: We'd never had a meatless meal, and we're just waltzing into the aisles like "Yeeeeeah, boyee! We gots this!", that's just asking for disaster.
And that's exactly what we got.
MONDAY
Dinner: Vegetable Stir Fry and Brown Rice
Tip: Know how to cook brown rice. {Or read directions}
We walked out of Walmart, after two hours of aimless wandering, with only a horribly put together dinner idea and some fruits to snack on.
Stir fry we've done before {though not veggie}, and considered it a safe option for our first meatless meal - it's familiar to the boys, and if they really didn't like it, there was rice to fall back on.
Brown rice takes two and a half decades to steam, which I learned after popping spoonfuls of crunchy rice grains into my mouth at least five hundred times. Some 30 minutes in, I gave up watching the already cooked vegetables wilt in the pan and served them up to the boys as the only main dish.
Severus licked his broccoli, threw it on the floor. Licked the snap pea, threw that on the floor too. Licked a bean sprout, wasn't too sure, licked it again, tossed it. This continued until his bowl was empty.
I handed plates to the bigger boys nonchalantly, like I didn't just hand them a plate full of everything they hate most in this world besides going to bed at bedtime, and they both, instantaneously started to bawl! It was hilarious, but mostly sad, because I know those feels.
After they calmed down, we instructed them to try a few nibbles of each veggie, and if they really, truly couldn't take anymore bites - we would understand. And they did! They tried each of the veggies on their plates and took turns bolting into the bathroom to spit them right out.
After I'd cleared my own plate {which was dreadful}, I sliced some strawberries for the boys to tide them over and made a fresh pot of white rice instead, which we all demolished without hesitation.
Strike both of these from the roster.
Forever.
Later that evening, Christian texts me from work to ask sarcastically if I felt any healthier yet. I told him I was farting a lot more, and that I supposed that counted for something.
TUESDAY
Dinner: Hearty Black Bean Quesadillas
Tip: Be ye not dumb. Limit your cups of caffeinated tea.
Thanks to the help of an amazing soul on Twitter and avid Pinterest users, we had a much better plan when we walked into the grocery store the next day. We were even armed with a list that was detailed down to the spices we needed! It felt amazing!
Until Mercutio darted to every. single. unhealthy thing in every aisle. Every cookie, every candy, every birthday cake... It really threw into relief just how bad our habits were! Even though he never got to eat that stuff daily, he remembers them as treats and knows he has seen these items in one or both of the houses he most often frequents.
I felt like I was constantly denying him. "No Mercutio, you can't get those Chips Ahoy." "No Macky, we're not buying Oreos today." "No love, I'm sorry but you cannot have M&Ms." It was just awful seeing his disappointment, and then not really knowing what to offer as a replacement was worse.
I offered him a special tea, one that he could pick out all by himself, which made him happy, and we managed to get out of there with everything we needed for the rest of the week's dinners.
We spent a buttload. It's no wonder that we've been led to eat so poorly, when all the good stuff is so expensive! Usually we don't price shop, but when the cashier told us the total, I think Christian and I both made a silent vow to find the best value from then on.
Dinner was the bomba! Not only was it simple and quick to make, but I loaded the boys' plates with one quesadilla and a handful of grapes and they both asked for seconds {I was shocked: Mercutio swears he hates cheese and Caesar thinks corn makes him throw up {it doesn't} and 'doesn't like' beans}! Severus ate half of his quesadilla and all of his sliced strawberries {while the other half of his quesadilla went on the floor, this is such a fun age!}. No one fussed, Caesar even told me it was "my best dinner ever", which made me feel like we were on the right track.
I was a little sad that it was blatantly missing a cohort; some steak strips, ground beef, or even chicken for god's sake! But, it was no less delicious. Definitely a keeper.
We picked up some Chai tea the day before, to conquer the caffeine withdrawal headaches and to have a substitute for the coffee we're not drinking. But, the problem is - it's frickin' delicious. It's much easier to make, takes less time, and doesn't destroy my tummy like coffee does. So I had a cup in the morning, a cup after dinner while the boys drank their new Peppermint tea, and I had a cup at night when Christian got home, and now I'm sitting here at 2:06am talking about how much I love tea.
WEDNESDAY
Dinner: Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Tip: When your significant other asks "Can I tell you about my poop?" don't be an idiot, the response is always no.
We've gotten to that stage already... Where we want to discuss changes in bodily functions. Oh what? You've never reached that phase?
You're missing out, this is prime oversharing bliss here. Don't worry, I'll spare you the gory details, but I will say that this discussion lasted through a very large chunk of our day.
Our morning started out wonderfully, although I went to bed relatively late I didn't feel overtired when I woke up with Christian to get Caesar ready for school at 6:30. After Christian got back from dropping Caesar off, he went all King of the Blender on me and made a really yummy fruit smoothie!
The only problem was that it seemed to thicken each second, and the consistency was gross, so I gave up the rest of mine. It was really great to have before Caesar's field trip, I was feeling good!
And then... temptation.
About 45 minutes away there is a tiiiiiiiny Bodega that sells the best Puerto Rican noms. My moms went up there for for something and came back with extra Pastelillos, since my mom wasn't too happy with the way they tasted.
Auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. The boys love them {so do we for that matter}, and we couldn't let the money they spent go to waste {justifying}, so Christian and I both had one Pastelillo, while the boys had two each. We actually don't feel bad about it, so I don't know why I'm being dramatic.
Dinner was epic. The boys ate well, and so did we! Nice, sort of successful day.
THURSDAY
Dinner: Spicy Seafood Stew & White Rice {instead of Quinoa, since we were pretty sure the boys would only eat parts of the stew}
Tip: Eh. Screw tips! I want a soda!
I feel like I spent most of today in a "NEED FOOD, NAO" induced haze. I seem to never have enough to fill my voracious appetite, and Caesar had another field trip so I left without breakfast and got home just in time to leave again to pick him up from school. I was really looking forward to a filling dinner.
I found the stew to be a little bland, and too "fishy" for me, which duh, seafood stew. The boys fussed about everything except the shrimp, but ate enough anyway. Christian was the only one to really love the stew, I was so meh about it and grumpy I finished my plate and didn't bother with anything more - so naturally I was hungry instantly.
Does this ever go away? I hate it. I eat, but nothing is sticking!
FRIDAY
Dinner: Who gives a crap? Do you? I don't. I hate food. Fruits are dumb. Veggies are dumb. This whole idea is dumb!
Tip: Don't convert to vegetarianism.
I spent most of the morning napping on and off, since I had an awful allergy attack and the half dose of Benadryl made me all soggy, groggy, boggy. I better stock up on that stuff, since I think it's the only way I'll get through this transition.
Worse? Someone in the area is barbecuing, and it's probably delicious, and I hate them.
I hate them.
{P.S. Hi, it's Saturday and I'm feeling remotely sane again! I ended up frying some calamari rings because we forgot the cheese for one of the dishes we intended to make. I also had some broccoli with cheese. The boys, hating everything about this meal - ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which made them so happy I thought they would cry.}
Monique | 
Investigating! Can you find the dried vomit?
