a vegetarian story.

after a pretty awkward lunch with my in-laws which resulted in a big veggie throwdown, I wanted to use my blog to say a few things about being a vegetarian.  

AND hand out a few old meatless monday posts!

black bean and corn quinoa

I have chosen to not eat meat for several reasons.  Before I gave it up completely, I was hardly eating it anyway, so it made for a pretty simple transition (minus the chicken burrito sharing the mister and I would do at one particular super large burrito serving restaurant in town... he's still a little bitter about that).  I always was very intrigued by vegetarians... even when I was younger, chunkier, unhealthier and couldn't dream of giving up steaks, burgers, Chik-Fil-A, etc.  Anyway, the quick version is this... I read Fast Food Nation and I quit eating meat.  

cauliflower pizza crust

I still eat eggs and dairy products, which makes me a lacto-ovo vegetarian.  I'm slightly lactose intolerant, so if I take in too much dairy, the belly starts a-rumblin' and I start to shut down a bit.

Speaking of shutting down, let's talk about this awkward family lunch.

I have not been eating meat for quite some time now... a few years.  For some reason, family forgets a lot.  A LOT.  It's honestly no big deal, though.  Most of my friends are not vegetarian so I'm used to searching for a way to take the meat out of the meal.  

spaghetti and beet balls

After the mother-in-law put bacon in the beans and the sister-in-law put cream of chicken in the hash brown casserole, I ended up with salad and a roll on my plate.  I really don't mind this.  It forces me to eat a little healthier and the salad was delicious.  Here are some quotes from our lunch...

"Can't you just pick out the chicken?"  out of the cream of chicken?  I still find a great amount of humor in this question.

"It's not like you have an allergy or anything."  true statement.  I'm also not allergic to roaches, but I think we can both agree that we probably won't eat a roach anytime soon.

"I want you to understand that your choice to eat meat is stupid."  well, that's just mean.  even if you're trying to be funny, which, in fact, you're not.  So maybe we don't tell people they are stupid for the decisions that they make.

"There is an overpopulation of white-tailed deer in our state and we need hunters to control that population."  Wow.  Where did this come from?  Okay great.  I don't remember telling you that you shouldn't hunt.  And if I did eat meat, I'd probably stay away from venison anyway.

black bean and mushroom chili

As an in-law, I feel like I should be nice.  non-combative.  easy to get along with.  So I kept my mouth shut and tried to smile my way through dinner.  A tough thing to do when you are feeling attacked.  A couple of other family members tried to defend me, but it just turned into a heated debate that I felt that I was the root of.  It was awkward and I don't deal well with confrontation and conflict, so I got up and hung out in the bathroom... in tears.  Fun times.

crustless quiche

So the meat lovers decided that I was upset about them eating meat.  No.  Like I said, most of my friends are carnivores.  I don't care.  It's a personal decision for me and I would never force anyone to go vegetarian.  It doesn't offend me that you want to eat meat or even hunt.  I just don't want to be the source of a heated argument.  And I certainly don't want people to walk on eggshells around me, so maybe I'm the crazy one??  could be!!  

garlic mushroom tortellini

I want to start sharing more personal stories on this blog, so this is the beginning!

I love veggies and I love you!

thanks for reading... and any future advice on how to handle in-laws is greatly appreciated!