Cravings: a guest post

Saturday

Breakfast: Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Toast (Natalee) Egg Sandwich (Nate)
Lunch: Elbow noodles with garlic sautéed summer squash and spinach and a smidge of red sauce
Dinner: 3 Bean Chili

Sunday

Breakfast: Pancakes with strawberries
Lunch: Leftover chili
Dinner: Veggie & Bean Braid (sorry, it's an old Pampered Chef recipe I couldn't find again - I'll type it up and post it later)

PS: By now you may have noticed that I, Natalee, am not the primary cook in our household, despite being the primary meal-planner. However, I am proud to say that with the exception of Sunday's pancakes and the no-cook/leftover meals I cooked the primary meals this weekend start to finish all by myself.

A Guest Post by My Husband, Nate

Saturday I went to work in the morning, and stopped at Wawa for some coffee and breakfast. I work from 8am until 12am one Saturday a month, so this was my day for the month. It was nice to get it out of the way early. I returned home to a nice welcome from Liam and Natalee. Natalee also made us some lunch, since we were a little short on leftovers. She cooked up some elbow noodles and in a separate pan sautéed some spinach and summer squash with some olive oil and garlic, and put it all together with a little red pasta sauce and grated parmesan cheese. It was well balanced, and the spinach was tender without being overcooked. Also, for lunch on Sunday I added some alfredo sauce to this same dish and I felt the rose sauce gave it a whole new dimension that the red sauce could not provide on it’s own.

This whole vegetarianism thing was Natalee’s idea, and though I agreed to come along for the ride, I am beginning to have my doubts. I spent most of the afternoon still with a little bit of a twang in my stomach, and as dinnertime neared, I only had one thought: chicken fingers. I don’t know why I was craving chicken fingers – out of the whole realm of meat dishes. I just was, and that’s all I could explain. Except all of our meat was stashed in the back of the bottom of the freezer, and we are doing this whole not eating meat thing.

Natalee made a great bean chili for dinner – except there was one problem. I was craving chicken fingers. I took a few bites, and apologized to Natalee for not eating it. It was tasty, and the flavor was well balanced, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I went back in to the kitchen to try to find something to eat that would satisfy me. I ended up with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, peach jelly to be exact. It wasn’t close to what I wanted, so Natalee and I started talking about what I had eaten so far today, when it struck me. I had gone to Wawa for breakfast, and without thinking had chosen a breakfast sandwich that was bacon egg and cheese on a bagel. I had eaten meat with my breakfast, and it hadn’t even registered. I am just so used to it that I hadn’t even paused to remember our discipline.

On Sunday I woke up, and as I do many a weekend morning, made breakfast for the family. I like to make French toast, but this morning I felt like just making a simple pancake. Nothing fancy, but if you know me and my cooking nothing is ever left as simple. I saw some strawberries in the fridge and gave them a quick chop-chop and BOOM - instant pancake topping. Of course, as karma would have it, there on the back of the box of Bisquick was a recipe for chicken fingers. It’s as if life was laughing at me. I can’t even watch the Food Network without having to avert my eyes and plug my ears at certain commercials for fear of having my mouth water in a Pavlovian response.

If ignorance is no excuse, then the facts are that I cheated. I admit it – I had bacon for breakfast on Saturday. Though I will argue that I didn’t intend to cheat, and when I was sorely tempted I kept myself from digging through the freezer for the frozen chicken wings I know are in there. I am still craving meat. I am mostly thinking about steak today, but am contentedly having leftover bean braid for lunch today. I hope that I can make it through; it’s not going to be easy. We’re being fairly liberal with our description of vegetarian, and just not eating meat. We are still using a few meat-derived products and ingredients like fish sauce, and eggs and dairy are still on the menu. There are some people who avoid these products, and I have much more respect for those who choose to do this. As for me, I still have my same point of view about meat. I will happily return to my meat-eating ways once Lent is over, but until then will need to be a little more careful about what I idly grab for next time I am in a Wawa.