Give me a convenient Indian grocer, and a good crockpot cookbook. & I am pretty much ready to go vegetarian. Which sounds totally absurd to me on some level.
Seriously. I am keeping a food log because I kind of want to see where we are. Dh and I have been talking about cutting back meat a bit more. (For us - not for the kids). I don't think I could have fathomed this ages 0-30. My caloric needs were way too high while growing and bearing children. But age slows things down considerably. These days it's more like a shrug and a *why not?* What's even more interesting is dh is so on the same page as me. Probably anything to get me to eat better. But his metabolism is slowing too.
I believe in moderation, so I highly doubt we will ever go 100% vegan or vegetarian. But we are just trying to be more conscious and move more in that direction.
I think we have just been naturally heading in this direction as we have been mindful of our grocery budget since having children. Eating at home mostly. Improving on that over the years. VEry slowly picking up more and more cooking skills and tools. When we eat these beans and lentils, to replace only a handful of meals, our grocery bill is going down down down. !! It will be interesting to see how this plays out for the long run. Could be a substantial grocery spending cut while feeling like we are eating even better.
Anyway, what yummy goodness has me pondering vegetarianism?
That was 14 hours on high, slowcooker. So we cooked it overnight and had it for lunch.
Hubby and I made the same move in January. Not 100% over the top vegetarian or vegan, but moving much more that way. It's been a lot easier than we thought, and has opened us up to new cuisines and spices. I'm looking forward to trying some of your recipes. Keep em coming!
I keep looking them up online to find the nutrition info. As long as I can find them published online, I will definitely share!
I think you are making a good decision.
Looks yummy! I could easily go vegetarian, or vegan.
Hey and the price of chickpeas has come down in recent years. I used to consider them luxury beans. I consider them Type 2 diabetes friendly as well because they raise glucose levels more slowly than most beans.
Had to chuckle at the caloric intake bit -- as you know I'm about 95% on a vegan diet, and I managed (with no effort) to gain over 40 lbs. when I was pregnant, much to my chagrin! And it took me over 2 years to take it all off again.
But that said, I think it's always good to minimize meat consumption. Even when I made no other attempt to be healthy other than being vegan (which I didn't become for health reasons anyway), my blood pressure and good/bad cholesterol have always been incredible, eerily perfect. And, I've never gotten HUGEly overweight even when I've been at my worst, overeating-wise. So I do think there's a bit of self-regulation of weight that happens. I mean, I load up on carbs and gluten and the things people attribute to weight gain, while not exercising and (at one point in my life) drinking tons, and never gained a horrible amount of weight.
I love chickpeas, though I don't care for spicy dishes.
@ceejay - I personally struggle with being underweight and having too low blood pressure. I may just fare better with more meat and fat in my own diet. This maybe clarifies a bit why I could not fathom this as a useful diet change when I Was any younger. I guess we will see. I have not noticed any health/weight changes as we have very slowly moved in this direction over the years, so maybe all the more reason to keep it slow and steady.
I do think age tends to catch up with people like me, so there are definitely some health benefits to change. Doctors have been telling me my whole life to eat more steak and ice cream and liquid calories. It's only as I approach 40 that I find all of that probably no longer necessary.