So this vegetarian married a meat eater...

I've had a few people ask me how I manage to eat veggie and feed a carnivore when we don't eat out much (OK. We don't eat out ever. See my last post about risking bodily harm to be served fajitas...) and have a kitchen the size of an airplane galley.

In a word: preparation. Eating vegetarian the "right way" takes some thought in a meat-centric society. I see a lot of people eschew meat and end up eating more crap than they started with because a cheese pizza is a heck-a lot faster than brown rice casserole. Fail. Get your macros in check. And if you DO eat meat... for the love of the MONKEY, quit buying the cheap stuff. (I think I'm bleeding into another posting topic here... we'll come back to that.)

ANY-HOO.

I spend about an hour to two hours each weekend making lists, shopping, and doing food prep so I don't end up spending too much or eating crap because I didn't plan.

Here's this week's list for dinners:

• Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers w/ Goat Cheese + Salad
  
• Lentil Dahl/Tandoori Chicken + Brown Rice
• Baked Wild Caught Rockfish "Fish Sticks" + Green Beans
• Grass Fed Beef/Black Bean Burgers + Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• Chicken Casserole/Stuffed Squash
• Frutti di Mare + Salad
• Bean Soup

Most nights, there are two options, but since I eat some sea food, there are a few meals we can agree on. Or I just sneak in meatless meals when he's not looking... (see: stuffed peppers and bean soup)

I hit up the Sunnyvale Farmer's Market on Saturday as they better prices on organic produce than most stores. $1.00/lb organic apples, $4.00/qt organic strawberries and $1.50/lb pesticide-free peaches are no joke. (Plus, there's a guy that plays the guitar the whole time, so there's that.) I get all my produce there (minus our smoothie bananas) and usually come out around $25.00.

My list for this week:

• Apples x 6 sm.
• Peaches x 6 lg.
  
• Strawberries x 2
• Bell Peppers x3
• Onions (Red and Yellow)
• Green Beans x 2 lbs
• Potatoes (Sweet and White)
• Carrots x 1
• Kale x 2
• Green Beans
• Broccoli x 2
• Tomatoes x 2
• Cucumber x 1

Then I'll hit up Sprouts for dry goods and dairy since I'm in the shopping mood and it's a mere 2 min drive away from the Farmer's Market. (Have I mentioned I love living here?) Made the monthly Costco run this week (chicken breast, milk, Wholly Guacamole, dried figs ... the essentials) and I'm making my own Almond Milk, so this one's short:

• Chickpeas (bulk + canned)
• Red Beans (bulk + canned)
• Tumeric
• Whole Wheat Spaghetti
• Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
• Butter
• Vanilla Ice Cream*
• Dark Chocolate chips
  
• Organic Turbinado Sugar
• Ginger
• White Wine*

(Disclaimer: the ice cream is for B and the white wine is totally in the recipe for the Frutti di Mare.)

I buy my beans in bulk and soak/cook/use them in recipes, but I keep a can of each on hand for "oh my god. i forgot to make dinner and B is demanding flesh..." nights. It's about $0.20 cheaper per pound and much more earth-friendly to buy in bulk!!

I'm a mad multi-tasker and am currently not gainfully employed, so cooking two meals at once isn't such a huge pain, but if you don't have 4 hands/hate cooking/have a life - the slow cooker is your BEST.FRIEND. When I was working full time... B ate a lot of stew, pulled pork and lettuce wraps.



So that's it, in a nutshell! Comment with questions or send me an email! Also...

WHEAT MONKEY!! Thanks, Lara!!!

This little piece of delightfulness showed up in the mail this week. Hooray!