Meatless March



Source: Strictly-Vegan.com

 Last week my husband declared out of the blue that March will be MEATLESS!
Huh?.....
Meatless March?
Now, I'm all for healthy eating. I know all the benefits of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. So why the hesitation?

Well, it's all well and good to make the declaration...good step one...step two, however, is cooking the food. That's MY job. How can I say this so that you can understand...I HATE truly HATE cooking. Even with all the cookbooks, blogs and recipe online communities out there, I STILL hate cooking. I am stumped almost every night of the week as to what to cook.

You see, I live in a family of food snobs. From the seven year old up to the forty-two year old. They like a dish last week, hate it this week. I say "We're having chicken." Then my husband proceeds to ask me the following:
“How are you cooking the chicken?”
“What sides are we having?”
“What ingredients are you using?”
“How long will it take to cook?”
“Did you buy the chicken from the grocery store or did you kill, pluck and clean it yourself?” He actually knows how to do that.

The seventeen year old would open the pot, look at it, turn up her nose and then eat a piece of dry toast for dinner instead of trying my food. The seven year old states every night that he doesn't eat chicken, beef, pork, brown rice, peas, mushrooms, carrots, cheese, soup, toast, oatmeal, tomatoes and everything else on the face of the Earth.

Now let me state for the record right here, I CAN cook! I am a darn good cook, if I do say so myself.

So it was hard enough finding something to cook before, now I have to find vegetarian food that not only tastes good, but that my whole family can at least attempt. Oh boy.

Last year, we declared another meatless month, and I went on a vegetarian website for some delicious recipes. I tried five recipes in a row from that site and ALL tasted like cardboard, ALL! My kids ate a lot of cereal that month.

So we are at it again. I did see a glimmer of hope last night. I cooked Vegetable Lo Mein and everyone liked it. The seven year old complimented the dish (which included several items from his "do not eat" list), the seventeen year old actually ate it and my husband only asked one question about the dish. It was good, and I will make this again....but not too soon.
It's day two and again I don't know what we'll have for dinner tonight, but I'm hoping it will be as successful as last night.