Stack that cheese

I suppose that eating vegetarian could be more healthful. You know, in theory. I could just be replacing my meat hunks with, I don't know, a bell pepper. Bell pepper! But I'm not. I'm replacing it with cheese, and fried things, and bread crumbs. Maybe even cheese coated in bread crumbs and fried...I do have a log of goat cheese at home waiting to be devoured.

Anyway. Monday night was Hannah's birthday, and her favorite meal is chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, so that's what I made, and in that case I did replace the chicken nuggets with a spinach salad for my own meal. Tuesday was Mexican -- the boys had beef tacos, and I had bean tostadas topped with avocadoes (and cheese). But let's face it, when you're not eating meat, just grilling the tortillas instead of frying them isn't an option. Now that I think about it yesterday was all-Mexican day -- I brought green chile and cheese tamales and a spinach salad for lunch, too. You know they're eating spinach salad all the time up in Guadalajara. And tonight is lasagna, which means more cheese, and probably another spinach salad. Between all the cheese and spinach, my bones are probably drunk on calcium. That's not the worst thing in the world...but don't get used to it, bones.

What is surprising me is how much more I have to think about what I eat, especially for lunch. Under normal meaty circumstances, I can just go grab a burger or a ham sandwich or a chicken shawarma and call it lunch, and more often than not that lunch includes something like zero vegetables. Maybe a slice of underripe tomato. So running errands, going to the gym, whatever over lunch isn't a big deal because I know I can grab something to eat wherever I am. But even the salads at most quick service restaurants have meat in them, and without the meat they are not particularly appealing. The obligatory basket of apples (usually MacIntosh, so they're guaranteed to be mealy and gross) or bananas (that look like they joined a fight club before hopping into the basket) aren't either. This way, I have to look a bit harder to find something that satisfies. This isn't a complaint, though; having to think about what I'm eating is most definitely a good thing, but it does require a certain presence of mind that I usually lack when I'm bouncing around doing stuff, or idly shopping. What I eat is fairly important, or it should be, so I should pay a modicum of attention.

At this halfway point, I will also admit that yes -- only three and a half days into it, I truly do miss meat -- particularly by the time I get home and have to cook it for everyone else's dinner. I might miss it less if I didn't smell it cooking. But it's not absolutely killing me or anything. In fact, I might want to revisit this challenge later in the year, when my garden is in full production. Maybe even go vegan for that one.