Day 21 Or... It Isn't Always Easy

Most people will tell you that being a vegetarian isn't easy. Depending on what day it is, I definitely might tell you that isn't easy.

Even though this is, by my own estimation a temporary lifestyle change for me, it obviously does bring its own sets of challenges. In fact, today I came across a recent Dear Abby letter that dealt with vegetarianism.

A vegetarian of five years sent in a letter asking for advice about how to deal with people that are still making fun about a lack of meat eating. You know, the people who gaze at a vegetarian's salad and oh-so-cleverly say, "Carrots have feelings, too."

Abby's response was, "Sorry, there is no one-size-fits-all snappy one-liner. But take comfort in the fact that a growing number of people are choosing to avoid meat and poultry not only for the ethical reasons, but also because they prefer to avoid the hormones and antibiotics used in the production of these food products."

While I can't say I am that familar with the Dear Abby letters, (I found the story by doing a Google News search for "vegetarian") I do agree with her response.

While my friends, family, students and co-workers have been overwhelmingly supportive of this little project, my meatless diet is occasionally accompanied by a joke, a bewildered look, or a enthusiastic response about how tasty animal flesh is. And I'm okay with that.

On one hand, this project wouldn't have been worth starting if being a vegetarian was something that I completely understood. Also, I can tell you, just with my 21 days of experience, that being a vegetarian, even temporarily, isn't going to automatically give you the gold medal in any popularity contest.

And on the other hand, a quick reminder of the many benefits of vegetarianism should be enough to help a non-meat-eater deal with a little ridicule: A vegetarian diet can spare animals, save you money, reduce famine, reduce pollution, and help your health... just to name a few.

Then again, perhaps the intermittent teasing is easier for me to face because I have an end date for the Go Veg Project that is quickly approaching...

- What did I eat on Day 21?

Breakfast. Today was my first day back on the air at WCCR 94.5, our campus radio station. I barely made it there in time for my shift... without eating breakfast.

Lunch. The last of the leftover salad from the newspaper staff's get-together.

Dinner. By dinner, I felt like I was starving. Obviously, I wasn't actually starving, but I was hungry. Very hungry. I wanted to make a new recipe, but make something that I felt would be really filling and quick to prepare. So, I made up my own recipe, new recipe #9: Deluxe vegetarian fajitas. How did they taste? Pretty good, especially for my own original creation.

Here's how you can make them:

Ingredients:

• Flour tortillas
  
• 2 tbsp. oil, divided
• Four veggie patties totaling roughly 9.5 ounces strips.
• 1 lb. bag of sugar snap peas frozen stir fry. (If they have it at the Walmart in Williamsburg, Kentucky... you can find it anywhere.)
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1 package of stir fry seasoning mix (McCormick for example)

Directions:

• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the cut strips of veggie burger and cook until they reach an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees (about 5 minutes).
• Remove the veggie burger strips from the skillet and add the other tablespoon of oil. Then add the sugar snap pea stir fry mix. This will include peppers, broccoli, squash, water chestnuts, carrots, and obviously sugar snap peas. Cook for approximately 5 minutes then add the veggie burger strips back into the skillet.
• Stir in the water and the seasoning mix. Stir for 3-4 minutes or until heated through.
• Spoon the mixture onto warm tortillas and enjoy!

For now, 21 days down. 19 to go.