I just may bite...

Our journey cooking from scratch took a turn a number of weeks ago when we decided to cut down our meat intake even further. We never have a lot of meat, around 100g per serve and always at least 2 nights a week with no meat but Simon and I decided to change that round and only eat meat 2 nights a week and eat vego style the other nights. 

Can I just say before I continue, that this is right for us. We enjoy eating like this and both have found it to have added health benefits we weren't expecting. We both have different reasons for cutting back the meat intake, Simon more for health reasons, me for more ethical reasons. I am not trying to "convert" you or guilt you or any other nonsense you can think of. This is our journey and we do what is right for us at that time.

When we first started cooking from scratch, way back in January (where has the year gone) when I received my beautiful bench mixer for Christmas people often asked us if we were on a diet, what we could and couldn't eat. They wouldn't offer me store bought biscuits for example cuz "oh you're on a diet aren't you?" Infuriating. (lets be honest though why would I want their crappy store bough biscuits when I could have my own home baked treats!) When you make a complete lifestyle change people have no problems commenting with their two cents (which often makes no sense) about what you should be doing. I often heard: "be careful you are eating the right foods", "HA! we eat three times as much meat as that mwahahah, you poor thing Simon.."

Apparently portion control, eating more vegies then meat, and mixing herbs and spices together, to create my own flavour combinations instead of opening a packet of seasoning which contains vegetable oils, sugar and additives to name but a few nasties, is something other people need to be

concerned about!

Times that concern (unwarranted) by 10 now.

Lets consider the following which are both true and real stories because they are about me.

2013 - Overweight, lacking energy, cooked dinner at home 3 -5 nights a week but our pantry was full of taco seasonings, packets of slow cooker flavourings, cup a soups etc etc etc, takeaways the other nights you get my drift... basically a terribly lifestyle.

Did ANYONE, EVER, question this lifestyle?? NO! Of course they didn't!!

January 2014 to September 2014- Started cooking from scratch. 8kg down. More energy. Sleeping slightly better. Skin is better. Wallet is better (cooking from scratch is cheaper than convenience foods). Pantry is full of seeds, nuts, flours, too many spices to count... nothing that is a one stop option! Everything has to be combined to create something delicious!

Did anyone ever question this lifestyle?? YES of course they did! At first they laughed and told me I wouldn't be able to stick to it. They got annoyed when I told them I couldn't go out for tea because I wanted to cook at home. They tried to tell me I was silly to do it when you can buy things to make it quicker. That THEY would never have time to do it because they work... for the record, I work. I

work full time. Three days I am in an office working for someone else. The other four days in the week and every weeknight I work for myself, trying to establish myself in the world of website design!! Yes when you work for yourself you do have time to step away and get some things ready for tea but anyone can be more prepared in the kitchen if they want to be.

October 2014 - Cut meat intake to 2 days maximum per week. This is more for Simon. I am not really interested in eating meat at all at the moment abut this allows us to eat meat when we are guests at someones home as our main concern with starting this was that we didn't want to inconvenience our families by telling them we are "Vegetarian" and sending them into a flap. So the two days a week is our buffer which we won't always use. Another 2 kg down. Started the gym, energy is increasing further. Sleeping soooo much better, waking is still difficult but I do go to bed late :-/ Skin is MUCH better. Wallet is even better. Pantry is full of things as above except I have lots of beans, chickpeas, chickpeas etc. Fridge is full of fresh delicious vegetables and a thousand eggs haha!

Did anyone question this lifestyle?? YES. CONSTANTLY. I AM STARTING TO BELIEVE THEY DO NOT HAVE THEIR OWN LIVES TO FOCUS ON. Yes I make sure we are getting enough protein. It might not look like it but I actually have a pretty good knowledge of food, I research meals to make sure we are getting a high nutritional value! Yes I understand that the extra weight loss and

other benefits are probably from the gym but combined with cutting out meat I feel I am doing even better. No, I don't feel like my life is over, have you not seen my meals? I would prefer delicious stuffed mushrooms over a hunk of steak! One I heard today: You might get hit buy a car tomorrow, you may as well enjoy it while you can! (Obviously implying that I will not enjoy my life without meat in it). What exactly can you eat is another question I get asked frequently... well obviously we can eat everything except meat or is a product that comes from the meat of an animal. The only time I have had difficulty with this was trying to make a vegetarian gravy, as obviously beef or chicken stock is out. But it turned out amazing with the help of every Australian's favourite yeast extract, Vegemite. Other than that our meals have been delicious and in the past week alone there have been two dishes that Simon has requested we put into high rotation for dinners.

Thanks to the power of the internet if I feel like a dish that we used to eat with meat in it I simply type vegetarian into the search bar before the name of the dish and up pops thousands of vegetarian variations which I then modify to suit us. Many of those dishes I then share with you.

I've calmed down a lot since I started writing this. Obviously I was just running hot from the comment mentioned before, how good is it to be able to get feelings out!

I am not here to preach to you about what foods to eat. If I inspire one of you to clear out your pantry of processed convenience foods then I will be insanely proud. The point I am trying to make is how sad it is, that the social norm is a high meat, highly processed, low fat, high sugar diet and anything else is weird and frightening and "no fun". Instead of questioning each others food choices why don't we find out why and how people have made come to that decisions to eat that way. What works for one may not work for another and it can take a long time to figure out the best way and foods for you to eat to maintain a healthy body and mind.

Do you ever get questioned on your "different from the norm" eating habits? I'd love to hear what foods go on the table at your house.

As always Happy Cooking! (from scratch!)

Erica xxx

Lentil Bolognese

I’ve been having certain negative and guilty feelings lately about food. This is NOT normal for me, I do not get guilty over food. Sometimes I might regret certain food decisions while I am laying on the floor struggling to breath from over consumption of something particularly delicious but I have always felt there is no room in my life for food guilt. I eat what I like and I enjoy it thoroughly, especially now that we eat real food! But in the last 6 months or so I have started getting a real complex about eating meat. I aways try to buy meat that is Organic, Free Range and Family Farmed if possible as I like to know that the hunk of meat I am about to tuck into had a good life, and was slaughtered in a way that was least stressful. But I can’t do it anymore. Even writing about it now makes me feel terrible. Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE meat. It is DELICIOUS but I just can’t stop thinking about the animals while I am eating it.

So we are taking a break. You will have heard me before saying that I don’t like labelling people in certain food types so I won’t label us as “Vegetarian” although for the time being that is how we are eating. Dairy and Eggs are ok (although I have certain views on that as well but one step at a time) but no meat or meat by products (which means no pan gravy!!!) I also don’t want to be a problem and make a big deal of it, I am not trying to “convert” or change anyone else’s food habits (although I do want you all to start cooking your food from scratch!!!) and we certainly don’t want people to find us difficult to feed etc.  (although if you are planning on inviting us over, I would prefer not to have a steak… oh god I love steak.)

So the recipes I will be sharing in the immediate future will be meat free. Most will be adapted from our favourite meat dishes so it’s just substituting one meat thing for something else so feel free to add your own meat in!!

Do NOT be afraid of lentils. I have never cooked with them before but they turned out great! We really did not miss the meat at all in this dish it was so hearty and rich and delicious! Do not knock it until you try it!!

Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients

Olive OIl
1 ½ Cup Lentils (Dried or Tinned)
½ Cup Dry White Wine
2 Cans Crushed Tomatoes
½ Cup Water
1 Brown Onion chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
Italian Herbs, Fresh or Dried, Basil, Thyme, Oregeno ½ cup of each fresh, 1 tablespoon each dried
Pinch or Two of Salt
Pasta to serve (we used to gnocchi, but any pasta would work!) make your own here.

Method

Brown your Onion and Garlic for a few minutes in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil.

Add the Cans of Tomatoes, Wine, Lentils, Herbs and one pinch of salt

Give all the ingredients a good stir in the pot making sure everything is mixed thoroughly.

Put the lid on the saucepan and let simmer at a medium low heat for 30-40 minutes stirring frequently (if using tinned lentils you can probably halve this time and you will not need to add the extra water)

If using dried lentils, you will need to add the ½ cup of water at some stage during the cooking process as they will suck up all the liquid from the tomatoes pretty quick smart. I would suggest you keep an eye on the sauce and just put a bit of the water in when required.

When the lentils soften, taste and add salt as required.

Cook your pasta and when that is done simply drain and serve with Lentil Bolognese over the top!

 

Sprinkle some parmesan cheese for extra bite!

Happy Cooking, (from scratch!)
Erica