She's a Vegetarian

For Lent, I'm giving up meat. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea. Lent crept up on me and I hadn't given it much thought. I had been thinking however about the need for our family to be more conscious of the food that enters our body and the bigger reasons about why.

I have a growing guilty feeling of eating meat and the toll that it takes on this Earth that God created for us to live on and to protect. I feel worse if our meat's not local and instead factory farmed somewhere miles from here. I feel horrible for people who have to labor in risky conditions to provide me that meat. There are many other reason, but basically I want to reduce my family's consumption of meat.

The kids haven't noticed yet. I expected Bean to first realize it because he has recently been proclaiming his love of meat. I think it makes him feel ferocious. Anyway, I've been experimenting with some new recipes with mixed results. The most well received so far has been a curry egg salad with sunflower seeds. I used greek yogurt instead of mayo because I despise cooking with mayo. So mom, no need to worry about our protein intake. We had 1) eggs, 2) sunflower seeds, 3) Greek yogurt on 4) a whole grain tortilla. I felt even better about it cuz we had a three veggies too, choppd celery in the egg salad, wrapped in romaine lettuce leaves (then in the tortilla) and a size of raw carrot. All those were organic too, which addresses many of the reasons to go meatless too. It tasted great and was visually appetizing. I'll have to get a picture sometime.

This week we also tried these salmon bites. Tey nibbled about it, but the rest of us devoured them. Bo wasn't home for lunch so he didn't get to try. But, the day before he made this curry rice sans potatoes because no one in our house like those. Bean picked at this dish, but the rest of us really liked it. Bean generally doesn't like rice, nor Tey, but it is growing on Tey. In general Bean licks his plate clean, literally, if I let him.

This coming week, new recipes I'm planning on making homemade are black bean soup and also some sort of veggie pancakes. If anyone has favorite meatless recipes to share, I'd love to hear recommendations.

For lent, I'm also randomly reading some of Paul's letters in my quiet time. I've always admired Paul's writing. Really, he's a fantastic writer as was Luke. So I've been thinking: it's crazy how he can be so full of praise even when in jail. He's doing God's will and can see God's hand at work even in the greatest of hardships. I'm so very humbled because at times I feel like I deserve something from God because I am following his calling on my life. I feel like I'm making sacrifices, so should earn something in return, right? Those thoughts of entitlement quickly get swept away when I reflect on the challenges Paul faced in his ministry and his worshipful heart in all of it. Oh if I could have an attitude of gratitude instead of entitlement.