My Meatless Month

🥑 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 🥕

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 19 - A bowld choice

Today was one of those surprising late summer days that started with brisk temperatures and a beautiful full moon and ended with a gorgeous sunshine and a warm atmosphere (in every sense of the term).

I opted for a light, cold lunch that would refresh me after four hours of class and energize me for an afternoon of container-shopping and database-editing. I tried to follow the buddha bowl principle and include ingredients from each food family so as to end up with something healthy and filling. 

Buddha bowl experiment:

1 boiled egg

1 handful fresh spinach

50 g couscous (cooked with turmeric powder)

1 tsp hummus

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small handful squash seeds

1 dozen blueberries

3 parsley leaves, chopped

Dressing (very approximate quantities, need to be adjusted): 

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 glob honey

I rarely eat blended salads like this one (out of sheer laziness, I admit it) but I’m going to do it more often because it didn’t take me that long to prepare it. It also never occurred to me to include fruit in a salad (except citrus fruit) but the sweetness was much appreciated, especially since I forgot to pack a dessert.

Speaking of sweetness, I've got a heart full of feels tonight 🥰

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 18 – I hope my terrible puns aren’t too gratin on your nerves

Things are still going incredibly well here in Sausage City. School started again and I was very pleasantly surprised today not to be feeling heavy and sleepy after lunch. My whole lunching experience was a happy one since I had yummy chili leftover that I ate in the excellent company of some of my favorite colleagues. If we are forced into lockdown again, I will be a massively unhappy camper. 

I need to store energy for a very promising and social weekend so I resorted to Rukmini Iyer’s book again. This lentil and leek recipe had been making eyes at me for a couple of weeks and it also happens to be one of Emily’s favorites (I hope I did it justice) (spoiler alert: I’m not too sure).

Leek and Puy Lentil Gratin (2 servings):

30 g butter

3 cloves garlic, crushed

500 g leeks, thinly sliced

2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

500 g cooked Puy lentils 

450 ml crème fraîche

125 g feta cheese, crumbled

50 g breadcrumbs

1 tbsp olive oil

➜ Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the butter and garlic into a roasting tin and pop into the oven to melt while you get on with slicing the leeks.

➜ Mix the sliced leeks with the melted butter, season well with salt and black pepper, then return to the oven to roast for 20 minutes.

➜ After 20 minutes, stir through the Puy lentils, crème fraîche and another good scatter of salt, then top with the feta cheese and the breadcrumbs. Drizzle with the olive oil, then return to the oven for a further 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top. 

➜ Serve hot with a salad. 

I forgot the breadcrumbs. *Sigh* 🙄

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 17 - Chilly sin carne

This is not so much a pun as it is a painful reality here in the mountains, where it is only 7°C in the early morning. Brr. 

I went out for drinks and burgers with friends last night and came home from work at around 11am today so my cooking time was drastically reduced. A few weeks ago, I would have panicked and (probably) eaten something quite unhealthy, but that challenge is teaching me that you can definitely cook something good and balanced in a short amount of time if you have a little bit of stock and organization. 

Because I wanted something quick and warm, I whipped up an improvised chili with what I had in my pantry, fridge and freezer. 

Chili sin carne (2 portions):

100 g rice

½ yellow onion

½ red bell pepper

1 clove garlic

400 g kidney beans (canned)

300 g crushed tomatoes (canned)

100 g corn (canned)

chili spice mix or chili powder, paprika and cumin

salt and pepper

olive oil

➜ Chop the onion and the pepper and crush the garlic. Brown in olive oil for a few minutes on medium heat. 

➜ Add the beans, the corn, the tomatoes and the spices, season to your taste and let simmer for 20-25 min. 

➜ Serve with rice. 

Comfort food at its finest! Not that I need to be comforted at the moment, I’m in a mighty fine mood (shout-out to friends who understand your weird-ass neuroses) but I was really cold for most of the day :(

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 15 - Spaghetti Faux-lognese

⚠️ This entry is full of feels that are completely unrelated to food. There’s a recipe at the end though, feel free to skip to it directly. 

It’s already been two weeks! And I’m carrying on, still as happy as a clam with my vegetarian diet. No issues, no lack of inspiration, everything’s going great! 

Today marked French teachers’ return to school and it was – honestly – a good day. It didn’t start all that good, though. I had terrible anxiety last night, which prevented me from falling asleep at an ideal time. I’m usually a very non-anxious person, I get scared and stressed but for very tangible reasons and I generally manage to calm myself down pretty quickly. I had a very intense summer in terms of socializing and sharing things with people, and I suddenly got terrified that in a group of more interesting, more intelligent and more fun people, they wouldn’t like me as much. And I know that it’s completely unreasonable and that even if it was the case, I couldn’t do anything about it, but it made me horribly nervous. 

And of course, I had a great day, everyone was incredibly nice to me, I felt both useful and listened to, which seems to confirm that I need to take a chill pill and learn to trust other people.

The one aspect of the day that I would change though was lunch at the school cafeteria. While it was objectively good, something didn’t agree with my stomach and I was horribly bloated and gassy all afternoon long. I probably won’t eat there much this year, especially if I adopt a vegetarian or flexitarian approach for good. 

I came home a bit late (for my standards) which meant that I had less than an hour to prepare dinner and get school stuff ready for tomorrow at the same time. I opted for spaghetti Bolognese – I could leave the sauce on its own and it would infuse and develop flavor while I was looking everywhere for various information documents that I only use once a year in early September and that are therefore buried in the untouched depths of my “Work” hard drive. 

And it went really well. 

Lentil Spaghetti Bolognese: 

½ yellow onion

2 small carrots

2 cloves garlic

2 stalks celery

1 small can of cooked lentils

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

salt, pepper, paprika, oregano

fresh parsley or basil

➜ Finely chop the onion, carrots and celery and cook in olive oil until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic and stir for a minute or two. 

➜ Add the lentils and let simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. 

➜ Add the tomatoes, season to your taste and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. 

➜ In the meantime, prepare the pasta. When it’s cooked and strained, serve in a plate, top with sauce and lovingly garnish with grated cheese and your favorite herbs. 

It was delicious and not too different (in terms of taste and pleasure) from beef Bolognese. I have leftovers for tomorrow (staff lounge ladies’ lunch, yayyyy) and I know I will enjoy them even more. 

(🔗 Original recipe)

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 13 - Summer is over, orzo it seems

I’m back with another recipe from Rukmini Iyer’s wonderful book, which I first tried at Emily’s during a fairly impromptu balcony dinner. It’s so easy and quick that I think it’s going to become a classic weeknight dinner. It’s also unbeatable in terms of dirty dishes! 

All-in-One Roasted Tomato & Bay Orzo with Black Pepper (2 portions):

200 g orzo

400 ml vegetable stock

400 g cherry tomatoes on the vine, halved

½ red onion, very finely chopped

2 bay leaves

freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil

a handful of fresh basil or parsley, chopped

➜ Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix the orzo with the vegetable stock in a deep roasting pan and lay the tomato vines over the top. (The tomato flavour will infuse into the stock.)

➜ Arrange the cherry tomatoes in an even layer over the orzo, then scatter with the red onion, bay leaves, plenty of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the sea salt. Transfer to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

➜ As soon as the orzo is cooked (the pasta should be just al dente), remove the vines and stir in the extra-virgin olive oil, the remaining 1 teaspoon of sea salt, and the herbs. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed, and add a little dash more of stock, if you like. (That last part was completely unnecessary for me.)

➜ Serve immediately.

I ate it with goat with goat cheese on a slice of bread, which went really well with the tomato and basil flavors.

Tumblr is being a humongous pain in the butt tonight, not saving entire sections of my draft and moving things around in my post, so I will call it a night. I've also taken up sport again so I'm knackered!

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 12 - No kiki, no gnocchi

Yesterday morning felt like having returned from a summer vacation: cold, gray and rainy, with an empty fridge and an overnight bag full of clothes to wash.

After a bit of grocery shopping, kitchen scrubbing (there was still a piece of watermelon flesh stuck to a chair) and laundry, I felt the need for a warm comforting meal.

I picked a Crispy Gnocchi recipe from Rukmini Iyer's book I posted about the other day. I didn't use gnocchi but Knepfle, which are basically their Alsatian cousins.

Crispy Gnocchi with Roasted Peppers, Chilli, Rosemary and Ricotta (2 portions):

500 g gnocchi

500 g mixed red and yellow baby peppers, roughly chopped

200 g cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbsp olive oil

2 bay leaves

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp chilli flakes

2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 tsp sea salt

black pepper

4 tbsp ricotta

freshly chopped parsley

➜ Preheat the oven to 200°C. Tip the gnocchi into a large bowl, then pour over a kettleful of boiling water over it and leave to stand for 2 minutes before draining well. 

➜ Tip the gnocchi into a roasting tin along with everything except the ricotta. Mix well – make sure you’ve used a tin big enough for everything to fit in one layer. Transfer to the oven and cook for 30 minutes, until the gnocchi is crisp and golden.

➜ Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed, dollop on the ricotta and scatter with the parsley before serving hot.

It was awesome and tasty with Knepfle and I’m sure it’ll be great with gnocchi as well. 

It also gave me lots of energy to prepare an entire lesson in one afternoon 💪🏻 and just for that, I’m very grateful. 

(🔗 Original recipe)

[peas-and-tranquility]

Days 9-11

... were not spent at home. The Haut-Doubs ladies gang met up in Audincourt for the housewarming party of one of us, then in Basel to visit an Edward Hopper exhibition. A very well-deserved overnight stay before school starts again on Tuesday. 

Meals were a bit chaotic and not what I would necessarily call balanced, but they were vegetarian and mostly homemade.

It all started with the collaborative creation of a watermelon keg (you read that right) which led to me having different watermelon smoothies three times in the same day. I then baked a few treats that would travel well and keep for a few days if necessary. 

Gougères au Comté (Cheese choux pastry puffs):

125 ml water

80 g salted butter

150 g flour

3 eggs

80 g grated Comté cheese

Preheat the oven at 200°C. 

In a saucepan, heat the water and butter together on medium to high heat. As soon as the water boils, turn off the stove and add all of the flour. Mix quickly and energetically with a spatula; keep the pan on the stove as the residual heat will help the dough to dry out a little bit. As soon as the dough pulls away from the pan, transfer to a bowl. 

Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time. Add the grated cheese and stir until it’s perfectly smooth. 

Line a baking tray with whatever you use to bake cleanly. Use either two spoons or a piping bag to create little mounds of dough on the tray. Bake for ~20 minutes until they’re nicely golden. 

I also made a small mirabelle plum pie that is probably the neatest and prettiest I’ve ever made. I’m going to share my easy-peasy shortcrust pastry recipe:

250 g flour

125 g softened butter

65 ml lukewarm water

½ tsp salt

(2 ½ tbsp sugar)

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the diced butter and the salt (+ sugar if it’s for a pie ; if you’re baking a quiche, just skip that part). 

Mix with your fingertips until the texture is... lumpily crumbly? You will know. 

Add the water and knead until the dough is firm and smooth. If it’s too sticky, add flour. Cover in plastic wrap and leave it to cool in the fridge.

My last contribution was thyme shortbread cookies filled with roquefort cream.

Sablés thym-roquefort (for 8 sandwich biscuits):

125 g flour

60 g butter

1 tbsp thyme

1 egg yolk

2 tsp baking powder

70 g Roquefort cheese

2 tbsp sour cream (idk, the equivalent of crème fraîche semi-épaisse 🤷)

salt, pepper

Sieve the flour and the baking powder. Soften the butter with a spatula and stir in the egg yolk, then the flour and the thyme. 

Knead the dough until it’s smooth, then shape it into a ball and put it in the fridge in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough to 0.5 mm (¼ in.) and cut out 2-3 cm (1 in.) circles with a cookie cutter (you will need an even number of biscuits). Transfer them onto a baking tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 200°C. 

Let them cool on a wire rack and prepare the cheese filling by mixing the Roquefort and the cream with a fork. It should be creamy but not runny. Once the biscuits are cold, use a piping bag (or be a peasant like me and use a small icing spatula) to spread the filling on the ugly side of each biscuit, before assembling them. 

I forgot to take a picture of my flower-shaped biscuits, but you can sort of see them in the clear plastic tub in the photo below. 

All in all, everything was absolutely wonderful, insanely fun and good for the soul. I can only wish for more of these get-togethers and trips with the gang 💙

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 8 - A small salad

It’s the start of another week that will probably bring its fair share of adventure (a housewarming party, an exhibition in Basel, an overnight stay in the city, a... watermelon keg? 🤷🏻) but I’ll come back to that later. We’re here to talk about food! 

When it was time to choose today’s recipe, I realized I had some leftover broccoli to use which is why I opened one of my cookbooks and opted for this roasted veggies salad. 

Pearl barley salad (2 portions):

1 medium-sized beet

½ yellow onion

200 g broccoli

100 g pearl barley

1 tsp tahini

1 tsp lemon juice

chopped parsley

olive oil

Peel the beet and the half onion and cut them into quarters. Put them on an oven-safe tray, sprinkle with olive oil and bake for 30 min.

[Story time, or how I ended up with only three quarters of beet: there was a hole in the fourth quarter and as I was trying to cut around it, a little white worm poked its head out. I yelled “Ah putain!”, as you do, dropped the beet quarter on the floor, picked it up again and threw it out the window into a tree. Are you supposed to inspect beets as you pick them in the store? Do these things only happen to me? Is it totally irrational to be so scared of a tiny little larva?] 

Cook the pearl barley in boiling water for ~30 min (or as long as indicated on the box); drain well and spread on a plate to cool. 

Mix the tahini with lukewarm water and lemon juice in a bowl. Mix the roasted vegetables and the pearl barley; add the parsley and coat with the tahini sauce. Stir well before serving. 

I couldn’t find my usual tahini (or any tahini at all) this morning so I ended up making a quick ricotta sauce with half a pot of ricotta, a glop of olive oil, the juice of a half lemon and salt and pepper.

Yeah... Definitely one of those cases where the before looks much better than the after! 😬 

(🔗 Original recipe)

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 7 - (Ba)guette ready for pizza

It's already been a week since I started my vegetarian challenge. Everything's going great so far and I love how I've gone off the beaten path when it comes to cooking. I've already tried a few things I had never done before and I'm very happy with how they turned out. I have tons of ideas and recipes that I can’t wait to try!

Tonight, however, I felt like being lazy and I had various leftovers in my fridge, so I resorted to a trustworthy old recipe. I therefore introduce the...

Pizza baguette 🇮🇹  🇫🇷

French bread 

Olive oil

Tomato sauce (lazy version: from a tube)

⅛ of a red bell pepper (lazy version: from the freezer)

Cheese (mozzarella, Swiss...)

Basil (lazy version: that a friend grew for you)

Oregano

Cut your baguette lengthwise, then slice it horizontally.

Spread a bit of olive oil on the inside of the bread, then do the same with the tomato sauce a bit more generously.

Add your toppings of choice; for me, it was peppers, mozzarella cheese, basil and oregano.

Bake for 5-8 min then grill for ~3 min until the cheese is bubbly and/or brown.

Serve with rocket salad and cherry tomatoes!

Week 2, here I come! 💪

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 6 - An eggsquisite frittata

Spoiler: I ended up not making a frittata but something that was more like a glorified omelet because of inadequate kitchenware. I really do love omelets though so... 🤷🏻 

Spinach, bell pepper and potato frittata (2 portions):

250 g new potatoes

4 eggs

80 ml milk

50 g baby spinach

¼ of a small red onion

120 g roasted bell pepper

50 g goat cream cheese

parsley

lemon zest

olive oil

Cook/steam the potatoes, then cut them in large pieces. Dice the peppers as well, and the red onions (keep them separate). 

Whisk the eggs and the milk in a bowl. Season to your taste.

Heat the oil in a pan or skillet and sweat the onions; add the spinach and cook until it’s wilted. Add the potatoes and peppers and stir for ~1 min. Add the egg and milk mix and cook for ~8 min on low heat. 

Once the eggs are set and the frittata is nicely golden on the bottom, add little crumbles of goat cheese, put in the oven and broil for ~3 min. (My pan isn’t oven-safe so I skipped that part.)

Garnish with parsley and lemon zest, and serve with salad and bread. 

I don’t know if it was the food but I was super sleepy this afternoon. I wasn’t expecting this since pretty much everyone I’ve talked to about vegetarianism told me that post-meal drowsiness was a thing of the past once they stopped eating meat, and I was indeed feeling pretty energized after every meal during the first five days. Google tells me that eggs can indeed make you feel lethargic because they contain a lot of melatonin. I may be on to something... 🤔

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 5 - Lazy Friday

I didn’t do much in terms of cooking today. Lunch was leftovers from yesterday (the pancakes had unfortunately turned a bit crumbly) and for dinner, I had a very simple cucumber salad, store-bought falafels (chick pea and fava bean, mint and cilantro) and wholewheat bread with goat cheese spread. Simple but good. All of that with a glass of chilled Pinot Gris. Slurp. 

Today, I also received a cookbook that my friend Emily 🍑 recommended to me a few months ago. I wasn’t expecting to find it for half its usual retail price, in its original English edition on a French secondhand clothing website but I went looking for it a bit fortuitously and I struck gold!

I have already identified the recipes I’d like to try first, and I’m going to start as early as next week. This is going to make my life much easier once the holidays are over and I have to juggle food prep and class prep in the same time slot every evening 😬

Smooth sailing all the way so far! ⛵

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 4 - Another success

Today’s recipe deserves 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was absolutely delicious, disarmingly easy and once again, left me full and happy. 

Ricotta & basil pancakes (2 portions):

150 g ricotta

1 egg

150 ml milk

90 g flour

2 tsp baking powder

~8 basil leaves

10 g grated Parmesan cheese

15-20 cherry tomatoes

rocket/arugula

olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper

In a bowl, beat the egg, add the ricotta and whisk in. Add the milk, the flour and the baking powder and stir again. Add the Parmesan cheese, finely chopped basil and salt and pepper. Whisk until the batter is smooth. 

Put the tomatoes in an oven-safe dish and cook on high until the skins split (~10-15 minutes – my mini toaster oven doesn’t indicate the temperature but the cookbook says 220°C).

In the meantime, lightly oil/butter your pan and cook the pancakes. The amount of batter should give you 6 medium-sized ones. 

Serve the pancakes with rocket salad and the cherry tomatoes. These were so good that I ended up eating tomorrow’s portion as well 🤭 The pancakes were light and fluffy and the tomatoes juicy and bursting with flavor. 

(🔗 Original recipe)

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 3 - In the big city

It's leftover day here in Veggie City so I can't share any recipe, but I do have some inspiring photos of Lebanese food.

I went to Lyon with friends yesterday – it was a girls' day out with no particular aim other than to have fun in the city. A mix of tourism, shopping and gossiping. I ended up buying only booze and earrings, which apparently is my life now, but I accept it.

We had lunch in Mon Liban, a lovely little Lebanese restaurant right in the heart of downtown Lyon. We started our meal with mezze – an assortment of Middle-Eastern starters not unlike Spanish tapas.

L-R: Fatayer (spinach turnover), Tabbouleh, Mutabbal (eggplant dip) and Hummus (chickpea dip).

My main course was Fattet Hummus: hummus and yogurt with whole chickpeas and fried pita bread. The green chili pepper was pickled, which was something I'd never seen before (I usually like pickles but this one tasted a bit too much like brine and not enough like pepper). This dish can be topped with pine nuts but mine was (of course) served with almonds and pistachios, which all ended up being dumped into my friend’s plate. 

It was all very hearty, to say the least! The girls had the same dish but with keftas (beef meatballs) and they had trouble finishing their plates. I didn’t take pictures of our desserts but there were baklavas (which I also couldn’t eat because pistachios) and atayefs: cream-filled, orange blossom-flavored pancakes. They honestly weren’t necessary because we were all full, but who can resist oriental pastries?

Cute pixel art whale wishes you a good evening and promises there will be new recipes starting tomorrow! 

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 2 - The return of the red dhal

First good surprise after day 1: I felt that my first two plant-based meals were more filling than meat. After those two spinach sandwiches, I didn't feel the need for dessert nor for a mid-afternoon snack. I have a gigantic sweet tooth so I ALWAYS feel like having a mid-afternoon snack (or two).

Same thing with dinner : I had red lentil dhal and I was sated while I usually have a cookie (or five) with my cup of herbal tea.

Of course, this might just be incorrect first impressions (or related to the fact that I still have issues with sweet smells and tastes and that chocolate still disgusts me) but I wouldn't be surprised if it was really the case.

On to the recipe, inspired by my friend Laura who makes a dhal so good that you eat it out of the pan. 

Red lentil dhal (2 portions) :

120 g red lentils

100 ml coconut milk

⅓ of a small onion

½ of a small tomato paste can

turmeric, cumin, curry, salt and pepper

½ of a garlic clove

olive oil

Cook the onions in the oil until they're soft and translucent, then add the spices and the garlic. Stir well, cook for ~1 minute then add the lentils and tomato paste.

Add the coconut milk and, if necessary, water so that the lentils are covered in liquid.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

It's best served with rice (but I wasn't that hungry), with a few spinach leaves added at the end (but I already had spinach for lunch) or with vegetables (I chose broccoli).

Perfect TV dinner!

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 1 - Cheesy, green goodness

Okay, I’ll admit that this first recipe wasn’t really challenging. It’s incredibly easy-peasy (cheesy-gooey), quick and filling. I saved it a few weeks ago when I was not yet thinking about giving up meat so I think it might be of interest to anyone and not just vegetarians. 

Mozzarella and Spinach Pesto Toastie (2 portions)

Spinach Pesto:

100g spinach 

50g nuts (which I am allergic to, so I replaced them with 50g of rolled oats... I'm pretty sure there are countries in which that is illegal but I'd rather not die of anaphylactic shock on Day 1)

80g mozzarella (or the whole 125g ball, YOLO)

that half baggie of Parmesan cheese that was forgotten about in the back of your fridge 🙄

a liberal glop of olive oil

salt, pepper

Mix the spinach with the cheese and the nuts/oats for 15 seconds, then add the oil, salt, and pepper to your taste and mix again for ~20 seconds.

Toasties:

8 slices of wholewheat bread

4 slices of cheese (Gouda, Swiss, Cheddar...)

butter

a few spinach leaves

Butter the bread on both sides, add a slice of cheese and a few spinach leaves, then spread the spinach pesto (~ 2 tablespoons per toastie) and top with the second (buttered) slice of bread.

Cook in a pan on medium heat until both sides are nice and crispy, or pop it in a toastie maker and let the machine do all the guesswork for you.

Slice diagonally, serve and enjoy!

(🔗 Original recipe)

[peas-and-tranquility]

Day 0 - How it all started

After spending three weeks at my parents and conforming to their very meat-based diet, I realized that I am actually fed up with meat and that I don't necessarily derive any pleasure from eating it. It depends on the meat and on how it’s prepared, but I could definitely do without. 

When I'm alone at my place, I eat meat two or three times a week (one cooked dish + its leftovers)... for lunch. Dinner is a whole different story since I grew up in a region where cold dried meat/sausage/pâté are dinner staples. I still find myself reaching for the ham and cheese out of convenience most days even though I know it's not the healthiest option.

I don't really know how the idea first entered my brain but I suddenly thought "what if I cut out ALL meat products from my diet for an entire month?" as a kind of... health experiment? Personal cooking challenge? Who knows.

I thought about it and realized there would be three main advantages of switching to a vegetarian diet:

Being healthier; many studies have shown that meat seems to be linked to cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart diseases.

Having a lower carbon footprint; animal-based food has a much higher footprint than plant-based one.

Animal welfare; it's impossible for me to know where the meat I consume comes from. It might be from intensive factory farming which is not something I wish to support.

Of course, there are also some obstacles:

I already regularly suffer from iron deficiency – that is something I will have to pay close attention to.

Many vegetarians get proteins, minerals and fibers from nuts. I am allergic to pretty much everything that isn't a peanut so I will need to do some research to find adequate replacements.

Every time I tried tofu, I found it absolutely disgusting. I am both intrigued by and wary of soy-based meat substitutes (tempeh, seitan... I guess one can easily do without them though.) 

Obviously, I cannot say for sure that I will become a vegetarian. This is what this month is for: figure out what I can and cannot do. Maybe I will adopt a plant-based diet, maybe I’ll go back to eating meat, or may even become a middle-ground flexitarian and eat meat only when I’m outside of my own home. 

Right now, a few hours before Day 1, I'm feeling pretty confident and very eager to start, to discover new creative ways of cooking, and to make a conscious, healthy choice for my body (yikes, that sounds so corny but it’s true!)

Wish me luck! 🍀