Day 2 (May 15th)

Lesson  number one for today- people are really passionate about food. 

Lesson number two -- vegetarians are more passionate about food than just about everyone else.


I don't usually do breakfast, so I started my day off with some cheese pizza for lunch.  It really left me wanting more.  I don't blame the lack of meat, the pizza just sucked.  I ate more than I normally would have.  I don't know why, I just felt like I was missing something.  I had to cover my pizza with hot sauce and packets of Parmesan cheese.  After choking down the death disc they called pizza, I realized the path I had to take with my quest.  I can't just continue to eat the same foods I always eat sans meat.  I have to eat new foods.  I need to explore things I normally don't eat.  If I compare a cheese pizza with a pepperoni covered saucer of greasy goodness, the cheese pizza will loose every time.

Putting that little tidbit of knowledge in my back pocket, I started planning my dinner.

I picked up some tempeh at the grocery store.  I was going to attack a few options with small portions so I could have some bang for my buck.  The first taco was made using thin strips of tempeh that I pan fried in soybean oil and glazed with a home made BBQ sauce.  Soft taco on a flour tortilla, BBQ tempeh, rice, cheese, lettuce, pico and habanero hot sauce.  That was a tasty little number.  I got a good sear on the tempeh.  The nice glaze from the BBQ sauce worked very well.  The one thing I didn't like was the sweetness of the BBQ.  I don't really have a sweet tooth and if I had to complain.... that would be it.  I could eat plenty of these bad boys, but next time I will use a BBQ sauce with a little less sugar.

The second taco of the night was a taco seasoned tempeh.  I diced the tempeh to resemble ground beef and added our regular dry taco meat seasoning.  I assembled the taco the same way.  I didn't like the way this one turned out.  As with most soy products I used in the past, I think you really need a wet sauce or marinade to penetrate and give it some flavor. The dry spices don't help with the texture either.  I need the texture.

Just to finish off my night, I went with a potato and re-fried bean taco.  Ain't nothing wrong with that little fellow.  Then again, it is something I normally eat anyway.  Kind of like a 3 bite potato burrito. 

Midnight snack... carrots and celery.  I have always loved that little veggie combo.  Reminds me of when I was a kiddo.  My grandma use to have a paper milk carton in fridge full of carrots, celery and radishes topped off with water.  The veggies were crisp, cold and flat out awesome. 

I don't miss meat yet.  I don't feel any different, but then again, I ate so much BBQ on Sunday that I'm probably still living off the over the top meat finale I forced down before the veggie quest.

I have some new things to think about tomorrow, but that wraps up today.  Keep the ideas flowing my way. 

Cheers