Monday Munch | Vegetarian Food Diary | Part 1

On the 13th of October 2012 I decided I wasn’t going to eat meat any more. I won’t go into the reasons why as I don’t want to preach. I think its suffice to say I’m a vegetarian out of compassion for animals.
It’s been a real learning curve for me as I ate meat twice a day pretty much everyday for over 20 years. I often get asked what it is that I eat now so I thought it might be interesting to do a little fortnightly post on my blog on a Monday showing what I’ve eaten that day.
With the current horse meat fiasco there are more people thinking about vegetarianism, but vegetarian or not, I hope you still find this post interesting. I personally enjoy ‘What I Ate Today’ type posts because I’m just a nosy bugger!
So here’s a peek at what I ate today. 

Breakfast
I like to have a smoothie for breakfast because they’re quick and easy to make, and I can grab it and take it on the go with me if I’ve running late for work. There’s also an almost endless number of smoothies you can create so they never really get boring.
In this one I have the new Trop 50 50% less sugar and calories orange juice from Tropicana, some pineapple, a banana, half an avocado and coconut water ice cubes.
The coconut water ice cubes were made using this coconut water from Chi*. Coconut water is a delicious alternative to plain water if you struggle to drink as much water you’re supposed to everyday. I got mine from an excellent new web store called Natures Healthbox. As well as food and drinks items they also stock a large range of beauty products, natural pharmaceutical products, eco friendly cleaning products and loads more.  
Lunch 


For lunch I had some of Amy’s Kitchen Spicy Chilli*. I don’t usually eat fake meat, which in this case was soya mince, because it just don’t like the texture. I think if I had been a vegetarian for a long time it wouldn’t bother me, but the taste of real meat is still too fresh for me to except meat substitutes!
Despite that, this chilli is delicious. Thankfully the bulk of it is made up of lovely kidney beans, which are so good for you, with only a small amount of soya mince to add an extra texture, which suits me perfectly. This looks, and tastes, like a homemade chilli. it’s so flavoursome for something which has come from a tin!
Amy’s Kitchen products are available from Nature’s Healthbox, and it is fast becoming my favorite veggie brand. I’ve tried Quorn and Linda McCartney but Amy’s Kitchen is winning hands down for me right now.
Obviously you could eat this chilli with rice or tacos as a main meal, but as this was my lunch I just ate half the tin scooped up with some Roots and Wings Multiseed Bristles*, also available from Natures Healthbox.

Dinner

For dinner I made this pasta bake. I got the recipe from the Be Food Smart app. It’s part of the Government’s Change4Life healthy living scheme and I highly recommend you download this app if you’re looking for super easy, healthy recipes. It has an option you can select so that it will only show you vegetarian meals which is great for any vegetarians.
Snacks

This isn’t exactly a snack, but I thought it might be interesting to share one of the tricks I use to get me drinking more water. I like to chop up some fruit, freeze it and then add some to the glasses of water I drink throughout the day. This infuses the water with a light, fresh flavor making it a bit nicer to drink than just plain water, and because the fruit has been frozen beforehand it acts as ice cubes too. As you can see, today I went for classic cucumber and lemon. 

This chocolate cake came from a local farm shop. It was given to us by Mr Juicy’s Mum. She brings us a cake every time she comes for a visit! 

So that’s what I ate today. I hope you found this post interesting! If anyone has any tips on how to eat a healthy vegetarian diet then please share them in the comments below. I’d to know your thoughts!
Lisa