What I Ate [with the OTHER Boy]
Remember when I showed you a His & Hers WIAW, and you got to see how the man-friend eats [the complete opposite of what I eat]?
Well there is another man in my life.
My brother and I have always been close. He’s only 2 1/2 years older.
That’s us, on the day that he married his lovely wife, Aricka, a couple of years ago π
Anyways, he might be just as stubborn about eating meat as the man-friend. But after a long discussion during our 8 hour car ride back from Columbus…
He accepted the challenge to go 1 week without meat.
His lovely wife is on board with this, which makes it about 10 times easier for him π
He even said “Maybe I could do a guest post on your blog about it”
Um. YES! So stay tuned my friends.
After he told me he was going to try being a vegetarian, I immediately invited him and his wife over for dinner. (I’m a nice sister, right?)
I wanted to make a vegetarian meal that would show him how delicious vegetarian food can be! (Although Aricka makes him delicious vegetarian meals sometimes, so it’s not like he’d never had one before!) And I’ll warn you right from the start that this was not a low calorie dinner. But I’ve gotta ease these men into it…
I decided on Angela’s Barley Risotto (which I’d actually made before here) and a cheesy potato bake, that was the product of an afternoon of brainstorming. I’ll share the recipe soon! I also made an apple walnut salad, because I had to have some greens in this meal.
But since it wouldn’t be a true WIAW without the other accompanying meals of the day, here’s what else I’ve been noshing on.
Breakfast:
The weather has still been warm here, so I haven’t given up my smoothie in the morning
1 frozen banana, 2 handfuls of ice, splash of soymilk, 2 packets of stevia, topped with homemade granola, and a side of dark chocolate dreams peanut butter. YUM.
Lunch:
I was lazy, and didn’t pack a lunch at work, so this is what I pulled together from the salad bar. Veggies, hummus, pita, and a little bit of rice. This was eaten with an unpictured red pepper soup.
Dinner:
The spread that I whipped up for my brother, his wife, and the man-friend.
*Blogger fail, I didn’t actually take any pictures at dinner, but I had leftovers the next night, so I took a photo of that!*
Dessert:
Unpictured cake batter ice cream that my sister-in-law made. Holy monkeys, was it good. For a “healthified” cake batter ice cream recipe… click here!
Vegetarian Chili…its still manly even without the meat π
My brother eats junk 24/7, so he would never even touch anything I made him! That’s cool that your brother is on board π
A vegetarian breakfast fry up could be recommended. I’m more about the grease than the sausage so I always love when I make veggie sausage and eggs and toast and stuff!!!
You’re making me hungry, Liz! Everything looks really good!
Sometimes it’s best to forget to take pictures. That way you can focus on the meal and company at hand!
I think people transitioning to vegetarianism often struggle with not having a glaring protien element to the meal (i.e. the equivalent of a piece of meat), and so teaching him how to appreciate vegetarian protiens like seitan, tempeh, tofu would be helpful in making it a longer term habit
Super cute picture of you and your bro. I was a total veggie for 7 years no eggs, fish, nothing. Now I do a little chicken, turkey, fish and egg whites out of convenience plus I wasn’t very good at getting my protein in. Now days, there are so many products on the market. Good luck to him, it is a great way to go. I have been considering it again, I don’t enjoy meat so why not?
Definitely get your hands on Yoga Booty Ballet…so fun. π Jess
Any type of bean burger is always great and making vegetarian tacos or wraps are fun too. even making vegetarian style pizzas are great. using socca (garbanzo beans flatbread) as the base π
that is great that he was up the challenge!!
Yummy!
Good luck to your brother (and his wife) on their veggie experiment! π
Looks like you whipped up a fabulous meat-free meal, cheesy potatoes are always a yum in my book, can’t wait to see the recipe!! I think that easy cheese enchiladas or ricotta calzones are also a good crowd pleaser for non-vegetarians, at least in my experience π
http://cookinfanatic.com/2011/03/cheese-enchiladas/
http://cookinfanatic.com/2010/12/ricotta-marinara-calzones/
Ohhh thanks for sharing these!!! π I’m definitely going to check them out!
Oh how cool! My man would never agree to give up meat for a week. He will eat vegetarian meals, only because when I cook one it is the only option for dinner…lol!
I would suggest a hearty bean and veggie chili, a bean/veggie enchilada. The enchilada dish can be made like a casserole as well with layers. Oh and you can always go with the pasta/veggie dishes π