40 Days Without Meat: Update 1

Hello there, sweet readers. How was your weekend? It's been almost two weeks since I announced that I was doing this Meatless-days challenge. I'll just jump in and say: It's going quite well! I'm also going to be honest with you guys: it's been 13 days since I started, but I must admit: I have eaten meat on three of them *NOOOO*!

Let's start with the beginning! I have had so much fun looking for vegetarian recipes and discovering alternatives for meat. I've been eating way more vegetables and fruit. For lunch, I've been having little salads (Like the one above, with couscous, chick peas, roquette, tomato and a lemon/basil dressing), soups or sandwiches. As a snack, I've been loving smoothies or fruit. 

I also had a piece of carrot cake last week: that counts as a vegetable, right?

Yes, there have been three days that included meat/fish. Last weekend, I went to a chinese restaurant with my mom for lunch and had a big soup with shrimp dumplings in it. It was very hard to find something without meat or fish in it so I decided to take something with fish. Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were starving and for lunch, we had fusilli pasta with bolognese sauce. It was weird to eat meat, I hadn't really missed it. Lastly, February 13, we had our valentine's day dinner in a wok restaurant. It was planned for weeks so I decided to give myself permission to eat meat that evening. 

My top 5 favorite vegetarian meals:
1) Paprika filled with courgette, mushroom, rice and feta (above).
2) Lasagna with grilled vegetables.
3) Veggie burgers with quinoa and vegetable mix (made by the boyfriend).
4) Veggie 'meat'balls (my new obsession!!) with spaghetti and vegetables.
5) Filled Paprika with a mix of ricotta, parmegiano, pesto and pine nuts.

Starting today, I'm going further with the meatless days. I had a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled mozarella cheese and pesto sandwich. Tonight, I'm eating veggie 'meat'balls with carrots and baked patatoes.

Overall, I'm really enjoying these days. I feel less full after my meals but it doesn't bother me. It's really interesting to test out new products. I've been obsessed with trying meat alternatives. But it's been really delicious and I'm motivated to continue.

xx,
Astrid