A few weekends ago, I escaped to the mountains with two of my friends and two babies. Since we were in a condo in the woods, we weren’t planning on eating out: that meant that we had to go shopping and plan our meals. While Cooper and I don’t eat meat, Elizabeth, Lauren, and Lauren’s son Ethan, certainly do. However, during the trip, we made two breakfasts, a lunch and two dinners without any meat at all.
How did we perform such an impressive feat? Well, it was pretty easy, actually. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was unintentional. We planned out the menu, and it just kind of turned out to be vegetarian. But after thinking about it, I realized that this could be beneficial to some people. When it comes to meat eaters cooking for or with vegetarians, they often get freaked out and feel like they couldn’t possibly cook without meat, or alternately, they feel like they have to buy a bunch of crazy meat-replacement foods. However, it’s really a lot easier than you may think.
In fact, since we weren’t specifically shopping for vegetarian meals, our bigger challenge was finding stuff that both a 10-month-old and a two and a half-year-old would eat. Plus, we didn’t want to bring a lot of equipment or spend a bunch of money on groceries, so the main objective was to keep it simple. And simple it was. There were already pots and pans at the condo, and all we had to bring with us was a mini food processor.
Friday night:
The drive up the mountain was a long one, and it was nearly the kids’ bedtimes by the time we even got there. So what does that mean? Simple, quick, easy frozen pizzas from Target. We got an Archer Farms goat cheese and tomato pizza, and a plain cheese.
Saturday morning:
We made sure to get a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread, so we had that. Lauren also made chocolate chip banana bread and I brought some chocolate muffins. I also brought yogurt and blueberries for Cooper. He’s recently developed a blueberry obsession.
Saturday afternoon:
Again, keeping it simple, we had grilled muenster cheese sandwiches. Lauren also made some homemade salsa, which we had with Archer Farm blue corn chips from Target. You guys, they’re ridiculously good and only cost like, $2.60.
Saturday evening:
Elizabeth and I made the Quinoa-stuffed Zucchini, which was a crowd-favorite, as always. Lauren also made some white bean veggie burgers, which she topped with the homemade salsa. They were filled with onions and peppers, so I stayed away, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them.
Sunday morning:
Basically a repeat of Saturday morning. Except that my not-quite-19 lb. baby finished the pint of blueberries he started eating the day before (in addition to an egg, a container of yogurt and a giant piece of oatmeal bread).
Five meals, all completely accidentally vegetarian. We didn’t make anything too involved or fancy. The most time we spent in the kitchen was Saturday night, and I would say that everything took under an hour. So see, carnivores? It can be done. You can coexist with vegetarians without it being a huge, hairy deal. So invite us over! There’s nothing to be afraid of (unless my child somehow mistakes you for a blueberry. Because then you will die).
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Sep 01, 2009 @ 10:03 EST5EDT
Dude, I eat vegetarian all the time because I am poor. Except when I make roast chicken. It’s, like, $5 for a whole chicken. You can’t beat that. I still think you should try those burgers sans onions, though I don’t know how flavorful they’ll be. But hey, that’s why God invented hot sauce I guess.