New Year, New Diet?

So I committed to it. I'm going meatless for the month of January along with my boyfriend. After spending the first 2 days of January with my boyfriend on his meatless diet, I decided that I could do it too. For me, it's a challenge. I've always enjoyed vegetarian food. I have a few friends who are vegetarians and they've made me some amazing dishes. So this is really going to challenge me in 2 ways. 1.) Can I actually go without my favorite burgers and chicken for a whole month? And 2.) Can I actually learn to cook yummy, interesting meals without meat? I'm not the best cook. I try, when the spirit moves me, and sometimes they turn out ok the first time, sometimes they don't. But I'm always willing to try, so I'm challenging myself!

So far, so good. Yes, I know I'm only on day 5, so I won't get ahead of myself, but I don't feel like I'm missing meat yet. Last night, my family ate a rotisserie chicken and the fixings and I had cheesy rice & beans and a Boca spicy chik'n meatless patty. The rotisserie chicken smelled amazing, but I was ok with not eating it because I really enjoyed my own meal. I think that has to be the key. You have to enjoy what you're eating or it won't work. I guess that's really true with any diet. It has to be tasty for you to stick with it.

So I planned to tell you all about my journey from the beginning, but I'm a little behind. So I'll give you a quick recap. Over the first weekend of the year, we ate out each meal. I definitely don't plan on doing that all month, but here's what we had.

On New Years Day, Dan and I went to Perkins and had breakfast for lunch. I had a cheese omelet, breakfast potatoes and rye toast with a cup of hot tea. Dan had scrambled eggs, pancakes and potatoes. For dinner, we tried a new pizza shop in town and got a pie with onions and black olives on it. We also had some mozzerella sticks because we'd been talking about them all day. I know, not the healthiest, but many restaurants weren't open around 7pm on New Years Day, so we were limited. And hungry.

On Sunday, We went to a great taco place. (Santa Fe Taco Co in Northampton, PA if you're local.) They have a ton of great mexican food here and we found some great vegetarian options. I had a black bean taco and a cheese tostado with a side of rice. Dan tried a roasted vegetable taco, which had sweet potatoes, beets and other veggies in it. He also had a black bean taco and a side of rice and beans. We both felt really full and satisfied afterward and didn't miss the meat at all. For dinner that night, we went to Panera. I had half of a veggie sandwich (Panera's Mediterranean Veggie sandwich is delicious if you haven't tried it!) and a cup of french onion soup. Dan had Panera's white cheddar mac and cheese and half of a veggie sandwich too. Then later we stopped at a local ice cream shop to share a waffle sundae. I know, again, not very healthy, but delicious and totally worth it!

So far this week, I'm still doing pretty well. Monday, I made egg salad for lunch (with my new egg cooker and it worked great!) and had a slice of pizza for dinner. My cold has gotten a little worse and Monday was a rough day for me, so I didn't feel that up to eating too much. My sore throat has turned into a head cold, so I'm not feeling very good, but I'm still determined to stick to my meatless diet. Today, I'm planning a wrap for lunch with mozzarella, spinach, tomato and tzatziki sauce. On Wednesday nights, some friends and I go to a local restaurant for trivia night, so tonight I'll be eating out again. The restaurant we go to has vegetarian options so I'll be fine. One of my friends that goes with us is a vegetarian so I know I'll be able to find something, since she does every week.

Have any of you started a new diet for the new year or decided to go vegetarian? Let me know how you're doing! Feel free to vent here too about it. I know I'll inevitably need to vent about it eventually too!