Diets in Review Blog » vegetarian for a week challenge http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column Diet Column - bringing you all the best diet news and opinions Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:00:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Final Thoughts http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-final-thoughts/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-final-thoughts/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:14:14 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7331 I made it! We’d set-out to do six days as vegetarians and we did. In this last video I discuss the meals I had for my last day as a vegetarian, as well as some of my takeaways for the week. I found that living as a vegetarian was fairly economical, was much easier to implement than expected, and I wasn’t anywhere near as hungry each day as I’d anticipated. All-in-all being a vegetarian for a week was a fun experience, and one I’m now challenging you to take.

Day Six Vegetarian Menu

  • Breakfast – egg white veggie omelet. The usual, full of mushrooms, spinach, red peppers, egg whites and served with whole grain toast.fruit-salad
  • Lunch – misc. salads. I attended a luncheon where I skipped the meat and cheese tray and filled up on pasta salad, garden salad and fresh fruit.
  • Dinner – roasted red pepper panini. We found ourselves out with friends Friday night for dinner. I had a roasted red pepper panini with spinach and mozzarella cheese, served with a small salad (dressing on the side!). It was devine!

Thanks for sharing this vegetarian journey with me. I’ve enjoyed keeping you up to speed on how we progressed.

Am I going to become a vegetarian? It’s safe to say no. Will I serve more vegetarian meals? Definitely. We found a lot of new things we like and discovered new uses for old favorites. If you start your own vegetarian challenge, definitely let us know, and check-out our vegetarian recipes for inspiration.

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Final Thoughts

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-final-thoughts/feed/ 3 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Five http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-five/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-five/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:49:42 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7310 I decided I needed a night off from the kitchen. I typically make three meals a day in my kitchen, so I don’t usually have a hard time justifying letting someone else wear the chef’s hat! I’d planned on having us dine out once this week, so that we could experience the vegetarian side of a menu for once. I also wanted to try tofu for the first time tonight. All of these needs were satisfied at P.F. Chang’s. Watch to hear how vegetarian day five went.

Day Five Vegetarian Menu

  • Breakfast – veggie egg white omelet. Just a quick shot of cooking spray, chopped spinach, red peppers, mushrooms and grape tomatoes, mixed with three egg whites and served with a slice of whole grain toast. My favorite way to start the day!pf-changs-buddhas-feast
  • Lunch – cheese and fruit. I wasn’t in the mood for a full lunch today, but knew I needed to eat something if I was going to make it to our late dinner. I had one serving of light havarti cheese with whole grain crackers, a bunch of red grapes and half a sliced apple.
  • Dinner – P.F. Chang’s. We let someone else cook tonight and I gave tofu a try. Tofu will probably not be my favorite take away from this vegetarian week. Our selections from PF Chang’s vegetarian menu included the vegetarian lettuce wraps (tofu instead of chicken), wok seared mushrooms, Buddha’s Feast (stir-fry tofu with mixed vegetables) and brown rice.

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Five

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-five/feed/ 1 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Four http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-four/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-four/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:59:27 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7275 We’re in the thick of it now. We’ve made it to day four of the vegetarian challenge and really no complaints. It hasn’t been nearly as difficult as I had anticipated, but I also don’t foresee a complete lifestyle change coming out of this.

Watch now as I recap our day four vegetarian meals, including a tip for stretching your economical and nutritional dollar.

Day Four Vegetarian Menublack-bean-quesadillas

  • Breakfast – Cheerios. Just another quick and simple bowl of cereal topped with skim milk.
  • Lunch – Black Bean and Mushroom Quesadillas. In the video I explain how you can easily use leftover vegetables to make a scrumptious quesadilla for lunch. From our Southwestern Salad I saved black beans and red peppers, combined those with sliced baby bellas (a petite portobello mushroom) and fresh spinach leaves. That is sauteed then folded into a dry whole wheat tortilla with just a little reduced-fat cheddar cheese. We had this with some fresh salsa and a sliced avocado.
  • quinoa-linguineDinner – Quinoa Pasta with Creamy Pesto and Tomatoes. This is a recipe of Rocco DiSpirito’s that he prepared on Biggest Loser 6. The quinoa is a gluten-free linguine-style pasta. The flavor isn’t really distinguishable from traditional or wheat pasta, but ideal for those with a wheat allergy. The creamy pesto is what makes this dish and it had a really robust flavor. Click above for the recipe, but it includes fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmigianno-Regianno cheese, garlic and fat-free sour cream. That is blended in a food processor, then tossed with the pasta and roasted tomatoes. It was fantastic! Served with a salad of spring greens and balsamic vinaigrette.
  • Snacks – reduced-fat cheese stick and grapes.

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Four

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-four/feed/ 0 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Three http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-three/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-three/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:42:49 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7231 Day three of the vegetarian challenge seems to have been another success. My husband asked me if I had cheated by sneaking meat and I declared no! This has been a lot more trying for me than it has him – he’d eat anything where I’m a little more particular.

Tuesdays are what we call “YOYO Night” in my house (you’re on your own). I do dinner on my own on Tuesdays, usually some leftovers or some fruit and cheese, but last night I didn’t want to cop-out of the vegetarian plan. Watch now as I prepare one of my favorite personal recipes, a Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette.

Day Three Vegetarian Menu

  • Breakfast – Cheerios. My morning was busy, but I never let that interfere with breakfast. Today it was just a bowl of Cheerios with skim milk.
  • Lunch – chips and salsa. At least I can admit it! A busy afternoon where choices were slim. I was not prepared, but will say the salsa was very fresh, full of veggies. Lunch – fail!southwestern-salad
  • Dinner – Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette. This is a favorite recipe of mine that I usually prepare with chicken, but of course skipped that and just added extra black beans (lots of protein and fiber!). I also make the vinaigrette myself, it’s super simple and literally takes seconds to prepare. I serve this with a cheese quesadilla – one whole grain tortilla folded with about 2 Tbsp. of low-fat cheddar cheese inside, grill in a skillet, and put a half with each salad.
  • Snacks – post-gym I had a reduced-fat cheese stick and after dinner a bunch of grapes.

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Three

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-three/feed/ 3 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Two http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-two/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-two/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:50:59 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7212 We’ve made it into day two of our vegetarian for a week challenge, and so far so good. Yesterday seemed to go more smoothly than day one, mostly in that the feelings of hunger all day were absent.

Day Two Vegetarian Menu

  • Breakfast – egg white veggie omelet. This is a staple around here, I have this most mornings anyway. A very filling and nutritious way to start the day. Served with a banana and cup of skim milk.
  • Lunch – tuna fish sandwich. I finished the leftovers from day one and served with a sliced apple.delicious-lentil-salad
  • Dinner – Delicious Lentil Salad. This was the recipe that won our vegetarian recipe challenge, submitted by Shannon Marentette. The name really does say it all. It was simple to prepare (took about 20 minutes) and includes several fresh, colorful ingredients like bell peppers, parsley, lemon juice, cumin and sun-dried tomatoes. We used dry red lentils and tried to cook them to an al dente stage, similar to pasta, but missed the mark. Nevertheless, this was a very satisfying dish. We had half a crusty wheat roll on the side.
  • Snacks – Skipped the snacks altogether yesterday. See, I really didn’t feel as hungry!

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day Two

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-two/feed/ 5 Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day One http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-one/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-one/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:09:25 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=7194 It’s finally here, my vegetarian for a week challenge. I explain the background of the challenge here, but to recap, my husband had this “brilliant” idea to go vegetarian for a week and I accepted. Watch to see how day one went.

Day one was relatively easy on us. Our vegetarian meals were all simple to prepare, tasty and rather filling. One of my only real concerns going into this was feeling hungry. I admit I felt some hunger yesterday; I don’t know if I was just psyching myself into it, or if the pangs were legit.

Day One Vegetarian Menu

  • Breakfast – egg white veggie omelet. This is actually what I have most mornings. We wrapped it in a whole grain tortilla with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese. Served with a cup of 0% fat greek yogurt with blueberries, strawberries and honey.
  • Lunch – tuna fish sandwich. I use the tuna packed in water in the foil pack, mix with a little paprika, one tablespoon of light mayo and dice half a sweet pickle. Served on whole grain bread with a bunch of grapes on the side.vegetarian meal
  • Dinner – grilled portabella mushrooms. Having seen many vegetarian friends choose this at cookouts, we knew we had to finally give it a try. A light spray of olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper and a pinch of kosher salt and then we cooked on the grill for about 20 minutes. Served with roasted red skin potatoes (chop potatoes in about sixths, toss with a little olive oil, cracked black pepper, dried thyme and basil, cook on 425 for about 30 minutes, turn once), skillet seared asparagus, and a small spring green salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
  • Snacks – reduced fat string cheese, whole grain crackers with peanut butter, six ounce smoothie made of 0% fat greek yogurt, banana, strawberries and blueberries.

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Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Day One

]]> http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/04/vegetarian-for-a-week-challenge-day-one/feed/ 2 Vegetarian for a Week Recipe Challenge http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/03/vegetarian-for-a-week-recipe-challenge/ http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/03/vegetarian-for-a-week-recipe-challenge/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:48:04 +0000 Brandi http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/?p=6915

My husband recently challenged me to go vegetarian for a week. I laughed when he suggested our breakfasts, lunches and dinners be sans meat for seven days. Then I thought about it, and decided it could be a fun way to sort of “cleanse” for Spring, and create an interesting dietary and culinary challenge for myself.

I’m excited to share with you my Vegetarian for a Week Challenge at DietsInReview.com. We’ve agreed to allow eggs and fish as part of our diet. Going a step further, I’m also going to try to remove as much sugar from my diet as possible. During the week of April 6, I’ll share daily meal plans, recipes, new food we’ve tried and how we feel about the experience as we complete each day.

In the meantime, I need recipe ideas! I’ve never prepared a vegetarian diet before, and could use your help. Submit your vegetarian recipe by Friday, April 3 to be considered. If your recipe is chosen, it will be published here in the DietsInReview.com blog, and you’ll receive a copy of The Flexitarian Diet.

Stay tuned and follow along on my Vegetarian for a Week Challenge!

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Vegetarian for a Week Recipe Challenge

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