Culinary Distractions

I honestly have nothing new to report on the TTC front, aside from the fact that I always forget to order my prescription of HCG and then I have to wait to start my needles on Peak +4 because I'm not prepared. For some reason I really don't care, let's call it IF-related apathy. So there.

So Mr. JB and I have been doing meatless-Mondays since the new year started and it has been going really well. I usually do most of the meatless cooking since Mr. JB is more of the staple chef -- he's got his repertoire of recipes that he is comfortable cooking, while I am the more adventurous one in the kitchen. [Just a sidebar, when we first met Mr. JB was a hot dog and take out kind of guy, since we got married and moved in together he has become quite the proficient cook. He hated waiting for me to come home from work or working out to start dinner so I told him early on that if he wanted to eat early then he had to cook. Lucky for me he rose to the challenge! I just wish that he could do more handy things around the house too, but I shouldn't complain.]

I've rediscovered the cookbook written by the woman that runs the retreat centre that I visited a couple of weekends ago. The recipes are great, but they take a LONG time to prepare and need quite a few ingredients. When I lived in France I learned to make tasty food with simple ingredients, however Nicola's recipes require many spices and interesting ingredients, but the results are always so amazing. I spent a couple of hours yesterday preparing salad dressing, a salad, a beet dip (which is so amazing, I ate it for breakfast this morning!) and then I made a big pot of vegetarian curry for dinner tonight.

I have toyed with the idea of going vegetarian many times in my past and I know that I feel fantastic the less meat that I eat. My two biggest roadblocks are the fact that I crave meat (there's nothing like a steak taco salad at my favourite Mexican place) and that my husband is a carnivore. I couldn't imagine having to prepare two different meals in our tiny kitchen! We have changed our meat-buying habits in the past few years. I will only buy organic and free range, and we're so lucky that our grocery store has quite the selection of traditionally-raised meats. I have noticed the taste difference since switching and when I don't eat organic meat, I can tell!

Now I know that we are very fortunate to be able to afford to eat organically. There are many things that I would give up first before I changed my eating habits. Since I suffer from digestive issues I can appreciate feeling good after eating.

At my fertility yoga class last Friday we talked about all of the things that we have deprived ourselves of because of our IF. I know for me that the paradigm has shifted. I have no idea if I will ever conceive, but I know that all of the changes that I've implemented -- from changing my cleaning products to my diet, will help me in the long run. I may be infertile, but I am the healthiest that I have been in my entire life. Who would've thought that I would be grateful for IF!

Do any of you have any interesting vegetarian recipes that you'd like to share? I will cook just about anything as long as it's gluten, egg and dairy-free!