Incoherent Scribblings

To be a Vegetarian

As most of my regular readers know, A. and I are proud carnivores: We like meat and we are not ashamed to admit it.

Though I like most fruit, I don’t eat it as often as I probably should… and vegetables? Forget about it! Oh, I admit that I will eat a few veggies now and again, but the vegetables that I actually like enough to eat on a semi-regular basis I can count on two hands.

1.) Broccoli – Broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable, though I have no idea why. I like it raw and I especially like to dip it into ranch dressing. I like it in soup and I like it steamed. I am very picky about the firmness of my broccoli though. If it gets overcooked and is mushy, it totally grosses me out.

2.) Peas – I am also quite fond of peas. I love to eat them raw, fresh from the garden. I also like them steamed with a little butter and pepper on them. However, please don’t steam them too much: I detest mushy peas as much as mushy broccoli!

I am not sure if peas actually count as vegetables though… they are a type of bean after all, but since I like them and they are not meat, they count as a vegetable in my book!

3.) Corn – Fresh picked sweet corn from an Iowa cornfield boiled, buttered, and peppered to perfection… Is there a more perfect summer taste on Earth? (yum!)

Like peas, I normally include corn as one of my vegetables, but I am not sure that it technically counts since it is a type of grain.

4.) Onions – I mostly like onions cooked into things to give them a little extra kick, but raw onions now and again on a burger or with a gyro just can’t be beat!

5.) Zucchini – Like broccoli, zucchini is good steamed, but I especially like it battered and fried… and only when the mood hits me.

6.) Potatoes – Finally, I am a meat and potato kind of gal. I love French fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, hash browns, fried potatoes, potato skins, potatoes au gratin, and nearly every other concoction made with potatoes (except potato soup) that you can think of.

Growing up in my farm-based community it was perfectly acceptable if the only “vegetables” you ever ate were potatoes: Imagine my disappointment to learn that nutritionists don’t count potatoes as vegetables, but as carbohydrates! However, potatoes will always be vegetables to me.

In addition to my “regular” veggies, there are also a couple that I like enough to eat occasionally, but only in the following forms:

1.) Lettuce – I like an occasional salad, but PLEASE do not put a leaf of lettuce on my burger! If I want a salad, I will order one!

2.) Tomatoes – OK, OK, technically they are a fruit, but that is a different matter… And the fact is I don’t like tomatoes themselves (raw or cooked), but I am a huge fan of tomato sauces. (Without chunks though please!)

And so, all of this rambling about vegetables is actually leading me somewhere and that is:

For the past couple of weeks my appetite has been acting strange. I haven’t been terribly hungry (Yeah! I have lost three pounds!) and when I actually have eaten a decent meal, afterwards I wish I hadn’t. I don’t feel sick per say and haven’t had indigestion, it just feels like dinner is sitting there as a lump in my tummy.

This feeling has also led to my complete and utter desire not to cook anything. If I was still single this wouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately I have a hungry husband monster at home now that thinks he needs to be fed.

I told A. of my recent appetite issues a few days ago and he offered to take me out to dinner the other night when the mere idea of cooking a chicken made me blanch. We went to one of our normal restaurants and he ordered his regular pile of meat. But when it came time for me to order, instead of my regular pile of meat, I chose a salad and a side of fried zucchini instead.

Later when we returned from the restaurant A. looked at me with a worried frown. When I inquired what was wrong he asked me, “You aren’t turning into a vegetarian, are you?”

I safely assured him that I was not: After all, since I can basically count the number of vegetables that I actually like on two hands, if I turned into a vegetarian I would surely starve!