We couldn't adjust our grocery budget to accommodate for not having the amount of venison that we usually have in the freezer, so we had to adjust our meals... and we became accidental vegetarians, or since we still eat some meat, I guess we technically became flexitarians.
To say I was not excited is an understatement. To me it seemed like our meal options were limited, like one of those math problems where you have one blue marble, one red marble, and one yellow marble, and you have to see how many combinations can you make. Our menu consisted of rice, beans, and veggies on Tuesday, veggies, beans, and rice on Friday, and beans, rice, and veggies on Sunday. It didn't matter what order I put it in, we still had the same food sitting on our plates (and after a week, my family didn't think my math joke about making different combinations was very funny.)
Finally I realized our new accidental vegetarian lifestyle would only be boring if I let it be boring. As I started to read cookbooks, blogs, and magazines for ideas, I found that the vegetarian lifestyle was not as boring, lifeless, and unfulfilling as I thought it would be. It was an adventure trying new recipes and shockingly enough, even my meat-loving husband was enjoying the meals! Plus, it was a great way to put all of the veggies from our large garden to use!
Here are some of our favorites-
The "no-cook" Asian noodle bowl is fast to fix, chock full of veggies, and cures our cravings for Chinese takeout. James and I love it for lunch, but the kids would still rather have PB&J.
Roasted poblano, corn, and zucchini lasagna is a great way to utilize all those veggies from the garden. I was the most worried about winning over the family with this one, but it is one of their favorites!
Vegetable kebobs with rice and beans, and a mojo sauce is one of those "rice, bean, and veggie combinations", but it's super delicious, especially with the tangy mojo sauce. Just don't make it for every single meal!
