Eating Without "Sacrifice" - Sample Menus

Home-grown cabbage!

For people who have been omnivores, transitioning to a vegetarian diet can sometimes feel a little scary ("How will I get enough protein?", "I tried that before and I felt hungry all the time...") or the thought of giving up meat comes with a sense of sacrifice ("What, you mean, no pepperoni!?!", "But occasionally, I just love a burger, or fried chicken...", "What would Thanksgiving be like without turkey?").

So, these may not be your exact inner questions/concerns but you get the idea. Food choice can be a very emotional issue for people. We receive many comments and inquiries about our food choices, and for many it can be the "deal breaker." Here are a few things we'd like to share about our diet, and some sample menus so you can see if your food-needs would be met by living with us, or if you need to look for a different community.

Feeling satisfied: This is Llyn speaking here. I was a vegetarian/vegan off and on for many years from my teens through my forties (I turned 50 in February, 2013). Most of this time I was living on my own or, when I was in relationship, or community, I still ended up mainly shopping and cooking for myself. The main reason I was not being a vegetarian, when I met Chris in 2006, was that because I was making most of my meals myself, and working, and just trying to live my life, that being vegetarian took "too much time". If I didn't take the time to prepare comprehensive meals, that provided a variety of nutrient-dense options, I often found myself feeling mildly hungry, unsatisfied and low-energy. So I took the short-cut route: Making meat a part of my diet 4-7 times a week. It was quicker, "stuck to my ribs" (I didn't get hungry as fast) and I could prepare it faster than many vegetarian options (Or buy it pre-cooked).

When I met Chris, who's a very good vegetarian cook, and who took on cooking the majority of our meals, I began to notice that the low-grade hunger, the feelings of never quite being satisfied, and the tiredness began to slowly slip away.

Llyn with home-grown celery

Eating truly organic food: When we have foods to buy, we almost always choose organic. We feel committed to this because of our concern for the health of the Earth, as well as our own health. Foods grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMO'S) are bound to be healthier than those grown with these standard agricultural practices.

But food can reach even a higher quality-level -- if you grow it yourself (as we do - probably over 50%). The food we grow at the Sharing Gardens - which is a project of the Full Circle Family, is free of the above-mentioned toxic substances but it's what we add to it that makes it so much more nutritious and satisfying. Our gardens are nourished with compost made from leaves, grass-clippings and spoiled hay -- all considered "waste-products" by the main society. We add kelp and seaweed too, for trace-minerals. Eating our beans and vegetables just seems to fill all the little nooks and crannies and satisfies more than conventionally grown foods ever can.

So if you've tried being vegetarian and found yourself feeling unsatisfied, it may be that you were eating too many foods that were refined, overly processed, or lacking basic nutrients.

Sharing the load of shopping and cooking: When you live with a group of people who are sharing in the preparation of food, it's possible to eat a higher-quality of food because the responsibilities of shopping, food prep and clean-up are spread amongst the whole group.

Sample menus:

Breakfasts: 

Corn bread

Multi-grain Pancakes (we make our own mix-all organic) topped with home-made applesauce
Organic 6-grain cereal with home-dried organic fruit and hazelnuts (gleaned locally) and organic soymilk
Eggs (organic, or from our neighbor's chickens) and toast (often with homemade bread) or home-grown potatoes
Homemade corn-muffins (CLICK HERE to go to our own recipe)
Smoothies (bananas, frozen, home-grown berries, home-canned juice, oat-flour, org. peanut-butter, org. soy-milk and org. sugar.)

Lunches:

Salad with toppings (fresh peas (or canned, if not in season), garbanzo beans, scarlet runner or other beans-many of these we grow and dry ourselves, cheese (local, Tillamook white cheddar), org. peanuts, grated carrots, black olives)
Egg, or cheese, or peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Soup-often homemade
Left-overs

Dinners:

Homemade pizza (Llyn's specialty - yumm!) toppings might include: grated zucchini, homemade sauce, homemade sun-dried tomatoes, home-grown onions, locally wild-crafted Chanterelle mushrooms, crispy-browned tofu(organic),  local Tillamook white cheddar, black olives and homemade pizza-spice.
Spaghetti - organic and whole wheat, with organic, or homemade sauce
Beans and rice with salad and veggies from the garden (CLICK HERE to go to our post about Growing Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans)
Sautéed tofu, brown-rice or home-grown winter squash
Home-made "Garbanzo-Garden Burgers"

Desserts and treats

Lots of times we feel so full and nourished from dinner that we don't really crave any dessert but, during the winter months Llyn likes to make pumpkin pies from scratch, or bake cookies. Occasionally we'll buy a chocolate bar and try to make it last for a few nights...Though the food we shop for and make at home is pretty darn near the highest quality and most environmentally conscious we can find (organic, GMO-free, and local), we are not 100% purists. With money we receive from our personal stipends, we go out to eat at our favorite Chinese and Mexican restaurants - none of which serve organic options. On our trips to the beach we'll often stop for a big basket of french-fries. We enjoy our coffee and bananas (organic, but not local, of course). We enjoy all these treats "guilt-free" believing that, in moderation, they do no harm and that our attitudes to what we eat have much to do with how they effect us.

If you came to live with us, we would encourage you to share your own favorite recipes and join in the fun of cooking in a family-style setting.