The First Month

The first month of this new lifestyle was such an adjustment. My husband, and 3 of the four kids quickly ditched the plant-based month-long challenge. Now it was just my 15-year-old daughter Lauren & I on this journey, but it wasn’t really just us. We were dragging the whole family along with us (little did we know).

We found it easier to eat at home & we were also very intimidated at the thought of eating out, not knowing how or what to eat in a mainstream restaurant. I had prepped us with plenty of cookbooks & ingredients to accommodate us at home. Lauren & I were having fun making new things & tasting new flavors all while still trying to preserve our family dinner time. As anyone who has ever been on a diet or restricted diet for health reasons can tell you, it is so stinking hard to sit by while the whole family is eating tacos for Taco Tuesday & you’re eating a salad or anything else that isn’t what the rest of the family is eating. We managed to integrate our nightly meals as much as possible. Taco Tuesday for example, hubs made carne asada while I made bean & pappas for our filling. We both used lettuce, tortillas & salsa for the building of our tacos. We sat as a family, ate & it all felt like a normal family dinner. It was great!

Mother’s Day, this was the first “reason” for the six of us to attempt to eat out. We went to a local place that my previous meat eating self used to love for brunch. We all sat down & were handed our menus & while four of the family members were happily picking out their meals, a dark sad realization of what was offered hit Lauren & I. I politely asked if they had a vegan menu (I had heard that some restaurants do if you just ask) & was given a look that expressed pity & told, “no, but we have salad.” Little did I know, that would be the first of many, many establishments who would offer this as their “vegan option.” We asked about the potatoes & hash browns & asked if they were cooked in oil or butter & assured it was oil. So, I got creative & ordered a breakfast completely consisting of a la carte options: Sourdough (no butter), side of avocado, side of breakfast potatoes…and my Mother’s Day mimosa (of course). It did the trick for the moment, but we knew we would HAVE to start looking & preparing more before there would be any more outings.