About

About Me

Hi!  I am Jamie and this is my blog.  In this blog my hope is to give you some easy and delicious vegetarian meals to incorporate into your meal plans.  I’m not saying you have to totally give up meat but everyone could benefit from eating less meat.  Visit this post for more about that.

My family became vegetarian the beginning of 2010.  It was a gradual process, spurred by the movie Food, Inc.  After watching that movie I read all the books about plant based eating that I could find such as The China Study, In Defense of Food, and The Food Revolution.  For religious reasons, we already avoided pork.  Next was red meat, then chicken and seafood.  It has been an adjustment, particularly in cooking but thankfully my husband is a good sport!

This blog follows my successes and failures as I try to cook healthy and delicious meals while juggling three kids aged 5 and under!  So believe me when I say these recipes are tested by a real family in a very real setting.  Along the way I’ve learned some tricks for cooking vegetarian on a budget.  A meal plan is essential as is a well stocked pantry.

We really have seen health benefits from our vegetarian diets.  We get sick far less often, my husband lost weight, and we feel more energetic.  Eating healthy most of the time gives us room for some tasty treats too!

About Me

I am fortunate to be married to my best friend.  We have three children.  L born in 2007, G born in 2009, and Little Man born in 2011.  In December of 2010 I quit my job as a physical therapist to stay home with my kids.  Growing up, I always wanted to be a physical therapist and could not imagine one day that I would want to quit that job to stay home.  But things change when you have kids, lots of things!  Going back to work when L was 3 months old was so hard.

In December of 2010, we decided that we would take the plunge and I would stay home with the kids.  While we knew it would be difficult and involve lots of penny pinching, I felt a weight lifted off of me.  This is what I had wanted.  I feel truly blessed to be able to stay home with my children.  It is a struggle and the hardest job I have ever had but I feel at peace.

I decided to start this blog because I love to cook and love to try new recipes on my family.  I knew it was hard to find good vegetarian recipes for a family so I wanted to share my recipes and experiences with others who might be searching.  It also gives me a reason to talk like an adult and gives me a break from cleaning up messes, solving Barbie crises, and other various minor catastrophes.

I have learned a lot while creating this blog and still have much to learn.  I have become very interested in photography while working on this blog.  I hope this is evidenced in the improvement in my photos.  I still have a long way to go in the photo department though.

Things I Love

First and foremost, God.  Without Him I would be nothing.

My family

Reading, though I don’t do that as much as I would like anymore

Running, though not in the Michigan winter

Cooking and baking, obviously!

Sewing

Magazines I read: Cooking Light, Shape, Runner’s World, Whole Living, and just subscribed to Vegetarian Times

TV shows I watch:  Top Chef, Amazing Race, Mad Men

There are more but I have to keep some mystery!

Thank you for stopping by!  Pull up a chair and stay awhile.  That laundry will still be there later