Originally Posted by Julie Bove[_2_]

I should know how to do this. I did eat a vegetarian diet myself for many
years. And although I do eat meat now, most of my meals are still
vegetarian. I was never a totally strict vegetarian though and was fine
with eating something in a restaurant like refried beans that probably
contained lard.

But now Angela wants to eat a vegetarian diet. The problem? Well there are
a few. She doesn't like to eat what I eat. Such as bean tacos. I have
been concentrating so much on getting the proper diet for my husband and for
her that I have been mainly eating bean tacos for myself unless I can manage
to come up with something that we all or at least two of us can eat. And
now she is complicating things further. I also like most vegetables and she
does not. Of the vegetables we do prefer, we both prefer most of them to be
raw. But her list of what she will eat is limited. And she can't eat a lot
of nuts and seeds, partly due to an intolerance and partly because she
doesn't like the ones she can have. She is currently eating sunseed butter
on apple slices.

I did boil a dozen eggs last night and she told me she would eat them. I
don't usually make eggs because I can't eat them. She does sometimes make
an egg product for herself. Like Egg Beaters but different brands. She can
do that in the microwave. She will eat cheese in and of itself but mostly
doesn't like it in thing. Exception being mac and cheese. And Kraft does
now make one that is part whole grain. Her dietician has her on a mostly
South Beach diet. She doesn't want her to be strict with it and just wants
her to aim for that WOE most of the time.

We did buy a lot of vegetarian and vegan foods today but some contain soy
and some like seitain are a tad on the carby side. I don't want her to be
eating soy on a regular basis due to her thyroid problem.

She is unwilling to eat things like quiche which I likely could make with a
whole wheat crust or for sure crustless. I did make those when she first
went on South Beach and she didn't like them.

She doesn't like most cooked vegetables. Exception being canned green or
waxed beans. She will eat salad but is picky as to what type of greens and
what is put in the salad. There had better not be a tomato in it! She will
eat ketchup and salsa. She used to eat tomato soup but these days will not
eat any soup at all.

She does make her own smoothies with Greek yogurt, milk, berries and
spinach. She tried kale last night but didn't care for it. Hafta find a
use for the giant bag of kale!

So... While I probably have her diet covered for a good week or two just
with what we bought today, I am going to be stumped for upcoming meals.
Here I thought I had it made because she and my husband both love the
chicken I've been making. I would just cook up 8-12 boneless, skinless
breasts at a time. Save some for 2-3 meals during the week and if any was
left, I'd put it in the freezer. All I had to do was come up with some
sides.

But now? She won't be eating the chicken. I need to make sure she will be
getting enough protein. And I need to find a way to get her to eat
vegetables. I guess I should consider myself lucky that she does like a lot
of raw ones and like me, is perfectly happy to eat a plain salad with no
dressing and maybe just a squeeze of lemon.

I realize that there probably aren't any vegetarians here but... I am
stumped. Because of the pre-diabetes, I can't base the meals on beans and
rice or beans and pasta like I used to do when I was vegetarian. And bottom
line, she just doesn't like vegetables. I used to be able to make her a
meatloaf and sneak all kinds of veggies into it. Hmmm... Is there
something like that, that could be done with veggies that isn't overly
carby? Hmmm... Help!