So what do you do when the two people in a marriage have fundamentally different ideas about what constitutes a healthy diet?
My husband and I were discussing my core diet mission plan and asked if he had a choice in this. You see for awhile now he is has been half hearted with the raw vegan thing and often makes his own meals but I REALLY want to get us ALL on the same page. Although he has really amazed me in some respects. This is a guy who used to take hot dogs (eeeeewwww!) and Ramen noodles to work for lunch and now I see him grabbing handfuls of dehydrated fruit and raw flax crackers instead. But the man still loves bacon, ham, steak, pork chops, and all that MEAT.
Yesterday we discussed how we could all get what we want without driving each other crazy and without any more meals were two people are making separate things. He told me he was up to letting me take charge if I back up the truck and start from an easier place… like vegetarian meals with raw side dishes or something. I was ecstatic to say the least! Wahoo!
Tonight I sought to amaze him and prove that meatless can be good. After building up a good repertoire of veggie meals then I can start transitioning him to vegan, followed by mostly raw… in a perfect world, LOL. I like a challenge and he is finally willing to meet me halfway. So back to tonight… Italian is a favorite of his so I made Whole Wheat Capellini with Tomatoes and Artichokes.
You start with the ingredients above… onion and garlic… and saute them in olive oil for a few minutes. Add diced tomatoes and halved artichoke hearts. I use canned artichoke hearts that had been well rinsed and cut.
Saute those for about 10 minutes, reduce heat, and add some vegetable stock and cream. I wonder if nut milk would be a tasty alternative… I will have to try it. While this is cooking you can make up a pot of whole wheat pasta. Thin pasta like capellini works best. Dole out the pasta, top with the tomato artichoke sauce, and sprinkle with a hard Italian cheese (optional).
Oh yummo!! We hadn’t had pasta in quite awhile and it was such a treat. The serving sizes were on the small side… those are small plates, but it was filling. My hubby went out and got the bread while the meal was cooking… I told him I wanted a hard, whole wheat bread but he came home with something like French and it was white. I didn’t like it or eat it. Guess I might need to look into bread making if he is going to insist on bread.
Anyway… no meat and hubby LOVED it. He had three servings. He did keep saying that some bacon or prosciutto would really rock this dish but admitted that it was stellar on its own. My stomach was upset by the cream but I got lots of sympathy points from hubs. He cleaned!
Along with this meal we all had a big Cranberry Spinach Smoothie with banana, goji berries, flax seed, and Amazing Grass mixed in. Another big yum!
So… for you veggies and vegans…. can you direct me to some recipes powerful enough to win a meat eater’s heart? Now that he is willing to try, I need to convince him that meatless is GOOD. Comment and let me know!
