Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

I am always up for a good challenge.

So, when Amber Bell (Biddeford Saco Beach Bootcamp instructor) sent out an email about the March bootcamp session and a two week "veggie challenge,' I took her up on it.

This led me to do two crazy things Monday morning—get up at 5:30 a.m. for bootcamp on the beach in pouring rain and give up meat and animal products for 14 days.

And at the onset, the diet portion of this challenge didn't seem so tricky. I don't eat a ton of meat to begin with (mainly because cooking steak in a pan just isn't the same as on a grill, and I don't have a grill). How hard can it be to go without milk, cheese, yogurt or eggs?

Well, going out to lunch today with a friend I realized if you're not cooking it yourself, it is really hard.

I went with the portobello mushroom sandwich, which came with feta cheese and asked for it without. Then I ditched the fries for a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I thought I was golden. Until the waitress plopped my salad down in front of me. It was covered with freshly shaved parmesan cheese. I picked that dairy off the salad just as I used to pick off tomatoes and pushed to the side of my plate.

It wasn't until after I was done eating that another thought crossed my mind, "The bread….what if there was egg and butter in the bread??" A quick search of ciabatta bread recipes revealed that no chickens or cows were harmed in the making of this bread. Even still, the whole process of ordering at a restaurant stressed me out. How do you vegans do it all the time? (Or maybe the better question is do you go out to eat at all?)

But as I stare at my pile dried and fresh fruit and a variety of nuts, the thought of being a vegan or vegetarian isn't so scary. I love eating the foods on the meal plan Amber gave us and I quite honestly have not felt hungry following it. And, with dinner fast approaching, I'm pretty excited about that too.

On Sunday, I whipped up a bunch of the recipes she shared for the meal plan so that I wouldn't have to worry about cooking too much throughout the week. One of the dishes I made was tonight's meal—baked kidney beans with apples and cinnamon. As it baked in the oven, the scent of cinnamon and apples filled the house and made me drool.

Baked Kidney Beans with Apples and Cinnamon
Recipe provided with permission by Amber Bell

Cooked brown rice
3 lbs kidney beans, canned (3 15-16oz cans)
1 tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp cardamom
2 Tbsp diced fresh ginger (or 2 Tbsp ground if pressed for time)
3 Tbsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth(can use 4 cups water with 4 boullion cube (vegstock)
4 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
1 ½ lb apples(3 large apples) diced
Sea Salt to taste
Cook apples in skillet with the spices and olive oil. Add the beans, honey, vegetable broth, and salt to taste. Place contents of skillet into heavy baking dish (glass or ceramic) and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve over brown rice.

Dinner!

While I'm only on day two of the "veggie challenge," I'm staying confident that I can make it the full 14 days keeping meat and animal products out of my diet.

And when the challenge is all said and done, somebody better be ready to take me out for a steak.
 

About this Blog

Weighing In is not just about one girl’s mission to shed pounds, but exploring the challenges that come with facing the scale, various ways to exercise the body and thoughts on living a healthy lifestyle.

Emma will share her story of losing weight (50 pounds and counting) and learning to love exercise, while incorporating the success stories of others and professional opinions on diet and exercise. She’ll also examine how media — news, magazines, movies and television shows — play a role in shaping society’s ideas about weight and health. So read on and weigh in.

About the Author

Emma Bouthillette is a native of Biddeford, a 2008 graduate of the University of New England and is pursuing her masters through the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast creative writing program.

She joined the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in September 2009, writing stories for Close to Home and the daily feature obituary. She enjoys a good book, has an entire closet devoted to art supplies and has discovered being a homeowner is not quite as glamorous as home decorating shows or magazines make it out to be.

Previous entries