I'm a terrible vegetarian, but I have good recipes!

Last month I decided to try vegetarianism for 30 days. I didn't think I ate much meat anyway and didn't think it would really be difficult, so I didn't really mention it beyond a passing post on Instagram. I had a few people ask how it had gone, so I thought I'd share a bit about my experience here.

So, for starters, within the first week, I accidentally ate bacon twice. 

 I know, you're thinking, "How do you accidentally eat bacon? C'mon, Jess." Well, let me tell you. The first time, I was doing really well, actually, and ordered some potato soup and a vegetable plate at a restaurant. The potato soup? It had bacon in it.  The second accidental bacon ingestion came a few days later when Tyler and I had gone downtown for a photo op with the actual Iron Throne from Game of Thrones (!!!!!) and decided to spend some time in Westport before heading back home. We hadn't had breakfast, so we swung through a drive thru for breakfast sandwiches, during which point I apparently completely forgot that I was attempting a vegetarian diet for a month. I didn't even realize it until that night, and probably wouldn't if it wasn't for Tyler. That conversation went something like this:

Tyler: "Hey, wanna order a pizza for dinner?"
Me: "I mean, it sounds good, but it would have to be a veggie pizza."
Tyler: "Veggie pizza? Why? Gross."
Me: "I'm doing the vegetarian thing, remember?"
Tyler: "You are? Oh, yeah.......wait, you ate meat THIS MORNING."
Me: "What? No, I didn't."
Tyler: "Yes you did, remember? Breakfast sandwich?"
Me: "No I didn't. That didn't have............oh."

To my credit, I didn't eat pizza that night, but I definitely wasn't perfect the rest of the month. I mean, if I can't avoid meat when the name of the food I'm ordering is literally "bacon, egg, and cheese bagel," there really is little hope for me avoiding sneaky meats, right? I did get better as the month went by, though, even though the cravings for pot roast were oh-so-real.

I had a lot of people tell me that I would feel "so much better" after cutting out meat, and to be honest, I didn't feel different at all--except for maybe emotionally or morally. Maybe that's what they meant. But I did find some really incredible recipes for meatless dishes, and I definitely plan on incorporating them more, and trying to cut out meat where I can. I learned that I'm really awful about eliminating things completely all at once for a variety of reasons, but I think I can make small steps toward a reduced-meat diet going forward. Maybe eventually I'll head back into full vegetarianism and be better able to avoid accidental bacon the next time around.  :)