mama's in town

It's no secret to anyone that knows me...I have a love for mexican food.  There are so many flavors in mexican food, making it fun to eat, as well as cook.  Because of these flavors, mexican food is so easy to make vegetarian (you don't need that meaty flavor added to the dishes).  I cook a mexican dish in our home at least once a week and we dine out at mexican restrurants at least once a week as well.  One of my favorite mexican dishes, although there are many, is fajitas.  I decided to give this favorite dish of mine a try at home.  My mama was in town for a couple of days and I thought it would be nice for me to give her a home cooked meal.  I got the inspiration for this recipe from the back of a spanish rice box a couple months ago.  I added a few of my favorite fajita ingredients and made some vegetarian/vegan substitutions.  As it was called on the back of the rice box, I call this recipe Fajita Rice Wraps.

ingredients.
One package Spanish Rice
Fajita mix (onions; red, yellow, and/or green peppers), sliced into strips
1 15 oz. can black beans
"Beef" strips (the vegetarian kind of course, I use Lightlife Steak Style Strips)
Tortillas, warmed
1 tbsp. Olive oil (may need more, depending on the amount of vegetables)


optional ingredients.

Sour cream (I use Follow Your Heart vegan sour cream)

Shredded Cheese (I use veggie cheese, such as Daiya)
Salsa
Lettuce


directions.

• Cook rice and "beef" strips according to package directions.

• Warm black beans in a medium sized saucepan, until heated through.

• In a medium sized skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Cook Fajita mix for 5 minutes, or until desired tenderness.

• Spoon ingredients into warmed tortilla and top with your optional ingredients.  Roll up tortilla and serve.

Enjoy!

Here are a couple pictures from "Meixcan Night in the Grant House"

Deciding to become vegetarian...

Deciding to become a vegetarian was something I thought about for 2 years before actually doing it. I went back and forth with the decision for that long simply because meat tasted good. It was more about what tasted good to me and less about the process the meat went through to get on my plate. On The Ellen Degeneres Show one day, she had author Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote the book Eating Animals.  This was the day my interest in becoming a vegetarian peaked. At the end of her show, I decided to check out the PETA website.  At the time, that was the only organization I really knew of dealing with animal rights.  While I was on their website, I requested a copy of the Vegetarian Starter Kit. I also decided to explore the organization. What I found on their website devastated me. I stopped eating meat immediately. I think that is why I didn't succeed my first attempt.  My body and mind were not prepared.  I had not done any research on what I needed to eat to get the right nutrients or even substitutes for meat products.  My first attempt lasted about 2 weeks.  I found myself eating a lot of cheese and bread in place of the meat because I was not educated on how to be a healthy vegetarian.  I gave up and went back to eating meat.  Being a vegetarian was still on my mind a lot for the following months.  I started doing some research to find out more information about vegetarianism.  I learned there are so many options out there to replace meat and also very good advice on what vitamins need to be taken as a vegetarian to remain healthy.  My husband and I started talking over dinner one night about both becoming vegetarian.  We had a long conversation and realized this was something we were both very passionate about and needed to try it and by doing it together, we could help each other along the way.  We started on Monday, March 22, 2010.  Neither of us have eatten meat since that day.  We are both very proud of this accomplishment, especially in today's world, where most people eat some sort of meat for every meal of the day.  This is something that I see myself, as well as Dustin, sticking with for a very long time.  We have adjusted our lives to make this fit into our daily routines and it has become just that, a routine for us.