As a vegetarian with 4 kids what do I feed my family?

Being a vegetarian and a mom can be challenging for some people. It’s one thing to only have to feed yourself, that’s easy pull over at a vegetarian restaurant or a Panera bread or you can buy a salad from any non vegetarian restaurant, there are so many options. But when you have a family especially a big family you need to live off of a budget.

For one thing my husband and I live by Dave Ramsey’s method of budgeting which is off topic right now but if you have any questions on budgeting or about Dave Ramsey send me a comment and I would love to answer. That program will change your life completely. So back to feeding your family, one of the things I do is shop bulk like a BJ’s or Sams for example. You can buy your fruit and vegetables there wash them and freeze some. The ones frozen can be made into smoothies as the week goes on and the fresh ones can be put in ziplock bags or Tupperware and given as snacks.

One of my girlfriends who has 3 kids did a wonderful medley of green grapes, red grapes, and strawberries all washed and placed in a bowl and to see these kids surround her like little ducklings was such a precious sight to see. I mean these kids were acting as if the medley was some big bag of candy that other kids would go crazy for. Once there bowl was done they ran back to her “mommy more mommy more” LOL. Now remember if you have a very young child you need to cut the grapes into smaller pieces. You should never leave a toddler alone with grapes anyways due to choking hazards.

This afternoon that is what my 19 month old had as his snack, a fruit medley. To watch him sit there and enjoy the fruits was so rewarding to me. For breakfast he had a waffle that I just easily put in the toaster and cut up in small pieces and placed in his bowl and gave to him with his almond milk in his sippy cup with 2 spoonfuls of baby cereal and some water shaken up real good. The baby cereal is good for him because it’s so high in vitamins and him being a vegetarian I want to make sure he gets all the good in him possible.

One of their favorite dishes that I make that they love it baked spaghetti with morning star crumbles. What you do is place the crumbles in a hot skillet like you would ground beef (yuck) lol. season it just the same as you normally would. I season with garlic, salt, pepper, and green peppers. While that’s cooking your spaghetti should be boiling and getting tender. Drain spaghetti and put in bowl along with your cooked crumbles. Mix around with Ragu (or any other sauce you may prefer) Sometimes I open a can of sweet corn and mix it in as well and sometimes I’ll put a little sugar in my ragu. Then I layer. In a pirates dish I put some of the spaghetti then lots of cheese another layer of spaghetti then a lot of cheese and so on. On the top I sprinkle more cheese and then bake in the oven for about 30 min on 350 degrees. Let it cool then cut in squares. You can put some garlic bread with it and a nice salad. Place an ice cold pitcher of water on the table and watch everything disappear right before your eyes 🙂 Hurry before there’s none left for you! God Bless 🙂

Simone

Are you a vegetarian?

How can I go natural after being relaxed all my life?

I was 9 years old when my mother and my grandmother decided to give me my very first relaxer. Like most relaxers for young girls I’m sure it was very pretty at first but after time went by my hair started to break. I went from having a thick head of hair to straggly thinning ends. See we don’t really know any better as a people if you think about it. We only do as were taught, and I’m sure my mothers mother relaxed her hair about the same age and my grandmothers mom probably did the same to her. But when we know better we do better and it’s time for change and for the word to get out about the damage and the effects relaxers can have on our beautiful God-given hair.

I was 31 when I decided to get my last relaxer. It was a huge decision for me because all my life I have pretty much been known for my healthy long hair. Mind you I did get through the straggly stages of being a 9-year-old who had no clue of taking care of her hair, but as I got older I was very careful with my hair and relaxed only every 3 months which amounts to about 4 or maybe 5 times a year. This most likely is the reason my hair was able to grow so nicely.

For years I did research and read plenty of books on natural men and women. I thought about dreads and I still do but at this time I am happy with being curly lol. You tube became popular and I started watching a lot of you tube videos on women who have gone natural, and I felt like I was sitting in the sidelines wishing I had the confidence to be a part of this extraordinary community of women.  Sometimes my heart would do leaps when I would watch some of the videos because I would want to be natural so bad.  It was almost like a secret I kept to myself and yearned to have because who would ever believe much less imagine me with big bushy hair, it just wasn’t something people saw me as. Sadly I was suffocating my true self who I really knew I was on the inside. I was trapped in a shell of what I felt society wanted out of me while the true me cried quietly within.

If this is you, someone who is fighting with yourself, fighting with the person you know you really are just to please society look in the mirror and accept you for you. You have to be able to love yourself without the extra. It’s imperative that you find that love for that person crying within and embrace her fully before you start on this journey. It’s not just a physical change it’s also a mental change. Most of us know nothing but straight hair through chemical treatments. It’s the only way we know how to view ourselves, so if you are not mentally prepared to accept the person looking back at you after your big chop or you’re transitioning period, then you WILL fall of quicker than you even got on. You need to know, especially if you decide to do a big chop over transitioning that you will have a TWA (teeny weenie afro) for quite some time. So you need to be confident that you will find beauty beyond your hair. You need to be confident that there is so much more to love about yourself now that you don’t have that hair blocking your true beauty. Look at your eyes, your lips your cheekbones. Find something each day about you and look in the mirror and tell that woman looking back at you what you like about her.

There is an old sayings that a woman’s hair is her glory and I actually lived with that mentality for years. I would hide behind my hair every chance I had and hope no one truly saw my face. Lots of people always told me how pretty I was but in my heart I knew it was only because they really could not see me and I was very much okay with that. For years people would compliment my hair first before anything else about me, and now it’s almost funny to watch people search me and truly get to know me to really find something nice to say about me besides what they have always used.

I feel very blessed that I did not wait any longer than 31 to have this aha moment or realization that my hair does not make me. I truly had to perform therapy on myself sometimes privately through many ups and downs of why I was doing this. I am at such a happy place now that I want so badly to share it with you. I know you are searching like I was and scared because this is big. People may look at you strange and let me be honest with you they will IF you allow them too. When you have true confidence that comes from within, from your soul, but most important from God because you are his child and nothing else matters because he says you are beautiful so therefor you ARE. You will step out of your house with your head high and your heart humbled.

The big chop I must say is scary. After my big chop (well the second one) I cried through the whole thing. I watched in the mirror in fear that people would really see me now. I could no longer hide anywhere. I remember my words to my friend “Oh dear I look like a boy now” and that’s where my personal therapy began. After hearing myself say that out loud I realized I don’t think I ever truly liked who I was and I really needed some personal work. It took time and lot’s of tears but I got through it. It’s an everyday struggle. As crazy as I made my big chop seem it was also very calming and therapeutic. It’s almost like everything around you goes silent. You realize your life is about to completely change (for the best) and you will now be heading on your personal natural hair journey. May God bless you as you take this path and may you find something very very special within yourself that honestly was there all along. Good Luck 🙂

Simone

Poll: Are you relaxed or natural?

How to become a vegetarian

Good Morning Friends,

On this post we will be discussing how to become a vegetarian.  I have people ask me everywhere I go “how do you do it,where did you start, how do you start.” Well in this post I plan to answer these questions for you and hopefully more.

If you are reading this post you are most likely interested in vegetarianism and if so my question to you is WHY? It is very important to have a reason for becoming a vegetarian, something you are truly passionate about or else you most likely wont stick with it.

Ok here we go I have provided a list of 6 easy steps to becoming a vegetarian and I use the word easy very loosely because it may or may not be as easy of a transition for you as it was for me everyone is different.

1. WHY?: Like I said before you need to know why you want to become a vegetarian. What ever your reason is that will be your daily reminder and give you strength on days you are feeling weak. My reason personally is the killing of animals. Do your own research and find your own reasons but personally the treatment of these animals when they are alive is cruel and inhumane to me and disgusts me to be apart of it in any way. My husband has his own reasons which differ from mine but whatever your reason is be passionate about it believe in it and it will keep you going daily.

2. ONE STEP AT A TIME: With this I mean you don’t necessarily have to jump head first into this lifestyle. You can take your time by cutting out one meat at a time. Start with red meat steak beef etc. and the next week try another and see how that works for you. Personally my husband and I just went cold turkey (ironically lol) and never missed a beat but that option isn’t for everyone. I don’t want you to be miserable and feel as though you are depriving yourself of what you love or like, which takes me back to step one you have to have a reason something you are passionate about for doing this then you wont feel deprived.

3. SUBSTITUTIONS: There are many meat substitutions out there like morning star and Boca that have meatless options for you especially if you have a young family that you are transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle. You can also find recipes on the back of there packages. Now I must note if you have an older family like one with teenagers for example it is my recommendation to allow them to choose themselves wether they want to be vegetarian or not. I do this with my older kids and they for the most part choose to be vegetarian. I’ve seen them slip up here and there but I don’t scold them and I allow them to make it there choice no matter how I personally feel about it. which brings me into my next step….

4. DON’T JUDGE: Please don’t judge others while on your journey to becoming a vegetarian. I do not look down on other peoples  reasons for eating meat just as I would not want them to look down on me and my family for NOT eating meat. We live in this wonderful country were we can make choices and lets not ruin that by pushing our lifestyles on others if their not interested.

5.BE PREPARED: It is very important to be prepared when going to a dinner, party, restaurant, holiday party or get together. This is the easiest way to fall of the wagon so to speak if you have not thought ahead of what will be there that you can possibly eat. Trust me my husband and I do that until this day before we go anywhere that may not be vegetarian friendly. We discuss options like salads, pastas, rice and so on. It may be easier for us also because we are not vegan meaning we don’t mind eating eggs, cheese etc. although I don’t drink cows milk (also for the inhumane treatment of the cows and the soreness of there utters etc.) and yes I know cheese is dairy but again it ‘s a choice I am at this time ok with and which may change later.

6. ASK QUESTIONS: No one cares more than you do that your a vegetarian and you will learn that very quickly. When you go somewhere please please please ask the infamous question which will become part of your daily life lol. “Is there meat in this?” Then check for yourself. Plenty of times I have gone to restaurants and specifically told them we are vegetarian please make this salad without chicken or bacon to find under all my lettuce is a colony of bacon. You have to check your own food no one truly cares like you do.

Well I hope I was able to answer all of your questions if not please ask me whatever else you would like to know and I will do my best to answer them for you. May God Bless you ❤

Simone

Hello Friends!

Hello Friends,

This is my very first blog on lovemynaturalhair.wordpress. I am very excited and looking forward to blogging with you. Just as FYI I will not be blogging solely on having natural hair but also on becoming and being a vegetarian. Both of these topics if you’ve read my profile are very important to me and I would love to share my knowledge and also what I learn along the way with you 🙂

This I would like to say is a fresh start for me and for you as well. I say that because I would like to target newly natural men and women along with new vegetarians. The first step towards either of these is not necessarily easy and sometimes it’s nice to feel as though you have someone right by your side holding your hand. I would love to be your mentor on either of these subjects and answer any questions you may have. If by chance I don’t have an answer I will search and find one or the best I can find for you. May God Bless You and please pray for me as well as we head on our life journey together towards being natural and healthy….

Simone