cluck.

i ate chicken tonight.

i've been a vegetarian for something like 19 years but starting tonight....no more. my reasons for being a vegetarian over the years have varied and changed from hardcore animal rights to the environment to health to simply not needing to eat animals to indifference(for years i endured my brothers and their friends mooing at me because they thought they were funny). but after reading this book a couple of years ago, my views began to change slightly. why am i eating fake meat from who knows where and has had to travel who knows how many miles when there's grass fed, organic beef raised in the next town over? and as i move toward a diet focused on whole, nutritious foods, i wonder why i'd eat processed soy products often containing things i don't even recognize instead of free range chicken from down the road. i've thought alot about this for quite sometime and have even heard of a number of cases where eating meat again after being a vegetarian has improved digestive health and well being(which, with my irritable belly, is something i'd be completely for!). and now there's the promise of fresh, local meat and chicken coming to the local farmers' market that i'm helping to organize and i know that this change is something i'm ready for. i feel extremely fortunate to have access to such good, whole foods raised by families so close to my community. but of course, once i have my mind made up, i'm not good at waiting. and so, rather than wait for the market to start, i found some free range, fairly local chicken at the grocery and decided to give it a go.

i make chicken dumpling soup alot. the kids love it and so do i. because, really, who doesn't love dumplings? normally, i make it with a vegetable stock and add the chicken to the kids' bowls instead of to the whole pot(my kids are not, nor have ever been vegetarians). not so tonight. i used an organic, free range chicken stock and added chicken right to the pot. now, i've been a vegetarian for 19 years. i'm aware that adding meat back into my diet needs to be a slow process so that my stomach gets used to digesting it again instead of making me completely sick. for this reason, i really didn't eat any chunks of chicken(ok...just one because luke insisted he wanted to see me eat chicken...it was ok. tasted like chicken :) )but rather picked around them or gave them to the kids. but it was chicken soup made with chicken stock and so far i still feel good. i'd say it's a pretty good start.

(i imagine my brothers may start mooing at me any day now...or perhaps i should i say clucking)