New Year's Resolution

I am not a resolutions person. For me, setting and keeping resolutions is as painful and unrealistic as going on a diet. When I was younger and idealistic I tried, and quickly realized how foolish the effort was. So never again. I chalked it up to part of learning about myself with nothing to show for it.

Strangely enough, I found myself wanting to and actually setting a resolution for 2010. Maybe as I'm aging I'm reverting back to my former self. (Well, as I think this thought, the image of Benjamin Button as a 70-year-old infant jumped into my mind, so I sure hope that's not the case.) Regardless of the reason, I made a resolution, actually said it out loud to Elijah so he can keep me accountable, and am finding myself following it. Not only that, it's been fun! And I'm going to use the blog to track the progress.

The resolution is simple: eat more vegetables. By this I mean trying new vegetables, cooking them in new ways, and having vegetables be the primary part of a meal versus just sides. I want vegetables to be the heroes in my life. Now this is really part of a natural progression for me, as I am finding that I have less and less interest in meat, especially not large quantities of it at any given time. Yet I was still finding myself thinking of vegetables as an afterthought to what I eat, and therefore was just not having enough of it. So making it a resolution makes me more proactive about planning and engaged in thinking about what I eat.

In any case, so far so good. And I've really been enjoying it too. So far I've had some fantastic meals with these vegetables as the main ingredients: brussels sprouts, tofu (ok, not a vegetable, but vegetarian), cauliflowers, carrots, and celery. And coming up I have winter melons, sweet potatoes, kabocha, mushrooms, and potatoes. And I have plans to try cooking with endive.

I will try to document these things as best as I can and share them. It's hard for me to remember to take pictures while I cook but I'll be more mindful. With the Internet as my source for recipes, there are just so many exciting possibilities.

Cheers and bravo to vegetables!