A little over a week ago, Kid One came home from school informing me that, for the upcoming week, he would only eat a vegetarian diet. No meat, no fish. Not vegan – cheese and dairy were fine. He had made a deal with a friend and was determined to stick to it.

This wasn’t really a big stretch for him. He had no interest in meat until he turned 10; refried beans are his comfort food; he’s been encouraging Meatless Monday. Unfortunately, though, I just done my grocery shopping for the next several meals – a pound and half of fresh salmon and ingredients for bolognese sauce. “Not even fish?” I begged. He was resolute. I imagined this as a scene in a movie, one in which a harried mother shakes a wooden spoon at him and screams, “You’ll eat what I give you when you’re in my house!” Or another movie – an elegantly dressed and groomed mother cooing, “Certainly, dear. If you can’t eat what we’re having go find yourself some food; you’ve got a car and some money.”

Because I am neither harried nor particularly elegant, because he’s a good kid who doesn’t cause andy trouble or ask for very much, because I’m always up for a good challenge, and most of all because my domain in the kitchen and I’m nothing if not master of my domain – what I said was, “All right then.”

Breakfasts were easy – cereal with fruit is pretty standard with an occasional egg and cheese bagel thrown in for the mix. I always send him to school with a trail mix bar of some sort for a snack at school, and since he’s home for lunch he usually heats himself up a frozen cheese pizza (Trader Joe’s Four Cheese are cheap and REALLY good) or some refried beans and tortillas. I throw carrots and apples at the boys all day long. So far, so good – nothing out of the ordinary.

Which left dinners. I’ve been pretty meat-centric at dinner time and feel fine about it; I splurge on the good stuff – the grass-fed beef or buffalo, locally made sausage, sustainable fish, and hormone-free everything. Meat, vegetable, salad, and a starch is generally what I make. LL and I usually skip the starch and the Kids usually skip the salad.  So I had to do a mental re-set to rethink dinnertime.

So for dinner that first night, I sauteed sliced green onion, diced celery, and cubed green and yellow zucchini in a little olive oil, then chopped up some leftover asparagus and the crown of a leftover artichoke and cooked it with the mixture. I tossed in some chopped black olives and grated a little Monterey Jack cheese over it and got that all hot and melted. I cracked some eggs and whisked them together in a little bowl, added the eggs to the veggies, and voila. A healthy veggie-egg scramble, little effort involved.

I did make a trip to the market for extra veggies, so the night we had friends over for grilled salmon  we had a grilled vegetable option: portobello, green pepper, and onion and corn on the cob. Our friends brought over a salad of penne, feta, black olives, onions, and artichoke hearts in a vinaigrette, which was lovely with the fish.

His diet was a great excuse to use the bag of ivory lentils I’ve had for almost a year. Like I do with so many dishes, I started off with onion (white) and garlic (freshly minced) sauteed in oil (grapeseed). I added a big tablespoon curry, a heaping teaspoon of tumeric, a half-teaspoon white pepper, a generous sprinkle each of ancho chili powder and salt. I added the pound bag of lentils, cooked them with the mixture, then added ten cups of water and simmered all day until the lentils were soft and the soup became a gorgeous, rich orange. First meal was served in a bowl with brown rice on the side, then I put the leftover rice in the soup it make it more of a chunky stew. There was enough for several meals for all of us and it was a moderate hit. LL had been traveling and thought it was fabulous – wonderful and soothing. Kid One thought it needed more of a kick, and Kid Two said it was just okay. (After the week was over I tossed in the last bit over pork loin chops cooked in onion and shredded carrot and spooned it in flour tortillas with a little cheese and shredded lettuce – burritos!)

I also improvised a super quick and easy eggplant parmesan – a dish I don’t think I’ve ever made. No extra trips to the market involved – I had a box of frozen breaded eggplant cutlets (again from Trader Joes, they were speaking to me . . .), a jar of sauce, and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses already in the house. Another easy meal, another big hit.

The week was a huge success. I saved a little money, used up some pantry and freezer items that needed to be used, and introduced both boys to a couple of new dishes they really enjoyed. I’m not ready to give up meat, but the week taught me that it’s easy to eat much less of it without feeling deprived. I’m actually inspired me to keep experimenting with interesting meat-free meals. I’ll let you know how it goes.