Forty-ish days of vegetarianism

For Lent this year I went vegetarian.

In some ways it wasn't too bad - I enjoy vegetarian food and it didn't push my boundaries too much to cook and eat vegetarian.

However, in other ways it was really difficult:
1) Getting the right "texture" in dishes - we avoided meat substitutes like Quorn, so instead used vegetables, cheese or pulses as the filler.
2) My cheese consumption went sky-high! Cheese became my main staple in far too many meals. The fridge was full of different types of cheese. At one point we had at least 11 cheeses in the house. Then I discovered that some cheeses (particularly Parmesan) aren't actually vegetarian. Oops.
3) Restaurants were awkward. I hadn't realised quite how few options a vegetarian has in most restaurants, even in vegetarian-friendly cuisines like Italian. We didn't do a lot of eating out!

I had a few real cooking successes:

Caramelised Red Onion and Goats Cheese Tart

Homemade Vegetable Spring Rolls

Roasted Romanesco (which was served with a cheesy sauce)

Vegetarian Moussaka

I also made a yummy vegetable lasagne, packed full of courgette, aubergine and mushrooms, and couple of rather nice curries, but I totally forgot to take photos (#badblogger!).

Lent for me is about making a sacrifice, and there have definitely been times over the last six weeks when the limits of being vegetarian were hard. I am very much looking forward to returning to my normal diet - the roasting joint is sat in the fridge, ready and waiting for Sunday!