On a recent bike ride, I was riding behind my triathlete friend Charles.  Charles was looking fast, strong, and noticeably slimmer.  ”Dude, you look lean!” I called out to him.  ”I’ve lost 20 pounds,” he responded.  I was impressed—how’d he do it?   Simple, a combination of increased training… and becoming a vegetarian.

“Wow,” I said, somewhat shocked.  ”That’s a big change.”

It sure is.  For as much as I adore fruits and vegetables, the idea of forsaking meat completely and for eternity is daunting.  There are too many things I’d miss.

But what if for one week, I cooked 100% vegetarian?  No seafood, no eggs, no bits of ham or turkey sausage to flavor a dish; could I handle this, or would I start gnawing off my arm in desperation for meat, any meat?

A few recipe hiccups aside, it was extremely manageable.

I did red beans and rice, a couple of Elaine Benes “big salads”, and I turned to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food cookbook for the rest.

Like this watercress and barley salad with dill vinaigrette.

This was the weakest dish of the bunch; eating this made me feel like a rabbit and had me craving a big, fat steak.  Would make a nice side salad, but as a main course for dinner—ehh, not so much. Kind of boring and one-note.

Sprinkling in fat-free feta helped perk things up, but there was still something missing.  If I ever make this again—and I probably won’t—I’ll add more stuff, like tomatoes, red onion, olives, etc.

The next dish was a keeper—a white bean salad with chopped sage, shallots, bell pepper, and a red wine vinaigrette with Dijon mustard.

Crunchy, sharp and tart.  Paired up with grilled pita, it made a very satisfying meal.

And finally, tabbouleh.  First off, who knew bulgur wheat was so difficult to find? Couldn’t find it at any of my local supermarkets or Trader Joe’s, or even the gourmet markets like Harvest Market on the Sound and Lords’ Farm.  I figured Whole Foods had it, but I don’t really shop there.

Finally found a box of bulgur cracked wheat at D’Agostino. (Which is different from regular bulgur in that cracked wheat is uncooked and requires more soaking time.  So Bittman’s recipe called for 15-30 minutes of soaking time; the bulgur cracked wheat took more like 2 1/2 hours.)

Here’s how the tabbouleh turned out.

Can’t go too wrong with tabbouleh—parsley, mint, tomatoes, red onion, lemon juice, olive oil—provided you like the taste of parsley, it’s a very refreshing salad… except that I made waaaay too much, and now I’m already getting sick of it. Tabbouleh overload.

So in review, eating vegetarian for a week isn’t bad at all.  I’m a little grained out and don’t want to see barley again for six months, but otherwise, it’s doable, and on hot summer days, quite enjoyable.

This week I’m making the Chinese dish, ma po tofu.  Sounds vegetarian, and it is… er, except for the ground pork.