SECRET TO MAKING A VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE EASIER IS SEASONING.”

“Ever since cutting meat, I have no more heartburn and I can eat so many things without feeling miserable,” Julie explains. “I can literally drink hot sauce, lemon juice, co ee, eat chocolate, even have a beer, none of which I could do before.”

Ernie says they initially didn’t really know what to cook, so they made lots of veggies topped with di erent seasonings until Julie started nding and trying di erent recipes.

“Julie does the majority of the prep, then we just play with the ingredients,” says Ernie. “It’s fun seeing what we can come up with. It’s like an art form.”

Julie also says they make it a point to waste as little as possible when cooking. Often, after taking stock of what they have in their pantry/refrigerator, she’ll Google something like, ‘I have tomatoes, I have black beans, I have squash, I have onions, nd me a recipe,’ and all kinds of recipes pop up.

Once she picks one, they’ll review the list of ingredients. If there’s an ingredient they don’t have, they’ll substitute it with something on hand. Or they’ll incorporate leftover veggies from the day before into the new dish.

“We don’t waste much at all; that’s always our goal. We cook with what we’ve got,” Julie adds.

They also use fresh ingredients, nutritional yeast for added vitamins, and cook from scratch when possible because it is more cost e ective than buying prepared meals.

Plus, to reduce tiredness, they take supplements to replace the Vitamin B usually found in meats. And they load up on dark green vegetables like collard greens, spinach and Brussels sprouts to maintain healthy iron levels.

They’ve also learned to season, season, season.

“The secret to making a vegetarian lifestyle easier is seasoning. The food has to taste good, because if it doesn’t, or if it’s bland, you won’t want to eat it. You’ll feel you are missing out on something,” Ernie says.