“and I’ll have the vegetarian Sunday roast, please”

Those are not words I had ever envisaged would cross my lips. But today, they did. And I’m glad they did.

An impromptu Sunday lunch with new friends turned out to be quite the mission as my husband, J, gallantly tried to take into account my new dietary requirements while I was mortified that it was necessary. And all our first choices were fully booked.

So we went for a traditional Sunday roast in a pub. And I found myself ordering the (V) option. I love sausages and have never felt the need or curiosity to try a non-meat one. I have tried turning my hand at sausage making, so I know what goes into (good quality) ones. I don’t , however, know as much about their vegetarian cousins. And it bothered me not to know, or be able to identify, what was inside these otherwise tasty bangers. It might be soy, or gluten, 2 things I need to avoid. But as we exited the pub later, I was glad I’d stuck to my new diet: I was feeling noticeably less ‘over-full’ than I normally would after a Sunday roast.

‘But what about those meatballs in the picture?’ I hear you say. Ah, those are homemade, so I know what’s inside them.

For breakfast, we had a firm favourite: scrambled eggs on rye bread and a tomato, lime, coriander salsa

The meatballs? They are Aubergines No-Meat Meatballs, courtesy of my veg box provider’s cookbook: recipe here (I used GF breadcrumbs, almonds instead of pine nuts and pimenton instead of fresh chili). And they were yummy! Good thing I made extra so we have lunch ready for a busy week.