Ok, so they’re not technically No Meat Athletes yet, but strictly speaking, neither am I!  Unless you define “meat” in the fish-excluding Catholic sense, and I don’t think too many of us still define it that way.

I just wanted to write a quick post about some readers of this blog who have made me really happy, by being open to trying the recipes I’ve been posting and by letting me and other readers know about their successes.  And I think they’re great examples of the fact that you don’t have to stop eating meat entirely to benefit from a few vegetarian meals each week.

The first No Meat Athlete award goes to Pete, a guy who is one of the last people I would have expected to like this blog.  Not because he’s extremely unhealthy or anything; he’s just not to into fru-fru stuff like vegetarianism.  He has tried five or six of the recipes with an open mind (to his wife’s chagrin, I sense) and has been happy with the results, from what I can tell.  And don’t doubt that Pete is an athlete–his claim to fame (in my mind) is the double play he turned in high school on the now-evil-Yankee Mark Teixiera.

The other (joint) recognition goes to Colleen and Joel, both of whom have a growing interest in cooking real, healthy food.  They’ve jumped right in and even tried the tempeh recipes, pretty scary for most non-vegetarians.  As for the athlete part?  Colleen and Joel completed the Baltimore Half Marathon in October, thanks in no part to my blog, since it didn’t even exist back then.

Nice job No Meat Athletes!  This blog takes up a lot more time than I envisioned when I started it, but seeing it actually inspire people to make changes makes every hour I spend worth it.