Smorgasbord Anyone?!?!?

I have a nightly smorgasbord at my house.  Last night is a prime example.  I made my sons cheeseburgers (90% lean burger) with Tator Tots.  I always make 4, but since I've been eating more E2L, I try to resist eating them leaving the 2 extra for their lunches the next day.  Usually, I am very tempted to eat a burger, especially when I get home late and am cooking late.  However, last night was different.  I wasn't tempted in the least to have a cheeseburger.  Instead, I had a homemade veggie burger left over from the ones I made for supper earlier in the week.  (OK, OK, I caved and had a couple of Tator Tots, but hey! They are vegetarian!)   

I raised my two sons, who are 21 and 19, on SAD food.  I've been trying to gradually convert them into more healthy eating habits, more fruit, veggies, and salads.  I think I've finally weened them off of white bread and they eat double fiber bread now (5 gr. of fiber per slice), which is much better for them.  I have not weened them off of chips, but the oldest son only eats baked chips, and the younger son eats those or pretzels, which neither are really good, but they are better than the full fat snacks.  Although I'm making progress, I can't see getting the boys to eat vegan or even totally vegetarian unless it's some kind of meal that doesn't hit them in the face as being vegan or vegetarian.

I have found that it's absolutely crucial for me to have ready made Eat To Live (E2L) friendly food in the house for these types of evenings.  It's getting easier not to eat the same food as my sons, but it is harder when I have to prepare their meal and then not eat any of it.  One thing is that has helped is this blogging and having an entire list of vegan and vegetarian blogs that I follow now.  That's where I found the veggie burger recipe.  It has given me new inspiration. 

The absolute hardest thing for me about eating E2L is that I don't have any desire to become totally raw, so that means I have to cook from scratch, which I like cooking so that part isn't so bad, but it's the long list of ingredients and ALL of the preparation that is something to get used to.  I work full-time, and on nights like last night when I don't step into the house until 6:30PM at night and THEN I have to think about cooking something elaborate, it gets hard.  I'm going to have to start planning where I have one "cook day" on the weekend and then can freeze things in individual servings for easy reheat and eat nights.  I also need to sit down and pre-plan my week's menu.  I used to do that and man, it keeps me on track.  There is something about putting each day's meal down in writing one week at a time that makes cooking whatever is on that day's menu a no-brainer.  Maybe it's because I don't have to think about it that makes it easier or maybe it's that I know what's coming and am already mentally prepared to do the prep work involved that makes it a piece of cake, but all I know is that for me, it works. Once I get that down pat, I'll be set.