Pop Your Cherry – Asparagus. Yes, asparagus
I mentioned in a previous post that I had never tried asparagus. I know, weird right? I love vegetables, especially green ones. So why did it take me more than 26 years to try this one? I don’t really have a good reason. Finally, curiosity got the better of me and I bought some the other day. Since the general consensus around here seems to be that asparagus should be grilled, sauteed, or roasted onto a pizza I decided to throw some on the grill along with some sliced, marinated zucchini (and a steak for my husband!) and see what all the fuss was about.
Homemade granola – Breakfast at Clique-any’s
I don’t really like breakfast cereal in general, but I heart granola big time. It’s just full of crunchy, oat-y, goodness. There are some problems (as is usually the case) with buying the prepackaged stuff, though. Lots of sugar and salt, just off the top of my head. Then there’s the issue of there never being a great combination of “extra ingredients” for me. Why can’t I have chocolate chips and almonds? Why can’t I have coconut and banana chips without hateful raisins and freeze-dried apple bits?
For a long time I put off learning how to make my own granola because it seemed like a pretty daunting task to take on. It seemed very complicated with all of the toasting, and stirring, and more stirring. Finally, I decided just to try it one time. Because if I was willing to pick all the raisins out of my bowl of granola, one by one, what’s the big deal with a little toasting and stirring? Read the rest of this entry »
A very unauthentic, but seriously delicious Pasta e Fagioli
I love soup. When made well, it’s probably just about as perfect of a food as you can get. There may be a couple of meals out there that I like more, but nothing that I could eat every day for a week and not either get sick of or feel guilty about eating.
This recipe for pasta e fagioli may be a little bit on the bootlegged side of things, but it is chock full of both pasta, and fagioli (that’s beans, people), so as far as I’m concerned, it’s as authentic as it needs to be. Because deliciousness and ease of preparation beat out authenticity in my book any day of the week.
It’s also easy to customize to your liking, and I’ll add a couple of variations at the end of the recipe. Because if you haven’t yet noticed my low-carb phobia, you’ll see that this recipe contains both pasta and potatoes.
It’s Not Meat, It’s You – Portuguese vegetarians? They do exist!
I may not have met any yet, but they do exist. A friend of mine is cooking for a bunch of people at a festival she helps organize every year, and around ten of them are vegetarians. She gets stressed out enough as it is trying to cook for a bunch of people, but the whole vegetarian thing has her ready to pull her hair out.
You see, the Portuguese, or at least most of them, really like their meat. Pork, beef, mutton, goat, rabbit — it’s all good eats to them. No animal is deemed too fuzzy or too cute for slaughter. OK, cats and dogs are not on the menu, but you get what I mean. It’s a very different culture over here, one you can still find many people living off their own land and raising their own livestock for food. If you come at the right time of year, you’ll probably be invited to the annual pig slaughter and resulting feast.
It’s Not Meat, It’s You – The Buddy System
Change is almost never easy, even when we are the ones who implement it. Seriously, sometimes I just want to give up and say screw you, cows, I’m having a steak. I’ve started working outside the home for the first time in over five years and the adjustment hasn’t been terrible, but sometimes I just don’t want to bother with vegetarian food. I get that evil little voice inside me saying, go on, you’ve worked hard, now take a break — you can always start again tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Not Meat, It’s You – Beans, beans, the magical fruit…
Don’t worry, I’m just childish enough to start that sentence, but not finish it. One reason I never thought I would be a successful vegetarian was because of my own misconceptions about nutrition, specifically protein. I thought if I wanted to get enough protein in my diet, I would have to eat tofu or some sort of TVP fake-meat product. Fake meat can be tasty, but even if it were commercially available to me (because it’s not), I would try to avoid it just as I try to avoid most processed foods. And tofu … well, that stuff just plain scares me. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Not Meat, It’s You – The Backslide
Whenever we try to quit or even just cut back on something — chocolate, smoking, shopping, or in my case, meat — there is the probability of backsliding. It’s just natural I guess. I’ve been doing really well for the most part, but last week’s bout with food poisoning really messed with me.
As is usually the case when these things happen, I wanted nothing to with most food in general, but was particularly wretched at the thought of eating anything I had the day I got sick. Vegetables of all kinds were especially scary. But I needed to eat something, and the one thing I wasn’t associating with food poisoning was meat, because I hadn’t eaten any. So, for the sake of my poor tummy, as well as my sanity (paranoia, don’t you know) I turned my back on my eating habits and bought some smoked turkey from the deli and made myself a sandwich.
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