A Vegetarian Disclosure
I <3 Vegetables. I always have. I used to request to have all the veggie and fruit sides in the high school cafeteria instead of just the bread roll. I also used to feign occasional vegetarianism to get out of eating dad's overly-frequent burger dinners.
I also <3 Meat. Burgers, lamb, pork, seafood, poultry! (a favorite), there is something primal about hunting, preparing and eating it.
However, I consider that it's best to eat relatively little meat, and that fruits and vegetables are anti-cancer and anti-aging magic bullets. The meat processing industry deeply concerns me (though I wonder if it's as bad here in Australia as it is in the U.S.) As well as the over-fishing of our oceans. So it recently occurred to me that I could start to develop a bit more of a vegetarian repertoire in the kitchen. I tentatively asked my Spaghetti Bolognese husband how he felt about this, and his reply was:
No, just kidding, he was actually into it. Shocking!
(Or maybe not that shocking, given the amount of times I try to cook a flesh of some kind and ask.... does this look done to you? Where is my meat thermometer? ... )
Newly rejuvenated, I began looking for renowned vegetarian cook books and recipes. Moosewood came highly recommended so I picked up two of theirs. And the Deorah Madison one got nearly 5 stars on Amazon out of 227 customers, so I figured I'd try that.
MR Cooking for Health - $24.00 AUD
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone - $39.00 AUD
both from: Book Depository (with free shipping!!)
MR Simple Suppers - $42.00 AUD - at Borders in-store with 40% off.
I still love my meat, but I'm cooking with a lot more vegetables at the moment.
And trying to figure out what tofu is really all about....
Comments
The protein that I'm trying to figure out is seitan... I made it once - tried meatballs - and I'm not a fan of the texture, altho I know for a fact I used it wrong. I have to try again, but there are so many different varieties of it, and recipes are never specific as to which one to use!
I tried quinoa for the rest time yesterday - doesn't taste like anything.... but it's amazing for you, so I'm going to try and make something with it, considering I bought a bag and need to use it up before I leave.
I wish we could be in our Firenze apartment right now - you and me, looking up recipes and filling the apartment with incredible aromas and steam emanating from whatever food we're preparing. We stuck to what we knew - carbs and gelato!
My family is full of carnivores, so trying to introduce various new vegetable dishes isn't easy - there's a lot of doubt about whether it's good or not. You can't teach old dogs new tricks, right? But you and I can most certainly try!