In our quest for greater health, we've become part-time vegetarians. The rules are simple - we don't eat meat during the week, but can eat anything we want Friday - Sunday. It isn't always easy. You have to eat a LOT more when you have a vegetarian dinner, and you feel like downing a pint of ice cream for dessert immediately after finishing your low-fat meal. However, we do feel better, even if we haven't lost any weight. (See note above about ice cream!) My hat is off to real vegans and vegetarians - it isn't easy!One of our tools for eating vegetarian is the book "Super Natural Every Day," which my sister and brother in law gave to us for Christmas. After making several recipes featured in the book, we have renamed it "Super Starving Everyday." Okay, it isn't that bad, but it has taken some getting used to. The good news is that the meals are very simple and easy to prepare, so they are perfect for a quick weeknight dinner.
The only really good "repeat" meal I've made is something the author called "gribiche," pictured above. I get to use our gorgeous eggs and the potatoes in the dish help make it more filling. I prepare my own dressing (the author has you mix a cooked egg yolk into her recipe for the dressing, which was kind of gross - I tried making it this way the first time) and it is actually a pretty satisfying meal.
Looks yummy, but I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years. I think Super Natural Every Day has very pretty pictures, but since she lives in or near San Francisco she has access to ingredients we can't get out here in the country!
ReplyDeleteI can believe 'super starving'. ;-)
ReplyDeleteStill, good luck and congratulations!
My hat is off to "full-time" vegetarians. We are getting used to it and I am actually feeling great after sticking to this plan for the past 6 weeks or so. So much so that I didn't have any meat this weekend - without even thinking about it! (It helped that I cooked a decadent butternut squash mac and cheese on Friday!)
ReplyDeleteMy beef (ha ha) with Super Natural is that the recipes taste incredibly bland. I've since found a good curry recipe and an aloo gobi recipe online, so I think the more ethnic veggie dishes are the way to go. I've also found really good veggie burgers and veggie meatballs at Whole Foods, which seem to satisfy that part of me that craves the meat taste.