Six week digest

...digest--get it?  heehee

First of all, if you don't follow me on Twitter yet (@TryingVeggie) take a sec and do that. This way, you won't be left hanging again. But I'll happily report to non-Twitterers that I did not break at the OC Foodie Fest--phew. I've been Trying Veggie for six weeks and counting.

There's still a bit of fretting about what's for dinner and I find I run out to grab ingredients more often then I used to--but it all does feel a bit more comfortable. A few of our favs have been fajitas, veggie lasagna, slow cooker pinto beans, homemade meat(less)balls... and I've yet to make the same exact thing twice.

Overall, my husband and I (and I think my little one) are all very glad we're sticking out this challenge. We feel healthier for it, seem to have more energy than we used to and have even dropped a few pounds. It's also led me to be as healthy as I can be in other ways. I've learned about GMO corn and soy and realize the importance of non-GMO produce. Also, a few weeks ago I found out...

"If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane (...a decidedly un-green petroleum byproduct of gasoline refining)"

And here I was, Trying Veggie to be healthier! So this means a lot less reliance on sources I've written about before: Gardein, Trader Joe's meat-less varieties, Morningstar patties... anything that's not organic. Read more from CBS here.

Luckily, I learned that hemp seed is a very good source of protein and I'm using that to make sure we get enough of what our bodies need. They sell the hulled seeds in health food stores or online. They're soft and nutty and sneak well into everything (cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, meat(less)balls, veggie burgers, pizza... you get the idea). Read more about this great protein here and here.

Lastly, and I still can't believe this one, but I stopped drinking coffee. I was such a coffee fiend that I still find this shocking to write. It's only been about a week, but I find I enjoy the sustained energy level vs. the up and down peaks and valleys I felt when drinking my daily lattes. Plus, I'm drinking healthy green tea and water instead of sipping one large latte all day long.

All these little things are adding up and encouraging me further. In addition, I've met vegetarians, vegans and raw foodists who inspire me and push me to wonder... what's next!?

I've been Trying Veggie for 25 days

Today marks 25 days. No meat. Though there have been some non-veggie slip ups and I'm posting in an effort to remind myself NOT to break tomorrow! (I'll explain in the last paragraph.)

First, I hate to share this, but Jiffy corn muffin mix contains lard. I'm not sure what compelled me to read the list of ingredients (after I ate it!), but here they are (I added the bold)--and oh great that it might actually be hydrogenated lard!:

Pic from Jiffy @ http://www.jiffymix.com

 

 

INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, DEGERMINATED YELLOW CORN MEAL, SUGAR, ANIMAL SHORTENING (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: LARD, HYDROGENATED LARD, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED LARD), contains less than 2% of each of the following: BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SALT, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID.

Those little Jiffy boxes have always turned up tasty corn bread, so I'm sad to think I have to let them go (and of course I have some on hand still).  But little things like that popping up are a lot harder to avoid than preparing meals without meat or ordering dishes without meat.

Speaking of which, I reported back on eating out earlier, but I have to dedicate a special mention to two GREAT local restaurants that make Trying Veggie a real no-brainer: Veggie Grill and Yard House. (Side note, I hear Yard House will in the Fenway neighborhood soon.)

Veggie Grill is a vegan restaurant and was an early discovery when we moved to California and a place that we went to once a week--well before I even thought about Trying Veggie. The food is just plain great. We usually get the All-American Stack: grilled veggie-steak (Gardein), thousand island dressing, pickles, lettuce and tomato topped with crispy onion rings, another entree and the kids meal for our daughter--who loves it there (and asks to eat there quite regularly, actually). Overall, it's how vegetarian food should be. Good. NOT--good, for being vegetarian. Oh and they have a killer vegan carrot cake too!

Yard House is a yummy restaurant that happens to have a lot of fun beer on tap. Their food tastes great and is always a sure bet. What they do special is offer normal menu items with Gardein--providing a newly-vegetarian person like myself an amazing array of options that can satisfy any craving you may have (or void you may feel by not eating meat). Case in point--this week I had Béarnaise Sliders--four Gardein mini-burgers with classic béarnaise sauce and fried onions. It was such an awesome treat and I am so grateful to have such cool options made by the professionals.

I owe readers more recipes, and I assure you I will share them. I made stuffed crispy wontons that were awesome, a veggie lasagna, veggie chili... and will share it all. But I had to get a post up today in an effort to hold myself accountable to stay vegetarian.

I'm not sure how hard it will be or not be to do this weekend, but we're going to the OC Foodie Fest tomorrow. Since we've lived here, I've followed the moves of the food trucks in our area, but have yet to try food from any of them. After months of drooling over their menu items, I will be facing 50 of them head on tomorrow--and vow to try my hardest to avoid meat. Can I do it? I'll let you know soon!

Eating out while Trying Veggie

I like food, and enjoy cooking, but it's also fun to take a break and find inspiration in someone else's creations. While Trying Veggie, this has gone well, and not so well.

Our favorite Mexican spot, Jalapenos,  proved successful with both their veggie burrito and their bean and cheese burrito.

Another win was Cosi, where I got a small tomato basil soup and half a signature salad--with their warm delicious bread of course--for $7.

However, a fun, and well-reviewed gastropub, Crow Bar, failed miserably. With little options for me on the menu, I asked the waitress for help. She offered a grilled cheese option (that was not listed on the menu). Though not creative by any means, it sounded okay and was indeed veggie friendly. Well, there was barely any cheese on boring bread--and to boot, they charged $12 for it!

This weekend, I had the chance to enjoy a guilty splurge (made less guilty by the fact that it was done veggie)--In N Out Burger! My husband and daughter both got the veggie burger with cheese (cold) and I tried the grilled cheese, plus a side of fries for us to all share, of course. It was all quite good and it was fun to order from the "secret" menu. Plus, our whole order was about $6, haha.

Do you have a few favorite veggie dishes you eat out? Please share.

Fajitas, a dish after my own heart

Well a few more days have passed than I planned on, but I'm just as excited to share how I made the great fajitas I mentioned in the It's not all good post. For a change, and to try out some veggie protein options from Trader Joe's, I based this one off of their beef-less strips. (By the way, it's a private label product, and I have to wonder if these strips are indeed Gardein.)

Great side ideas for this dish are pinto beans, black beans, rice, chips with guacamole and/or salsa. We had guacamole and slow cooker pinto beans.  It was lots of yummy food that was easy to prepare--and totally helped encourage Trying Veggie for my entire family (we were soured by a few too many lack-luster meals).


Anyway, it was a glorious meal, though I have just one regret. I should have marinated the strips before I cooked them. Next time. Here's what I did:

Fajitas
Ingredients:

• ~1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 red peppers, sliced into strips
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ~1/2 teaspoon cumin
• dash of red pepper flakes
• dash of ground coriander (if you have it)
• salt and pepper
• 1 package Trader Joe's Beef-Less Strips  
• splash of water
  
• cilantro and fresh lime (for serving)
• tortillas (flour or corn)
  

Preparation:
Warm about 2/3 of the oil over medium-high heat and cut the beef-less strips into thinner slices, about the size of the onion and pepper. 

Once the pan is hot, add the pepper and onion. When the onion is turning translucent, add the garlic, cumin, pepper flakes, coriander, salt and pepper. Mix well and let cook a few minutes, until the onion is starting to lightly brown.

Push veggies to the edges of the pan, add the remaining oil to the middle, and saute the beef-less strips--turning when they start to brown. Once both sides have color, mix the strips and veggies together.

When the veggies are done to your liking, add a splash of water to the pan to deglaze it (I used liquid from the beans I was cooking). Mix it all well to evenly coat all ingredients with the seasonings from the pan. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

Serve in warm tortillas with cilantro and a squeeze of lime. 

(TIP--Warm flour tortillas in the microwave by placing between wet paper towels for ~30-60 seconds, depending on how many you are heating. Warm corn tortillas dry--they are more delicate and will hold up better without adding moisture.)

Enjoy!

It's not all good.

Wondering how it's going? Well, since I started this endeavor I haven't eaten a piece of meat (even though I thought I'd be doing that for a little while longer)--but it's not easy. It took years to get where I was at, an experienced chef (of my own kitchen). All of a sudden I've changed the game dramatically and I'm faced with a learning curve of sorts.

Don't try this at home

No more firing up the grill and throwing something on at the last minute for dinner just a few minutes away. Becoming a vegetarian means I need to plan things out, find new ingredients, and figure out how the heck to work with them. Sometimes this goes well, but sometimes it doesn't. Case in point--two nights ago I cooked a meal I thought I'd be posting recipes for, but it was a bomb.

I served a homemade veggie burger that recycled those frozen mixed veggies I mentioned in an earlier post. It seemed like a great idea because I love veggie burgers that have good chunks of identifiable items--like a pea, corn kernel, cubed carrot and green bean. It was lack-luster at best.

It looked promising

For our grains, I made a modified version of this recipe, Wheat Berry Barley and Tomato Salad, which sounded awesome to me. But the vinegar overpowered the dish and overall it tasted like something was lacking. My daughter ate a PBJ for dinner that night and my husband took chicken for lunch the next day. The leftovers of both dishes are crowding my fridge and I wonder when I'll give in and pitch them.

Certainly I am not giving up though. Last night was a much better meal--"beefless" fajitas with slow cooker beans and guacamole. I love Mexican food and it's what I've always gravitated toward cooking, so it felt awesome to make and eat a meal that felt so familiar to me. I'll post my recipes soon, since this one worked. Also on the horizon--vegetable lasagna and pad thai with tofu. So stay tuned (and cross your fingers ;-)

Why am I Trying Veggie?

Fruit and vegetable box

There's a lot of reasons that I've decided to start Trying Veggie. Below is a bit of the background that led up to the tipping point, but overall the primary deciding factor is nutrition. I feel that a strict rule (Don't Eat Meat) forces me outside of the comfort zone and complacent approach I had recently developed toward food. The meals I was making had meat at center stage, while veggies and grains were an afterthought.

Example: six pounds of pork shoulder salted a day in advance, cut into cubes and seared, then braised in the oven with some fun ingredients (orange juice, Coca-Cola, etc.) which made amazing carnitas. We had tacos, used the meat for sandwiches, etc. but we didn't consume nearly enough vegetables and grains.

Another meaty dish of mine: little lamb t-bones

A typical pattern... at the last minute before we sat down to eat, I would cut romaine and drizzle on some dressing. Most of our meals were like this--to the point where my husband had to ask me to start serving more vegetables. Sadly, this meant I bought a bag of frozen mixed veggies at my next trip to the market.

I started to think back and wondered what happened? It's just that a lot in life had changed--we moved cross-country and focused on "more important" things. Then when asking "what's the dinner," meat was the answer.

So I started to think back to things that have previously resonated with me to summon a greater focus on nutrition and less meat:

• Super Size Me (the whole feature film can be viewed after two short ads)
• Food, Inc. (excerpts and trailers)
• The Abs Diet
• Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
• Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid
• Vegetarian options discovered in California
• The Veggie Grill (Vegan restaurant)
• The Yard House (offers their traditional menu items with Gardein in lieu of meat)
• Gardein garden protein products available at supermarkets
• Reconnecting with a friend from junior high (who lives north of me in CA and has been a vegetarian for many years)
• Driving past the Coalinga Feed Yard on a recent drive up to San Francisco (the smell and site was horrific)
• "1/3 of the US supermarket beef is finished on feedlots like that in Coalinga (700 acres with up to 120,000 head of cattle)... Cattle may spend 110-150 days on a feedlot where they're fed grain and protein (some say also steroids) where they'll come in weighing 800lbs and leave for slaughter weighing around 1250 lbs." via Chowhound
• Graham Hill at the TED Conference--Why I'm a weekday vegetarian

 In a quick nut shell, that's why I am Trying Veggie. What about you? Are you curious about trying veggie too? Please use the comments option to share with me why you do, or would--moral reasons? Health? The environment?

Crispy tenders, asparagus risotto (and hummus)

Before going into any meal info, I have to recap. I started Trying Veggie on Monday and I have to say I might just continue veggie... one night during these past few days I reheated ziti that had a meat sauce--but it was chunky meat (like mini meatballs), so I easily ate the pasta and discarded the meat. Certainly not 100% vegetarian, but my point is that perhaps it's easier to avoid the meat than I originally thought it would be.

Onto the focus of the post, the meal for which this entry is titled. 
So, this meal was the first one I let a veggie product--Gardein's seven grain crispy tenders--play the main role without any input from me. I thought I would make a sauce or use the chicken in something else (like a burrito or sandwich) when I first bought the bag, but it was so good on its own, that we just ate it as is with the other fun sides. It could easily be used that way or atop a big salad, but it definitely stands its own ground.


Asparagus risotto
Ingredients:

• ~1/2 an onion finely diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil and/or butter (I usually use 1 tbsp each)
• 1 1/2 cups risotto (arborio rice)
• ~3.5 cups veggie broth (or water and a little salt)
• ~1 bunch of asparagus cut into ~1.5" pieces
• grated parmesan or asiago cheese for serving 

Preparation:
I cook risotto in my rice cooker--so this method will apply to using this great tool. If you don't have one, you can absolutely still make risotto--but I don't have the expertise to tell you how to do it. Leave me a comment if you can share your on-the-stovetop method and maybe I'll edit this post (giving you credit of course!)

Power up your rice cooker and add the oil and/or butter. Once hot/melted, add the onion and saute in the rice cooker bowl until a bit tender and translucent (just a couple of minutes). 

Add the risotto to the oil/butter and mix (careful if you have a non-stick bowl!) to coat the grains and toast them up a bit. Shortly after doing this you will notice the outer part of the grain turns translucent--only the inner part remains white. I wait a bit longer after this occurs, then shut off the rice cooker.

Add the remaining ingredients except the cheese, mix and start the rice cooker--mine has a porridge setting that works well for this, but you can use "regular" if you don't have that program. (You can mix several times throughout the cooking process to help get the good creaminess you expect out of a good risotto.) 

My porridge cycle lasts about 45 minutes, but I like the consistency better if I pull it somewhere between 35-40 minutes. If you would rather not bother with mixing and tasting throughout the process, you can set a timer for 40 minutes. Do a quick taste and so long as it's cooked enough for your liking, you're set.  
 
Serve with parmesan for a good salty cheese flavor, or asiago for a sweeter, nuttier taste (or your favorite.)  Enjoy! 

What about that other bowl on the table, next to those fresh veggies (from my Mom's garden!)?
That's the hummus I make. I'll be sure to share that recipe too (I've been working on perfecting it, and got it just right this time)--but not today.
Stay tuned.

Protein

When I first started thinking about trying veggie, my first concern was how to get enough protein. In case you have the same thought, here's what I've learned.

Adults need 8 grams of protein per 2.2 lbs of body weight.
A child 4-6 yrs old needs 1.5 grams of protein per 2.2 lbs of body weight.
See chart here for specific figures for kids.

Surprisingly, I think it will be pretty easy for us to get our needed protein.  Just for example, here's some foods common in our diet and their respective protein counts:

• 8 oz. milk, 10g
• 8 oz. yogurt, 9g
• 10 almonds, ~3g
• 1/2 cup chick peas (garbanzo beans), 7g
• 1/4 cup dry quinoa (and couscous), 7g

Roughly, a cup of dairy is about 10 grams and a portion (1/4 cup dry) grain, nuts, or beans is approximately 7 grams.  The Gardein products I've used so far have 18 grams of protein per serving.  So overall, I think it won't be too hard to meet our requirements. This is especially true for my little one who guzzles milk. Just a little more than two glasses a day and she'd be set without any protein from food.

Plus, I can already say that I feel better after trying veggie for the past three days.  I actually have more energy and overall feel like my body is happy with the whole grains and vegetables I am treating it to.

Beefless skewers with tomato basil couscous

Uncooked Gardein beefless tip skewers

I was sad I missed taking pics of the lentil burgers I made before we gobbled them all up, but I learned my lesson and captured some of the beauty of my next veggie meal.

Before the recipes though, a bit on my experience so far. Part of the reason I couldn't deal with meat anymore was how dangerous it felt working with it in the kitchen. I was being so careful not to cross-contaminate. Prep meat, then move it safely away. Get utensils and cutting boards in the sink, wash them off, load them in the dishwasher. Wash hands, disinfect counter, disinfect sink--oh great, chemicals! Don't get me started...

So my first two veggie meals have felt glorious to make. Working with my hands on the all-veggie patties and skewers was a delight (and how cool that I could taste the raw ingredients of the burger and adjust the seasonings as I was mixing it!)

My second meal was even better than the first. I have to thank my mom for sharing the bounty of her beautiful, thriving garden. She expressed us a box of veggies from Long Island to Cali! and I jumped at the chance to center our meal around them.

Gardein beefless tip skewers 
Great product to cook with--my 3-yr-old knew it was a veggie meal, but at first bite asked "is this meat!?"

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Gardein beefless tip skewers
• 3 red bell peppers, cut into large squares
• 2 large onion, cut into skewer-able sections
• 1 pack of mushrooms, cut in half if large
• A1 sauce
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• black pepper
• (and wooden skewers)

Preparation:

One hour prior to grilling, marinate the Gardein tips in a gallon size bag with the garlic, black pepper and A1 (enough to cover the tips well) and soak the skewers in water.

After marinating, skewer the pepper, tips, onion and mushroom. I found it was helpful to put the pepper, then the tip--so it has something to anchor it.

Cook on a medium-low grill (too high will blacken the outside of the veggies and leave the insides raw). Gardein says to cook the tips to a 165 internal temp,  which will easily be achieved by the time the veggies are ready.

Tomato basil couscous
Ingredients:

• 2 cups couscous
• 2 cups water (and/or vegetable stock)
• 4 tbsp of olive oil, divided in half
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• ~10 grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• ~1/2 bunch of basil, cut into thin slices
• salt

Preparation:
Cook couscous according to package directions (2 cups of couscous, 2 cups of liquid, plus 2 tbsp of olive oil). OR- if you have a rice cooker, add the couscous, liquid and oil to the pot and cook on the regular cycle.

Once done, turn off heat, fluff and mix in the balsamic, remaining olive oil and plum tomatoes. Recover and let sit at least 5 minutes--or until you are ready to serve the meal.

When ready to serve, salt to taste and top with the grape tomatoes and basil. We also had some Trader Joe's pitted kalamata olives with evoo. Great on the plate with this fantastic meal.


PS--this makes a ton of couscous. I enjoy lots of leftovers, but if you don't, just 1/2 everything except the tomatoes and basil.

Lentil burgers with carrot, onion and cilantro

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a med onion (~1/4 cup finely chopped onion)
• 1 med carrot (~1/4 cup grated carrots)
• 3 cups cooked lentils, pulsed to a mash in food processor (mashed)
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• dash of chili powder
• pinch of cumin
• 1-2 tsp pinskey's shallot pepper
• salt to taste
• oil to saute veggies and patties

Preparation:

Put carrot and onion into food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  (No food processor?  Give your arm a good work out--finely chop the onion and grate the carrot.)

Saute onion and carrot in oil over med high heat until tender and caramelizing, about ten minutes. Add a splash of water or veggie stock to get up any golden bits.

Combine the onion carrot mixture with the rest of the ingredients (no oil).

Take large handfuls of the mixture at a time and form into patties.  Cook in a lightly oiled frying pan until nicely browned on both sides (and heated through) ~ten minutes.

Enjoy with your choice of toppings and bread!

Flexitarian on the path to vegetarian

I moved to California from Boston with the thought that I'd live near a lot of tree-hugging vegetarians. I didn't quite find them, but I did find some great food--a lot of it veggie (more on that another time).

Original photo from flickr here

First few weeks here were a whirlwind. Getting food on the table was clearly still a need, but I wasn't quite excited about the local supermarket chains. And, what on earth is with the cuts of meat here? I went from steak tips to tri-tip, skirt steak to flap meat, chicken cutlets to whole breasts that required trimming and prepping (and notably, cost $6 more a pound).

Jokingly, I said on Facebook "I've come to the conclusion on the yucky names for meat... It's a ploy to increase vegetarianism!" --Well, maybe I was right. Less than two months later I'm throwing in the towel and vow to not purchase anymore meat.  However...

I'm a passionate cook--and that means I have meat already here. Frozen ground beef, steak and other meals I've prepared and frozen. Plus, with a husband and three-year-old I'll be dragging along for this ride, I think we'll benefit from easing into this plan. So, soon I'll be a vegetarian--but for now, I'm a:

flexitarian (ˌflɛksɪˈtɛərɪən)
— n
1. a person who eats a predominantly vegetarian diet, but who eats meat or fish occasionally

My need to cook comes down to nutrition control--so though I could take the easy out and buy garden burgers and tofu hot dogs, instead I'll be working in as many homemade nutritious meals as I possibly can. At this blog, I'll share them with you.