Monday, August 29, 2011

The Best Zucchini Parm Ever!

Thanks to One Acre Farm, Melissa, David, Blaine and I enjoyed the best zucchini parm ever.  Here's how it went down...


Blaine and I went to visit Mike & Kristin and had a chance to check out One Acre Farm's new, totally impressive, digs.  Here's a peek...




And, then Blaine spotted the largest, most perfect looking zucchini I've ever seen and Farmer Mike told him he could pick it and take it home - SCORE!


So this humongous zucchini (note scale with Blaine holding it) turned into...


A lot of sliced zucchini...


And then a really delicious dinner for the four of us...I felt like I was breading zucchini for hours!!



I've also made some other great recipes using the CSA vegetables, which by the way, are from Stoneledge farm, who had some very serious devastation, no thanks to Hurricane Irene.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the farmers and their families as they try to swim out from under the water.  The vegetables may not last much longer, depending on what they find under the waters, but they have been delicious so far and I will certainly miss the weekly harvest!


With the Okra, I made this really great corn saute from Epicurious.com - it was super easy and super delicious and I basically was able to throw in whatever vegetables I had left from the farm that week!  The only problem with being a Flex is that what some may consider a side meal, you have to figure out how to make it into an entree.  So, I ended up making orzo with it, which was yummy, but ended up being very carb heavy.  The trick is what to do with the okra, and that's where the recipe came in - you have to bread it with corn meal and lightly pan fry it and then it's not so sticky.  Then you take corn, summer squash, onion and cherry tomatoes, saute them and add the okra.  It was great!




I also made a Weight Watchers tart for dessert.  The tart crust was actually not a Weight Watchers recipe - can't remember where it came from, but my first attempt using a WW recipe turned into a crumbly mess, so I went with the real thing.  Then I filled it with vanilla pudding (100 calorie packs, of course) and fresh sliced peaches on top.  Turned out really good and super simple!




Okay, now I'm starving and craving peaches...

Sunday, July 10, 2011

It's been so long...so I apologize for the long post!

Apparently blogspot thought I was never coming back also, because they shut me out this afternoon...but I'm back!  It has been a long time since the last time I posted...so I apologize to my two fans out there (you guessed it, one of them is my mother).  

When I last posted I was heading to Germany and a little nervous about the frankfurter/hamburger situation in Frankfurt and Hamburg.  Well, since the frankfurters looked like this...


...clearly, nothing to worry about.  And in case you can't tell, that is a glass case with cooked frankfurters already on buns with weird cheese hardened on top.  Yum?  

And, the working lunch looked like this...

You might think to yourself, that picture is too small for me to really tell what it is, but I promise you, it is unidentifiable no matter how large the picture.

And, on top of that, the only pretzels to be had were in a photo at the train station...

But, all in all, Germany had much better food than I expected, at least when we weren't relying on corporate catering.  A lot of fish, and even a little bit of sushi!  Thankfully our co-workers hung out with us the entire time, so we weren't left to our own devices for translating.

Since then, the lifestyle has gone through its ups and downs.  I modified the rules a little bit.  The first modification was that seafood doesn't count when I'm traveling.  It's very hard to figure out what's sustainable and nearly impossible to not eat seafood and meat!  I'm also playing with modifying the sustainable fish situation to only when I cook, but not when I go out to eat.  That might be cheating though, so I have to mull that one over a bit.  I am also at the heaviest I've been in about 10 years.  I'm thinking this is owed more to the fact that I hit 30 than the fact that I am eating more cheese and bread than before, but we'll see if I can kick the 5 extra pounds...diet, here I come!

Now onto the good food!  July 4th weekend we were hanging with the best chef in the world (along with some other great family, friends and babies) and he made us a ridiculous feast, but the one thing I want to share with you is the eggplant!  It was sort of like a ratatouille, but way better.  I only have a picture, because when I asked Jason for the recipe his response was "I don't have a recipe" and after badgering Christina to push him to write what he did down, I still have nothing!  Maybe he'll read this and post a comment (hint, hint)...

From my stalking him while he was cooking, I can tell you it had garlic scapes, eggplant and raisins, and that's all I can remember, besides the deliciousness.






I recently made a cod dish that was really simple and delicious!  The recipe is from the epicurious app, which is one of my favorites.  It was inspired by the veggies from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm.  We had fresh basil and swiss chard. Here it is:
Ingredients:
1 pound plum tomatoes, cored, diced
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
5 anchovy fillets, minced
3 large garlic cloves (2 minced, 1 halved)
4 7- to 8-ounce cod fillets or other white fish fillets (such as halibut; about 1 inch thick)
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 1/2-inch-thick slices country white bread
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 475°F. Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Add minced garlic and stir to blend. Season tomato mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
Arrange fish on rimmed baking sheet. Brush both sides with 2 tablespoons oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until just opaque in center, about 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomato mixture. Cook until tomatoes soften and sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper.
Toast bread; rub 1 side with cut side of halved garlic. Top with tomato sauce, basil leaves, fish, and more sauce.

The swiss chard and potato side dish came from my new vegetarian cookbook - 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.  My CSA partner, Jodie, always makes lasagna with the swiss chard, which I've had and is really yummy, but I couldn't handle more carbs and cheese, so I looked it up and found this new recipe:
Yellow potatoes with swiss chard, rosemary & garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups, peeled, cubed yellow potatoes (I clearly didn't peel them)
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 cups chopped swiss chard
salt & pepper
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the potatoes and garlic, cook stirring until browned about 9 min.  Add the rosemary.
Add the swiss chard, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring until the chard it tender, about 2 min.

And I also made fresh tomato, mozzarella pizza - with some serious fresh basil - and a side of spinach and peas.  It was really yummy, but again, carbs and cheese. :-(

Until next time...which hopefully won't be as long as last time, but really, no promises!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Around the World as a Flex

As I prepare to take off on a trip to another country...again...I'm contemplating how this Flexitarian diet works in other parts of the world.  I was recently in India and Singapore, and not surprising, India proved to be pretty easy.  Not for the expected reason, because 31% of the population is vegetarian (and it is clearly indicated on menus and packaged goods with a green dot, similar to how Kosher is identified here), but because after the first day of me eating even a small amount of Indian food I got so sick that I ended up subsisting on basically bread and bottled water the rest of the trip (bottled from the Coca Cola or Pepsico companies only, of course).  Singapore, however, was not as easy.  It is a VERY modern society with your pick of cuisines (in fact, my first meal there was Chili's - a much anticipated event after India!), so in reality it shouldn't have been an issue.  But, the problem came with trying to determine which fish/seafood options were sustainable.  So, the net total of the India/Singapore week resulted in 3 meat meals (including my mouthwatering trip to McDonald's where I had McChicken nuggets - yum!...and Chicken Rice, which is a traditional Singapore meal, and of course my Chili's Quesadilla Explosion salad) and 3 fish/seafood meals (including the seafood buffet dinner on Friday night, which unbeknownst to me was $80!!!!  $10 over my daily meal allowance - whoops!).  I'm going off the assumption that at least one of those seafood meals was with sustainable fish, especially considering where Singapore is located, on an island in fish-friendly seas (totally making that up), so I'm going off on a limb saying I didn't go over the 5 meal quota.

 

However...tonight I leave for Germany.  I am headed to Frankfurt and Hamburg, which my grandfather astutely pointed out is the home of the frankfurter and hamburger.  And so, I fear my flex diet may be in a bit of trouble.  I mean, when have you ever gone to a German restaurant (I could put a full stop there, but I'm making a different point) and not eaten schnitzel or some sort of sausage or something meaty and greasy and totally filling.  So, in preparation for this trip I did not eat one meat or non-sustainable fish meal last week, thinking I might have to bank some points for this coming week.  Stay tuned to see how it turns out...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Another Interesting Article About Flexitarian Eating...

Thanks to my mom for sending - this one was found in the Rockland Journal News...it's an interesting read!


Meet the Occasional Carnivores


What I don't quite understand is when people do this for monetary reasons.  Unless all they're eating is canned veggies, I think fresh vegetables are expensive!  Maybe that's just the New York City in me speaking.


Plus, the article has a few interesting recipes in it that I'm going to add to my list of ones to try...especially the Craemy Cauliflower Mac!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Crossroads of Two Challenging Weeks

I haven't posted in a while, because for the most part, I've been chugging along without much to say.  I haven't had a chance to do too many new recipes, although Melissa did make me some very yummy fish tacos on Monday night (recipe below).

However, I am now finishing up (hopefully) this past week of being sick - fever, strep throat, sinuses - the whole nine yards!  And it is extremely difficult when you are sick, to stay away from chicken soup as a remedy!  Luckily, the rest of the week I was basically craving grilled cheese and peanut butter & jelly, so I was able to have some soup and not go over my quota, but it required a lot of pre-planning.  Blaine did try to get me vegetable soup, but I'm pretty sure all he came back with was vegetable broth and noodles (although I did see him take the sticker off the top of the container after he got home, so it's actually questionable if it was vegetable broth or chicken broth...regardless, as yummy as it sounds, it's still sitting in our fridge).

And, on Monday is the start of probably the most difficult week of the year - Passover.  Basically, my staples are out the window - no bread, pasta, rice, anything that will fill you up other than meat.  So, my only options this week are going to be potatoes and veggies.  And possibly the most difficult part of this week is going to be resisting the leftovers from the sedars on Monday and Tuesday, but luckily neither are being held at my parents or in-laws, so hopefully leftovers won't be an option.  It should be very interesting...so I'm hoping to come up with some creative ways to stay full...

Fish Tacos (from Epicurious)
Salsa
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro


Filling
1 lb halibut (or other flaky, sustainable fish)
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp chili powder
4 whole wheat tortillas
1 cup shredded green cabbage (Melissa substituted radishes for cabbage)
1 can black beans


Combine salsa ingredients


Whisk together oil, lime juice and chili powder - brush mixture onto both sides of each fillet, season with salt and pepper.  Cook 3 or 4 min on each side until fish is cooked through (can grill or sautee on stove).  


Build tacos - oh, and Melissa also made guacamole, which is always a welcome addition!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play

In this case, the Cat is Blaine and the mice are the vegetarian recipes I tested, in case you can't figure that out.  So, Blaine's been traveling a bunch for work, and I've been able to test a few new recipes.  The first was vegetarian chili that I made in a slow cooker - I was trying to replicate the veggie chili from Stratton Mountain Lodge, which is super yummy, but to my disappointment comes out of a sealed bag, which makes me believe it's not homemade.  The bread bowl they serve it in doesn't hurt the allure of their chili, to be honest, but this version was pretty good:


2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 15oz cans chili beans mix (black, kidney and pinto), drained
1 15oz can of kidney beans, drained
1 16 oz. canned corn
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup yellow squash, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. salt



In slow cooker combine all ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on low, 6-8 hours. Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onion, sour cream, over a baked potato and/or a bread bowl, if you have one!


And I just realized that this is one recipe I didn't take a picture of!  I still have some leftovers in the freezer, so I'll be sure to snap one when I take it out of the freezer to eat.


The next recipe I made when I convinced Ana to come over and try to cook fish with me.  I'm sure it was a scary proposition!  But, she was definitely the brave one, because when we were at the fish counter at Agata & Valentina she was the one that confirmed the tilapia was US farmed, per the sustainability guide.  Luckily, the fish man behind the counter knew the answer, did not give her a strange look, and the answer was yes!


So, here is the recipe from Epicurious, with a few revisions to our liking (per usual):


1/4 cup olive oil (we used a bit less than this)
2 pounds tilapia, red snapper, or orange roughy fillets
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives, chopped (we used capers instead of olives)
6 garlic cloves, minced


Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Add half of fish to skillet and sauté until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer fish to platter. Repeat with remaining fish. Add parsley and crushed red pepper to same skillet; sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes, olives, and garlic; sauté until tomatoes are soft and juicy, about 2 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper; spoon over fish.


All in all, a super simple fish recipe, had a great kick of flavor and was sustainable!  This one I did take a picture of, but with my old phone, so I'll have to get it off my phone to post it.


And finally, after perusing the cook book aisle of Barnes & Noble, and asking for suggestions about vegetarian cook books, I finally invested in one.  It's 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.  Stay tuned to see if it was worth it!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

I Hit 4 - Twice!

Last week was somewhat of a milestone...and not in a good way.  I hit 4 meals of meat, whereas my previous high was 3.  I did it again this week.  Not a proud milestone, but I did give myself a ceiling of 5 for a reason.  I think the reason I got to where I was is because the past two weeks have been packed with plans, and when you go out to eat, are too embarrassed to ask about the sustainability of fish and don't generally eat traditional vegetarian options (mainly because they all consist of mushrooms as the main ingredient and I don't like mushrooms), you get yourself into a pickle.  


The week of the 13th I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant that is known for their meatballs - Lavo - and it was delicious (highly recommend - it just opened in the city)!  Then I wasn't feeling well the rest of the week, and sometimes comfort food has to come in the form of a chicken parm sandwich, or at least it does for me.  That weekend a bunch of us went up to Vermont and you can't be too picky about dinner on the way up on a Friday night.  The weekend before we went to a diner where I found a hair in my food, so that option was clearly out.  We went to a bar type place called The Penalty Box. Besides the slow service and the arcade games that slowed us down even more, it wasn't too bad.  By the time we ate though, we were all starving and the idea of asking for a salad without protein just made my stomach growl even more.  And then the following night we went to a steakhouse at the base of the mountain (the one attached to The Fat Spy, the location where we rang in 2011) and I'm pretty sure there were no options on the menu except for meat or non-sustainable fish, so I indulged in a burger.


And this week was no better.  I thought I had my meat meals planned out carefully - taco salad using leftovers from the weekend, a work dinner that was partially tapas style and a steakhouse for Aden's birthday.  I even refrained from eating the turkey tacos on Sunday night for dinner because I really wasn't hungry and it didn't seem worth wasting a meat meal on them when I wasn't going to eat too much at all.  But then last night happened and I found myself at Corner Bistro - home of arguably the best burger in Manhattan.  So, I saw 4 again.


The worst part about all of this is that I don't even have an interesting recipe to share!  I did not experiment once over these past two weeks on a good vegetarian recipe.  Luckily I have plans to change that this week, so hopefully I'll get my act together a bit and give you an update with a good recipe in a few days...


One question I have, Mike asked me this over the weekend and I didn't have a good response - anyone know of a good vegetarian cookbook?  I did go to William Sonoma yesterday to look for one, and they do have a lot of farm fresh cookbooks, but I couldn't find a vegetarian one.  Suggestions please!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Shep's Pie Kinda Week

I'd like to dedicate the title of this post to Kevin for his creative naming abilities for the recipe of the week, which is dedicated to Melissa and Jodie for sending it from Chow.com - Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie.  It just seemed wrong to call a vegetarian dish Shepherd's Pie, so after some not so serious brainstorming over dinner, we decided the suggestion of Shep's Pie was the clear winner.  This recipe was surprisingly good and definitely a winner on many levels - one of them being that with some pretty minor modifications it was Blaine friendly!  

  • # of non vegetarian meals for the week: 3 (that took a lot of time to remember...I need to start being a bit more diligent with my postings!)...the first was on Super Bowl Sunday - totally worth the beef ribs, if I do say so myself...second was at Kingswood Australian restaurant in the city.  I got Baramundi there, which I never heard of until I went to Australia, so I assumed it was definitely the "flex" part of this diet, however when I went back and looked at my Seafood Watch list I saw that a US caught version is on the safe list. I have to assume it was from the US because it would be crazy for them to import it from AUS!  Regardless, that meal counts cause the Brussels sprouts had bacon in them.  Still good to know about Baramundi. And the third was salmon in VT, and I'm assuming the local store Winhall does not have Alaskan caught salmon.
  • Interesting recipe of the week was the Shep's Pie from Chow.com.  Again, it was good, but very time consuming, so I'm not totally sure it was worth the effort.  Regardless, here's the recipe if you want to make it and in parentheses I include the substitutions I made to make it Blaine friendly:
The question wasn't "to hot sauce or not to hot sauce"...it was "which hot sauce to use" as David carefully chooses

TIME/SERVINGS
Total Time: 1 hr
Active Time: 45 mins
Makes: 4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large dice (used red potatoes and kept the skin on)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into large dice (added more red potatoes and excluded sweet)
3/4 cup plain yogurt (this was a really nerve racking addition cause Blaine was definitely watching as I added it...he didn't say anything though)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and quartered (replaced with zucchini)
1/2 medium yellow onion, medium dice
2 medium carrots, medium dice
1/2 medium celery root, medium dice (celery root scared me, so I just used celery...not a Blaine revision, but it worked fine)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups mushroom broth (vegetable broth instead)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (it required a bit more flour than what it called for - you can eye ball it)
1/2 cup frozen peas

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat the broiler to low and arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside.
  2. Place russet and sweet potatoes in a large pot of heavily salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer until just tender when pierced with a knife, about 5 minutes. Drain, then return potatoes to the pot. Mash coarsely; add yogurt, salt, and pepper; and stir until just combined. Set aside.
  3. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring rarely, until browned, about 6 minutes. Add onion, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion just begins to soften, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add carrots, celery root, tomato paste, and thyme and stir to coat vegetables. Add mushroom broth and soy sauce and stir until incorporated. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until vegetables are just tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, combine water and flour in a small bowl and stir until smooth. When vegetables are ready, add flour mixture, stir to combine, bring to a boil, and cook until sauce has thickened, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in frozen peas.
  6. Transfer mixture to a 7-by-11-inch baking dish (or a 3-quart baking dish) and spread reserved mashed potato mixture over top. Place on the prepared baking sheet and broil until the top starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

  • Fights with Blaine: luckily he kept his mouth shut about the yogurt in the potatoes, but I was gearing up for one.  

Monday, February 7, 2011

Finally Full!

Although it took a while to get there!  Over the past three weeks I've noticed how hungry I am ALL THE TIME!  My hypothesis is that I'm not getting enough protein, so I need to up the ante in that department.  Tonight, I made Sweet Potato Enchiladas, courtesy of Kristin (www.OneAcreFarmGirl.blogspot.com), courtesy of her friend Lindsey. Well, they were yummy and totally filling!!  I posted the recipe (and pictures) below.  Between the beans, spinach and sweet potatoes I was definitely full.  The quest still continues for a lower carb diet, but I'm definitely doing better.  So, here are the stats:

  • # of non-vegetarian meals for the week: 1.5 - the half is for dinner I had at The Mermaid Inn, which is a really good seafood restaurant in the East Village.  Ironically, a place that not only told you where the seafood was from, but had a few sustainable fish options.  I, unfortunately, opted for the seafood stew, hence where the confusion comes in.  No details on where the individual pieces of seafood are from, so I'm giving myself half a point cause here's what was in it and what the list says about each: mussels (if farmed they're good, if not no idea), shrimp (if US & Canada good, if imported bad), clams (if farmed good, if wild so-so), calamari (if longfin US good, if not so-so). Get my point? The other non-veg meal was a turkey sandwich for a late dinner - not worth it, but not many other options at that point.
  • Interesting recipe of the week was the Sweet Potato Enchiladas.  I halved the recipe since I was the only one eating them (more about that later), and I still had enough for three meals, so this recipe feeds a lot!
3 large sweet potatoes
2 cans black beans (drained)
1 bag of spinach
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
1 white onion (or yellow), chopped
1 package of tortillas (I used low-carb ones)
1 bag shredded cheese (Mexican or cheddar)
Sour cream (optional - I opted for sliced avocado instead)
1 ½ cans Enchilada sauce

Bake sweet potatoes until tender (1 hr @ 400 degrees), let cool, peel and cut into small cubes.
Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Add potatoes to onion mixture and stir/mash all together. In a
large casserole dish (lasagne pan) build the enchiladas rolled in each tortilla.
1. Beans
2. Potato/onion mixture
3. Uncooked spinach
Cover enchiladas with the enchilada sauce and cheese (lots of cheese). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 mins or until cheese looks melted. Serve with sour cream. Enjoy!
Makes approx 6-7 enchiladas



  • # of fights with Blaine - still zero...however, he didn't eat the enchiladas! Beans and sweet potatoes are on his "do not attempt" list.  Luckily we had leftovers from another night, so he was able to still eat something at home, but it was definitely frustrating.  I'm going to try a black bean burger recipe from Kristin and aim to get home and make it before he can see what goes into it, so hopefully he'll try the unknown.  My family has gotten good at stretching the truth about the real ingredients :-)  Plus, when I tell him that his mom's brisket is made with ketchup he gets really uncomfortable and insists that we stop talking about it. Strange.
Keep the recipes coming!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Fish Dilemma

Week 2 definitely proved to be a little tougher than the first one. When I first decided to do this diet I was debating about how best to quantify how many meat meals I was able to have.  At dinner with Ana and Gabrielle, friends from Nielsen, we decided that determining a # of meals per week and sticking to that would be the best, vs. only weekends (which is mostly eating out) or certain days of the week.  I did it that way because I thought that eating out would be easier than cooking vegetarian because I could eat seafood or fish.  The unexpected twist in all of this is that the Sustainable Fish list that I am going by is very specific about where the fish needs to be from or how it is caught, and I am too shy at this point to ask at restaurants "is your salmon Alaskan wild or Atlantic farmed".  Not to mention, I think asking that might limit who is willing to go out to dinner with me :-)


So, with that said, here's the tally:

  • # of non vegetarian meals for the week: 3 - one was a work lunch where it was pasta or fish (and I definitely wasn't testing asking the question at a work lunch), so I opted for the fish, the second was dinner brought in at home and we had roasted chicken ( I can't remember the last time I had poultry - I think it was in 2010) and the third was Rathbones and you can't go there and not get the wings and turkey burger.  I did have one meal at a restaurant where I ordered the striped bass, but since you can eat farmed or wild, I figured it was safe no matter where it was from.
  • Interesting recipe of the week: Potato Leek Soup - was really yummy!  here's the recipe:
3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1 medium or large onion, chopped
6 – 8 russet potatoes, thinly sliced (skin optional)
4 cups chicken broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)
1 1/2 cups fat free milk
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1) Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, until onions are limp and just slightly brown.
2) Add sliced potatoes to saucepan then pour in enough chicken broth to just barely cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using an emulsion blender, blend the potatoes until desired consistency is reached (I went pretty chunky, probably would have gone a bit smoother next time). 
3) Add milk and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve.  Garnish with scallions.
I have plenty of leftovers if anyone wants to swing by for some soup and crusty bread!!  
Oh, and # of fights with Blaine about food: Zero!!  But this week I have to do some serious thinking about how to limit the carbs cause pasta, bread and pizza have become my staples...so, expect the fight tally to go up in week 3!


P.S. The base of this recipe came from another blog called PinchMySalt.com, with a few variations from me

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Diet of the Moment

According to Bon Appetite magazine, I am definitely in the moment!
http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2011/01/are-you-a-flexitarian.html

Thanks Michelle for passing it along!  Some good recipe ideas too.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Week 1 Verdict

The verdict on week 1 is in, and all in all it was pretty successful.  Here are the stats:

  • # of non-vegetarian meals for the week: 2, both of which were sushi, so no meals with meat
  • Interesting recipe of the week: Well, it was really the gluten-free, dairy-free cake I made for my mom's birthday, but since that has absolutely nothing to do with this diet, I'd have to say baked potatoes with veggies, salsa and cheese topping.  Which means, not a very interesting recipe week to kick off the diet.
  • # of fights with Blaine about meals: 1 - not bad for the first week.  And this also had to do with croutons that I made, which has nothing to do with this diet either.
Today I made a unique twist on eggplant Parmesan, which is on the list of things that Blaine won't eat.  But, since he does eat zucchini I traded the eggplant for zucchini and made zucchini Parmesan.  And Jodie was brave enough to come over and try the experiment with us.  It was actually pretty good!  Try it next time you are going to make eggplant!  But, we did have it with pasta, which is not diffusing my theory about overloading on carbs on this type of diet.  I need some non-carb heavy recipe ideas!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Nothing will kick start a flexitarian diet like a trip to Argentina…

So yes, the trip was great!  And, we ate lots and lots of meat, as judged by the following pictures.  And some things that I would call animal by-products that I promise I will never eat again (like cow intestines…I shiver just to think that they went in my mouth, and quickly out). 



But, to be honest, I was craving some vegetarianism by the end!  And a lot of the comments I’ve gotten from people when I explain my New Year’s Resolution is “that’s easy – I could do that” or “5 meals , that’s a lot”.  And, after 48 hours of kick starting the diet, I tend to agree.  I have successfully not eaten one meal with meat for 2 days and the only true struggle was finding the vegetarian soup option at lunch today.  

But I do have 2 concerns with this diet.  The first is Blaine and the second is gaining weight.

Let’s start with Blaine.  I’m sure you have all had dinner with us at some point and played what I fondly refer to as the “Blaine is a weird eater” game.  It goes something like this:
·         Blaine orders dinner
·         People at dinner realize that he makes lots of crazy requests
·         People at dinner go through random list of foods asking if Blaine eats them
·         Blaine respond yes or no
·         People at dinner laugh and try to figure out how to get Blaine to eat one of the items on his “no” list

I’m thinking a post sometime soon is going to be that list so we can just direct people to this site to see what he does or does not eat.  But, the real point is that he is super picky and basically doesn’t eat protein other than meat – no beans, no avocado, no eggs, no fish, no tofu, no meat substitutes (although we are definitely going to try this, so send me suggestions of good ones if you have any)…you get the point.  And, the point of this is not for me to either make him meat when I’m not eating it or for him to get take out when I make dinner that he doesn’t like. 

The second concern is gaining weight.  The soup option that was vegetarian at lunch today had heavy cream in it – not something I would have opted for if I was eating meat.  And, the meals I’ve come up with so far are heavy on the pasta and cheese. 

So, those are my challenges. Suggestions to combat both are welcome!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Here's the deal...

If you’re asking yourself “what is a flexitarian?”, that is a very good question (although not sure how you stumbled across this if I haven’t already given you my very unscientific definition).  I first read about in Time Magazine, so here is their article about it.  

So after that, you’re next question is definitely “why are you doing this?”, and as a true carnivore, I can confidently tell you its pure environmental reasons.  I consider myself to be somewhat of an environmentalist – turning the water off as I brush my teeth or in between scrubbing dishes, using the minimal amount of paper towels necessary, always bringing bags with me to the grocery store and most other shopping, not gift wrapping gifts (okay, yes, out of pure laziness as well, but the environment is my vocal excuse), turning the car engine off whenever standing idle, taking public transportation (when it’s an easy alternative and doesn’t break the bank), thinking before printing, buying local when available, buying organic, even if it means breaking the bank, and constantly yelling at my husband to file suit.  However, at the end of the day, I don’t really go out of my way nor do anything that is considered inconvenient in my quest to save the planet.  So, this is my inconvenience. 

And with that, here is the rule:
I can only eat meat 5 meals per week

And now here come the questions…so, here are a few FAQs so you can follow along:
  1. What defines a week?  A week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday
  2. What defines a meal?  There are 21 meals in a week (plus snacks, which do count), so I am restricting myself to less than 25% of my food intake will be in conjunction with meat
  3. What defines meat?  Meat is the actual animal - poultry, red meat and fish (more to come on that in a bit).  Meat is not the by-product of an animal, so I can eat eggs and cheese and they won’t be included in the count, however I will continue to buy organic and local as much as possible.
  4. What about grass-fed beef or sustainable fish?  Grass-fed beef is considered in the count (which leads to the rationale for my start date not being on Jan 1), sustainable fish is not.  Here is a site that has guidelines of sustainable fish, I will be following the Northeast version, so I can eat these fish and it won’t be included in the 5 meals.
Any other questions I haven’t answered, ask away and I’ll include it in the FAQs.

So, I mentioned earlier that the start date is not January 1st and that’s because Blaine and I are going to Argentina on vacation (or if you’re reading this we already went), and given the propensity and reputation of the beef there, and my desire to actually keep this resolution and not let it go to the waste side within the first 2 weeks, I’m starting when we return on January 18th.

Check back then and I will give you an update on how the first week goes…