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!

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 hrActive 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.  

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!

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

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.

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!

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!