One of my fave side dishes...

I love potatoes. This is one of my fave ways to fix them: fried!

I put them in a bowl with some olive oil and whatever seasonings...I like sea salt, pepper (sometimes black pepper, sometimes cayenne), and parsley.

Sometimes I'll add onions or even hot peppers. Sometimes I make a version of this with red potatoes, and sometimes I make these potatoes on the grill (after peeling and washing potatoes, slice and then dry them a bit. In a large container or plastic bag, add the potatoes, olive oil, and whatever seasonings. Stir or shake until all of the potatoes are covered with oil/seasonings and refrigerate until read to cook. If I'm doing the potatoes on the grill, or if I am using red potatoes, I cook them with the skins on until they are firm but not hard. I then slice into fairly thick chunks and coat with oil/seasonings as above. These are always a big hit and there are NEVER any leftovers!)

Last night for dinner, I made fried potatoes, steamed green beans, and salmon. I am mainly a vegetarian (not a vegan) who sometimes, very rarely, eats a little fish. I ate a small piece of salmon last night. So I guess that'd make me a pesce-vegetarian. Some of the time. :)

I seasoned the steamed green beans with a little bit of olive oil, sea salt, and lemon. Sometimes I'll add parsley, or oregano to the green beans. Or sometimes I add slivered almonds for extra protein and flavor.

The salmon was pan seared in a bit of olive oil and lemon. I use lots of fresh squeezed lemon in my cooking. We love the flavor and it adds Vitamin C. I also use a lot of parsley...a good source of Vitamin C.

The new pan in my life

This is my new frying pan, 12 inches of glistening 18/10 stainless steel. It's so handsome, I don't know whether to cook in it, or date it. The maker is JA Henckels.

Handsome is as handsome does, however. I wouldn't buy another pan from this company, most likely. While it is gorgeous and cooks like a dream (as long as one does not use high heat), it is heavy and the handle is awkward. It is riveted on, which is great. But the shape and width is not good for my hands. I have a bit of arthritis in my hands so lifting it with food in it would be difficult. Moving it to a cooler burner is no problem, however.

What would win me over would be if the pan had an extra handle like this one on my Cuisinart pan. Why didn't I buy one with the extra handle? The Cuisinart pan was bought while on vacation down in Charlotte, NC. The new pan was bought in a small city about an hour from the boonies in which I call home. I had a choice of coated cookware, Emeril Lagasse brand (I wasn't smitten with it), or the Henckels. The Henckels would be my first choice IF it had the second handle on this pan. This cookware is meant to last for years and years, and as one gets older, strength in one's hands can be an issue.

Here is another view of the handle on the new Henckls pan:

I own about four brands of stainless steel cookware now. I buy pieces as I need them, as boxed sets often have pieces that I don't need and take up space which I don't have. I have Le Gourmet, Cooks Club, Henckels, and Cuisinart. All cook very well and are good stainless steel pans. I'd love the Henckels best if it had the extra handle, but at this point, Cuisinart gets the nod from me and will likely be the pans of choice in the future.

All were roughly in the same price range. The Cuisinart pan pictured is a 10 incher and came with a lid. It was $69 dollars. The Henckels pan is a 12 incher and was $79.99 but it came with no lid...I had to purchase the glass lid separately for $12.99.

Power house oatmeal

This is my most favorite breakfast! Since I soak the oats overnight in filtered water, one cup of oats plus all of the stuff added, and it serves 1 person for 3 or 4 days, or several people one day. Not bad for 1 cup of oats! I use John McCann's Irish steel cut oats. Soaking the oats also makes them creamier. You'll see some "stuff" in the oats. In this batch, I've added almonds (soaked overnight separately from the oats), walnuts, and pecan pieces, ground flaxseed meal, raw sunflower seeds, dried blueberries, dried bing cherries, and dried apricots.

A photo of the nuts and seeds...makes me wonder how on earth people often think that vegetarians/vegans don't get enough protein! I'll have protein counts, and iron counts, listed below.

A photo of the dried fruits...blueberries, apricots, bing cherries, and berry medley. I also sometimes use dried cranberries and dried strawberries. These add a lot of flavor and nutrition. I rarely get hungry before lunch with this breakfast!

I also use cinnamon and some vanilla to flavor the oatmeal. The cinnamon has health benefits as well. And by using vanilla, I don't have to use much sweetener, esp. when using the dried fruits.

Some of my sweeteners of choice...Stevia, which is a sweetener from an herb extract and has no calories, and Blue Agave syrup. I rarely use white sugar these days. You could use honey or maple syrup or any other favorite sweetener. I use no salt in my oatmeal...doesn't need it.

I made note this morning of the iron and protein content in the nuts, seeds, grains, and berries that go into my power house oatmeal and here's a rough breakdown:

Steel cut oats:

4 grams of protein per 1/4 cup, so that 16 grams of protein in one cup of oats! And 6% iron so that 24% per cup of oats.

Sunflower seeds:

8 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. 10% iron.

Almonds:

6 grams of protein per 1 oz. Iron 6%.

Pecan pieces:

5 grams of protein, iron 8%.

Walnuts:

4 grams of protein, iron 4%.

Ground flaxseed:

3 grams of protein per tablespoon, iron 4%.

Apricots:

Iron 6%, no protein.

Dried cherries:

Iron 4%, no protein

Dried blueberries:

Iron 2%, no protein

Milk:

8 grams of protein per cup. No iron.

Protein calculator

Many of us who are vegetarians or vegans are often advised by others, many of whom are less informed than we, that we need to make sure we get enough protein. In America, unless one is malnourished, getting enough protein is seldom a problem. And too much is bad for us. I'd never say to a diabetic "You're a diabetic? Oh, make sure that you don't eat any sugar!" I'd never tell people that beef fat clogs arteries. Well, maybe I just did.

For those who want a way to figure out how much protein they need, here's a handy Protein Calculator .

A good article on Protein Information.

Here is a list, from Wellsphere, of high protein foods. This will be a good guide for choosing from the vegetarian/vegan foods for those who want to find good sources of protein. Obviously not all of the foods in the list are vegetarian, but it is a good comparison of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods.

Meatless Monday

A heads-up for those who have not gone cold turkey to vegetarianism/veganism: Check out the Meatless Monday website. Lots of good reasons to go meatless even one day a week. That's how I started out years ago, and kept adding days, then went cold turkey and haven't looked back. Enjoy the journey!

Steamed veggies

This is one of our favorites that everyone loves--steamed veggies. It can be made with any of your favorite veggies. If I had some at the time, I would have also added cauliflower and broccoli.

Here's a photo of the veggies, just washed. There's squash, zuchinni, carrots, onions, green beans and sugar snap peas. I also added a couple of tomatoes but they didn't make the photo shoot...I had washed them and they were still in the sink.

This is what I use to season the veggies, feel free to add whatever your favorite seasonings are. I use olive oil, sea salt, parsley (fresh when I have it) basil (fresh when I have it, and cilantro would be good), and sometimes pepper. I use either lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. I was out of balsamic vinegar tonight and had a lemon so I used that...just a few squeezes.

The seasoned veggies..."eating the rainbow," a variety of colors, is a healthy way to eat!

Cover the dish with foil, tightly. Bake at 350 degrees until tender...about 30 minutes or so, depending on how many veggies there are.



















The finished veggies! I will be eating these veggies for my lunch for a couple of days, along with some rice or some tri-colored couscous, and a bit of cut up melons.

Vegetable quesadillas

I love Mexican food! Thanks to Google, I've been able to find vegetarian versions of my favorite Mexican foods. I had a craving for quesadillas one day and went looking thru the kitchen to see what I had. I came up with a squash, a zuchinni, some bell peppers of various colors, and some onions. If I had them, I would have included mushrooms as well.

After washing and prepping the veggies, I sauteed them in a pan and seasoned them with cilantro, some parsley, sea salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. BTW, I left the skins on the squash and zuchinni...since I grew them myself, I knew they were not poisoned with chemicals.

When the veggies were sauteed--I didn't time them, I went by how they looked (not too crunchy, not too limp)--I put some of the veggies on a burrito wrap and then added some colby cheese. Note: Yes, that's an old Teflon pan...I'm in the process of replacing my old pans with new stainless steel pans...only have this pan to replace and then I have some decent cookware!

I then cooked them one at a time in some grapeseed oil from Trader Joe's, but you can use any oil you prefer. Cook until they are lightly browned and the cheese has melted. Enjoy! I put sour cream on them but if I hadn't been so hungry, I would've made some salsa or some guacamole...next time! Note: Please bear with me on the photos..I'm learning this as I go!