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!

Vegetarian school lunches?

In some places, maybe. I remember back in the dark ages when we had two choices for a school lunch each day...the usual school lunch, which was always a hot meal consisting of a meat entree, a veggie or two, milk, and Jello-o or a cookie, or a brownie. The second choice was always vegetable soup, made there in the school kitchen, plus half of a peanut butter and honey sandwich. That was usually my choice for school lunch. All these years I've remembered that soup at John Tyler Elementary school!

Contrasting that with the "food" my son was served at school. I'll never forget the last day of school in fifth grade, hubby and I had lunch with him. He ate a couple of fried mozzarella sticks. Well, he ate the breading that was on the cheese. Nothing else. I used to pack his lunches until I discovered that he was regularly throwing them away and trading his fruit for junk. I figured I had control over his lunch, snacks at home, and dinner so I didn't sweat the lunch thing too much. But would have preferred that he ate something healthy of course.

Just read in the article More School Lunches Going Vegetarian that some schools "across the nation" are going to try vegetarian meals in schools. I have to say that, personally, pasta with a lentil sauce doesn't sound too appealing. I cook with lentils and enjoy them. But they are not pretty after being cooked. I can't imagine what a lentil sauce would look like, but I'm sure fourth grade boys everywhere would have no shortage of words to describe the sight, taste, aroma, and texture of lentil sauce.

If the kids eat it, I'm all for it tho. In the dark ages when I was in school, teachers sat with their classes and made sure that we ate. We didn't necessarily have to clean our plates, but we had to eat a sufficient amount. And we didn't touch dessert until we had eaten a sufficient amount. I once asked why my son's school served the junkiest of foods and they said that that was what sold, and it was "all that the kids would eat." They would have to throw away the healthy stuff and, besides, the healthy stuff "cost too much." Alrighty then. We didn't have that problem in the dark ages...we ate what was there or went without. We could carry a lunch box, or have two choices in the cafeteria. But what do I know? I'm a hopeless throwback. :)

Is being a vegetarian more expensive than eating a meat-based diet?

I don't think so, personally. At the grocery store today, most roasts cost around $11. A roasting chicken was $9. The roast would feed my guys one night. The chicken, there might be enough left over for a sandwich, but that was one mighty puny bird. A london broil was $12. Then you add some potatoes and a veggie, maybe some bread. That's fairly expensive. A bag of rice was around $2, depending on size and brand. Pasta and a marinara sauce isn't expensive, especially made with home grown tomatoes or tomatoes from a friend or farmers' market. Veggies are relatively inexpensive, and you can compost the remains of veggies...the peelings, etc.

One of our favorite things is flavorful steamed veggies. Gather a bunch of your favorite veggies. Typically, our steamed veggies are one zuchinni, one squash, one or two tomatoes, half an onion, a handful of green beans or snow peas (we like both), some carrot, sliced into half-inch circles, maybe a small eggplant. Cut the tomatoes into wedges, add to a glass dish (photos next time I cook this). Cut squash, zuchinni and eggplant (if using) into circles, not too thick or thin. Cut the ends off of green beans and string the snow peas. Add sea salt, pepper, and parsley (fresh is best, dried is OK) to taste. I also add a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice. Coat the veggies with the seasonings, cover the glass dish with foil and cook in a 350 degree over for 20-25 minutes. Inexpensive and good for you! With some rice this makes a meal for me, and a side dish for hubby and son.

I recently saw a recipe for Ultimate Veggie Fried Rice in the September 2009 Vegetarian Times magazine. That whole issue is a keeper..I'll probably make everything in it! Someone else kindly put the recipe on their blog, which you can find here: Ultimate Veggie Fried Rice I made this and it was soooooo yummy. (Please kill me if I ever say "yum-o"!)

Here's an article about vegetarian vs. meat eating, cost-wise:
Why eating meat is simpler

Being a vegetarian in a mixed family...

From time to time, people who know that I am a vegetarian say that they would be vegetarians but that their family is comprised of all meat eaters and, well, they just sorta go with it. They have to cook it so they may as well eat it.

I have a husband, son, and a dog. All are meat eaters. And I do cook meat. I would prefer to not cook meat, but I do. I purchase meats for the guys from small farms, not factory farms or grocery stores. I purchase eggs from a farm where the hens are free range. What produce that I do not grow, I buy from the farmers' market.

As our son gets older, he eats the majority of his meals away from home in the evenings, due to work or school activities. The times that he is home, I try to make a homemade pizza with veggies (our current fave is a spinach and feta pizza), or a pasta dish with homemade marinara sauce from tomatoes grown in our garden.

Hubby began eating some of the things I was eating and has come to prefer meatless chili, and prefers marinara sauce over meat sauce. He remarks how much better he feels for not eating ground beef, and so I have not had to buy ground beef in over a year! I do not, ever, cook bacon for any reason. If hubby and son want it, they have to get it at a restaurant. Bacon smell is one that I cannot tolerate.

He still likes chicken, and fish. But as he gets more of an idea of things that are tasty and filling, he's becoming more accepting of the vegetarian meals I fix. When I first went cold turkey (pun intended), I just ate whatever didn't contain meat. But our diet had become pretty much the same old same old, all the time, and was boring.

I thought back to the book that I first read in the 70's, Diet for a Small Planet. I bought the updated version and got lots of ideas. I hit the bookstores and began reading vegetarian cookbooks and magazines, such as Vegetarian Times. I learned about so many different foods and ways of preparing them that I will never get to all of the recipes that I'd like to try!

I love Mexican food. So I have been experimenting with making enchiladas and quesadillas without meat. Even my teen son liked the vegetable quesadillas (photos soon).

The health benefits of eating vegetarian have been amazing...I lost 30 pounds, and my blood pressure, at age 52, is 112/80. I feel better, I have more energy.

Eating vegetarian in a family of meat eaters is possible...nothing is perfect tho and there may be times when you have to prepare 2 meals. I try to plan meals ahead according to our schedules and plan as many meat free ones as I can. When I do have to cook meat, I make sure that there is plenty available that I will also be able to eat. Tofu is amazing because it takes on the flavors of whatever you are cooking with and flavoring with. A vegetarian friend made an avocado/tofu sushi that was out of this world.

Planning meals ahead of time is key to being able to make sure everyone is happy at mealtime. I am currently researching vegetarian comfort foods for the fall and winter months (the Almanac is predicting a frigid winter for most of the USA). They have to be tasty, filling, and healthy as well as vegetarian. While I do watch the fat content in many foods, there's nothing like a big bowl of homemade mac and cheese (not from the little blue box!).

If you've read this far and haven't become bored to tears, thank you! This blog will be evolving over time. I hope it helps.

Getting enough protein

A recent interesting discussion prompts this first post...how much protein do we need, and from what sources can we get it? Those questions, and others, are answered here:
Nutrition for everyone The Basics: Protein

Many are apparently under the misconception that vegetarians and vegans do not get enough protein. Most of us get more than enough protein but, for those interested in how we get our protein (I'm a vegetarian who eats a lot of vegan meals), here is some information:

Protein in the Vegan Diet