I've been experiencing some LIFE CHANGES! I decided to be a semi-vegetarian (right now I do eat seafood) some time in February. I have not eaten meat since March 1, 2010. I have been STRUGGLING trying to find some TASTY/AFFORDABLE vegetarian options without having to go out to eat. I'm happy to say that I experienced my first home cooked DELICIOUS vegetarian meal on Monday! I made a "Spicy Peanut Soup" by Ellie Krieger.Side Note: If you're a foodie and you don't know who Ellie Krieger is, please click her name, she has AWESOME healthy food options and 2 cookbooks with recipes full of delicious. She also eats EVERYTHING, pork, steak, deviled eggs and puts a healthy twist on them all!
Ok, so like I said, the soup came out great. However, cooking it was a bit of a struggle...I had to dice 1 onion, 2 carrots and a red pepper. I also had to cube a sweet potato, mince garlic and grate ginger. Finally, once all of the veggies, broth & spices were in the pot I had to PUREE the soup. This was a special pain since I don't have an immersion blender. Thus, I transferred the soup to my small blender in about 20-1/2 cup increments.
It was so worth it! Even my boyfriend, who is NOT a vegetarian enjoyed the meal. We were both left satisfied and were excited about the next day's dinner - WOOT!
For those of you interested in the soup's recipe you can check out Ellie's first cook book, The Food You Crave, or click here for a link to the recipe.
LOL...Congrats,and good luck. It's funny your writing about this, my BF has been commenting that I cook with alot of meat, and have asked me if can start phasing in weeks without meat :oO A whole new paradigm in my kitchen. I was raised on a meat starch, vegetable plate family. Oh well I'm down to try. But I won't be giving up Fogo de Chao totally any time soon :o)
ReplyDeleteLOL jhenny53, you know Levi thinks I'm crazy giving up meat. As I find good & tasty recipes I'll post them. I'll be purchasing a VEGAN cookbook written by a sista that focuses on "comfort foods" - it has fried chicken, mac n cheese recipes and more!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I stopped eating pork and beef back in May 2009, and I'm in the process of taking turkey and chicken out of my diet, and moving to just seafood. It is definitely a lifestyle change as we grew up cooking with meat to season veggies. I purchased and have tried some vegan recipes from the Vegan Soul Kitchen check it out
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Soul-Kitchen-Creative-African-American/dp/0738212288/ref=sr_1_37?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271944933&sr=1-37
Please post your vegan recipes and we can share our experiences. The key with vegan meals is seasoning, sometimes over seasoning to bring out the flavor.
Good Luck!
@EMF, girl, we are twins! When I get my cookbook, I'll be posting more about healthy food options. FYI, I'm NOT vegan, I love cheese too much for that!!!
ReplyDeleteJosh and I have been semi-vegetarians (we like to call ourselve "flexitarians") for almost 2 years now. We don't buy meat for ourselves but we will eat some if it is served to us. Anyway, I could give you some great recipes if you'd like. I've found some fantatsic staple recipes that don't have costly or wild ingredients. Send me an e-mail if you're interested.
ReplyDeleteBethany...you're a life-saver! Love ya girl, thanks in advance!
ReplyDelete