Thursday, August 23, 2007

... Vegetarian

Lately I've been making a concerted effort to buy my food locally and to buy grass fed meats vs. grain fed meats. I've been lucky enough to find a local farmer who takes great care to raise cattle, chicken, and pig on a diet of grass (or salad bar beef as he calls it). The prices are very reasonable, however, it does look like I'm going to have to decrease the amount of meat I consume in order to make it work in my budget. I'm OK with that though because I keep reading that Americans tend to eat a lot of meat and not enough vegetables, grains, or fruits. Maybe this will help me to have a more balanced diet.

Now, I'm not going vegetarian but I am looking for good vegetarian recipes. Not necessarily just meat-free recipes but some good whole, fresh, tasty, vegetarian recipes. I've spent a bit of time on line looking and have yet to find a good resource. If any of you have a favorite recipe, I'd love to try it. But if any of you have a favorite cookbook or website, I'd be very excited if you'd share that with me too.

11 comments:

Ashleigh said...

Michelle, we're looking into trying to buy more of our food locally. During the summer we buy a lot of our veggies from the farmer's market, but in the winter that's harder to do. So we have different options we're going to check out. I don't have any good vegetarian recipes on hand, but if I come across any I'll let you know. I think Bethany at one point mentioned a good black bean recipe. Anyway, Two of my sisters are vegetarians. I'll ask them if they know of any. I agree, I think we all need to eat more veggies, grains, and fruits.

Wendy said...

Hey Michelle! I saw your post on my blog. I think we must run into each other on lots of blogs!

I was just going to share that in all my reading of food info, issues, stuff...what I have determined is that we probably don't eat close to what God intended, but then it is a fallen world. So, I try to cook simply and as close to fresh as I can get. Steamer over boiling veggies cause it keeps in more nutrients. Organic over not, but everything in moderation cause like you said budget is definetly in play too.

Anything with beans is good, but using dry beans over canned is better for you although more time consuming.

I know you are a reader and so here are a couple of books I have read along these lines:
Food Smart, Cheryl ?
Superimmunity for kids Dr. Leo Galland, What the Bible Says about Healthy Eating Rex Russell, M.D. Obviously reading with discernment and taking out the nuggets.

So now I will end this long post. Sorry it got wordy. Have fun with your new receipes friend.

Ginger said...

I am now reading this book "animal, vegetable, miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver
They did 1 year dedicated to eating only local or home grown. Its a great book. It had lots of recipes too.
I have a few Vegitarian cookbooks you can borrow if you want.

Bethany said...

I like the Moosewood Lodge Cookbooks. They own a Vegetarian Restaurant in NY. I think you would like their books...very gourmet. I have been trying to eat more vegetarian lately for budget and health reasons.

For fast meals I love veggie burgers cut up on a tortilla with sour cream cheese, salsa and fresh avocado yum.

We also like to make veggie burritos with Spinach tortilla's corn, black beans, avocados, cilantro, tomato, crushed tortilla chips and a sour cream salsa dressing and cheese...sometimes I do add grilled chicken. I make up a batch for dinner and eat on it for lunch...when I do that I keep the things like chips and tomatoes separate.

Bethany said...

Ummm can you tell I love Mexican Food. I am still trying to figure out how to make those veggie Enchiladas they have at El Cholo

Bethany said...

PS Did you like the Namesake?? I had that book on my list to read.

Michelle said...

Ashleigh - Yeah, let me know if your sisters have a good source. You'd think being in PETA land (the HQ is less than a mile from me), I wouldn't have a problem with this...

Wendy - Thanks for the book recommendations. I will check them out.

Ginger - I've read a few exerpts from Kingsolvers book. It's on my "to read" list.
Have the recipes from your vegetarian books been very tasty? I may want to borrow it...

Bethany - I love Mexican too. Burritos are a staple in my home so I'll try your ideas.
And, yes, I liked The Namesake which was surprising as I typical don't like most modern day literature.

Catherine said...

Hey, Meesh. Funny, but I've been going through a similar change recently. Ever since being in SA with Pierre and Mia, I've found myself eating more like them (pseudo-vegetarian!). Mia can't eat too much food with cholesterol in it which cuts out a lot of meat. Instead they eat a lot of beans - chick peas and such. It's really great! I loved it. If you're interested in finding good recipes, try searching for low GI recipes on the internet. I've found them to be good, healthy meals and a lot of them are vegetarian. Yay to veggies!

Heather J said...

Michelle, I've got a great vegetarian Tex-Mex Lasagna that I'd love to share. Let me know if you are interested. I think it came from Cooking Light eons ago....

Michelle said...

Hey Heather, yeah, bring it on. You can email me the recipe or post it here so all the bloggers can try it too. :)

Heather J said...

Ok, here is the recipe for Tex Mex Lasagna. It freezes well too:

TEX MEX LASAGNA

Ingredients
3/4 cup bottled salsa
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (14.5-ounce) can no salt-added diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can no salt-added tomato sauce
Cooking spray
6 precooked lasagna noodles (such as Barilla or Vigo)
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onions


Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine first 4 ingredients; spread 2/3 cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top with 1/2 cup corn and half of beans. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese; top with 2/3 cup sauce. Repeat layers once; top with remaining 2 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover and bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with onions.

Enjoy!!