Most people who know me know that I'm a total health nut. I'm also a total foodie- a vegetarian one, that is. To many this sounds like a contradiction. How can one love food, yet have such a limited repretoire? After all, most omnivores get into food ruts and they have chicken, fish, pork and beef, etc to work with. The truth of the matter is that I don't feel limited in the least. My brain is bursting with recipe ideas and not enough days in the week to make them all. This is actually the main motivation behind this blog.
People ask me all the time, "So if you don't eat meat, what do you eat? or What do you do for protein? or don't you get sick of tofu?" Oh, the misconceptions people hold! I could write volumes on protein consumption in the western diet, but I'll save that for another day. And for the record, I eat tofu a few times per month (and this is only a recent trend). The purpose of this blog is to shed some light on the diet of this vegetarian as well as share what I hope will be some delectable recipes. I plan to log everything I eat during the day and share the recipes to whatever I am cooking.
Warning... I rarely ever follow a recipe. If I do I modify the heck out of it. I'm not much of one for measuring anything and I rarely make the same thing the same way twice. With that said, I will attempt to share my culinary secrets.
I'll begin with breakfast and work my way through to dinner...
Corn flakes with strawberries, cut up banana and skim milk
a small glass of orange juice (100% juice always)
a cup of green tea with mint
a pear for late morning snack
spinach dal with brown rice (the dal is actually packaged, but all natural with no additives or preservatives). The rice I prepared typical Brazilian style. First you sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. The add rice to pan and stir to coat. Add to that veggie broth and a touch of salt and simmer covered until done.
a medium sized double chocolate cookie from the local bakery with a glass of skim milk
herbal tea
4 or 5 tortilla chips with some homemade guacamole (avocado, onion, tomato, garlic, cumin, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper
veggie fajitas: sautee in canola oil on med high heat cut up bell pepper, onion, zuchinni. Add in chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano and salt to taste. When veggies are almost done throw low fat tortillas in the pan (right on top of veggies) to heat and sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Remove tortillas from pan fill with sautees veggies. Squeeze a touch of lime onto each one and serve with guacamole and fat free sour cream. (I actually make my own sour cream with ff yofurt and lime) Enjoy!
Physical activity for the day: Did all of my errands of foot pushing Avery in the jogging stroller. This took about 1.5 hours. In the evening I did yoga for about 20 minutes. Yeah, that's not a long time, but every bit helps!
Alright...so I will be commenting as our family has gone completely organic, we are also vegetarians, and we are trying to get away from processed food entirely. I'd like to understand the rice better. I am a terrible rice cooker. How much broth vs rice. Should it cover the rice? I make my own veggie stock every week and think this would make the rice great. -- Leah Rose
ReplyDeleteVeggie stock makes fabulous rice. That's what I use most of the time. And you're right, rice is difficult to cook and takes some practice. I don't get it right all of the time either.
ReplyDeleteThe cooking liquid depends upon the type of rice. For while it's 2:1 ratio (+/-) and for brown you need 2.5 parts liquid to 1 part rice. BUT- this could vary slightly depending upon your cooking temp, lid fit and grain size.
I'd say just keep trying until you figure out what works best with your prefered grain, and stove. Good luck!
LOVE to hear about you going organic :-) Good for you!