Sunday, May 1, 2011

Exploring Vegan Cooking

I've been interested in exploring vegetarianism for awhile but am shamelessly addicted to meat which has prevented me thus far. However, for a variety of reasons, I've decided to take this month to do a little experiment. And why stop with vegetarianism? Why not try vegan?

So for the month of May I will be cooking and eating vegan dinner (on the nights we eat at home- if we go out or are at a friends house, I will eat "normal"). I'm not dedicated enough to go completely vegan... so I will still enjoy my eggs for breakfast and deli sandwiches for lunch, but from dinner until the following morning, I'm going vegan. *except I still get to drink my organic skim milk with dinner... I love it too much... I'm not giving that up!*

I plan to blog through this experiment if only as a journal for myself. My plan is to share the recipe I cooked with my comments on it as well as one of the my many motivations for trying this in the first place.

Day 1: Greens and Beans with Rosemary and Thyme
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2888

I used a southern greens mix from Trader Joe's that included kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and spinach. I have never had mustard or collard greens, so that was a new experience. Let's say, it wasn't terrible... it just takes some getting use to the bitter taste. And mustard greens DO actually taste a little bit like mustard!

I was a little worried due to the low calorie count indicated on the recipe that I would still be hungry after dinner despite all the fiber, but it has been awhile since dinner and I actually still feel quite full and satisfied! We'll see if it carries me through my morning run tomorrow...

I did have a little "palate cleanser" of a small scoop of raspberry sorbet after dinner to get rid of the lingering bitter taste, which worked great:)

Motivation: It's hard to say what the greatest motivating factor for me to try this little experiment was because there are so many... but the most general is probably just that I KNOW I need to eat more vegetables (don't we all?) and I am bored with the vegetable preparations I have used in the past. I want to branch out and learn how to cook vegetables I haven't had much (or any) experience with as well as learn new ways to cook the old familiar veggies I've eaten all my life. I have NO intentions of actually becoming a vegan after this experiment is over, but hopefully I will have made some new healthy habits and learned some new healthy recipes I can keep using once I return to my carnivorous ways!

If anyone actually reads this and has some good vegan recipes, please pass them on!

3 comments:

Jeey Potter said...

Molly & Sam & little Quinn:
just came across your pics and update on Facebook; found your blog.
Wonderful to see things are good!
Continue to be blessed

Come see us in San Diego/Tecate Mexico this summer if you guys get a moment. We are there June 11 thru 18.


blessings

Joey Potter
FCA
Director of Missions
jpotter@fca.org
239-292-4178
http://atlantafca.org/joey/

Whitney Harris said...

Hey Molly, I just stumbled upon your mothers day blog and thought id read about the impetus of your new journey. We gave up meat for lent (not dairy) and i loved it so much i am continuing to be a 90% vegetarian.

My 2 favorite dishes so far have been 1. somosa pie (we substited some of the potatos for sweet potatos to get some extra nutrition
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11149

2. lentil rolls (we added mango chutney for interest)

- Ingredients
o Egg rolls (found near tofu in the produce section at the grocery store)
o Lentils
o Onions
o Garlic
o Vegetable oil
o Salt
o Green chili Pepper
o Pepper black

- Procedure
o Put the lentils overnight into cold water one day before
o Remove the water and boil them into hot water untill they get tender (you can skip the soaking and boil them longer)
o drain
o Cut into very Small pieces 1 /6 of the green Pepper
o cook the onion, garlic in oil to fry
o Add salt
o Add the lentils
o Mix
o Add the green chili Pepper
o Mix and add black pepper

Take out of fire and wet until the mixture cools down

Take the rolls
Put 1 soup spoon of the mixture on one roll
Roll it
"Fry" them with olive oil

good luck :)

whitney

The Fromilles said...

thanks for the recommendations whitney! will try them:)