It’s that time of year again those dog days of summer, when all you can think about is finding a shade tree and how fall can’t get here soon enough. It also means that we are coming into harvest season and all those beautiful vegetables filling your plate. I am giving you a taste of both autumn and summer with the recipes I am sharing today. In my last post, I spoke about how the carni world thinks all we vegetarians eat are salad. Well today, I will be showing you that sometimes that is correct. I am offering up a couple of special salads from the kitchen that would make even the most diehard carni want to dig in. For our autumn selection, we have a warm wild rice and harvest potato salad (this can be served cold as well). In addition, we finish with a broccoli slaw, which is my take of the classic broccoli salad with …
Great Anticipations
A Vegetarians Vacation
I went into our family vacation knowing it might be hard to find veggie friendly places to eat. Little did I know that Gatlinburg Tennessee is one of the most veggie unfriendly vacation spots in the southeast. Upon arriving at our hotel (which was awesome by the way, it was the Bear Skin Lodge) we inquired about a good vegetarian friendly place to eat, they recommended unknowingly the Blue Ridge Brewery whose idea of a veggie friendly meal was a three ingredient pizza. However, I do recommend their beers! As a vegetarian, there is a misconception that we only eat salad. The Mellow Mushrooms “Magical Mystery Tour” saved the day, at least there are some things you can always count on and the Mellow Mushroom is one of those.
Happy Eats!
Where have you been all my life?
Those six words ran through my head after trying Fantastic World Foods vegetarian taco mix. As a reformed “carni”, I still get cravings for meat like substances as this product fit the bill. Of course being who I am, I kicked it up a bit by adding black beans and corn. Today we made their vegetarian Sloppy Joes this was another huge hit, the kids did not even notice it was not meat. Fantastic World Foods products impressed me so much that I emailed the company to say thank you. Next time we are going to try their Natures Burger Mix we cannot wait. If you want to try these products, they can be found at Ingles grocery stores, Food Lion, and Earth Fare.
Happy Eats
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A Summers Trinity
If you are going to become a vegetarian, summer is the best time to do it because of the bountiful fruits and vegetables available locally or your own back yard. Being from the South during the summer months, we have always eaten very veggie friendly. My family loves fresh corn and okra any way we can get it. I created a new dish the other night I am calling a “Summers Trinity” that not only tastes good but is beautiful as well. I used fresh corn, okra and field peas’ sautéed in olive oil and garlic followed with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. The flavors go so well together I served it with a watermelon and cucumber salad. We are taking our family vacation next week; I will be posting about good veggie friendly finds on the road.
Watermelon and cucumber salad
¼ seedless watermelon
2 med cucumbers, peeled and sliced into quarters
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch of fresh cracked black pepper
Use a melon baller to remove edible areas of the watermelon (all the red area).
Place melon into a …
I Did It My Way
I’ve been craving meat the last few days, I’m guessing I need more protein. Therefore, I did like every new vegetarian does I made a run to my local Publix and picked up some BOCA burgers. If you have never tried these little pieces of yum, you do not know what you are missing. There are several new flavors out there to choose from with our favorite being the flame grilled. I’ll share my recipe for Greek Boca burgers and you just might fall in love.
Since becoming a vegetarian, I get so many questions from Carni’s about how and why I don’t eat meat anymore. I’ve even gained the monikers “Veggie Boy” and “Tree-hugger” which I don’t mind at all. I always tell them my energy levels are higher than they have been in years, weight lose has been another benefit (I’ve lost almost 20 lbs since becoming a vegetarian). Being a vegetarian is also good for the environment due to not contributing to the meat industry and the methane produced from all the animals. People are becoming more conscience …
The Dichotomy of Lunch
When you‘re a “carni” which I like to call those non-vegetarian types like I used to be it’s a no brainer. You hit a fast food place grab a chicken sandwich or burger some fries and go on with your day. The problem is most fast food restaurants are not veggie friendly and BK is the only one around that offers a veggie-burger (which is not good by the way). However, Publix deli offers a veggie sub that is great when there are no leftover’s from the night before. Another discovery we made before going veggie was Pizza Inn has a loaded baked potato pizza that you can get without meat, which is so good. I would love to see a veggie friendly fast food place open up in our area, but when you live in a small town in the south it’s wishful thinking I’m afraid.
Happy Eating,
The Journey Begins
Around six weeks ago I started my path to veggie enlightenment, in other words I became a vegetarian. I have spent most of my life as a self-proclaimed carnivore, yet here I am now eating only vegetables (what I once called rabbit food). I did not set out to be a vegetarian, it somewhat just happened. This blog will be my diary of the trials I face in veggie enlightenment as well as sharing recipes and good veggie friendly foods available today.
The first couple of weeks were easy so to speak, until faced with one of my old favorite’s pork BBQ. Ohhh that sweet smell of slow smoked goodness, served best with mustard based BBQ sauce. Nevertheless, my resolve won out despite friends with heaping plates surrounded me. I then found a way to get my BBQ fix without going off the wagon Morning Star veggie riblets; in four short minutes, you can satisfy the strongest BBQ beast.
My next post I will share some other great finds of the veggie persuasion.
Happy Eating!
Winds of change
South Carolina and Clemson University are now to be a force of change in wind energy production. See the following article for more details about the Department of Energy’s grant to develop new wind technologies and jobs.
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/nov/23/big-grant-puts-clemson-wind-turbine-business/
It’s a green Halloween.
This is my favorite time of year: cool mornings and leaves turning warm shades of ochre, red and rust. It is also time for my favorite holiday, when all the spooky and creepy things are afoot. This year I vowed to have an eco-friendly Halloween party. I looked into what was on the market for eco-friendly items and found there is not many option at the local mega mart. Being the creative type, I decided to recycle some items I have to create a sustainable Halloween.
One of my family’s favorite Halloween traditions is carving pumpkins. There are not many options for lighting a masterpiece jack-o-lantern other than tea-light candles or battery-operated lights. A little trip to our backyard shed made me think of other options. Riffling through boxes of things waiting to be fixed, I came upon a great inspiration: if you have ever had solar garden lights, you know how the stems often break, rendering them seemingly useless. If you are anything like me, these lights won’t be tossed in the …
Spilling the beans…
organic coffee beans
I cannot imagine a day without coffee—the aromas and tastes awaken all my senses. Personally, I have gone green with this daily practice: buying organic beans, using ceramic cups and composting used coffee grounds. As a coffee-loving greenophile, I often ponder how we can take personal practices, such as drinking coffee, into the local marketplace. While most of us have heard bad press about disposable coffee cups, perhaps we’ve not considered other opportunities that can take the daily coffee ritual into green territory. With cup in hand, I’ve thought of a few ideas for how green coffee-lovers can take to our home-based environmental practices to the local coffee marketplace. After all, small steps practiced at home can often be encouraged on the local, community level. You can take green ideas the next level by talking to these merchants about some ideas that they can use to go green. Here are a few ideas to consider:
• Fair Trade produced coffee. Fair Trade is a trading partnership, …