Girl Interrupted

This blog will be on hiatus until further notice.

You see, the weight I gained since going veg has shown no signs of budging.

Until I can perfect a low fat veg way of cooking, I must start eating meat again.

I'll still have days during the week when I don't eat meat at all, but I still feel guilty. I went veg because of the cruelty of the meat industry. To buy meat again, knowing what I know now is difficult, even heartbreaking. However, my weight gain is really affecting me in all aspects of my life. I have never been as heavy as I am now. Ever. In my life. I need to break the cycle now before it gets worse.

Until then...

Frustration...

Since going vegetarian I have gained weight. About 7 pounds actually. That's a lot to gain over a short period of time.

The problem is that I never seem to be satisfied. When I used to eat a grilled chicken breast and a side of veggies I felt full. The veggies aren't giving me that same feeling. And so, I've been falling back on some old reliables to fill the void. Those being pasta, rice, and potatoes. Three things that while I ate them as an omni, I did only sparingly. Say, once or twice a month. Now, as a vegetarian, I eat them almost daily. Not good. But, if I don't then I'm always hungry!

I'm desperately seeking ways to feel satisfied after eating. I just recently bought some of those vegetarian "meat" crumbles. I put them into a quesadilla I made earlier tonight. It was good. But, loaded with cheese!

I'm frustrated. I know that I have to let my body and lifestyle adjust, but I didn't anticipate this. I've always been very weight conscience and I have to say that this extra weight bothers me quite a bit. I know it's not much weight, but it's enough that I feel it in the way my clothing fits and see it in the mirror. I'm bothered by it.

**sigh**

Anyway...enough wallowing in my self pity...

I made a good, old fashioned, carb loaded stir fry the other day. I threw in whatever veggies I had in the fridge: broccoli, onions, carrots, and edamame. I also made my own stir fry sauce. It wasn't bad, but there was definately something missing. Can't figure out what. Here's the recipe:

1 cup vegetable broth

1 T soy sauce

1 T brown sugar

2 t corn starch

1/2 t salt

2 t vegetable oil

2 t sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T fresh ginger, minced

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart...

At least that's what I told myself today. I'm feeling blue. And when I'm feeling blue I like to keep myself busy, so I cook. Tonight I cooked beans.

I hate beans. Bleh. Trouble is, being a vegetarian I need to eat them. I mean, aren't they like, the cornerstone of vegetarian cuisine?? So, I threw together a coupla things I had laying around in order to make myself a tasty bean dish.

I sauteed one small onion and two garlic cloves, chopped. Then I added a tablespoon of tomato paste, a can of tomatoes, some fresh spinach that I wanted to use before it went bad, some lemon zest for freshness, a can of cannellini beans, rinsed, and some fresh, chopped parsley. Of course I added salt, pepper, and other spices.

I'm thinking it will be good over rice or possibly tossed with some angel hair pasta. Here's what the finished product looked like:

It was actually pretty good. I'm still not a big fan of beans, but at least this is damn tasty.

Tofu 0, LunaNik 1

I am funny about the texture of my food. This is why I never really liked eggs, jello, rice pudding, things like that. If it's jiggly, chances are I ain't eatin' it. So, I knew that tofu would be a problem. It's not jiggly per se, but it is a bit egg-like. My first go around was your standard issue stir fry. I did what I could to eat AROUND the tofu. Ok, so a peice or two snuck by, but for the most part, I didn't eat it.

So I started researching tofu. What's the deal with tofu? How do I cook tofu so it won't make me gag? I learned about freezing tofu, soaking tofu, pressing tofu, slicing, dicing, cubing, scrambling, blending, and finally MARINATING tofu. But every marinade involved some sort of asian food theme. Lots of soy, ginger, and garlic. Not that I don't like that flavor component, but it's not what I was looking for in a basic marinade.

So I decided to use a marinade recipe that I used to use for shrimp. Why couldn't it work for tofu?? Here's what I did...I sliced the tofu thin, maybe 1/4 of an inch thick, then I pressed it for about an hour. Why so long? Honestly, because I forgot about it. Then I stuck it in a container full of marinade and let it sit overnight. Today, I coated the slices in breadcrumbs, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, a spritz of oil, and into a 400 degree oven they went until they were nice and toasty. I didn't actually time how long it took...maybe 20 minutes. Here's what the finished product looked like...

I ate it with rice and edamame. Not bad, eh? And here's the best part, it actually tasted great! The breading was crunchy, the tofu was tasty, even the texture was good. I highly recommend it.

Here's the marinade recipe:

1 cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

2 T hot pepper sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T tomato paste

2 t dried oregano

1 t salt

1 t black pepper

fresh parsley, chopped

This is the marinade as I have it written down. However, I always tweak it a bit. I use ketchup instead of tomato paste for a little added sweetness, I add in some lemon zest to really brighten the flavor, and I use red pepper flakes for added heat.

Please let me know if you try it. I'd love to know how you tweaked the recipe, what you served it with, etc. Remember, I'm still new at this so it will be nice to hear some feedback!

I conquer asparagus

I completely forgot that I took this pic until I downloaded the contents of my camera this morning. Nice, eh? Just look at those veggies!

This was my attempt at cooking asparagus. What you are looking at is lightly poached balsamic asparagus. Delish. At least, the first coupla bites were...then I kinda get turned off. I don't know what it is, but I have some sort of mental block when it comes to eating asparagus. I think it's the whole makes your pee smell funny thing. Bleh.

Anyway. Also on the plate is an eggplant and roasted tomato napoleon topped with roasted red peppers and sitting on a bed of spinach. Again, delish. I have no complaints here.

Along side that is the infamous couscous cake. Dry, bland, boring. I will be reworking this recipe this week and will let you know how it turns out.

When in doubt, make it into soup...

I have to go grocery shopping. All of the good stuff is gone and only the basics remain. Basics like onions, garlic, carrots, vegetable broth, potatoes, and a half a head of cabbage.

So what's a girl to do for dinner?

MAKE SOUP!

I sauteed the onion and carrot until the onions were caramelized and the carrots were tender. While that was cooking away, I threw in some dried spices. I used parsley, basil, and oregano...nothing fancy. Oh, and salt and pepper of course.

Then, I threw in 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic and sauteed until fragrant. After that came about a tablespoon full of tomato paste and 2 tablespoons of flour. Tomato paste for flavor and color, flour for a bit of added thickness.

Once the flour had cooked a bit, I added 4 cans of vegetable broth that I had in the pantry. Add a bay leaf to that and the last of the fresh parsley sprigs before they go bad and whamo. Man, did it smell GOOD. Once that was simmering I added 4 potatoes, peeled and diced. Then I threw in a bit of cabbage.

Let it simmer away so the flavors come together and the potatoes cook thru.

I still wasn't happy. I wanted something more. Maybe a can of beans? That would have been great, if I had one. Hmph. Ah! A handful or two of elbow macaroni! No, didn't have those either. (I told you I have to go grocery shopping.) But I did have alphabet pasta. Good enough for me.

And there you have it. A wonderful vegetable soup. It came out really tasty too, but next time I'll leave out the cabbage and maybe add some zucchini for color.

I wish I could post a pic because it really looks delish. Alas, the battery has died in my camera.

Next time...promise ;)

Two steps forward, one step back

I have phased out meat completely. That's a good thing. I'm eating mass amounts of veggies. Experimenting with different ways to prepare veggies. That's also a good thing.

But...

My goal was to go VEGAN. So far, only vegetarian. Shit.

I will continue to make a strong effort to phase out all animal products. For example, I'm very interested in learning more about the fine art of vegan baking. Have you seen some of the vegan cupcake recipes that are out there?? Yum...

But, as for going Vegan all of the time...ain't gonna happen...not yet anyway.

I just can't seem to let go of butter or parmasean cheese.

Oh well...not giving up yet. Vegan is still an attainable goal. It just may take me longer than I originally thought.

So, in the meantime, I'm going to change my header. Boo.