As some of you already know, I have really gotten away from eating a lot of meats. It is not because I think eating animal flesh is inherently wrong or bad, but I have been learning a lot about how these animals are raised, their living conditions, what they eat, and about the industry as a whole, and don't wish to perpetuate and condone it. Also, I have seen some prices on what meat from reliable, local, humane, and organic sources of meat look like, and though I do plan on buying some "ferrell-to-finish" pork from my cousin Steve who distributes from a local farmer, I can't eat meat like that all the time due to the economics of my situation and I figure I don't really need to beat myself up for some meat. Anyway, I have been eating more beans, nuts, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and mushrooms as primary protein sources, and that's just fine. I would call myself creative and innovative in the kitchen, and often I come up with meals as I am cooking, and tonight was one of those nights. I want to share with you some of my thought processes and what I made not to tout my abilities, but to hopefully give you some ideas on some ways you can add some "love" to your meals!
Tonight, for dinner we had what I decided to call, "Triple-Bean Roasted Potato Hot Salad". Sounds good, huh? It was!! As the title describes, the main ingredient is love! Corny, maybe, but absolutely true. First, we have had pasta for the past few days, which is great, and I am also known to use whole and cracked wheat as my preferred carbohydrate sources, but today it was red potatoes. I had bought a big bag of lovely red potatoes from Costco last week, I believe, and I checked on the remaining 3-4 pounds and they were starting to soften but had not yet begun to sprout roots, so that was a plus! I washed them and quartered them, then tossed them in olive oil, minced garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, garam masala, coriander, rosemary, paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and that's about it, I think. I layed them out in a foil and parchment-lined cookie sheet and roasted them at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes or so. While those were roasting, I minced up 1/2 of a red onion, 1/2 of a bell pepper(I chose a yellow one), quartered up some baby bella mushrooms, and cut up some dried ancho chilies and sauteed them up in some olive oil. When the onions were softened, I threw in some edamame, a can of black beans and a can of red kidney beans along with some thinly chopped spinach, fresh dill and parsley, salt, pepper, cumin seeds, tomato bullion, and a little water and simmered that mixture down a bit. When the potatoes were ready, I threw in half of them (and stored the rest as a side dish for later in the week) and tossed the whole concoction together and served it up with some toasted artisan bread. We enjoyed a nice Riesling on the side and it was a bangin' meal! Again, I wanted to share this with you not as a recipe, but as an example of using what I had on hand. Take advantage of the ingredients you have in your home, and be creative! You will find more and more combinations, and don't be afraid to give something a shot, because even if it doesn't turn out well, you will learn for the next time. And when you cook with love, you can't go wrong! Thanks for reading everyone!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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Eating animals is bad...but that's another story. Mike, maybe you should run with this and give some more protein-alternatives. For example, when I first became vegetarian (and to this day) people always ask, "how do you get enough protein?" The truth is, American culture consumes excessive amounts of protein that impair the function of many of our organs. Protein is actually a chain of amino acids. We need 22 for normal function, only 8 of which we obtain from food. Scientists used to believe that these building blocks had to be consumed at once to be "accepted" by the body; however, we now know that our body holds on to these molecules until we provide the necessary food to build a complete protein strand. That means that the amino acids you get from say whole wheat pasta combined with the amino acids from a fantastic source of whey cheese such as ricotta form a complete protein. :)
ReplyDeleteJenny, thank you so much for commenting! Everyone, Jenny is one of my good friends and fitness team members and she is a vegetarian. Take this info she has left us and do some research for yourselves and you will find what she is saying is so true. Many people believe that you have to eat meat to get protein, when protein is actually naturally found in many of the foods we already eat, and as Jenny has pointed out, many people actually eat way too much protein daily, and unless you are body building or actively working to build more muscle, you should get familiar with how much your body actually needs, and also be knowledgeable about what you are actually taking in. Check out www.myfitnesspal.com to start tracking what you are eating and find out the real deal! Something simple I heard recently regards a steak dinner. Often we shoot for the 8 or 12 oz steak and opt for a small side salad, when actually, you should swap the sizes and get maybe a 4 oz steak (or portion of fish) and opt for more vegetables on the plate. You will get more appropriate amounts of nutrition and often more quality, since filet mignons are often this size! lol! seriously, folks, the more colorful your plate, the more you will feel the nutrition and gain benefit from it, trust us! Thanks again to Jenny for your comment and insight!
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