Meatless March

Here we are, on the last day of Meatless March! 31 days of avoiding eating animals have come to an end, and I am imagining cows mooing their thank yous for my month-long abstinence from meat. Don't tell the bovines, but I am looking forward to reintroducing meat occasionally into my diet, to be perfectly honest. I wouldn't mind some sushi now and then, or a real beef burger here and there. But the evidence is clear that a meaty diet is bad for the earth, and I'm done with that. Change isn't always easy, but it keeps us vital, doesn't it? It is a beautiful trait to be able to adapt. I plan to continue this blog as I try new vegetarian dishes to share. Thank you for reading! Thank you to everyone who sent me recipes or otherwise encouraged me! Thank you for considering how you might help fight climate change by reducing meat in your own diet! Settling in to the last Meatless March supper, framed by forsythia harvested from our yard "Never again"...

I have successfully made " Barley Gratin with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes " (from Food & Wine) previously, and somehow this time it made about 2 cups too much for my pan. I used 1 cup of farro instead of 1 cup of the barley because I didn't have enough barley, so maybe that made the difference. Or maybe SOMETHING has to go wrong every time I tie on an apron, metaphorically of course, since I almost never cook with an apron, because I like to live on the edge. I went to the store to buy caraway seeds for this recipe. What was the ONE SPICE that was not in stock?? Ughhh. But fear not, I found them elsewhere. I saved those 2 cups of the barley-mushroom-etc mix for some other purpose and soldiered on, and it turned out well, as it had last time. It's good comfort food. Stirring the barley mix and the onion-mushroom mix into the cheese mix Emma and I decided to bake a dessert tonight to go with dinner. We made "Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars," ...

Do you sometimes find containers like this in your freezer? Leftovers from some forgotten meal from the past? I feel fortunate that I labeled this one ("veggie peanut stew") and even offered a serving suggestion ("serve w/rice"); usually they are just tubs of frozen mystery food because I am always sure I will remember what they are, and I am always wrong. However, I don't know where I got the recipe, so you're out of luck in that respect. Which is a bit of a shame, because it was surprisingly tasty upon thawing and reheating. Served over rice, of course. Given the lack of further things to say about veggie peanut stew, I thought I would share this handy chart that  a friend brought to my attention: I was interested in how these foods compare to meat when it comes to protein, and she helpfully dug up this other chart: If I can ever bring myself to really cut back on non-meat animal products (I'm thinking about it! Baby steps, peop...

Last night I attended a very nice reception for University of Minnesota alumni, and I had to say "no thank you" a thousand times to trays of mini-crabcakes and tiny smoked salmon toasts and gourmet pigs-in-a-blanket. Finally, a tray of vegetarian quesadilla slices appeared. I practically grabbed the tray out of the server's hands and wolfed them down. Despite the lack of sustenance at the event, I did meet some lovely people. Earlier in the day, I got to try my first Impossible Burger for lunch, and it was everything we have been promised. I would be perfectly happy never eating a beef burger again if these were available everywhere, and that is really saying something, for me. Impossible Burger Tonight for dinner I made " Dr. Weil's Sweet Potato-Poblano Soup " from Martha Stewart's website. Who is Dr. Weil? Martha does not condescend to tell us. I did change the recipe, which is vegan, in some key ways. The reviews for this soup all noted th...

On Sunday, I outlined in this blog how plastic production and waste contributes to climate change . One argument against a plastic-bag ban, as my town is considering, is that it will be a burden for low-income customers. I am sympathetic to people for whom that is the case, but as addressed in the U.S. government's 2018 " Fourth National Climate Assessment ," low-income communities will likely be the most hurt by climate change. Low-income and other vulnerable communities lack resources to prepare for and cope with climate disruptions, the report noted. Picture people who may be unable to afford to heat or cool their homes as extreme temperatures become more frequent. They may rely on community infrastructure, such as public transportation, that could be compromised in a natural disaster caused or made worse by climate change. They may lack sufficient property insurance to recoup damages from extreme weather events caused or made worse by climate change, and lack the...

Everything is good about " Oven-Baked Mexican Quinoa Casserole " from the Vegangela blog: the great taste, the remarkably few dishes to clean up, its healthiness, and of course its vegetarian nature. In fact, it is a vegan dish, unless you put cheese and/or sour cream on it, as I'm admittedly inclined to do. This dish could be called a remarkably healthy comfort food, or a remarkably comforting healthy food. This is a terrible picture, isn't it? You can't even see the darned casserole underneath all the avocado and cheese. Sorry. A LeCreuset dutch oven makes this dish a one-pot phenomenon As you know, we are avoiding meat this month because meat production contributes to climate change. Climate change causes me great anxiety. Other environmental problems are also awful, but on the surface, it seemed to me like they're not a cause of the climate change that is turning our planet into something different and unfriendly. Like species extinction...

A person needs a lot of time on her hands to make " Michael Ruhlman’s No-Stock French Onion Soup ," from the Alexandra's Kitchen blog (shall we call it "Alexandra Stafford's Michael Ruhlman's No-Stock French Onion Soup?" No, we shall not). In fact, I made the soup weeks ago, and froze the leftovers. Regrettably, I did not take pictures of the creation process. I was delighted with how it tasted, even if it took ages to make, even longer than the recipe warned. But I have to say that it did not taste nearly as good when thawed and reheated tonight (and it needed more liquid). So if you're making it, invite some people over to finish it off right away. Bonjour Today is World Water Day, offering a chance to reflect on the linkages between water, agriculture, climate change, and security. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has issued a new report that could--I cannot sugarcoat this--cause you to despair. It informs us that the "great...

Pat arranged to drive to DC this weekend to meet an old friend for some rounds of golf. Yesterday, he informed me he'd be leaving from work the following day (today). "Oh no!" I said. "That's a shame, because you'll miss me making gnocchi." Pat loves gnocchi. He was sad, and I explained that I had thought he wouldn't be leaving till Thursday, so he would get to eat them. "Tomorrow IS Thursday," he said, and sure enough, it was. I felt a little sheepish, but the good news is that I froze half the gnocchi, so they'll show up on the table again at some point when he's around. [UPDATE as of 7 April: these did not unfreeze well. Don't freeze them!] I made " Baked Gnocchi with Ricotta and Marinara ," from Martha Stewart's website. The gnocchi really turned out well, I thought, and I was kind of impressed with myself. Ricing the potatoes. Do you have a ricer? It is the bomb-diggity. Mixing the dough It ta...

If you live in my area, you are familiar with Arturo's , a mouth-watering pizza and pasta restaurant that supports all the other restaurants in downtown Maplewood, because people eat at the other restaurants when the line is too long at Arturo's. The owner of Arturo's has lately opened a bakery/cafe called The Bread Stand , which I visited today for the first time. I had a latte and a delectable pain au chocolat and read an interesting article about Rachel Carson in a year-old issue of The New Yorker. Once, when I was young and had almost no obligations, I was always caught up on The New Yorker. Now I'm thinking that when I retire someday and send my child off into the world, there will be an opportunity for me to again be current with The New Yorker. I'm sure everyone misses me starting half my sentences with, "I read this article in The New Yorker..." At The Bread Stand, I also bought a loaf of ciabatta to make tonight's sandwiches. The ...

I'm serving meatless leftovers tonight, so rather than a recipe, I offer a reminder of why cutting back on your meat consumption is good for the environment. As Kermit noted, it's not always easy bein' green. Maybe you walked past a diner and you caught a wafting, heavenly scent of bacon. Maybe you got invited to a chili cook-off. Maybe your bagel looks lost without lox on it. It's okay to admit it: you miss meat. Bacon on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair I'm not eating any meat during Meatless March, but I'm not swearing off meat forever. Meat tastes good. It tastes very, very good. It tastes soooooo very very very good, doesn't it?! Cows? Delicious. No shame in admitting it. The idea of Meatless March is just to reorient ourselves so that meat isn't a given at most meals, even if you eat it occasionally. Meat production is resource-intensive, and according to The Guardian ( https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoi...

I first made " Cabbage and Ricotta Timbale ," from NYT Cooking (subscription required), about a month ago, and the initial results were dubious. I noted to myself at the time: "I used dried thyme instead of dill, and threw in a dash of nutmeg. It all had a very mild flavor that could be souped up a little (including with some chili heat, perhaps!), but everyone liked it well enough. The water I put in the baking pan was not hot, and I don't think it was set to the point it should have been after an hour of cooking. So: heat the water. I used a casserole dish, lacking shuffle dish or ramekins. I'm not even sure what texture was expected but would like to try again." Today, ladies and gentlemen, I did try again, and the results were.... Better! Although I must acknowledge that Emma declared she did not like this improved version. This time, I again used thyme, and a dash of dried basil, and about a teaspoon of sriracha to see whether I could kick this...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I filled up my dinner plate with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and especially my sister-in-law's sensational Irish soda bread tonight, rather than with corned beef. And of course, I dressed for the occasion. Mmmmmmm soda bread For lunch, I made a pizza with a cauliflower crust , using the recipe from the Detoxinista blog. Megan Gilmore offers both an easy and a hard way to do it, and why do I always choose the hard way? I steamed my cauliflower florets, and then riced and squeezed the life out of it to remove the excess water. It is truly staggering how much water can be squeezed out of two pounds of steamed cauliflower. Steaming the florets Scraping the riced cauliflower into a dish towel to be squeezed I don't have a picture of the squeezing, but here are clumps of riced cauliflower, post-squeeze This recipe makes a tasty crust that genuinely holds together, and somehow tastes neither like cauliflower nor goat cheese no...