Meatless March

You're doing your part to fight climate change by whipping up a meatless entree like " Coconut-Caramel Braised Tofu " (NYT Cooking; subscription required), but when you toss your green beans into your hot oil, it splatters onto your shirt, making a greasy stain that does not come out in the wash, even when you use stain remover.  Your shirt is ruined. Or is it? I'm a co-leader of the Green Team at my small backup dancer's elementary school, and we create opportunities for students to learn about their roles and responsibilities in addressing the ecological challenges facing our planet. Last year, we focused our messaging and activities around a theme of " food and the environment ," and this year, our theme is "sustainable clothing choices." We recently organized a "Visible Mending Workshop" for students, who learned how to apply artful stitching or patches over holes or stains in their clothes. By giving old clothes new life, we brea...

Happy Vegan Vednesday! There were two opinions in my household about " Butternut Squash and Green Curry Soup " (NYT Cooking; subscription required). According to one opinion, the soup was "good," but the people who held that opinion were clearly bananas, because the soup was excellent. I'm not the only one who thinks so - the recipe has a five-star rating and 145 comments on NYT Cooking. Note that you will need to skip the fish sauce to make it vegetarian/vegan. What were the some of secrets of its success for me? Homemade veggie stock - I always have some ready to go in the freezer, and thaw it quickly in a pan right before I need it, if I've forgotten to stick it in the fridge the day before. Dried ancho (poblano) chiles, which aren't very spicy at all. You will need fewer than the recipe states, because they are big - and the more finely you can slice/dice them, the better. "Thai Kitchen" green curry paste, which also isn't very spicy, ...

I treated myself and the fam this morning to French toast slathered in kaya, a custardy spread. I had brought a jar of the stuff back from Singapore, after savoring it in the mornings at the Good Good Eating House with a cup of kopi (coffee). Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Come dinnertime, I was ready to try something from the "Pinch of Yum" blog, to which I was pointed by a friend who had received a cryptic message about it from her mother, referencing meatless meatballs. I seized the day, and gave " 30-minute Vegetarian Meatballs " a shot. My back-up dancer Emma is getting fairly good at beating eggs. First note about this recipe: 30 minutes? Bwaaaa ha ha ha ha ha! No. I mean, maybe it takes closer to 30 minutes if you have cooked rice/quinoa already on hand, and if you don't cook what turns out to be two cups of quinoa when the recipe calls for three such that you have to go back into your cupboard and also cook a cup of brown rice to make up the difference...