Meatless March

Earth's two hottest days in recorded history happened recently. Phew. Wipe the sweat from your brow and plan meals that won't make your kitchen hotter.  But better yet, plan meals that won't especially make the whole planet hotter. Compared to growing plants for food, animal agriculture contributes disproportionately to global warming , so why not try out a vegan dish that requires no heat to prepare? At my local farmer's market last week, I loaded up on basil and field tomatoes, and I made NYT Cooking's " Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches ." I used nectarines rather than peaches, because putting a furry peach skin in my mouth has always seemed weird to me.  I thought this dish was fantastic. It's an elevated, vegan version of a caprese salad. I love mozzarella, but tofu is a planet-friendly alternative, and it soaks up the juices, which are both acidic and sweet. I had two servings of the salad for dinner, and then pounced on the leftovers fo...

Remember the start of the pandemic (as if we could forget), when we were forced to let our hair just do its thing without the intervention of professionals? At first it was sort of morbidly interesting to watch roots grow out, and hack away at one's own or one's spouse's locks. But when that first COVID wave receded, most of us returned to the hair experts for overdue corrections. Not me. At first I was just extremely COVID-cautious and figured a haircut wasn't strictly necessary, and later I thought I should decide on a style before I made an appointment, but I couldn't decide. Then it got so long that I figured I might as well just keep growing it and eventually donate it . And I was surprised to find that I liked my hair long, until this winter set in it just got dry and staticky and tangly and it started to drive me crazy. By last week, the moment had arrived. Sometimes you just need a change, and that's as true of cuisine as it is of coiffure. Tonight I mad...

 Happy new year! Have you made a "green" New Year's resolution for 2021? You could resolve to: Make a "Leftovers Day" once a week, to reduce food waste.  Learn to repair a broken item (toy, clock, clothes, iron, jewelry, etc) - Repair Cafe has some tips, just search by your item!  Walk, bike, or scoot* rather than take a car to a nearby place you visit frequently (park, library, store). Hang a clothesline, inside or out, or set up a clothes rack, and air-dry at least one load of laundry each week. Never drink another single-use bottle of water. Find new owners for 10 things you don't want or need anymore. And of course, you could resolve to eat less meat and dairy , because animal-based foods contribute more to climate change than plant-based foods. "Meatless Mondays" and "Vegan Vednesdays" make excellent starting points. We tried " Portobello Philly Cheesesteaks " (The Nut-Free Vegan) last week, and they were decent. The reci...

We are minimizing the frequency of getting groceries, to avoid person-to-person interaction and touching things as much as possible, to slow the spread of coronavirus. Presumably, you are doing the same. If not, please start doing it, for the sake of humanity. I used to shop for groceries in a variety of haphazard ways, multiple times a week - a FreshDirect delivery on a Tuesday, say, with a stop by Trader Joe's for my favorite peanut butter on my way home from a Wednesday appointment, followed by a Friday trip to Stop-and-Shop after I decided what I'd cook for the weekend. I almost never planned more than a few days ahead. Now it's just FreshDirect, once a week. I think about groceries constantly, and update my order multiple times a day, as new things become available (lots of stuff is sold out) and as I work out what my family going to eat for an entire week. The whole process makes me very anxious, but it is working as planned. Another way to minimize grocery pro...

I suppose I should begin with a series of confessions: I just returned from a vacation that featured no shortage of meat; I didn't even TRY to achieve Vegan Vednesday while on the road; I served tonight's vegetarian "Sheet-Pan Ratatouille With Goat Cheese and Olives" (NYT Cooking; subscription required) with non-vegetarian salmon; and I modified the recipe so much that you maybe can't take my assessment as a true reflection of the recipe anyway. And yet I blog on, undaunted. I have tried to like eggplant, over the years, and I have failed (this is disappointing to me because eggplant can be very beautiful). So I left that out of my ratatouille, and I also did not adhere at all to the measurements of any of the ingredients, because it seemed like it would make a lot more than I needed. So, for example, I used about a pound of zucchini, one bell pepper, four cloves of garlic, etc. Regarding the olives: "torn into pieces"? What are we, an...

Ah, Vegan Vednesday, you have been my Vaterloo. Meatless March was a cinch, but I have had a devil of a time observing veganism once a week. The first week , I pulled an innocent-looking mystery sauce out of the freezer that turned out to contain meat juices. The second week, I confidently ordered pad thai with vegetables, forgetting that it would also include egg. The third week , a travel ordeal left me weak-willed when a tray of dairy-heavy delights appeared in front of me. And last week, I ordered chicken for my backup dancer, and even though I was perfectly satisfied with my own vegan dinner, I ate some the chicken because she wasn't going to finish it, and it looked (and indeed was) so good. This brings us to today, and I am mighty proud of myself for reaching 9:12pm without having consumed a single animal product. Vegan victory at long last! I started the day with Anita's coconut yogurt with my own muesli mix, and here I have to express my horror that the yogurt cos...

This recipe for grilled pizza dates back to an era when I would actually copy recipes out of a newspaper onto an index card and stick them in a little plastic recipe box. Now you know: I am ancient. You could use any pizza dough that you like, actually, and grilling them makes them sooooo good. The trick is to cook one side of the dough, then put toppings ON THE COOKED SIDE, then to stick them back on the grill so the bottoms get cooked and the toppings are heated/melted. Remove the pizza from the grill when it is getting brown on the bottom And here's a tip for what you might NOT want to do: create a whole spread of yummy vegetable toppings, and then watch two seven-year-olds top their pizzas with nothing but cheese. Sigh. Those toppings were super awesome on my own pizza, though. Basil from the garden. Bell pepper and tomatoes from the farmers market, and zucchini, too, lightly sautéed. Sliced pitted kalamata olives. And of course the cheese. Fre...

Yesterday my backup dancer lost her first tooth. Today was her last day of first grade. They grow up so fast, don't they? HA HA HA JUST KIDDING! I feel like I have been a parent for thousands of years. I can't really believe she's not old enough to drive herself around yet, and to make ME dinner. So, for now, I continue to cook, mostly vegetarian. This recipe for " Quinoa and Wild Rice Salad With Ginger Sesame Dressing " (NYT Cooking; this link is free) is a great one for spring/summer, when you can take advantage of fresh cucumbers, peppers, and whatever the heck else you are moved to throw in. Don't be constrained by the recipe's (rather intimidating) list of 18 ingredients! It's a vegan dish. I didn't have edamame, but I did throw in a defrosted packet of kelp, and it was a perfect addition (have I become that person who puts seaweed in everything?). And I used a wild/regular rice blend because that was what was in my cupboard. ...

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...

There are a lot of winners--both meatless and meaty--in the cookbook "Pasta Sauces," by Christine McFadden (Parragon Publishing, 2004). Tonight I made the Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese sauce, and served it on penne. It was yummy, and easy. I forgot to add the basil at the end, but still delicious.  I served the pasta with Carrots du Amour, which is our slight variation on a recipe by Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Julie does not call it Carrots du Amour. We started calling it that years ago when a friend solicited recipes to impress a date for whom he was cooking dinner, and we recommended this one: Carrots du Amour (about 4 servings) 1.5 lb carrots 1 c water (note that if you increase the amount of carrots, do NOT increase the water proportionately! Stick with one cup) 2T sugar 1.5T butter Salt Peel the carrots and cut them into 2-3" chunks. Put carrot pieces in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan with wa...