Meatless March

I went through a seaweed phase a few years ago and while I no longer add it to everything, I do still enjoy it as an Earth-friendly, tasty ingredient. So it was disappointing when " Creamy Asparagus Pasta " (NYT Cooking; subscription required) did not have a distinctly seaweed flavor, despite the claim in the recipe description that "umami-rich seaweed stars twice". The dish (which I made with gluten-free elbow pasta) tasted fine, but I don't really need to be consuming all that fattening cream from greenhouse-gas-producing cows, especially when I could add seaweed to a similar yet vegan recipe, as I suggested back in 2020 . And that vegan recipe requires no subscription, so check that out. Off you pop, as my fellow Brits might say. In cleaning up my email inbox recently, an exercise in futility that I do from time to time, I came across a 2022 edition of The Guardian's "Down To Earth" newsletter with some great and still-relevant stats about why ...

The first time I made " Shalom Japan’s Lox Bowl " (NYT Cooking; subscription required), I made it with smoked salmon, and roe, per the recipe. It was wicked good, with a seductive blend of contrasts: salty and sweet and smoky; chewy and crunchy and creamy and flaky. As you may know, I adore smoked salmon. However, I have recently come out of denial (sob) about the environmental impact of eating fish, so I wondered whether I could make the dish vegetarian. This week I made a vegetarian version, and I swear it loses almost nothing when you leave out the fish. Because guess what? Someone has invented " Vegan Carrot Lox " (Love and Lemons), and it is pretty impressive!  My carrots took almost an hour to roast, and then it took me a while to create the strips with my peeler, so ignore the prep/cook times listed on the recipe, and budget your time accordingly (you can make it ahead; it keeps up to four days). And I had two issues with the salt. One is the salt wouldn...

After embarking more than two years ago on this effort to cut my meat consumption, for the sake of fighting climate change, I have to say it has taken nearly all this time to form the habit of mostly-vegetarianism. I am surprised it took so long, but I guess it's a challenge to teach an old (tofu) dog new tricks. I've gotten there, though. I still enjoy occasional "meat as a treat" (burgers, bacon, Thanksgiving turkey), and I am comfortable with that. But I am finally ready to also put fish into that "meat as a treat" category. Fish came last because 1) I was never all that wild about poultry, so that wasn't hard, and 2) pigs and especially cows are much larger drivers of climate change (though I'm hopeful about a new idea to reduce cow methane emissions !). But I have been coming to terms with the particular ways in which eating fish is bad news for Mother Nature. For example, I thought that farmed fish sounded like a good alternative to overfishing...

I've been at loose ends this week, feeling a little lost, waiting around, cold, fearful.  Cookies help, but only so much. For the past ten months I have been planning out meals a week in advance so we can get all groceries delivered, and that means that while " Healthy One-Pot Enchilada Pasta " (Peas and Crayons) sounded like a good idea the week prior, it did not sound like a good idea this past week, so I kept moving it into the future on my calendar, one day at a time. I had a hard time visualizing the making of it, plus I knew I was going to have to make my own enchilada sauce because FreshDirect doesn't sell any. I was unmotivated. Finally, yesterday, I told myself it would be done in an hour and I just had to do it, and how it turned out is a perfect metaphor for my waste of a week. The enchilada sauce (Cookie + Kate) was actually easy and good. I can recommend that. But it turns out I somehow had no refried beans (I used extra sauce instead) or black beans (su...

I like to think of myself as a creative person, but I rarely cook without a recipe. Even when I modify the recipe ( as I did yesterday ), I am still relying on the steps someone else has laid out. This leads me to wonder what the "rules" are about modifying someone else's recipe and claiming it as your own. I beg forgiveness for the recipe below not only from Alexandra Stafford , whose " Creamy Corn Pasta With Basil " I modified, but also from the New York Times' Melissa Clark, whose " Creamy Corn Pasta With Basil " Alexandra Stafford modified! It's complicated, I guess, but I'm going to give those chefs credit and then take a little of my own. "Jennie Aylward's Alexandra Stafford's Melissa Clark's Creamy Corn Pasta With Basil" Um, never mind....let's try again: "Creamy Corn and Seaweed Pasta" Serves 4-5 Ingredients 12 ounces dry pasta 4 tablespoons oil, divided (I used vegetable only beca...

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. ...

It has been a kind of tough week. I got this sinus affliction, and then my computer spontaneously tried to upload a new operating system, and failed miserably. The whole thing had to get wiped. I have been good about backing things up since the Unfortunate Water Glass Mishap of late 2017, but still, I had to make 2 trips to the Apple store, I was frozen out of my work email for a bit, and getting Microsoft Office back turned out to be a chore. Nonetheless, I have religiously maintained my commitment to meatlessness. Naw, that's a lie, I'm afraid. I grilled beef burgers on Friday and they were SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD, and Saturday we hosted friends for brunch and I ate approximately my weight in bacon. Well, it's a marathon, folks, not a sprint, and today I turned a chicken recipe into a tofu recipe (" Coconut Noodles " from NYT Cooking; subscription required). I wish I could report that this was an act that represented a comeback, a triumphant return to my former ...