Diary of a Faux Vegetarian

Eggplants Are White????

2010-09-19T21:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize that eggplants were called eggplants because they actually looked like eggs at one point. Apparently they decided to make them purple because the white eggplants bruised easily and looked ugly. Didn't know that.

<----- See how it faintly resembles an egg?

I found those beauties at the farmer's market one fine summer afternoon. Austin had a really good harvest this year it seems. We've had plenty of rain and no hail that I can remember. It was only until recently with the floods that the farmer's have been having issues. I hope that the damage wasn't too bad, but I can't say for certain.

I've never cooked non-Japanese eggplants before at home so wasn't completely sure where I wanted to go with it. I really was just lured in by the fact that the eggplant was white. I'm such a sucker for good packaging. I performed my recipe ritual of google imaging and decided on going with an Indian inspired stuffed eggplant. Pre-cooking I was leaning towards the white eggplant in terms of visual appeal although the purple one resembled a Mario villain I forget the name of (Chompers??).

Post-cooking, it seems that the farmers were justified in modifying the eggplants to purple. Not too long into the cooking process, the white eggplant was already showing signs of browning... and only on the side that was closest to the heat! If there were a good way to turn the eggplant I would have, but I think the color would have still been uneven. It's okay though, I won't hold it against you, egpplant. God made all of His creation beautiful in its own way. At least you aren't sweating like you're in the boiling pot like your purple brother. Boil with dignity, please!

None of you really look that appetizing at this point....

But if I have to choose one of you to present for me, I'll have to go with you purple altered eggplant. Sorry, whitey.

Bad Faux Vegetarians Only Update Once a Month... If that

2010-05-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

That's not completely true. But I guess it's confession time. I haven't eaten a single vegetarian day in probably a month now. Don't judge me!!! Luckily, I kept pictures of when I was vegetarian for those two weeks two month ago. =)Remember the tofu dish that didn't use up all of the tofu?? Well, here's what I did with the other half of the fried tofu.

Fresh ingredients are key to this dish. I actually bought the carrots from a farmer that day and picked the lettuce from the garden that day. (You don't have to be this fresh.. I just can't help being fresh though, you know? =P ) At first, I grated the carrots, but they came out ugly. So then I carefully chopped them up (at this point, I wish that I had bought the already perfectly cut carrots). I probably just need a better grater... or stronger arms.

I think that cutting it yourself allows you to control how the dish looks in the end. The carrots and lettuce already look so invitingly delicious!
I fried up the tofu with some onions, chili, green onions, and cabbage. I accidentally left the heat on low for awhile, and it ended up drying up the green onions and cabbage which added a nice texture. I may end up doing this all the time now. Before adding the tofu stir fry, I layered some vermicelli rice noodles on top of the carrots and lettuce. I then topped it off with some of the sweet and spicy sauce that I made originally for some egg rolls.

Side note about the sauce.. It ended up being green since I just picked out the green chilies. My friends made the comment that it looked unnatural since it wasn't pink like the one you see at the Vietnamese restaurants. What has the world come to when they can't distinguish unnatural vs natural colors!!!

Back to the topic at hand....

End product: Delicious and healthy summer meal... and lots of beautifully chopped carrots to be used at a later time.

Quesadillas Make Me Want to Cry

2010-04-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

I made this amazing quesadilla last week after the farmer's market, and seriously, I realized that I could make a hefty profit making quesadillas. It was so amazing. Did I already say that? I can't take all the credit though. The amazing goat cheese I got from the farmer's market really made it. "Tropical Heat Cheese." More like "Amazing Cheese." Ok, I'll stop now.

Ingredients:

I love carrots in my quesadillas. Adds a nice sweet crunch. I can't wait until our carrots and onions are big enough to eat!

Balcony Basil

2010-04-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Basil is possibly my favorite herb. It's so versatile and a distinct flavor in a variety of cultures. The last few times I planted basil though, I always felt bad picking off the leaves because I wasn't sure if they would grow back, but the farmer at the market told me that picking them actually produces more leaves. Great news! So after I heard that, I picked a good portion of my basil for a recipe I learned at a farm in Chiang Mai.

First, the meat (long beans and tofu):
Then, the flavor (basil, garlic, onions, and chilis... don't touch your eye or forget they're in the dish!):

And finally, voile!

I skipped all the steps, but I linked all of the pictures back to the Thai Farm Cooking School. If you are ever in Chiang Mai, I highly recommend them if cooking class is on your to-do list.

I mostly just eyed everything as is usually the case when it comes to cooking for me. Next time I'll double the basil. I still felt a little bad about picking them I guess.

I had some leftover tofu, so expect another tofu recipe soon!

Chard

2010-04-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, our chard is growing uncontrollably (it looks like it's about to bolt). If you're thinking about gardening, I'd suggest starting off with some chard. I'm not a seasoned gardener by any means, but it seems like this chard is growing on its own.

I've never had chard before, but every time I look at it in my friend's front yard, I just get this urge to trim it down and eat it. There's actually been a few incidences where I got ahead of myself and cut it down before deciding on a recipe. In fact, I still have a tupperware of chard in my fridge. One day, I actually did make two chard recipes. My recipe finding techniques are pretty simple. I google-image "___ recipes" and choose one that looks the most delicious. The winner for chard was...

Does that not just scream "Eat Me!"? I sure thought so. I couldn't find farro, at my supermarket, so I took her suggestion and used quinoa instead. In addition to never having eaten chard besides the one day we sauteed a week old chard that I had prematurely cut, I'd never really had butternut squash or quinoa either. Already, my semi-vegetarian diet is taking me to new horizons I never thought I'd reach!

I really enjoyed the texture of quinoa, which, I found out, is a seed and not a grain. It's packed with all nine essential amino acids making it a complete protein, too, so it keeps my muscles nice and bulging. My only complaint about the dish is that the hazelnuts overpowered the dish a bit. This might be because I just dumped them whole into the dish without really considering proportions (I was hungry). I would say that this is more for a side dish than a entree, but I agree with the original blog that it can really go either way.

Introductions

2010-04-21T21:16:00.001-07:00

It's not often that mouth-watering BBQ would invoke thoughts of fresh vegetables, but the more committed I become to trying some of the best meats in Texas, the more motivated I also become to attempting a more vegetable-friendly diet.
This change in diet comes at a most opportune time. Recently, I started gardening at a friend's house so there's been an abundance of fresh veggies (namely chard). Also, on every other free Saturday, I volunteer at the farmer's market. I can definitely see how the volunteer program boosts the local economy. I pretty much blow a week's worth of cash at the market, but who can resist trying fresh snow pea flowers or sunflower sprouts? (I'm a girl, I eat flowers. Rawr.)

(I served the snow pea leaves with some cloth aged cheddar and microgreens from my garden)

The farmer only had two batches of the snow pea flowers. I guess he's just testing the market for now. Also, microgreens are incredibly easy to grow. I use the term "garden" loosely in the caption here. Actually, I'm growing it in an old tupperware that had a hole in it and a tofu package outside on my patio. They grow pretty fast, too, so it's definitely encouraging for a beginner gardener.

On that note, I hope this inspires you to try something new. =)