Vegetarian for a Day

By no means am I a vegetarian. But as I have incorporated better quality and more natural ingredients into my diet, I thought it would be a good idea to eat vegetarian one whole day a week. I'm definitely not able to go vegan - I love my eggs and cheese! But for one day a week, my boyfriend and I have vowed to eat vegetarian.

I was inspired by a story of a food critic (whose name I can't recall) whose doctor recommended that he eat vegan. Being a food critic, he knew that this would be virtually impossible. So, he

found a solution where he could compromise - he would eat vegan after 6pm every day. I thought this was a great way to balance his diet. So, in my baby-step attempt to improve my health and diet, I decided to be a vegetarian for a day one day a week.

I thought this would be quite challenging for me as I am a pure omnivore on the verge of carnivore =) I love my meat! In my house growing up, there was always a meat dish around which our meal was centered, whether it was chicken, beef, pork, fish, shrimp, etc. And my cooking as an adult has also been centered around meat. I have been known to make vegetarian meals now and then, but not very often. So when I started this new thing 3 weeks ago, I though it would be difficult. But in reality, I found it challenging in a good way and very satisfying to find flavorful ways to be vegetarian.

For lunch, we have had homemade egg salad sandwiches or a delicious salad with lots of fresh veggies like baby bella (or cremini) mushrooms, red pepper, snap peas, and carrots. Sometimes we'll toss in a fried egg ;-) Dinner time is when it's time to shine...

The Menu:

Week 1:

Mediterranean Inspired Meal

- Grilled Eggplant w/ Tahini Sauce - Inspired by a dish in Tyler Florence's book "Tyler's Ultimate." The tahini sauce has greek yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, and fres crushed garlic

- Tabbouleh (or Tabouli) Salad - soaked bulgar wheat mixed with fresh tomatoes, red onions, parsley, mint, chives, and a mix of spices (including salt, pepper, cumin, & coriander)

Roasted Eggplant with Tahini Sauce & Tabouli Salad

Week 2: Rich & Delicious Italian Inspired

- Roasted Squash Risotto - Inspired by Ina Garten's recipe, minus the pancetta. I used a really large butternut squash - so meaty, yet veggie. The saffron really set off this recipe. Also, I used some Robusto Cheese - a gouda-style cheese that is dry like parmesan, but has a hint of sweetness and nuttiness.

- Mixed Tomato Salad - This was inspired by a recipe I saw in one of my food magazines (bon appetit or Food & Wine). I found a container of beautiful mixed tomatoes at Whole Foods. I don't even know what the names were of all of the tomatoes, but there was a great mix of colors - yellow, orange, bright red, deep read, and a dark speckly green (with red flesh). I cut those tomatoes in half (or quarters if larger) and mixed it with chopped fresh mozarella cheese, basil, olive oil, a touch of balsalmic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a few shards of Robusto Cheese. Can we say delish?!

Mixed Tomato Salad w/ Fresh Mozarella

Week 3: Boyfriend's in Charge

- My boyfriend who was vegetarian for a short while years ago had a vegan cookbook that hadn't been touched since I came into the picture =) He chose to make this casserole he had made before using eggplant, zucchini, onion, bread, tofu, and a tomato sauce with kalamata olives. You pretty much layer everything together and stick it in the oven. It was very fresh-tasting. The tomato sauce gave good flavor, the tofu and bread were actually tasty and not weird like I thought they would be. The only think I might change is to cook it longer or to grill the veggies first. The casserole was just barely cooked and had a very raw veggie feel, which isn't a bad thing. But I would like to see how this dish would be as a sort of mousaka with all of the rich vegetables and flavor, but without the meat, of course.

Week 4: Veggie Pad Thai

- This meal is so simple if you know where to find certain items. You have to find thin, flat rice noodles, which where I live can be hard to find unless you go to an Asian market, which is not prevalent in these parts. I cooked half an onion (sliced into stips) in vegetable oil until soft and then added chopped firm tofu. I added a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder to give the bland tofu some flavor. I then set those aside so I could scramble up some eggs. When the rice noodles had finished boiling (after about 5 minutes), I drained them, rinsed them with cool water and tossed them with the other ingredients and pad-thai sauce. And I sort of cheated and used a pre-made pad-thai sauce. For exotic sauces like this that are hard to master, I find that using the pre-made stuff is just as tasty and a lot less hassle. Then to finish off the dish, I sprinkled the top with chopped nuts (usually peanuts are used, but I like to sub with cashews) and a little chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

So I'm finding it easier than I thought to eat vegetarian for a full day and make delicious vegetarian meals. You don't have to compromise taste and flavor just because there is no meat. I'll be following up with my other vegetarian meals in the future.