Category: Vegetarian

Morningstar Farms

Around this time last year, I began walking every day for about 45 minutes. I was trying to lose weight and get myself healthy, and I was quickly seeing results. I was feeling good!

At that point, I was trying to avoid meat, especially beef. Of course, as I walked my neighborhood, grilling season was just firing up. There are very few smells that get my mind thinking about food as does the smell of something tasty being cooked on an outdoor grill.

It took just about ounce of willpower to stop myself from running to the store for some hamburger. I love hamburgers, and I was missing them greatly. But, willpower won out. Low cholesterol and hamburgers don’t go together.

Well, in order to resolve this critical dilemma, I sought out alternatives. I didn’t realize all the veggie burgers that were out there. I began trying them out, and for the most part, it was hit or miss. Some were o.k., some were downright tasteless. Then I found Morningstar Farms.

They have 11 kinds of veggie burgers, and my favorite right now is the Chipotle Black Bean Burgers. Unfortunately, from what I can tell you can only get them at one of the big box stores. Around here, that would be B.J.’s.

Right now, Morningstar has a bunch of good stuff on their website, including a $1.00 coupon for their burgers, tons of burger recipes, and even a guide to meatless grilling.

One of my goals this summer is to try all 13 burger recipes on their website. I think I may add a page to my blog to rate them all. I’m hoping some people will join me in this cookoff, and together we can comment on what we liked, and what wasn’t so good.

In the meantime, please take a stab at trying out veggie burgers. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy them as much as I do. Lastly, get out and talk a walk today. It will do your body good.

Main Course Vegetarian

Mission Accomplished

This photo was taken last night at my house. It’s a big bowl of Pasta Primavera, enough to feed about 10 people. My five guests and I did a good job, but there was quite a bit left. Leftovers for the next couple of days!

For those that didn’t read my earlier posts, this dinner was the first of many “sacred feasts” I hope to host once a month going forward. The idea came to me in prayer, and my aim is to show people that its pretty easy to eat good, healthy food, minus the meat. I’m not trying to convince people to become vegetarian, but rather just remind them that you can enjoy a good meal without meat.

I’m going to write more about the various courses I prepared in other posts, and today I want to talk about the Pasta Primavera. First off, if you go to a “real” Italian cookbook from someone like Guiliano Bugialli, you won’t find a recipe for it.

The reason is that it was created in the 1970’s at a famous New York City restaurant. Customers kept asking for lighter and healthier food, and Pasta Primavera was born. I decided to try it out since primavera means spring, and we’ve have a wonderful one so far, so it seemed fitting to celebrate the season with food!

Although the dish is a bit labor intensive, since all the vegetables have to be diced, I think it was worth it. I was surprised that the recipe didn’t include garlic. Brian, one of my guests, thought it was because of the zucchini and squash, whose delicate taste would have been overpowered if garlic had been added. Makes sense. Overall, a very successful dish, and perfect for a early spring dinner with good friends.

I served the pasta with a 2008 Vernaccia wine from La Mormoraia vineyards in San Gimignano, Italy. To me, this pairing was good, but not great. I’m going to keep making this dish, and I’m going to keep searching for the perfect wine to go along with it. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

You can find out how to make Pasta Primavera by clicking the recipe on the right. Enjoy!

Body Vegetarian

Sacred Feast

One of my goals this year is to introduce people to a new way to eat, basing it on a vegetarian diet. Over the last couple of months, people keep asking me, “how are you doing it? Can you help me?”

So, I’ve decided to start inviting people to my house, cook them a good meal, give them recipes and cooking tips, and have some fun. My hope is, that through these “Sacred Feasts”, we might be able to celebrate the fact that, starting with small lifestyle changes, we can be get our health back, renew and strengthen relationships, and enjoy all that God wants to give us.

I’m hosting my first “sacred feast” tonight. I’ve got five friends coming over, and I’m excited! We’re starting out with several easy appetizers, including grilled polenta, caponata in phylo shells, and marinated olives. All served up with a nice Prosecco.

Next, a salad made from lettuce from my garden (yea!), mixed with a classic vinaigrette. For the main course, Pasta Primavera with roasted vegetables. I’m pairing this wish a good Italian white wine named Vernaccia. The grapes used to make this wine come from the area around the beautiful Tuscan hill town of San Gimignano.

Dessert will consist of strawberries with a splash of basalmic vinegar. Although this sounds weird, don’t be afraid to try it, along with a little freshly ground pepper. I know… strange. Try it. With the strawberries, everyone can nibble on a couple of chocolate biscotti.

I’ll let you know how it all went!

Soups and Stews Spirit Vegetarian

Brother Victor

For the last several months, I’ve been cooking from two great books, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups and Sacred Feasts. Both were written by Brother Victor-Antoine, who is the cook at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in upstate New York. These are great books, and more importantly, they both hold very simple, tasty and easy to prepare recipes.

From Brother Victor, I learned that for centuries, monks were for the most part vegetarians, eating meat only rarely. Most of the food was grown within the monastery walls, and sometimes people would bring whatever they had in abundance to share with the monks. It was all fresh, all local, all good. Just a caveat. Brother Victor uses a fair amount of heavy cream, butter, cheese, etc., but I’ve easily adapted the recipes and they turned out great.

As I was finishing up weekly meeting with the person guiding me through the 19th Annotation of St. Ignatius, she gave me a book to read over called Blessings of the Daily, also written by Brother Victor. It’s a day by day entry into monastic thought and prayer. Also worth having on your shelf.

Writing about “Doubting Thomas”, Brother Victor notes,

several early church writers mention the fact that perhaps Thomas was jealous of the other Apostles who claimed to have seen the Lord. Others remark that perhaps Thomas resented the fact that Christ appeared to the group, knowing full well of Thomas’ absence. Other commentators speculate Thomas didn’t feel obliged to believe the other Apostles, for they were not always trustworthy and had abandoned Jesus during his crucifixion.

Jesus himself, full of compassion, uses the occasion to teach Thomas and also the rest of us about the value of faith, the necessity of trusting in him. Faith will always remain a challenge for us as it will for future generations, but Jesus assures a blessing to those who without seeing him shall trust in him and believe in his words.

If there ever was a time to trust in Jesus’ words, I think it’s now.

Body Vegetarian

Real Food Revolution

I raced home from the gym last night to catch Jamie Oliver’s new show “Food Revolution.” I missed the first thirty minutes or so, but overall, I was pretty disappointed.

Oliver had travelled to Huntington, West Virginia, a place with the unfortunate honor of being the “most unhealthy town in America.” As I watched the show, I quickly realized that just about any town I’ve been to int he last couple of years could be up for consideration the next time around.

Anyway, my overall feeling is that the show places too much responsibility for poor nutrition on the school system. Kids don’t know what a tomato looks like, blame the school. Kids don’t know how to use a knife and fork, blame the lunch ladies. Kids choose pizza over chicken? On that one, I blame Jamie. If kids are unhealthy, the first place to look is home, and I wish that’s where Jaime would have turned to first.

I really like Jaime’s idea of having cooking classes in a downtown storefront that he’s rented. Teach parents how to cook simple, good tasting, and inexpensive meals, and I think a lot of people will move away from our fast food culture. It’s been my experience that many folks are just overwhelmed, and fall to the pressure of quick, easy, and cheap. We also fall to multi million dollar ad campaigns targeted at people just like the residents of Huntington.

As I was watching the show last night, I flipped through Oliver’s newest book, also titled “Food Revolution.” Great title, great concept. But poorly executed, and not really helping people out the their unhealthy lifestyles and encouraging them to eat healthier food. Eight of the twelve veggie recipes included butter or heavy cream. A lot of the recipes call for the frying of ingredients. Not much better than heading to Mc Donald’s or Denny’s.

I like Jaime Oliver, but if the remainder of the episodes are anything like the first, his revolution will fail to help us out of a desperate situation.