Fake Meat Article

Some of you guys who've been to my apartment or out to eat with Chris and I are familiar with the whole "fake meat" thing. Check out this article I wrote for RestaurantGirl.com!

Here's a teaser:

If you’re a vegetarian, chances are dining-out is a challenge. You scan the menu for something that doesn’t involve animals or fish and those dishes tend to be few and far between. Oftentimes you’re left to decide between several side dishes and something well-intentioned like a seasonal vegetable plate or pasta that totally misses the mark. It’s unfortunate, but it’s reality. Unless of course, you head to a strictly vegetarian or raw restaurant, but those tend to be a snooze.. Which is why we eat in a lot of the time. It’s so much easier to heat up some soy chicken nuggets, cut them up to toss with a salad or even make a barbecue “riblet” sandwich (yes, you can even find vegetarian ribs), but eating out can be a different story.

To read the full article, click here.

And stay tuned for more writing-related announcements!

Greek-Style Nachos

I'm about twenty-five percent Greek but unfortunately don't know many of my relatives on that side of the family—go figure I try to connect to my heritage through Greek food. I never seem to get sick of it.

I just saw this recipe in the New York Times Dining section and decided I have to try it out in the near future. Maybe whenever we have our housewarming party? Yeah, we're moving on Friday (just a couple blocks), so it's packing week over here—and finals for me. I think a celebration is definitely in order once the boxes have been unpacked and the grades have been posted...

Greek-Style Nachos

4 pita pockets, white or whole wheat, cut into wedges

About 1/2 cup olive oil

Salt

4 ounces feta cheese

1/2 cup yogurt, preferably whole-milk

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

1 lemon

Freshly ground black pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 pound ground lamb*

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary, and chopped

1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted and halved (optional).

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Arrange pita wedges in one layer on baking sheets and brush or drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Bake until they begin to color, turning once or twice, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, turn off oven and put chips back in to keep warm.

2. In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, mint and zest and juice of lemon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend or process until smooth. (You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork.)

3. Put two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper; continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put chips on a serving plate and top with lamb, sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives if you’re using them.

Yield: 4 servings.

*I wouldn't use lamb since Chris and most of are friends are vegetarians, but if you could find texturized soy protein lamb (weird that I haven't seen it before), you could try that.

Beer Butt Chicken

Wednesday's randomness: Check. 

While reading one of my favorite blogs this afternoon, I clicked on a link to an article the author recently posted on DadCentric.com about making Beer Butt Chicken at the home of his wife's Midwife. The pictures he posted say it all. Here are a couple gems. 

If Chris ate meat and if either one of us drank beer (or owned a grill besides our George Forman, for that matter), I'd try this. Maybe. I don't know, though I can be kind of squeamish about handling raw meat. Either way, I don't think I'd slaughter my own chicken. 

I'm trying to think of any vegetarian equivalent to this, but I can't think of any, barring ToFurkey...

White bean and escarole soup

I can't believe it's already May. The weather hasn't quite decided how it feels about warming up yet, apparently. It was cool and drizzly this morning, so I went to the market and bought a ton of escarole and other soup greens to use for a white bean and escarole soup. 

I threw in some veggie sausage near the end, to add a little extra protein. Vegetarian sausage is one of my favorite fake meat items—it's really great sliced up in soups and things, but it's also good if you mash it up with a fork and use it in sauces too. Very easy to work with. 

I also threw in some dried goji berries because I have some lying around and, well, why not? They added some nice color and hopefully some of those ultra-marketable antioxidants without screwing up the flavor of the soup.

 I just had some for lunch, and I am very pleased with myself. For some reason, making soup is one of the most relaxing things—maybe because it's so hard to mess up.

I've got to get better at taking food pictures though. At least you can kind of tell it's the beginnings of soup in this shot...

Close Encounters of the Fake Meat Kind

Something you’ll probably see me post a lot about is vegetarianism.

I never intended to become a vegetarian—and technically, I’m still not one—but since meeting and living with Chris, I’ve come to appreciate meat-free foods. We don’t really keep meat in the house (except for the occasional carton of egg whites when we’re baking cookies or something, if that counts), and we often go to one of the many vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly restaurants in New York, since there are so many.

I do still eat meat on occasion, though over the past year-and-a-half, I’ve very gradually transitioned from eating it once a day to once a week. It hasn’t been a conscious effort, exactly. To be honest, it’s more that I’ve just gotten used to it and come to really enjoy some of the benefits of a vegetarian diet. I feel like I have more energy and get sick less frequently. I also sleep better—much better—than I used to.

Of course, there are plenty of other factors that contribute, but some of the other perks include that feeling that I am making a choice that benefits the planet and its creatures (hah, creatures)—we humans love feeling “green,” don’t we?—and the sweetness of saving a little money.

And did I mention how awesome and amusing fake meat is? It basically is what it sounds like: texturized soy or gluten protein flavored to taste like various meat products. For example, the other night, I made this masaman curry with vegetarian duck in it. We had just spent the day in Chinatown wandering around and stocking up on various canned fake meat products we’d never encountered before.

Last night, we made pad thai with fried gluten, which was oddly similar to scrambled egg. We also threw in some chopped peanuts. Since we were out, Chris went to the deli on the corner and came home with a pack of Uncle Jesse’s nuts. I about died laughing…