Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What's a Vegantarian?

Vegantarian is a new word I've created to articulate my particular lifestyle with regards to eating. I love cheese, eggs, and fish, but in an attempt to eat healthier, I'm limiting my consumption of these products derived from meat. It means I'm mostly vegan, but occasionally a vegetarian.

There are many great reasons for being vegetarian (this encompasses everyone on the continuum of vegan to vegetarian)--including health, religious, environmental, and PETA. My personal reason for becoming vegetarian is a little unusual. Several years ago, I learned that I had a chronic disease and my diet had to be altered. My doctors told me to eat more meat, more refined carbs, avoid too much fruits and veggies, avoid whole grains. I loved many foods, including chicken, beef, grains, fruits, and veggies (not necessarily in that order). For the first two weeks, I was dazed and confused about what to eat and I ate nothing but white rice as porridge. It's been several years and my food journey has taken many twists and turns.

Several months ago, I learned that my condition is gradually worsening, and decided that this diet was not working. I'm having to increase my treatments, so it's time to take charge of my body--it's the only one I've got. However, I know that my health care team will not be too happy with the idea of me cutting meat out of my diet without their approval. I guess, in a way, I'm doing this to rebel against conventional medicine because I've given the conventional medicine path a 4-year trial run. As Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." In my case, it's time to do things a little differently. I will still take my medications and calcium supplements, but I'm definitely changing my diet.

At first, I was afraid of becoming vegetarian--What if my doctors and nurses yell at me? What will my family eat? They enjoy their meat, but I do most of the cooking. Finally, I heard a podcast from a nutritionist who talked about how to live with this chronic illness and still be vegetarian. Suddenly, there was a flicker of hope. I always wanted my family to eat vegetarian, but never knew how to get started.

The trick of eating vegetarian is planning meals ahead of time. Fresh veggies don't last very long, so plan meals for 3-4 days ahead. Plan to shop twice a week--which most people already do (or else they eat out at least that much). Plan meals around leftovers, too. I usually do my meal planning on the same day I'm eating leftovers--less work for me and helps with inspiration for meal ideas (Hey, I can't eat leftovers forever!).

So what's this blog about? It's about great vegantarian recipes that I've experimented with (and survived). Keep in mind, my family of carnivores are also eating along with me and acting as my taste testers. They have taste buds inclined toward asian tastes (i.e. white rice, stir-fries, curries, etc.) with occasional cravings for pasta dishes, Mexican foods, and burgers. This blog is also about the journey of fooding in the vegantarian world. I would love to hear feedback and suggestions for different variations from recipes!

So here's my first tested recipe for this blog:



Tofu Balls (or Patties) - adapted from Weimar Institute's Newstart Lifestyle Cookbook



Ingredients:
1 lb. firm tofu, drained & mashed
5 oz. can water chestnuts, drained, chopped fine (found in Asian foods aisle @ Cub)
1 green bell pepper, chopped fine
8 green onions, chopped fine
1/4 cup chopped parsley (I used dry parsley because I didn't have any fresh)
3 Tablespoons Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 1/2 Tablespoons almond butter (I used Earth Balance buttery spread because I didn't have almond butter)
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (or more as needed)

*Make sure the wet ingredients are as dry as possible (especially the tofu, water chestnuts, and the fresh bell pepper). They will still be a little wet. If the mixture is too soggy, the balls won't hold together well. I used my Pampered Chef Chopper for fine chopping everything--saved me a ton of time! A blender or food processor would probably do the trick, too.

Combine all ingredients except bread crumbs. Mix well. Form into 2" balls (I also formed some patties). Roll into the bread crumbs. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Yields about 10-12 tofu balls.

These tofu balls reminded me of eating eggrolls....I think I ate 4-5 in my first sitting! :D

Enjoy!




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