Plant-based thoughts & go-to meals
Oh hello. Whoa, where to begin. I’m excited to be writing more regularly (+ publicly) again, and have a lot of ideas for what I want to write about. I thought I would start with FOOD — because I love food and have found a new love for cooking over the last year.
For better or worse, the reason I started cooking more often is because I became a suburb dog mom. (Me and Alf moved from Boulder to a suburb west of Denver in July 2018.) When we lived in Boulder, our studio apartment resembled something squeezed into the West Village, but smaller. It actually was a GARAGE converted into a studio :O
Our kitchen was essentially a closet with enough room for a fridge, hot plate, toaster oven, and half a person. I’m still impressed we cooked as often as we did, but we were also a five-minute bike ride away from dozens of restaurants and were eating out way more often than we do now.
While I definitely miss the Boulder nightlife, I don’t miss all the restaurant meals. Nowadays, I genuinely enjoy cooking in my little suburban home, along with researching recipes, meal prepping, and (dare I say) grocery shopping. Cooking-in more often makes eating-out more special, too. We probably eat out once every two weeks.
Here was our Boulder humble adobe, aka The Garage. Sadly I couldn’t find any pics of our kitchen-closet, though it was indeed very photogenic. Side note: You know you’re meant to marry someone if you can survive living in a place this small together. PS) Find Luna
Aside from cooking more often, I’ve been experimenting with new ingredients, flavors, and techniques. This has included cutting out meat and other animal products for a few/many reasons. Let me bullet!
Vegan/vegetarian food tastes amazing. Also: plants, grains, legumes, and nuts provide all the flavor/protein one could need, despite the silly myth that yummy protein must comes from animals
I don’t know how to cook meat, and it’s gross to handle anyways. Chicken breasts? GTFO please
Learning how to use certain ingredients (nuts, herbs, legumes, and grains) with certain appliances (blender, food processor) to create creamy and delicious sauces, fillings, and more has been SO FUN
I work from home so have the privilege of time — I recognize it’s hard to plan and cook when you’re out of the house most of the day
Alfredo also doesn’t eat a lot of meat. Having a partner who shares similar food values/choices makes this a lot easier
Significantly cutting down on animal AND processed foods has made the biggest shift on my health and energy. I also barely drink anymore which overall makes me less fun, but my body appreciates it
The environmental impact of meat (and fish, and dairy!) production is harrowing. Here’s a good/objective article about it in the NYTimes.
I LOVE ANIMALS. Seriously, my dogs are my LIFE. And other animals love, feel, emote, and think just like my two girls. I would never eat Luna and Rosa so I don’t really want to eat their friends
My girls. I think they eat meat though. And cow feces. Will work on this
I want to emphasize that I cook and eat ~mainly plant-based. I don’t consider myself a vegan and personally don’t feel connected to the idea of labeling myself as such. I know there are a lot of different opinions on this, and I respect all the different approaches. Restricting anything 100% isn’t healthy for me. Plus, I love travel + experiencing a culture’s food; I went to to Mexico, Belize, and Vietnam last year and ate some meat without any guilt. (Pho, carnitas, egg coffee, ceviche…)
Let’s be clear: I still enjoy animal-based products, though I’m slowly starting to get more and more turned off by it. I couldn’t eat a steak anymore, I don’t think. Still, I sometimes add half-n-half in my coffee (though have been trying out new almond/coconut/oat milk creamers), occasionally eat eggs, and really love Alf’s shrimp ceviche. I also eat my weight in chocolate and don’t always look to see if it contains milk.
I almost wanted to write “I’m far from perfect,” but I don’t think being a 100% plant-based eater should be connected to our morality. There are so many personal/cultural/health reasons why people eat certain ways. I do believe that cutting down on meat consumption and buying local/organic/free-range is a great step to take, and it’s basically where I’m at.
I ordered pho in Vietnam and was served this instead. Lost in translation? I fed most of this to the restaurant cat (convenient) b/c I am not a fan of fish eyes
Ok, here are my go-to meals!
It was hard to choose just one from each “category” but this blog post is already a novella, so…
SALAD: Kale salad w roasted & raw veggies
I make up this salad each time and so can you! I take kale and massage it with olive oil and lemon, roast up a bunch of veggies, chop up raw veggies like cabbage and cucumbers (for crunch), and usually add another protein like tofu or garbanzo beans. I don’t make salad dressings that often - just add oil, sometimes tahini, and lots of salt! Right now I’m into roasted beets and sweet potato. Pictured is a salad I made in the summer with broccoli.
SEED: herbed quinoa and chickpea salad with lemon-tahini
I am genuinely in love with this herbed quinoa and chickpea salad with lemon-tahini dressing. I video-recorded myself making it the other night but it will probably never leave the safety of my own eyes.
Also, according to Bob quinoa is a seed/member of the spinach, chard, and beet family. Who knew!
GRAIn: One-pot turmeric coconut rice w/ greens
This meal is another crowd pleaser (my “crowd” being myself and Alfredo..) but it’s really easy to make: one-pot turmeric coconut rice with greens. Adding the topping of toasted coconut, sesame seeds, and lime zest makes me feel very fancy.
Since you need to be a NYTimes subscriber, I “sneakily’ took a screenshot of the recipe below the pic.
BURGEr: spicy chickpea veggie burger
These spicy chickpea veggie burgers are bomb. They have such interesting ingredients that almost make it taste like a crab cake… in a good way. I also make homemade burgers into smaller “meat” balls since mine never stay together.
TACO: roasted cauliflower w chipotle romesco
We always have corn tortillas in the fridge, so a go-to usually consists of pan-frying veggies and adding homemade salsa. Easy and delish. Pictured here are roasted cauliflower tacos with chipotle romesco.
If you’ve made it this far, then wow. Thanks :) More to come…I think!
Big plant-powered hugs.
