He's A Vegan!

It's my first post with the new name.  In February, my husband decided to be a vegan.  In April, I went on a college visit with our oldest and my 10 year old said, "Mom, you can't leave us with him - we're humans and he's a vegan!  The challenges of having a vegan in the house have been huge.  Emotionally, logistically and financially, we have struggled with the transition of one of us from human to vegan.  We are starting to get over the hump, and I hope to share some tips on feeding both humans and vegans at the same table.

I know there are many blogs devoted to how vegans are treated badly by friends and family, how no one understands their motivation and respects their decision to avoid animal products.  I don't intend to be a vegan basher.  I respect the decision and understand his motivation.  Diagnosed in mid-life with a pulmonary condition which leads to chronic pneumonia, my husband is trying to take control of his health.  He's a researcher who has done sufficient reading to believe that this is the right course for him.  However, that doesn't make it easy for any of us.   

Wheat Berries?

 

There were Wheat Berries in the bag this week.  Wheat Berries are the whole grain of the wheat.  Kay has ground them into flour in the past, but has had requests for wheat berries recently (not from me!) so she included them in the bag.  Rather than let them sit around, I searched for a recipe and found one on Food Network from Ina Garten.  Ina always has delicious, simple recipes, so I gave it a go.  I put 1 cup of wheat berries in 3 cups of boiling salted water and then let it simmer for 45 minutes. There was a lot of discussion in the reviews if this was enough time. The wheat berries were chewy, but my vegetarian friend said the consistency was right.  If you were substituting wheat berries for meat in your meal, you would probably want it to be chewy, but you could cook them longer if you like a mushier consistency. 

After cooking the wheat berries and setting them aside in a large bowl.  I sauteed a chopped red onion, half a zucchini, a clove of garlic and a chopped carrot in 2 tbsp of olive oil.  I sauteed the onion for about 5 minutes, like Ina suggested, and added the other veggies for the last 3 minutes.  After I turned off the heat I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  I combined the sauteed veggies, the warm wheatberries and a chopped scallion and 1/4 of a chopped cucumber plus salt and pepper.  It's important to let the salad sit for 30 minutes to allow the dressing to be absorbed by the wheatberries.  Ina's recipe included red pepper and did not include cucumber, but that is what I had and it turned out well.   It turned out well,  my husband and my vegetarian friend both loved it.

Publish Post

WEEK 1

In the individual bag this week is lettuce, radishes, onions and garlic scape.  We actually traded popcorn for lettuce, as we have tons of popcorn.  At the market I also bought zucchini, summer squash, fresh spring onions and snap peas.  I've been making a salad to take to work every day for a while now so this weeks bag will fill the bill.  I bought a chicken from Tea Hills Farm and some pork chops from New Creation farm.  I'm planning to marinate and grill the pork chops tomorrow night and serve them with potato-zucchini pancakes.   

I made the potato-zucchini pancakes last week for the first time.  I grated yukon gold potatoes, zucchini, some onion and garlic.  Then added salt, pepper and an egg.  I squeezed out most of the liquid and fried them in olive oil.  They turned out well enough, that I'm looking forward to making them again this week.

Duck Confit

So the  Plum Creek farmer is also a great salesman!  I came home with a bag of duck legs this morning and now have to figure out what to do with them.  My plan is to make a confit and use the meat for salad for lunch all week.  I combined the Epicurious duck confit recipe with an Emerill recipe.  I crushed  4 cloves of garlic and a pinch of salt together to make a paste, added 1/4 of salt and some fresh thyme and am now marinating the trimmed duck legs and the reserved fat in a ziplock bag.  (Mostly from Epicurious).  Tomorrow I will cook the legs slowly in 4 cups of olive oil & the reserved fat (because I don't have 4 cups of duck fat on hand!)  Emerill solved that problem for me, with the olive oil solution.  We'll see how it turns out.  It actually sounds pretty easy and the 4 duck legs were $9 which is the same as a take out chicken ceasar salad - so if that, some goat cheese, cranberries and $4 worth of Oasis Farms lettuce makes lunch for a week, I'll be way ahead and very well fed!

Rogan Josh

I must confess that not only have I not written anything interesting lately, I haven't cooked much interesting lately either, except for several pretty good batches of lentil soup.  Until last weekend when I made a fantastic pot of Rogan Josh.  I've made more Indian food than usual this winter, but all of it out of a jar of curry sauce from the grocery store.  Miles Farmers Market has amazing curry sauces at reasonable prices and all you have to do is add the meat.  However, this weekend I was out of jarred sauce and had some lamb in the freezer so I set out to make my own.  I read a few recipes and then used my own cooking technique.  Child number 2 had soccer and a play so I would be out of the house all day, so followed most of the instructions and then just tossed it all in a copper pot in the over at 225 for 6 hours.   I sauteed onions, garlic, 2 tbsp of fresh ginger in a pan.  Then I browned 1.25 pounds of lamb and added a tbsp of curry, 1/4 tsp of cayenne and 1 tsp of turmeric, a small can of tomatoes and 1 cup of yogurt.  I added a cubed eggplant (which I had salted) which was absolutely not in any of the recipes for Rogan Josh, but I think eggplant only adds to any lamb dish and I had less lamb than I needed for the number of people I planned to serve.  I tossed it all in the oven and went to the soccer game.   When I returned I made some basmanti rice and I chopped some cucumber and garlic and mixed it in plain yogurt to make a raita.  The lamb was tender and the sauce was flavorful but didn't have a harsh curry edge like the jarred sauce.  It also wasn't really much more difficult than opening a jar.  This is going into the regular family rotation, for sure.

Already uninspired?

So with high hopes to have back to school meals organized, but just off 14 days of visiting relatives and a big New Year's Eve party.  I have no great ideas for dinners for the first week back to school.  We are off to a tea for the afternoon and will return around 4 or 5.  I wish there was something delicious bubbling on the stove, but alas, I slept in and there is not.   I will salvage the situation by dipping into the frozen tomato sauce in the basement and making spaghetti and meatballs.  I wish I had been more together, but it will work and I think that this is just what its there for.

New Year's Resolutions

I'm trying to find a way to manage my household menus, recipes and ideas.  Since I really do seem to cook seasonally, I'm hoping to use this blog to keep track of what works for my family. I'm going to work to record the weeks meals as best I can, at least for a while.  Last night we had Burgundy Beef Sandwiches (a fantastic and simple recipe from Millgate Farms) with sauteed shallots and peppers, left over scalloped potatoes and Maew's veggies with oyster sauce.  The night before it was steak sandwiches, the same veggies and a fantastic Asian shrimp noodle soup.  

The scalloped potatoes came from Christmas dinner and worked out perfectly.  I layered sliced Yukon Gold potatoes with sauteed onions and garlic then dotted with butter, cream and salt & pepper.  A sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and baked them about an hour at 350 covered in foil.  I added some more cheese at the end.

The Milgate farms beef is easy and delicious.  Cook a rump roast in a slow cooker for 8 to 10 hours with 2 cups of onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, thyme, wine, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper.  Then serve it on little rolls.  Great stuff!

I'm on quite an Asian noodle soup kick.  I made a great duck soup for dinner with the relatives the other night.  The recipe goes like this - make a great stock, add some onions or leeks, garlic, some kind of greens - bok choy, kale, cabbage, Asian greens - anything leafy, protein - duck or shrimp or Trader Joe's pork & cilantro mini dumplings, Asian noodles if you don't use the dumplings.  Season the soup with lime, fish sauce and some soy sauce.  Add chilies if you like it hot.  Mushrooms and seaweed are great as well.