jumpy jumpy vitamins

First, the big news: we’re in the process of slowly moving to a vegetarian kitchen (specifically ovo-lacto). It’s primarily for personal-health reasons, and I promise that neither of us will become militant about it.

Outside of the home, Fred’s going to try sticking to vegetarianism, but I am free to carnivorate (new word, ha) as the urge strikes. As a result, members of my family should note that uttering “oh, Jim, I thought you were a vegetarian, what are you doing ordering the ribs?” in a mocking tone will earn you the “what kind of inattentive moron are you?” look.

Fred had the original veg idea, but the gradual transition is my idea. I tried quitting meat cold turkey (sorry, bad pun) when I was in high school, and it wasn’t too long before my body said “Seriously, WTF?!”. (It didn’t help that I had little control over my options then.) As a result, I suggested that we eliminate one type of meat at a time, take a month or so to adjust, then re-evaluate. We took our first step at the beginning of February by striking beef from the shopping list. (Health-wise, it looks like we timed it sort of well.) So far I think it’s gone well, so we’re on track to eliminate pork at the beginning of March, with seafood and poultry later down the road. Fred’s already a bit concerned about having to give up chicken, but I don’t think we’ll think of ourselves as failures if poultry is still occasionally found in our refrigerator or freezer.

As the veg experiment continues we’ll tinker with our favorite recipes to see if we can find suitable alternatives. I already have a few ideas in the baked-pasta realm, which I hope to work on soon (mostly because baked pasta just doesn’t work in July).

One unexpected bonus of the no-beef experiment: our grocery bill is noticeably cheaper. It’s only a couple bucks per week at the moment, but that should add up faster as we phase out other meats. (That’s also a few extra dollars we can devote to other things, like cookies. Mmm, cookies.)

More on the veg front as things develop.

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I’ve been baking lately. A lot. To the extent that we’ve stopped buying bread with our other groceries, because I’m baking it instead. (Well, OK. I have mechanical assistance, but still.)

There’s something mystical, almost alchemical, about baking bread. I can’t help but think that I should be chanting or invoking Ceres or something as I carefully measure out the flour, or thump a fresh loaf to test its doneness, or enjoy the steam escaping from the first cut.

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Still doing lots of pasta, because

1. it’s cold out
2. it’s really dry inside (boiling water -> steam -> humidity -> skin no longer itches)
3. pasta is fast
4. pasta is easy
5. pasta is inexpensive
6. pasta is tasty
7. pasta is very versatile

[Gluten-sensitive persons are probably all shuddering right now with all this talk of bread and pastas, but I feel obligated to note that we aren't just doing traditional semolina-based pastas. Many modern stores have pastas based on non-semolina flours, and some are rather good. Trader Joe's has good brown rice pasta, as long as you don't overcook it.

Bread-wise... well, we're still working on technique with the regular stuff, so we haven't gotten to gluten-free yet.]

Anyway. Sauce-wise, we’re experimenting a bit. I’ve been working more on my Béchamel, warming the milk gradually with onion and bay before whisking it into the roux, and I think that the improved texture and extra flavors make it work better (especially as a base for a cheese sauce). We’re also digging through cookbooks for things we haven’t tried yet, especially if they involve pancetta or prosciutto or bacon.

And yes, we do just crack open a jar of store-bought sauce from time to time. As an inveterate fiddler, though, I usually wind up adding something to the mix. Historically that has been ground beef or bulk Italian sausage, but sauteed mushrooms also work beautifully in just about every sauce I can think of.

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Posted on February 20th, 2008 under General • Tags: Food, Fred. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback