Sunday Dinner

Growing up, Sunday dinner was always a little fancier than the rest of the week. Maybe something that cooked for a few hours on the stove or in the oven, maybe a fire in the fireplace, and maybe sitting in the dining room instead of the kitchen.

I've tried to keep up the tradition, and sometimes nothing says "Sunday" like meat and potatoes. But since we don't eat meat ... it's time for Field Roast!

We buy it at Whole Foods or at our local co-op. It's easy, and we all love it. I make a vegetarian gravy and serve up some cooked vegetables and potatoes, and voila - fancy Sunday dinner!

Vegetarian Gravy

1 carton (4 cups) vegetable broth
1 bulb of garlic
1 T olive oil
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
a bunch of fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
some white flour
a little butter (optional)

1. Bring the vegetable broth to a gentle simmer on the stove. Add in the carrots and pepper.
2. While the broth is simmering, slice off the top of the garlic bulb, pour on the olive oil, cover in a microwavable dish, and cook on high in the microwave for 2 minutes.
3. Allow the garlic to cool, then peel the individual cloves and add them to the broth.
4. When the carrots are soft, puree them with the garlic into the broth. (I use an immersion blender, but you could also pour it into a food processor.)
5. Whisk in the nutritional yeast and bring to simmer again.
6. Whisk in the flour, or, if you have more time, cook the flour in the butter to make a paste before whisking it in.

Picky Picky

Oh, the days when she would eat anything are long gone!

I have a very, very picky toddler. Of course, I was a picky child myself, and I remember it well, so I should not be too surprised. I ate no vegetables besides carrots, squash, and corn until I was in high school. Really, compared to me, she's got an amazing palate.

But lately it seems like each day my child crosses another previously-enjoyed food off of her list. She will happily eat eggs, cheese, tofu, bread in any form, plain beans, avocado, green peas, applesauce, and bananas. After that it gets sketchy. That's really not a long list of foods I can count on!

I'm learning to separate her foods from ours; for example, tonight I made an amazingly delicious polenta-bean casserole that Robert and I enjoyed. Nora ate plain beans, plain tortillas, broccoli, and avocado. I'm also using my heart- and bear-shaped cookie cutters whenever possible. In the past two weeks we've had "heart falafel," "bear [pan]cakes", and blueberry bear- and heart-biscuits. I think I'll be getting more creative with patty-style foods over the next couple of months. If it can be shaped like a bear or a heart, I will try it!

In the photo, she's carefully navigating a well-rounded falafel meal. She dipped pita in olive oil, dipped falafel in yogurt, and gently chewed (but did not swallow) some cucumber. The tomato and tahini were completely ignored.

More on Frozens

On my work days, I don't often have time to put together a nice meal unless much of it is prepared in advance. Some days, I don't even have time to prepare in advance. Then the frozen options come in handy.

Two weeks ago, when I had some time, I chopped a double-quantity of pizza toppings (onion, green pepper, and mushroom). I put half on a pizza that evening and the other half in a tupperware in the freezer.

At 5pm today, I took the tupperware out of the freezer, emptied it into a bowl (shown), microwaved the contents for one minute, and then spread them on this evening's pizza. Quick & easy dinner! All I needed to do was press out the Trader Joe's whole wheat crust, grate the cheese, and open a jar of sauce. (Since the oven was already going, I also tossed some frozen green beans in a pie pan with cooking spray and roasted them alongside the pizza for a well-rounded meal.)

Ode to Frozen Vegetables

Frozen vegetables, oh so cold

Frozen vegetables rarely get old

So easy, so simple, throw them in the pot

Quick, nutritious, and delicious, tedious they are not!

Organic? Yes! Diverse? Of course! I really cannot say...

Enough about these vegetables -- so great in every way!

************

As you can see, my freezer is overflowing as usual with a variety of tasty frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables are actually said to have more nutrition than fresh, because they are immediately packed into bags after processing, while fresh vegetables can leak out vitamins and minerals during transport to market. I like them because they are so easy -- no need to spend time chopping! I usually buy them at Trader Joe's, which has great prices for organics.

Some common ways I use them include:

-- add thawed blueberries to oatmeal (Nora eats this nearly every morning, with banana mashed in as well)
-- add thawed strawberries or raspberries to plain yogurt
-- add chopped spinach to spaghetti sauce or Mexican-style casseroles
-- add green beans, sliced bell peppers, or broccoli to stir-fry*
-- add any of these same, plus peas, to Thai-style green or red curries*
-- add peas or peas & carrots to macaroni & cheese
-- add thawed and sliced artichoke hearts to pizzas**
-- Serve as a side dish! I microwave broccoli, asparagus, green beans, or peas for 3-4 minutes if my main dish is cooking on the stove. If I'm already using the oven, I might throw green beans or asparagus in a pie pan with some cooking spray and roast them for 20 minutes or so right alongside the main dish.

* This will result in a slightly mushy stir-fry or curry, which might bother some people, but I still find that the easiness of it outweighs the mushiness.
** Trader Joe's has frozen artichoke hearts!

Nora Eats Spicy Tibetan Noodles

We try to have family meals together at least three nights per week. This means preparing food that everyone can eat, at least in some form. I also try to make a new recipe at least once every week or two.

A couple of weeks ago, I chose a recipe for Tibetan-style noodle curry from my Passionate Vegetarian cookbook. It has noodles, chopped vegetables, tofu . . . lots of Nora's favorites. During the cooking process, I must have thrown in a little too much cayenne powder because it turned out spicier than I intended. But having worked hard to get everything together for a nice Sunday dinner, I figured we might as well try it anyway.

To my surprise, Nora loved it. She not only loved it for dinner that night, but she loved it for lunch for the next two days. She just kept shoveling it in. And I thought it was pretty good myself.

Mama's Girl

My grandfather (my father's father) ate pasta with marinara sauce every night for the last couple decades of his life. I inherited his love for it. Given the choice, I'd eat spaghetti nearly every day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever! Anytime is fine.

Nora has decided that it's near the top of her list, too. We suspect a possible wheat allergy, because Robert had one as a child and because after her first wheat last week she developed red cheeks and a rash. More to come on that when we have more info, but in the meantime she's enjoying quinoa-corn pasta. A bit pricy, but what can you do? I dust it with rice cereal to make it a little easier to pick up. She gobbles it down every time!

Tip: When I used part of a jar of organic spaghetti sauce to make pizza for Robert and myself over the weekend, I froze the remainder in my baby ice cube tray and now have a bag of baby-size pasta sauce portions, ready to heat and serve.

Porridge!

Life has been very busy lately, with little time for blogging. But I will try to do some more baby food entries before Nora becomes a toddler! She's now a very busy 9 1/2-month-old. Crawling, climbing, and dancing are some of her favorite activities!

There have been many new foods over the past couple of months, and a daily staple is "porridge." Porridge takes many forms, but always includes one or two grains*, a protein, and at least one fruit or vegetable. I mix it all together and serve it warm, and she usually loves it.

Some common combos include:

oatmeal - egg yolk - squash
oatmeal - egg yolk - banana
barley - tofu - broccoli - squash
millet - tofu - pumpkin
barley - tofu - broccoli - sweet potato
millet - garbanzo bean - green bean - peach (yes, really, she ate it!)
barley - lentil - green pea
barley - lentil - carrot

As long as you've got the basic ingredients on hand, you can make a quick, healthy meal in a short amount of time!

* I usually sprinkle a tablespoon or two of Earth's Best organic iron-fortified cereal into the porridge to increase its iron content.

Introductions

I've been vegetarian since the age of 18. At the time, it seemed like a solid way to do some good in the world. As I went through college and early adulthood, I learned more about factory farming, environmental degradation, animal welfare, health, and nutrition, and felt even happier about my decision. At a certain point, I realized that I wouldn't be able to feed meat to my own children. My husband agreed that we could raise them vegetarian, at least until they are old enough to make their own decisions about such things.
As we moved closer to starting our family, and the topic of vegetarian children came up on occasion with family and friends, I started hearing the same questions over and over. "How will you be sure they get enough protein?" "What will you do if they want to eat meat?" "Don't you think you should allow them to make their own choices?" The questions bugged me, just as I am sure that critical questions bug most parents (or future parents).
I started trying to find information about vegetarian families on the internet, and discovered that it's not so easy. What I was looking for was true stories of real people -- not how-to manuals or heated debates. So, the idea for this blog was born. Long before I became pregnant, I decided I would want to share the experiences of vegetarian motherhood with any others who are interested. I hope this site is helpful for anyone who is looking for information about raising a vegetarian family.