First, confession: after three days of successfully eating a vegetarian diet, I fell off the wagon at the holiday party on Thursday. Mrs. T makes this wonderful Buffalo dip that contains chicken and I fall for it every time. As of Friday I am back on the wagon, but I predict I’ll probably buckle again during the Filipino Christmas party tomorrow. This is difficult. 

Second, I made a version of this soup back in August, the recipe for which I found in The Clear Skin Diet. This time around I had to wing it because I returned that book to the library, and, well, I didn’t bother to run an internet search. 

Dinner 12/23/11

Ingredients:

• 1 Sweet Potato (large)
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 stalks of celery
• handful of cranberries
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

I cut my sweet potato and set it to boil in about 1.5 inches of water. Meanwhile, I sliced up the cauliflower and laid that on a cookie sheet, brushed them with olive oil. I “roasted” for 10 minutes (did not flip them) at 350 degrees. When the potatoes were boiling I added the celery and cranberries to the pot. I mashed the potatoes up coarsely (celery and cranberry tend to rise to the top so they don’t get mashed), then added the cauliflower to the pot. Finally, I put about half of the mixture in the food processor and liquified until smooth. I re-introduced that half into the chunky half. Salt and pepper until it tastes the way you want it. 

Served with a bagel pizza and Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Beer. 

In my efforts to practice being vegetarian in the safe environs of home (rather than the precarious environs of the college dining hall), I have made another wonderful dish, local food movements be damned!

12/21/11 Lunch

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tomato
• handful cranberries
• juice of one lime
• sugar and salt to taste

With my French Chef knife I cut up the jalepeño, onion, and tomato to medium size chunks. Pan fry the jalapeño and onions until the onions are translucent.  In the food processor I chopped these vegetables with my handful of cranberries. Emptied those into a bowl and squeezed the lime juice all over them. Then I mashed my avocados into this mixture with a fork (I prefer my guacamole chucky rather than smoothe). Since the cranberries are tart, add some sugar (about 3 tsp) and salt until you like the taste. Served with Stacy’s Simply Naked Sea Salt Pita Chips. 

Inspired by this.

12/20/2011 Dinner

I’ve recently decided that I don’t like beef very much, save perhaps for actual hamburgers, and so when I went to make spaghetti yesterday, I was pleased to know that we did not have any ground beef in the house. I grabbed all the vegetables I had recently purchased and made a vegetable spaghetti. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 Onion
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 package fresh mushrooms
• handful of grape tomatoes
• 2 boxes whole wheat pasta
• 2 jars Ragu Sauteed Onion and Garlic pasta sauce

Cut up all of your vegetables to your liking and sauté them with a combo of olive and garlic oils. Salt and pepper to taste. They are done when your onions are translucent. Bring the water to boil and cook your pasta while you are cutting and cooking the vegetables. When the vegetables are done transfer them to the pot you’ll use for the sauce. Simmer the sauce with vegetables in it for 10-15 minutes. Serve over noodles and garnish with parsley if you like! Yum, yum!

Taylor Swift should have read this book and then maybe she wouldn’t have committed this epic error.