A Little Help From My Friends

Hard to believe its been so long since my last post.  Summer is a pretty busy time around our house and it can be a really hard time to eat vegetarian with the smell of barbecue drifting through the neighborhood and trips to see family and friends.  Luckily for us, we have lots of fresh, local produce (including our backyard) to keep us interested and thoughtful family and friends to keep us on target.  That being said, I want to thank my folks for providing meals that were healthy and meat free while we were down there visiting last week.

One of the things that my mom did that I really liked was a pasta dish.  She cooked some chicken breast in a cacciatore sauce in the crockpot.  When it came time to serve, she pulled the chicken out and put it on a separate serving plate.  The sauce was then served over spaghetti and people that wanted to put meat on their pasta could add it on.  It gave people a choice about what they ate and allowed me to stay mostly vegetarian without being a sore thumb.  Thanks Mom.

As for the bbq smells, we made some of our own this weekend.  Ali had a friend over for the day which included our evening meal.  Her mom had a chat with her about being polite no matter what we ate.  She promised to declare it as scrumptious even if it was slop so as not to offend.  We decided to go with something we knew would please her 7 year old taste buds, the Applegate organic hot dogs recommended by Ottaviano in a comment on this blog.

I found them in the regular old hot dog section of my local Kroger.  I had not been into that section of the store since we started eating vegetarian and I was pleased to see them there and not secluded in the organic section of the store.  Hopefully some hot dog lovers would decide to give these a try over more traditional hot dogs, which is definitely a good thing.  If you like hot dogs, they are worth the extra money for the peace of mind.

Here is the rundown on the nutrition:

Regular Ball Park Beef Frank: 190 cal (150 from fat), 16 g fat (7 saturated), 7 g protein, 550 mg sodium (23% of your daily value)  Ingredients: BEEF, WATER, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: SALT, POTASSIUM LACTATE, BEEF STOCK, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, FLAVORINGS, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA.

Applegate Organic Stadium Style Dogs: 110 cal (80 from fat), 8 g fat (3 saturated), 7 g protein, 330 mg sodium (14% of your daily value) Ingredients: Organic Grass-Fed Beef, Water, Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Sea Salt, Organic Spices, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Paprika, Celery Powder, Organic Onion Powder, Lactic Acid Starter Culture (Not From Milk).

Easy to see the difference and the Applegate dogs were delicious.  We had them with some Honey Rosemary Sweet Potatoes and slaw.

Hope this post finds you well.  Now is a great time for local produce.  We had a good harvest of tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, and green beans from our garden yesterday.  Its supposed to be 105 degrees on Saturday so hopefully everything will survive the heat.  Go out this weekend and find your own great local produce.

Eat smart people!

Otto

What do you do when you don't have time to cook?

Summer vacation brings a lot of fun activities with the family.  This week we made it to the $1 movies, the Riverbanks Zoo, the library, the pool, etc.  T-ball was supposed to start this week but it got rained out.  I am still on schedule and going strong in the gym.  Beth is training to run in the Peachtree and playing tennis.  So what do we eat when we are busy and don't have the time to make dinner from scratch?

Of course we would rather eat a meal where all the food is fresh and unprocessed.  It just tastes better and keeps you feeling tip top.  But for most of us, we have jobs, family, and hobbies that impact our schedules and don't allow us the time to make a full meal.  So here is the low down on one of my favorite, quick fix, vegetarian meals.

 

If you only have 10 minutes to cook and eat before you are out the door, this is a great way to go.  Pop the naan in the oven to warm up so its soft and chewy, the eggplant heats up in 90 seconds and it is aromatic and flavorful without being spicy, and the rice adds depth and makes the meal filling.  I usually get all this in the international section of my local Food Lion, you can get everything for about $7.  Tasty Bite makes many other vegetarian meals with potatoes, spinach, chickpeas, and lentils that are good but the eggplant is the best.   If you are on the go this summer, try to keep this meal in mind.  The eggplant and rice will keep for a while in your pantry so it something to keep on hand if you are in a rush and want something meatless and delicious.  Half the bag of eggplant, half the bag of rice, and half a loaf of naan will put you at 560 calories.

Eat smart people!

Otto