It's Lent, the 40 days before Easter where practicing Catholics give something up. Most often meat on Fridays, but sometimes something else as well. I don't participate in the New Years resolution, but I like to make a resolution for lent (40 days is much less daunting than 365). This year I have several, one of which is getting my craft room in order, another is to go partially vegetarian (or pescatarian to be more precise). Partially meaning I cook vegetarian meals at home, and eat what ever is put in front of me everywhere else.
Don't use meat products when cooking seems easy enough, but I did it all wrong. I didn't realize how many of my winter dishes depended on sausage or fat to taste good. I found myself eating half my egg salad sandwich, not being able to finish the pasta and canned vegetable marinara sauce, or resorting to peanut butter and jelly. The food just wasn't appetizing. It would have been a great diet plan if I didn't make my way through half a box of girl scout cookies (tis the season) a few hours after dinner each evening. I realized I needed to change things up. A trip to the grocery store to buy fresh vegetables and fruit and reinstating Monday cooking sprees (where I make several large meals that I can eat off the rest of the week) was the plan. It was a successful plan, minus a few hick-ups.
I first made carrot and ginger soup. It caused a big mess. First, I learned not to put carrot shavings down the garbage disposal. There is standing water in both my sinks and a plumber will likely need to be called. Second, I used my immersion blender to puree it. Anyone who has used an immersion blender knows that having enough liquid to be able to move the blade up and down without breaking the surface is key to a successful result. My pot was two wide, the liquid too shallow, and I was covered in carrot splatter. My stove, my counters, my walls, my paper towels and toaster, even my refrigerator (a good few feet away) was splattered in carrot soup. On the bright side it tastes quite good (much more appetizing than the canned marinara sauce).
My pumpkin bread was a success. I just don't have anything to store it in to keep it from drying out. And, then there was the tilapia casserole. The tilapia has been in my freezer for an unknown number of months. I suspect it is coming up on a year, so using it up was a priority. I found the easiest recipe possible on line (tilapia, canned cream soup, and cracker topping) and added some frozen vegetables to the mix. The problem arouse when I decided to take one of the suggestions from the recipe's reviews to broil it a few minutes to crisp the topping. I forgot it. The topping was crisp and black as coal, smoke was tumbling out of the oven, and I was scrambling to get things back under control. On the bright side once the blackened top was removed it looked pretty good.
This week should be more appetizing, and hopefully a more successful vegetarian diet.
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