So, as I was winding down my 12-day cleanse, I had tea one night w/ my friend Matan. Besides being a fascinating and brilliant soldier, Matan is also a vegetarian. And now, so am I.
Boy talks a good game, what can I say? Look, besides to lose weight, the whole point of my MC was to reboot my relationship w/ food. I wanted a clean break and “do-over” from my behavior of using cookies, cake, and ice cream to escape feelings of anxiety and/or lonliness. So, I knew I wanted to eat better. I didn’t plan on that meaning cutting out chicken and fish (I already didn’t eat very much red meat). But I did know I didn’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.
But, if you take away the meats, and fruits & veggies are one of the only things left you can eat, then you will probably eat more of them or die. (Welcome to my mind.)
Anyway, when the student is ready the teacher appears. So, I bookmarked a few sites, including this one which had a lists of 20 ingredients for 20 vegetarian meals and also 20 pantry staples for every vegetarian. And I went back to the Shuk, the supermarket and the dollar store, and spent a fortune. (Another part of my twisted thinking: if I spend a bunch of money on something, I am going to commit to it. Way to make my cheapness work for me!) I bought kilos of peppers, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and other veggies. I bought grams of crushed red pepper, thyme, dill, spicy curry, ginger and other spices. I bought bowls, spice jars, rubber spoons, and a big ole’ toaster oven (also a printer/scanner, but that was totally unrelated). You see, I wasn’t just jumping into vegetarianism, but also cooking, which I don’t didn’t do. Double whammy. Very Scotty behavior.
Anyway, so far so good. G-Fish is *not* morphing into a food blog, but here’s a step-by step pictorial of my first few dishes.
Veggie, cheese omelete – omelets are one thing I have alwasy cooked. But I usually just lathered a little salsa and black & crushed red pepper in there. This time I used the veggies in the top picture. Guess what, with only two eggs, that is *way* too much veggies to be able to close and make an omelet. So, voila! Make that scrambled-eggs-somethere-in-there-buried-underneath-mountains-of-vegetables!
Take it from me - do *not* rub your eyes after handling a raw jalepeno pepper!
בתאבון!
Is corn flour the same thing as corn starch?
OMG, just like Rachel Ray, right?
Egg timer is cute
Evil Petey dreams of new things of mine to destroy. Actually, cute how he likes to be near me all the time.
Finished product! (Guess I should have rice or couscous w/ it, but gimme a break, m'kay?)
Tasted even better cold!
But seriously, peeps – your recipes are welcome. I’ve made a few other dishes since then…and they all look the same. Basically: chopped peppers. I need to bring in pasta and all this other stuff. I’m going to see a nutritionist for free under Israel’s national health insurance plan. And I’m eating lots of cottage cheese and almonds for protein, so don’t worry.
xo
Gefilte Fish Out of Water 