Days 7 and 9 - French food in Montreal

Two nights when we were in Montreal for our family reunion, we went to fancy French restaurants - ooolala! Montreal is in the province of Quebec, Canada which was originally colonized by the French. They've kept their French roots and culture in tact and continue to speak French, although many people also learn English as well. Montreal is an amazing city with beautiful architecture, sculptures, and parks throughout. Because of the mix of French and English, you'll find American looking streets suddenly turning into cobble stone French allies. It is also home to some boast-worthy French cuisine. What I have learned about the French cuisine however, is that they do not favor vegetarians...The first night we went to an amazing restaurant that looked like a wine cellar with candle wax dripping artistically from bricks on the wall and candle light dancing everywhere. The menu looked delicious! The only trouble was that EVERY item included meat. They did their best to be accommodating and the resulting dishes were delicious...

Duck and arugula salad (without the duck of course) 

Sardines - without Sardines... (so basically tabbouleh in pea and mint puree)

Amazingness is what it should have been called. This desert was delicious strawberries with ice cream over bread pudding and crumble, topped with chocolate sauce and basil - mmmmmm

The third night we also had French cuisine at another great restaurant. 

You have to give them a lot of credit for the ambiance they create. However, again, they only had one vegetarian option on their menu, a salad. Instead I opted for something more exciting!

Cheesy risotto with asparagus...mmmmmm so cheesy...

Days 7 to 9 - Being Vegetarian with my Chinese Family!

As I mentioned, my sister, dad, and I flew to Montreal, Canada for a Tam family reunion. I was trying to figure out how this vegetarian thing was going to work out with my meat eating family. Chinese food has such great meat and seafood dishes... Luckily, they were amazing and made it work!

Once I explained what my goal was, they were incredibly supportive. This was such a nice gesture because our family really appreciates good food, like REALLY appreciates it, like my aunt was taking pictures of every dish so she could look back on them for fond memories. Food is one of the ways in which we show love. When my dad cooks dinners for me and encourages me to eat more and more, I know in those moments he's actually saying "I love you Stephanie!" And I can still remember when my grandpa used to give me the cheek of the fish because it's supposedly the most tender part.

So, I was absolutely touched when everyone kept taking extra care to pick vegetarian options out for me even my grandma made sure to order dishes that I could eat. They ordered some dishes that were purely vegetarian and others just without the meat.


I also had a perfect partner in crime sitting next to me the whole time. My sister is big on eating protein and vegetables with as little unnecessary carbs as possible. So whenever there was a dish I just couldn't pass up, all I had to do was pick out the meat and put it on her plate -- like with this delicious sticky rice or lomi guy mmmmmmm lomi guy...

We had Dim Sum 2 days in a row which I will never complain about, with many different options both days. We also had Chinese food for dinner and two other lunches. What can I say? We're Chinese. What I have discovered from this great experience is that you can eat Chinese food as a vegetarian! Such a relief!

Vegetarian fried egg wrap

Vegetarian fried noodles

Pumpkin corn soup

Lobster I didn't eat -- that's self control

Guy Lon (Chinese broccoli)

Tofu and eggplant rolls

Melon with garlic

Steamed vegetarian dumpling

The most delicious baby bok choy ever!

Mushrooms with pea shoots

Mapo tofu

Was I a lucky lady or what?!

Day 6 - Airport Food

My sister and I were traveling to Canada to see my Dad's side of the family. I had a solid breakfast of eggs, avocado and whole wheat toast, ate again at my mom's house before she took us to the airport, and even had little snack bags of cherry tomatoes and almonds (thanks mom!) However, with a full day of traveling, we needed to stop for dinner at some point. So when we hit Minneapolis for our layover, it was time to ask the burning question: What do airports have to offer vegetarians?
answer: Not much.

I will say that the place we chose at least had a vegetarian option. They had 3 in fact. Vegetarian tacos, vegetarian burritos, and vegetarian burrito bowl. Basically the same thing packaged in 3 slightly different formats.

I went with the burrito bowl -- wished they would have put more beans, used brown rice, and had somewhat fresh guacamole, but these are 1st world concerns I know.

I'm not even going to give it a Moo rating...

Day 5 - Leftovers and Frozen Food

Today's meals are what happens when life gets too busy to cook - leftovers and frozen food!

The leftovers actually worked great. I used what was left of the Legume Salad and added it to some lettuce to make a protein packed salad.

The frozen food... not so much

We both gave it 3 Moos. As far as frozen pastas go it tastes pretty decent. The consistency is fair and it's obviously easy to make. It's a little watery but I suppose I prefer that to being overly heavy on the cream and cheese. 

This frozen morsel was um... way watery!  We were not a fan of this frozen pasta. It lacked flavor and just tasted unhappy. Only 1 Moo for you!

Day 4 - Happy 4th with a Legume Salad

Talk about a challenge! It was pretty hard for us to be vegetarian today. 4th of July cookouts going on all around, even the hot dogs smelled good...

Somehow we managed the self restraint to pass up all the lovely hamburgers and steaks and stuck with our goal! We made a delicious Legume Salad -- the recipe was kindly passed on to me by my friend when she heard about our quest. She calls it Salade Legumineuse which sounds much more exciting. 

 I gave this dish 5 Moos because I love how it tastes! It's fairly easy to make, just throw the beans together, add a few extra ingredients and that's it. It's also packed with protein. 

JM only gave it 3 1/2 Moos because although he really liked how it tasted, he somehow wasn't full despite all the beans! 

Our 4th!

On a completely non-food related note, can I just say how much pride I now how have for my town of Aptos and Santa Cruz. We started off the festivities here with our local parade. It also holds the record for being the World's Shortest Parade, although that would be the distance they travel, not the length. The whole thing actually runs for about 1 1/2 hours but is only 0.6 miles long. Our town came out, they celebrated in true spirit of their uniqueness, it was awesome. 


Right after the parade the festivities begin in park...

You might have to enlarge this to read this guy's sign 

There's also this little gem where yes, children have a blast rolling around in a giant bubble... wouldn't you?

And then of course there were the illegal fireworks that Santa Cruzians shoot off from the beaches! The cops doing their best to catch them, random booms and sparks flying all around, it's all so exciting! Gotta love Santa Cruz.

Day 3 - Green Apple Porridge & Pesto Risotto with Zucchini

Green Apple Porridge

This morning I woke up feeling very inspired to make healthy food for us. I somehow held off on the coffee and began making one of my favorite breakfast dishes, Green Apple Porridge. The recipe is from AdinaNiemerow's book “SuperCleanse: Detox your body for long-lasting healthy and beauty” however, I originally saw this when she demonstrated making it on Yahoo Screen's Reluctantly Healthy (which is why I feel comfortable posting the recipe online).

For the Green Apple Porridge recipe, clickhere

What I love about this dish:

• The combination of flavors is unique and delicious
• I feel really healthy when I eat it because everything is raw
• It's not only perfect for breakfast but also makes a healthy snack or dessert when I want something sweet
• Great source of fiber and omega-3 fatty acid
• Good for digestion
• Great source of vitamin C and malic acid which help cleanse the gallbladder

I love it so much that I have made it every week for the past 3 weeks. The one downside -- I do not feel super full off this dish but it is a great way to start the day with something fresh and healthy.

I give it 5 Moos for all the reasons above!

JM gives it 1 Moo simply because his palate isn't used to the flavors so it tasted too weird. To each their own!

PestoRisotto with Zucchini

For dinner I made another recipe I found on PostPunk Kitchen. However, due to time constraints and just general lazy cheffness, I altered this recipe a lot. Click hereto see myversion of Pesto Risotto with Zucchini. With these changes, I was able to make it in half the time but keep the basic concept.

I was worried about the lack of protein in this dish and overall lack of protein intake JM and I had been getting so I also made my regular salad and added a can of garbanzo beans.

See Salad a la Stephanie

Overall I give it 3 Moos because it tastes good and is filling, but I didn't like how much it relied on carby rice, albeit complex carb brown rice. 

JM gave it 4 1/2 Moos because it tasted good and made him full. We can see where JM's priorities lie... 

Day 2 - Mango Fried Rice

Today I went to the grocery store to get ingredients for the week. I went to Trader Joes and Staff of Life. All I have to say is that being vegetarian is EXPENSIVE! Altogether my bill was $150 for a weeks worth of groceries. However, I can see why this happened and how it doesn't always have to be this way. I basically rushed to put together my meals by compiling recipes that friends had sent me. I printed out the recipes and then bought everything on the list. I didn't spend time shopping sales and I didn't really know how much some of these items cost because I'd never bought them before. I also bought a lot more ingredients than I usually do, most of which were vegetables and nuts. This is not to say that vegetables are expensive, what it really alludes to is that I've been a lazy chef. I basically put my meals together by having a meat, a grain, and a sometimes a vegetable (please don't get mad dad). These meals have a general flavor to them but they rely heavily on the meat to provide excitement. When cooking vegetarian, I've noticed that you use a lot of vegetables and create interesting flavor combinations.

After coming home late with all my ingredients, I quickly tried to put together the Mango Fried Rice dish which I found online at Post Punk Kitchen (a great website for vegetarian recipes and other things). However, this is not a quick prep dish! In fact I found it to be way more complicated than most things I put together--but again, lazy chef.

I also had to do a few substitutions of the beans, which I had forgotten, and other spicy ingredients since I can't really handle spicy food (read more details about changes I did here). Needless to say I'm sure it turned out slightly different from what the authors intended, but overall it was pretty good!

 

Moo Rating

I give this 3 Moos because although it was tasty and different, it was a lot of work to prepare. Perhaps my standards

will change as I continue to cook vegetarian.  

JM gave this dish 3 1/2 Moos. He thought it had very different flavors that he enjoyed. He was pretty full afterwards but not completely. Again, might just take some getting used to.

Day 1 - Eating Out

We were too chicken (no pun intended) / way unprepared to cook for the first day so we ended up eating out. I had lunch with some friends at Hoffman's in Santa Cruz. This was my first time looking at the menu as a vegetarian and WOW was it a different experience! I've never realized how much meat is a part of our regular cuisine or how limited menus truly are for vegetarians (and Hoffman's actually has vegetarian options, imagine all the places that don't).


Aside from my revaluation, it worked out great. I ended up getting their Vegetarian Sandwich which was delicious and so simple. It was hummus, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and pepper jack cheese. Totally replicable.


For dinner my husband and I went to Cafe Gratitude, also in downtown Santa Cruz. This place was recommended as one of the best vegetarian/vegan joints in town and with my one day limited experience, I'd have to agree. Everything you order has an intention behind it so it has a great spiritual message, but they also combine healthy food and flavors together in a creative and tasty way. My husband had the I am fortified which consists of sauteed veggies, brown rice, and Thai-almond sauce. I had I am accepting (very fitting for this new diet I might add) and is made up of kale, seaweed bits or nori, avocado, cucumber, brown rice and sesame-ginger sauce. It tasted like a warm bowl of sushi. He liked his dish and I liked mine so it was a win-win. However, to be honest although our stomachs felt full of food, we still didn't feel quite satisfied. I think it was just getting used to not having that hearty, filling meat substanance we're so used to.

The Concept

This all started when my husband announced that he wanted to abstain from eating meat for a month. His purpose: spiritual reasons (hence the zen cow to the left!). He loves animals, I mean LOVES animals and after watching enough cute animal videos on youtube, his conscience won over his stomach and he decided to gives vegetarianism a try.

My perspective on all this? Support it! Coming from my Venezuelan, Latino husband, this is a big deal. Granted he's also a Martial Arts Sensei who teaches spiritual growth and development on a weekly basis, so this is considerably less of a grand leap. However, from my point of view as a liberal living in Santa Cruz, I'm all for this adventure.

SO, I happily began looking for recipes the day before our excursion, only to discover that unless it was soup or salad, almost every recipe was heavy on the cheese, bread, and pasta. I’m all for giving this a try, but I don’t want us to gain 10 lbs by the end of it. I firmly believe that there must be other alternatives! So go ahead and help prove me right by sending in your favorite healthy vegetarian dish and I will compile them here for others to benefit from as well!

What's your favorite vegetarian dish?

We're going vegetarian for a month from July 1st to July 31st! To find out why, read above.

Post your favorite vegetarian dish and I'll give it a try!