Meatless Monday: keep it simple

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

Just look at this gorgeous salad. It's got it all: fresh veggies, lentils, barley, and my fav--goat cheese! Definitely making this, this week:)

What about you? Any fun meatless recipes you're trying this week?

Meatless Monday: prep work and Punjabi food

So, over the weekend, I decided to try the method outlined in this article for what promises to be a week's worth of healthy dinners. I went shopping, got everything set, and now look forward to "easy" and "delicious" meals that aren't too much of a hassle to put together (thanks to the plan-ahead stuff).

Luckily for my meatless initiative, there are two meatless options in the plan. I'm actually pretty excited for the english muffin pizzas. I'd forgotten about the "muffin-pizza" as a culinary genre. Weirdly, though, I couldn't find eggplant at the store, so I'll be subbing in zucchini instead, which I think will be just as yummy.

The other option on the program for this week is a vegetable curry. Which is great, since I'm pretty comfortable with curries as a general rule. I used to work as a home-health-care aid for an adorable elderly couple who happened to be from Punjab. Savitri usually wanted me to help her make meals, and so I absorbed a lot from her about spice-ratios and the building blocks of curries, dahl and sarson da saag. One of her daughters even let me in on one of the key tenets of "the curry way": constant stirring of the spices, tomato, onion and herbs to make the paste. Every time I make Indian food, smelling the roasting spices in the pan and the sharp coriander leaves, I think of Savitri and her family and my time working for them.

What about you? Do you have a dish or a type of food you make that has a story behind it? Do you always make brownies, or spaghetti the same way because of how your grandmother made it? Do tell.

Meatless Monday--going raw?

Hey friends. Happy Monday!

I am quite excited about my meatless options for this week. I spent Friday evening looking through some new magazines, and my stack of Bon Appetits from 2009--my friend, Jamica, got me a subscription for Christmas one year, and I absolutely loved it! We were so broke at the time, I wasn't able to renew my subscription, so I just keep recycling that year's worth. Each month, I pull out the corresponding issue, and try to find some dishes I haven't tried yet. Nerdy of me, I know.

I also stopped by the farmer's market on Saturday, on my way home from yoga class, and found some yummy-looking ingredients to play with.

I have a ton of sugar snap peas to try this orecchiette dish.

I love the pasta shape orecchiette. Not only is it fun to say, but it translates loosely into "little ears." How cute is that?

Now, here is an interesting thing that I'd love to hear your thoughts about: going raw. In the latest issue of Whole Living, I read the article about raw food. Mind you, I don't know all of the reasoning behind going raw...part of me shrugs and thinks, "ok, I mean, if that's what floats your boat..." Another part of me wonders if there is some magical nutritional benefit. Yet another part of me thinks that we cook food for some good reasons, too, like to kill bacteria. So, I'm gonna try this zucchini "pasta," along with these strawberry oat bars, and see what happens. 

I'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, what do you think of the whole "raw food" thing?