Chaos Theory

The more that I improve my overall health (yes I’m still doing yoga every day) and the more I learn about digestion, meat, and the factory farming industry, the more I like the idea of vegetarian meals. The thing is, I know that it’s not a change that I can make overnight because the truth is that I do love meat.

Luckily for me I also do love vegetarian foods so when my friend Kathy told me about Meatless Monday I was on board. The basic and fairly obvious idea is that one night a week meat-eating families forget their usual burgers, roast chickens, or meatloaf and eat a meat-free dinner.

I went one better and actually went meat-free all day. In fact I had two meat-free days in a row. Both days I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast and both days I had veggie and cheese wraps for lunch. On Sunday we had macaroni noodles with tomato-alfredo sauce (and salad on the side – I am ALL about salads lately). For Meatless Monday I made Cheesy Vegetable Pasta.

It’s not 100% healthy because the sauce is made with a canned soup but other than that it’s delicious, easy, and definitely vegetarian. It’s not vegan of course, but I love cheese and yogurt too much to go vegan without a fight.

-1 1/2 cups dry macaroni noodles (give or take)
-2 cups mixed frozen vegetables (I’ve used fresh too but frozen is just convenient)
-1 can cream of celery soup (I used reduced sodium)
-1/2 cup milk
-1 cup (or more) of shredded cheddar cheese
-1 tbsp prepared mustard
-Garlic powder to taste

Cook noodles and add vegetables in last five minutes of cooking time. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix well, then heat through. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

I add pepper to mine and George adds hot sauce. We also added some grated parmesan cheese.

It worked out well. I asked around on Facebook and got tons of great recipe ideas from vegetarian or veg-friendly people but if you have a favorite vegetarian meal to suggest I’d love to hear it!

Okay, so it’s not a turkey and it’s not homemade stuffing. There’s no cranberry sauce (tragedy!), no gravy, no pigeon peas & rice, and even worse there’s no pumpkin pie (*sob*).

Still, if you’re going to have a “Yanksgiving Dinner” because you just can’t take it anymore after hearing all your American friends cover their blogs and Twitter streams with turkey talk… well, it ain’t half bad. Especially when you consider it’s technically just a plain old Thursday up here.

I hope all of the people below our border had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ah yes, ’tis that time of year again. It’s that time where every single email and website (and now Twitter account) seems to be talking turkey and although we already had our Thanksgiving last month up here in Canuckistan, I want another one because the turkey conversations are making me crazy with hunger.

Besides, our Thanksgiving gathering was on the smaller side this year so we had chickens instead and it was GOOD because my mother-in-law doesn’t know how to cook anything that tastes anything less than delicious, but ohhh turkey. I’m looking forward to Christmas dinner, let’s put it that way!

Last year I had what was dubbed by someone out there in Internet-land as a “Yanksgiving dinner” and I think I just might have to do it again. Looking over my meal plan for the week we’re supposed to have chicken legs on Thursday but I think I’ll have to thaw out one of our whole chickens in the freezer and I’ll roast up one of those with some baked potatoes, stuffing, and vegetables.

Then I can stuff myself silly and moan about how full I am just like everyone South of the border.

I’ve heard that a lot of people who are trying to lose weight have had a lot of success by simply not eating anything after 8 pm. This is inconceivable to me because I get so hungry at night that it’s not even funny. I’m a big fan of chips as a snack but I’m also happy with cheese and crackers or making a cup of tea to drink with some cookies.

Tonight there is NOTHING in this place for me to eat. Well, obviously that’s not completely true. It’s not like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard or anything. What I really mean is that there’s nothing here that is the least bit appealing to me.

I did have a waffle because it was something sweet to have with my green tea (which I drank to try to tame this damn explosive cough – alas, it has not worked). It was completely unsatisfying though. I do have some dark chocolate but strangely enough I’m not in the mood for chocolate tonight.

What I really want is some of my grandmother’s baking powder biscuits which I haven’t made in, oh, at least a year now. I’m craving them so badly right now but it’s almost 11 pm. It’s not exactly the time to be baking something up, you know?

I think I’ll have to make them tomorrow (and put some cheddar cheese on the grocery list because a nice slice of cheese on each half of the biscuits is delicious). Still, that doesn’t help me right now. I guess I’ll have to go root through the pantry and the fridge to find a little something or other to help me out.

What do you like to snack on at night?

So here’s the thing. I love salt. This is easily proven. All you need to do is watch with amazement and perhaps disgust at the way I can polish off a whole bag of chips in one evening. I’ve often joked that an excellent gift for me would be one of those blue salt licks that people put out for deer.

I also love chocolate. I’m not too picky. While I prefer dark chocolate, I will just as gladly eat milk chocolate. Plain chocolate, chocolate with fruit in it (Cherry Blossoms), with peanut butter, with mint, with orange, with caramel, whatever. The only thing I really don’t like is chocolate with nuts.

So. Love salt. Love chocolate. The thought of them together was really appealing until I tried chocolate covered pretzels and those were just… ugh. Not my thing.

Then along came Lindt.

I had heard and heard about this chocolate bar and was curious about it but also reluctant because of the pretzels. Then the other day several of my friends were talking about it on Twitter and going on and one about how amazing it was. I asked George to keep an eye out but he had no luck at the convenience store or the grocery store.

Last night I had to go to the pharmacy and they have a pretty good selection of the Lindt bars so I checked while I was there and they did indeed have it (and for just over three bucks, which is pretty good for these!). Naturally I snatched it up and I gave it a try.

Wow. It’s so good. It’s just barely dark chocolate so it’s not too strong. The sea salt is very subtle. The combination is incredible. Every once in awhile I’d bite down on an actual grain of salt and that was even better.

They only thing that could be done to improve this would be if it had just a little more oomph in the salt department and some bigger grains in there. Still, it’s amazing and it’s right up there with the chili cherry bar they make.

(This probably reads like a review, but alas, Lindt didn’t send me a bar to try out. I never would have bothered if it hadn’t been talked up so much, which means I’m a sucker for marketing!)

After my last post where I lamented over lunch, reader Shelly emailed me to ask me what my favorite foods are. First of all, thanks for the post idea, this makes a perfect list (and please feel free to email me with other topic suggestions!). So!

My favorite things to eat in no particular order:

1. Butter chicken – I will eat pretty much any Indian food at this point, but I still have a long-term love affair with Butter chicken; I even loved that back when I thought I didn’t like Indian food. God I was a silly person – Indian food is DELICIOUS, what’s not to like?!
2. Chinese food – But really, I need to clarify more than that. Not take-out Chinese food. I mean REAL Chinese food, the kind you get in Chinatown in restaurants where at least half the clients are actually Chinese and the menu isn’t completely in English (or French around here). And my favorite Chinese food at all is a really good Cantonese Chow Mein, oh my GOD I’m hungry now.
3. The cactus appetizer at Three Amigos – There’s a place downtown where we used to order Mexican food when we worked at the studio and they had this amazing cactus appetizer. It was sauteed with spices, placed on a giant tortilla, and buried in shredded melted cheese. It was stupidly delicious. I don’t know why we ever ordered anything to go with it, we should have just ordered double the appetizers!
4. Chocolate – I love dark chocolate, and Lindt makes this amazing Cherry Chili bar that is so good I swooned the first time I ate it (rich, and bitter, and then sweet cherry flavors, then a surprise zing of chili!) but seriously I am not a chocolate snob. If it has any chocolate in it at all I will happily eat it. The only thing I don’t like is chocolate with nuts in it. Blech.
5. Chips – I have a serious salt addiction. As much as I love chocolate I will choose the saltiness of chips over it any day. I can easily wipe out a giant bag of chips in two night and really, I could eat it in one if I didn’t restrain myself.

Mmmm, butter chicken. Why yes, I could TOTALLY go for Indian food for supper tonight thanks.

What are your favorite things to eat?

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When I was growing up, we spent most of our weekends up north with the grandparents. Usually we had dinner at my dad’s parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday’s dinner was at my mom’s parents’ house. Both meals often (though not always) included some kind of roast dinner, something special compared to what you might normally eat during the week when you’re a bit more rushed.

I’ve never really done that myself. Our Sunday dinner never really differs that much from Tuesday’s dinner. If I feel like making a roast pork on Wednesday I go ahead and do it – part of the flexibility of working from home and all.

Still, tonight’s dinner reminded me just a little bit of weekend dinners when I was younger, even if part of it was grilled rather than roasted. I made grilled pork chops (which I just season with garlic and a generous shake of steak spice), some steamed broccoli and carrots, and a quick potato and onion dish that ended up being quite tasty. It still smells amazing in here, almost three hours after the fact.

When I mentioned the meal over on Twitter I immediately had two requests for the potato recipe. It’s so simple that I may make it for lunch some day when I’m having a carb fit. It would also be good at breakfast time instead of hash browns!

- 4 large potatoes, unpeeled, sliced
- 2 small onions, sliced and separated
- 2 tsp. butter
- 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp. parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything in a microwave safe casserole dish and cover. Heat on high for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let sit for five minutes and serve.

I didn’t have any fresh or bottled garlic so I used powdered garlic and used about 1 1/2 tsp. I don’t have any parsley and don’t much care for it beyond a garnish so I skipped that. When I served it, I added a little more butter on top of mine to melt and a bit more pepper since I like pepper more than the kids do.

It got a thumbs up from everyone and I’m amazed there was any left.

And now I am hungry again. Hmmmm…

Thanks to Carol, I discovered a food meme, and we all know I love food, right? This site has a Friday post called Favorite Ingredients Friday where you post a much-loved recipe from your household, including a picture if possible.

This meatloaf picture is actually from last March, but I made it again a couple of nights ago. Meatloaf is one of those meals I really didn’t care for when I was growing up. I didn’t like my mom’s meatloaf at all, even though there was nothing wrong with it at all, and while I would eat my grandmother’s just because she topped it with chili sauce, I wouldn’t say I *liked* it. Now I love meatloaf and when we replaced our stove with one that actually (gasp) has a working oven, that was one of the first things I wanted to make again. Easy, quick to prepare, and tasty, but the best reason to make meatloaf ever is just so you can have meatloaf sandwiches the next day for lunch.

This recipe is from taking bits and pieces of several different recipes that I liked.

Sherry’s Meatloaf

-1 lb ground beef, lean is preferable
-1 egg, beaten
-1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I made my own with 4 slices dry bread, some garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne)
-1/2 cup milk
-1/4 cup dried onion soup mix
-1/4 cup finely chopped onion
-A few shakes Worcestershire sauce

Mix all in bowl until well blended. Press into loaf pan or shape into a loaf in a lightly greased 9×13 inch pan.

-1/3 cup ketchup
-2 tbsp mustard
-A few shakes Worcestershire sauce
-Optional: a few shakes of hot sauce of your choice (I used to like the one I had from Barbados but we finished it up, alas)

Stir ingredients in a measuring cup then pour over meatloaf.

Bake at 350 for one hour. YUM.

Now I’m hungry. Good thing I have leftovers so I can go make a sandwich!