Meat...It's What's for Dinner

On August 10, 2007 we decided to be vegetarians. We have always wanted to cut meat out of our diets primarily for health reasons, but also environmental and ethical reasons.

On the night we decided would be our last I had exactly 6 chicken tacos at the soccer field.

On October 10, 2007 I had my blood work done at the health fair. My total cholesterol now 288, triglycerides 150, HDL (good) 66, LDL (bad) 192. My ratio is 4.4 so that is not too bad. My uric acid levels were also low indicating low protien.

I have gained 6 pounds during the past 3 months.

Chilli's for dinner Friday night, had chicken crispers.

Mi Casa Too for dinner Saturday night, had carne asada taco.

Made salmon for the girls, and chicken sausage for us on Sunday night.

Made pork fried rice and chicken potstickers for dinner last night.

I think that covers all the meats in the food chain...

I do believe that you can be athletic and vegetarian if you have either a personal chef or do not have a job or children in sports. It was a good experiment and I don't regret having tried it - it is just not going to work for us at this phase in our life.

Vegetarian Tacos

Ingredients:
2 cans organic garbanzo beans
1/4 Cup Taco Seasoning (Costco)
Corn tortillas
Shredded cabbage
Diced tomatoes
Diced red onion
Chopped radish
Chopped cilantro
Kraft 2% Mexican Blend grated cheese
Guacamole (Costco) or fresh avocado
Daisy Lite sour cream
Ruybalid fire roasted salsa
Lime wedges

Directions:
Combine garbanzo beans with taco mix in a sauce pan. Use liquid from only one can, drain the other. Simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lightly mash the garbanzo beans with a potato masher. This keeps them from rolling out of your taco shells, and gives them a ground beef-like texture. Heat the tortillas on a dry cast iron skillet. Spread some of the bean mixture on the tortilla, then top with the other ingredients squeeze the lime on top or in your beer or both whatever you prefer.

Brent paired with Pacifico with a slice of lime.

Picture courtesy of Flickr, recipe adapted from Vegweb.com

Cooking Mama!

Madison used to help me cook dinner almost every night and then she lost interest. That was until she got a game for her Nintendo DS called Cooking Mama. She has been using a real knife since she was about 8 mostly helping me by making the salad.

On the menu that night was three cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, garlic bread, and green salad. Madison also helps me peel and press the garlic. She does not necessarily enjoy this job because it is hard for her small hands to get the leverage needed to press the garlic.








Like me, I think she enjoys the creative part of cooking. She likes it best when I give her a job and just let her do it on her own (shocking huh?).


That night I put her 100% in charge of the salad.

Here is the finished product, almost too pretty to eat.

One of her other favorite games is Cake Mania which I also got addicted to. So now she wants to be a pastry chef when she grows up. Now if I can only find a game that makes being a doctor or lawyer seem interesting to a 10 year old...

I Heart Kimchi

Last summer while visiting Uncle Vic & Aunt Sharon Uncle Vic had me try something he likes to snack on called kimchi. It is a traditional Korean dish of fermented vegetables (in this case napa cabbage) and spices.

I recently found some at my local grocer made by King's Asian Gourmet out of San Francisco that is wonderful. I am not sure if it is the same brand that Uncle Vic likes or had us try at his house.

If you like cabbage and spicy food, you will love kimchi. According to King's website, there are some amazing health benefits to eating this delicious side dish. It has even been speculated to cure the Asian bird flu!

Madison and I have taken to having some after we get home from school/work everyday. Madison says it makes her tongue tingle she also chants "this is not rotten" as she eats it.

Uncle Vic would be so proud...

Twas the Night before Christmas...

This year for Christmas Eve we had our friend Kevin and my dad over for dinner. We did our usual Mexican feast. Brent made Al Bondigas (meatball) soup with a cilantro lime pesto and I made chicken enchiladas with green sauce. Costco provided the Tamales. We also had blue corn chips, home-made salsa, and guacamole.

My dad brought a nice bottle of Syrah wine to share that he was given by a millionare that he worked on the house of at Tahoe. He left after dinner to attend another party with his sister and her friends.

After dinner we baked some cookies for Kevin, I mean Santa. Kevin showered us with great gifts and then we then settled down to watch a Christmas Story on our new TV. Madison lost her patience more than once cos we were chatting while she was trying to watch the movie.

After Kevin left, and Shayna got home from her mom's we let the girls open their Christmas eve present, new pajamas and then watched It's a Wonderful Life...

It was a nice evening at home with a good friend and family. It doesn't get any better than that.