Expensive or Not Expensive?

My Shopping List Today:


First of all, I'm super impressed by the amount of fresh produce on the list. Eating more fresh veggies was a major reason for starting this project, so I'm glad to see it's working. The list includes items for my eggplant salad experiment, a white gazpacho soup, shaved asparagus salad, and hummus ingredients---all things I hope to make this week.

The price tag was less impressive:

I'm trying to figure out if eating Vegetarian is definitely more expensive, or works out over the long run. I've got dinner planned our for a few weeks, so it might even out if I eat out less. I'm going to start a sidebar keeping track of the price tag to see how this plays out over the course of the month.

One point I've figured out is a lot of my food so far is stocking up on vinegars and other long-lasting items I can reuse more. It's an expensive start-up price tag, but I should be able to keep the Miren, Miso Paste, etc. for a few months.

Recipe Recap

Thank Goodness for Southern Grits..
It's nearly been one week—and I survived a Southern BBQ fest! Taste of the South was last night, and a pretty good time despite not eating any meat. The Cheese Grits at Kentucky's station were my favorite, and actually one of the favorites of my friends who had all those nice ribs and pulled pork to choose from. There was NO a/c in the Armory building, so we didn't stay long. The Georgia Peach Ice Cream was also tasty.

I'm sure you're wanting to know if I cheated, and while I can't say the baked beans from Tennessee or the BBQ sauce from Alabama wasn't marinated in meat or animal fat, I wasn't going to stress about it. If there were bacon bits on top of the grits, I steered clear, though. I did have one Louisiana oyster (I'm cited Slate here as to why it was okay to eat), but only because 1. there might not be that many Louisiana oysters left in a month, and 2. It was super tasty. Thanks to everyone who voted, even if the majority of you wanted me to succumb to my delicious, delicious weakness...

Veggie Photo Gallery:

Here are a few photos of my Veggie exploits while on the town this week:

Veggie Chili Cheese Fries at Ben's Chili Bowl: Not as tasty as the meat chili, but still great after Jazz in the Garden.

Veggie Personal Pizza from Pizza Hut stand at Mt. Vernon: Still not sure why the Veggie pizza was $4 and the Cheese pizza was $4.50.


Recipes from This Week:
Thanks to everyone who has been sending me recipes this week--please keep them coming! Below are links to the ones I've received so far:

Argentine Chimichurri Sauce
From Dad

 Portobello Mushrooms with Mediterranean Stuffing
From Libby

Shaved Asparagus Pizza
From Megan







What's Next:
Heather sent Libby an Eggplant and Chickpea salad that I want to try--I'll post the recipe and photos tomorrow after I make it tonight! Also up: Creating my own Hummus :)
 

The Hardest Test Yet

So I will be the first to admit I did not think this through. June? why would I be a Vegetarian in June? My friend Johnny pointed out it was a mistake, up I didn't listen. And now I'm five days in, and attending this black tie event tonight:

That's right. I signed up to go to a black-tie, all you can eat BBQ Charity event (that comes with a $100 price tag no less!) during my month of Vegetarianism. Feel free to laugh at me now.

Day 3: Margaritas are Vegan, you know...

MARGARITA THURSDAY! Today I took a break and went to La Sandia in Tysons. They had TWO vegetarian options for happy hour: a mini-cheese quesadilla or nachos. I went with the nachos, which were delicious. Popcorn later for dinner. yum.

Day 2: Bok Choy, Shitaki Mushroom & Tofu

in a white miso paste

So I've never prepared tofu, and after a few internet searches, found this one the most informative. Tuesday night I pressed the tofu for about an hour, while I used this recipe from Alicia for the marinate:

1 Tbl white miso paste (can find at whole foods refrigerated near the tofu)

1 tsp mirin

1 tsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp honey (possibly more if it's a little too salty)

a few spritzes of seasame oil, like 1/2 tsp worth

I marinated the tofu for 24 hours in this sauce, and then came home and threw everything into my pan. Bok Choy first, for 10 minutes, then I added the Shitaki mushrooms, and then finally the tofu (my mistake, i feel...). I prepared rice to go along with the veggies, but ended up throwing everything into the pot together to create more of a rice dish with tofu sticks.

The photos make it look awesome, but sadly, I was less impressed with the meal. First of all: I need a wok. That pan was not cutting it, and definitely didn't sear the tofu enough for it to not taste like scrambled eggs (sadly, when i eat tofu, that's the taste I usually get in my mouth..) Second, I apparently should try to freeze the tofu--because that makes it taste more like meat. Finally, cooking it alone instead of dumping it into a pan should help.

So I'm not giving up, but I can't do my general "throw everything in a pan and let it turn to awesomeness' method of cooking. Looks like I'll actually need to follow step-by-step recipes for the second half of the tofu block I saved....any suggestions?

A Vegetarian at a BBQ

Apparently my fixation with meat is more intense than I thought. Celebrating the end of bocce, my team had a BBQ tonight, with juicy steak, perfectly charred hot dogs, delicious smelling chicken....and swiss cheese. So here I am with my Grilled Swiss Cheese Sandwich. I added some potato chips to the mix to give it a little crunch, but it was less than inspiring.

Although later I DID get to try delicious corn again. Grilled corn on the cob might be the ticket to surviving this month.

Also, I've added a listing on the side where I can post my current cravings. Today it was Popeye's Biscuits. At first I thought it would be okay because it's vegetarian, but then (depressingly) realized they prol cook those in some sort of animal fat. I knew they tasted so delicious for a reason...it's going on the list!

Also, Tofu Attempt No. 1 was earlier tonight. I was less than impressed--but will post about that tomorrow once I see how the leftovers taste. I'm not giving up, but will need to work harder to perfect cooking this soy beast.

The Danger of "The Usual"

It's only day one, and I already had a near-fatal run in with my usual lunch at Chipotle. Without even thinking, I asked for steak on my burrito...then had to awkwardly ask the server to throw that one out and start again. I had paused, thinking 'there is a reason I can't eat meat...' but it hadn't registered yet why and I completely ignored my instincts. At least I was able to salvage the situation before I ruined this experiment on the first day!

Tonight's dinner is totally left over burrito, mostly so I have more time to look up how to prep tofu for delicious meals. Thanks David and Alicia for sending recipes my way!