Seriously I love candy corn, and not being able to eat it at Halloween time is very tragic. Halloween is actually not my favorite holiday (memories of plastic princess masks from K-Mart tend to turn you against Halloween) but I loves me some candy corn. (I also loves me those cute and wacky decorative gourds you can buy starting around Halloween time, but this post isn't about that.
I ate leftovers of last nights spaghetti and "meat" balls today for lunch and when I got home from work I was pretty hungry, but pretty tired. In addition, my fridge and larder are pretty empty because I just got back from some travel and am leaving for another almost week-long trip on Thursday...so I've avoided going grocery shopping and buying things, especially perishables.
Today I didn't feel much like cooking, but I also didn't feel much like going hungry. So I made one of my standbys: Spaghetti and Meatballs. I like to combine prepared foods with just enough fresh to make me feel healthy, so try not to be too impressed with the recipe ;)
Gravitating to vinaigrette dressings is smart: IF you ask and make sure they are not really "creamy vinaigrettes". It's amazing how many restaurants (particularly in non-veg-aware places) don't realize that their patrons might want to know if that vinaigrette is a creamy vinaigrette!
If you're in a place that likes to serve a side of meat with their meat you MUST ask if there's cheese or bacon served on the salad, even if the menu description doesn't indicate there is. Believe me, I have sent back too many salads because I forgot to ask. (And if you're in a Mexican restaurant, ask about the sour cream too.)
Speaking of Mexican: Don't be afraid to ask to swap in beans and veggies where meat resides on the menu. You can make a pretty awesome taco salad with beans, veggies and avocado or guacamole.
d. Ethnic foods are your friend! Find the Thai restaurant, find the Indian restaurant, find the hummus...even a sushi place will have Inari, avocado rolls, miso soup. In reality, "American" restaurants (and how do you actually define "American" food?) are some of the least veg-friendly places to go.
Yes, ethnic foods are good, but ask about ghee (clarified butter) in the Indian dishes and find the ones without it. Ask about oyster sauce (yes, made from oysters) in even the vegetarian dishes at Thai places. Ask about lard in the beans and chicken broth in the rice at Mexican restaurants. And while Pasta Marinara or even Puttanesca are typical reliable dishes at Italian restaurants, ask about chicken broth in the sauce and egg in the pasta itself!
And as for veggie burgers: More and more places serve them, which is great! But there are three things to watch out for: not all veggie burgers are actually began burgers. Some use egg as something to hold the thing together. Ask to see the package (because 90% of the time they buy these, they don't make them from scratch.) Also, the buns. I've seen vegan buns, I've seen non-vegan buns. (again, with the unnecessary egg, whey or honey!) Lastly: do they grill these on the grill with the meat burgers? Do they (or can they) microwave them instead?
You'll notice that a lot of this will require speaking up, asking, taking an extra 60 seconds during the ordering process. And maybe you will each draw different boundaries about what you care about. BUt you're really not bringing about the end of the world by taking a few seconds to ask. What do you think people who have a deadly allergy to shellfish or wheat or dairy do? They have to ask. To do otherwise would risk their lives. And if you feel just about the same aversion to risking animal lives, then you can ask too!
I'm not surprised, really, but interesting to see the study getting some mainstream love today. Source: WebMD
This month's Silicon Veggie is a review of a restaurant I had not been to in a while after my first attempt at eating vegan there wasn't so successful. Under new management, they have a new attitude...and a chef who came out asked me all my favorite foods and then just whipped up a little vegan delight for me.
Today is the day. I am sitting in the Denver airport with some time to kill, so I went to Burger King and got a BK Veggie (microwaved, no mayo.) I told the folks working there that it was World Vegetarian Day, which they seemed to find pretty amusing. Philistines!
Apparently new vegan place is opening up right in downtown Palo Alto this coming Saturday. It's called the Loving Hut, and is at 165 University.
Check out my evangelistic ways here.
