Going Veggie

[thestrangequark]

Jesus. That diet would kill me. I don't think I eat as many calories in three days as your dad does in one lunch!

Another sneaky substitute is pureed cauliflower as a thickener in soups and sauces in place of cream.

[teacake]

That's a cool idea tsq! I've never used cream in any soup but I bet pureed cauliflower would be a nice edition to a minestrone etc..

[thestrangequark]

^It works really well! Another tasty way to eat it is to puree with some cottage cheese and fresh green herbs like parsly, salt, and pepper. Delish!

[Emher]

Damn, J.! I'd be dead within a week if I ate all that for lunch. But not before my gallbladder and kidneys died. Okay, maybe I wouldn't be dead but I would not be feeling well.

As for the wheat bread...I've actually trained myself to not like regular white, wheat bread. After eating breading with lots of grains and whole wheat and the like, regular just seems so...fat and sticky somehow. For a guy who's had a few slices of white toast for his breakfast every day since forever, this is kind of a big deal.

[CorporalClegg]

At the risk of stating the obvious, let me take the opportunity to point out that "whole wheat" and "whole grain" are not the same thing. What's usually labeled as whole wheat bread really isn't that much better for you than white bread. Whole grain or multi-grain is the way to go.

[Emher]

In my case I'll defend myself with the fact that I don't know all the English words for things.

[lurok]

A small amount of rice (about a palmful) also makes a really good thickener.

[Sector 7]

lurok wrote:

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Do any other asparagus lovers get that unfortunate side-effect?

It is a genetic trait. My brother has that effect, so I never eat asparagus.

J. Allen wrote:

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Last night we had tacos. Now, I've made tacos hundreds of times. The difference this time, however, was that I used soy crumbles instead of ground beef, and while there was a slight taste variation, no one really seemed to notice enough to comment on it. In fact, everyone seemed to enjoy them, including myself.

I'm going to use them in fixing hamburger helper later this week. We'll see if they notice a difference there. If they don't, or if they don't mind, then I have found a way to enjoy a good supper with my meat loving family instead of always having separate meals. That's less expensive in the long run!

Being poor on a farm, when meat was in short supply, Mom used the soy protein (as it was called then) in most dishes calling for ground beef. I use it occasionally these days, but I prefer ground turkey @ $1.49/lb. it is very inexpensive. A year or so I found Mexican-seasoned Soy Protein Ground Beef Substitute on close-out, so I bought a case of it. The kids/grandkids loved it in my Mexican lasagna, enchiladas, tacos, etc.

(I also successfully made him switch to whole wheat. He much prefers white bread)

Mom would not eat anything but soft white bread, either. I tried the WhiteWheat bread without telling her. A couple years later I told her what I'd done. Now she eats whole wheat "brown bread" with no problem... actually she prefers it.

[thestrangequark]

Sector 7 wrote:

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It is a genetic trait. My brother has that effect, so I never eat asparagus.

Really, just because it makes your pee smell funny? It doesn't seem a good enough reason not to eat a delicious and healthful veggie like asparagus!

The really interesting thing about the asparagus urine odor effect is that there are actually different types of people, all genetically determined, as you said. First, asparagus only affects the odor of urine for some people, but added to that is that only some people are capable of smelling the effect! So, you may not have the effect at all, nor be able to smell it, you may be able to smell it, but not have it, you may have it, but not be able to smell it, or you may be able to smell it, and have it.

[teacake]

I eat a lot of asparagus and I don't care what it does to my pee

(as far as I can tell, nothing)

[thestrangequark]

^Same with me, though it makes mine smell. It just makes it smell like asparagus!

And you'll never know about yours until you get a confirmed capable smeller to sniff it!

[macloudt]

Everyone in the house knows when I've had asparagus, but I love them, so they can suffer.

[thestrangequark]

Would it be totally un-kosher of me to share a pescetarian recipe I came up with? It's just I'm doing a great job at sticking to my J Allen-inspired goal of stepping outside my cooking comfort-zone to learn more about cooking and to get more variety in my diabetes-friendly diet. Today I made up a coconut shrimp recipe that was fast, easy, and SOOOOOOO good!

[J. Allen]

thestrangequark wrote:

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Would it be totally un-kosher of me to share a pescetarian recipe I came up with? It's just I'm doing a great job at sticking to my J Allen-inspired goal of stepping outside my cooking comfort-zone to learn more about cooking and to get more variety in my diabetes-friendly diet. Today I made up a coconut shrimp recipe that was fast, easy, and SOOOOOOO good!

It would be welcome!

[teacake]

Super quick stir fry. Broccoli, carrot and bok choy. Added sweet soy sauce and dried onions and chillie (and also dried cuttlefish but you can leave that out obviously).

Get a good wok and you will look at veggies in a whole new way So FAST. So QUICK. So VERSATILE.

Went down great with beer and lime!!