Eat your veggies.

Apparently, mothers will never stop telling you the importance of eating your veggies. Recently my mother has complained that my blog is too meat-centric. There is some truth to that. So, I invited my vegetarian friend Kailee over for dinner and it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with some new all veg meals.

Before I delve into the recipes I want to share my thoughts on vegetarianism, veganism and the raw food diet craze. First off, if you're a vegetarian and you eat fish sometimes or buffalo chicken wings, but only when it's wing night at the dining hall, you're not a vegetarian. I'm sorry but an animal is an animal even if it's ugly. I can't root for the Red Sox 3 games a month and in good conscience call myself a Yankees fan so you can't call yourself a vegetarian if you eat fish. I'm glad I got that all out.

Newton's third law states that forces occurs in pairs, one called the action and the other the reaction. However, I don't believe Newton's laws are limited to physics. To me, the explosion of vegetarian, vegan and raw diet culture is a direct result of the sad state of meat production and the prevalence of the fast food industry in the United States. It is easy to see how McDonald's and KFC can turn people off to meat. Not only because they serve either fried reconsituted chicken bits or greasy and grey pre cooked beef patties but because there is no soul or effort put forth to respect the animal that has been killed. If you're going to eat chicken you should cook the best chicken you possibly can. If a chicken has to die it shouldn't be for a nasty soulless nugget. I imagine that if the widespread use of animal protein was more respectful to the dead animal, if we used all the parts, if we cooked it well with some love and soul, and treated it as if it were once alive there wouldn't be such aversion to meat.

Now enjoy these veggie recipes you dirty hippies.

Sweet Potato and Turnip Curry with Spiced Kale

For the curry:

4 white turnips (slice into 1/4'' semi circles)
2 large sweet potatoes (cut similarly)
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp ginger minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp cruish red pepper
1 tsp cumin 3
tbsp of your favorite red curry paste
2 tsps olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add the olive oil. Saute the onions, garlic and ginger until they are softened and lightly brown. Add the cumin and crushed red pepper and lightly brown the spices for a minute. Add the vegetable stock, tomatoes, yogurt and curry paste. Stir until combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and turnips to the mixture cover and continue to simmer on low for 20 minutes.

For the Kale:

1 1lb package frozen kale (spinach works too)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsps fresh ginger minced
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place a saute pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and when it is warm add the fresh ginger, garlic, garlic powder crushed red pepper and cumin. Brown for 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth and stir. Season with salt and pepper. When the liquid comes to a simmer add the Kale. Cover and let cook for 8 minutes.

Serve these along side steamed jasmine or basmati rice.

Curry:



Jack says:

Dirty hippie recipe deserves dirty hippie music -

"When I Woke" by Rusted Root