Semi-Veg Dinners

Red chard, I think, is one of the most beautiful vegetables out there. I just had to show a picture of it growing in the dirt, since none of us know what vegetables look like before they're lopped off and packaged for the supermarket. (photo courtesy of wikipedia).

It's been another week of not eating out, but I'd thought I'd share the vegetable-intensive dinners of two unabashed carnivores. We're not shy about eating meat, but I do try to follow a few rules. I try to eat meat once a day, I buy everything I can from the farmers market, I rarely eat canned or boxed foods, and the hardest thing to remember: I try to eat five different fruits and vegetables a day. You'd think that with three meals a day, eating five different plants would be the easiest thing on earth. But it's hard! Let's see how I did this week, at least in terms of dinner.

MONDAY: Spaghetti and Meatballs

-the meatballs had parsley, onions, and garlic in them. The sauce had tomatoes and basil. I also had a romaine salad. That's four kinds of vegetables. I think I ate an apple for dessert. Barely five.

TUESDAY: Pork Chashu

-potatoes, carrots, and onions in the braise, and water spinach as a side. Pears for dessert. Again, that's barely five.

WEDNESDAY: Vegetable Spring Rolls

-we did really good this day! Spring rolls filled with carrots, mint, red lettuce, and egg; blanched gai lan (Chinese broccoli), and stir fried potatoes and carrots. I had a persimmon for dessert, which brought me up to seven. Seven!!!

THURSDAY: Butternut Fennel Soup

-I haven't made dinner yet, but the plan is a hearty soup with fennel, butternut squash, carrots, onions, parsley, garbanzo beans, and chard stems. As sides I'll serve poached eggs in a bed of braised chard and a plate of sautéed lions' head mushrooms. If I do fruit for dessert again we'll be at seven (eight if you count beans), and if I serve a side salad we'll easily reach nine or ten.

The lesson here is this: eating five plants a day becomes easier if you don't eat meat. Look at the days we ate meat: there wasn't much room left for leafy greens. We've gradually decreased the amount of meat we eat over the years, and made a pretty concerted effort the last few months to really pump up the vegetable eating these last few months. That's more money in the bank for good, tasty, delicious meat (beef, anyone? Seriously, I could never give up beef--unless it was all replaced with buffalo).