Saturday, January 3, 2009

Cooking with Dr. Monkey

I have a confession to make. Remember how I said I was going to go vegetarian after the first of the year? Things have not gone the way I planned them. Not everyone at Monkey Central is on board with going full bore vegetarian so we've held off for now. But while we are still eating some meat we have decided to eat even less of it this year than we did last year. So there you go.

Here's a mostly vegetarian meal I made for supper last night, it's spicy veggie flat bread sandwiches with acorn squash and a salad.

I sliced some zucchini, some onion, a few mushrooms, and some red, orange, and green bell peppers. I also mixed together some Dijon mustard and some mayo made with olive oil. I had already put my squash in the oven to bake about 40 minutes before I started making my sandwiches.
I then sauteed my onions, peppers, etc, in olive oil and some tandoori spice mix. While that cooked I made a salad out of spinach, shredded carrot, cherry tomatoes, and I added to it three diced up anchovies. Be careful you don't over power your salad if you use anchovies, I only use a few to give it a little kick sometimes.

Next I turned off my oven when I saw the squash was done and I put some flat bread in the toaster oven to heat up. When it got hot I put the mustard/mayo mixture on it and I filled both pieces up with the peppers, onions, etc and I folded it over. I added the squash to the plate and then I put the salad on them as well.
It was all very tasty. Later for dessert we had some apple pie, which Sparky baked yesterday, with ice cream on it. Mmmmmmm.

14 comments:

S.M. Elliott said...

Well, at least you're trying. Congrats on the reduced-meat diet. I've been veg for 2.5 years now, and it's been great.

Anonymous said...

Going veg is not something everyone can do cold turkey, so to speak. As a 25+ year veteran, I congratulate you for eating more consciously and striving toward a cruelty-free diet. This meal looks great except there is very little protein. Some goat cheese or some type of legume added to this meal would really make it more satisfying. Maybe some chopped nuts? Even a few walnuts or almonds would do the trick. I look forward to hearing about your progress.

Dr Zibbs said...

Mmmmmmm.

K.Line said...

This meal sounds awesomely delish (esp. the pie, BTW) but where is the meat? You're not counting anchovies,are you? This meal is veggie as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

Yay food! Double yay! healthy food. I need to follow your lead, Dr.

Wandering Coyote said...

Looks pretty good!

Sudeaux Lux said...

I enjoy reading about your cooking, Monkey Man. It's clear that your very passionate about it. =)

Sudeaux Lux said...

Oops, how fast can you spot the grammatical error?

GETkristiLOVE said...

I keep anchovies on hand to make a real caesar salad - you'd be surprised how many folks don't know that's how it's supposed to be served.

enigma4ever said...

wow....that was amazing...and now I feel guilty sitting here eating beef jerky dipped in cheese whiz....with Mountain Dew....I wonder if I am healthier from just looking at the photos...

good for you for having a plan....and trying...

Barbara Bruederlin said...

That looks incredible! I have a huge craving for a mess o' veggies now.

I keep a tube of anchovy paste in the fridge. You don't have to worry about those little bones then, or chopping anything up.

Greg said...

Hey, looks good. Is there some way you can re-make that and ship it to my house?

(Nice blog, BTW.)

dguzman said...

Another veggie veteran here, saying "good job!" to you and Sparky for trying. It's tough--especially going cold turkey. But you might try going a meat at a time, like no red meat, then no fish, then no pork, etc. That makes it a tad easier.

Or you could just say "fuck it" and make some exceptions. Either way, not buying CAFO-produced beef, pork, and chicken is a BIG good thing for our environment!

ReRe said...

i agree, phase out a one meat at a time. or do one day at a time. 4 years ago the hubby went vegetarian. he started doing no meat on sundays. and then it went to sundays and mondays and then it just stopped. it would have been nice if he'd let this meat eater know what he was doing, but oh well!