Saturday, February 21, 2009

I'm a Flip-Flopper

Yes, Liz Lemon said it best when she referred to herself as a 'flip-flopper' when confronted with her membership in the Steak of the Month Club and her subscription to the Vegetarian Times. I often find myself in the same boat, as I go through phases of vegetarianism without trying, but then when I do try I end up out to dinner and ordering the steak tips at Silvertone (they are sooo good).

Anyway, I have been feeling quite informed as of late when it comes to food. I typically buy as locally as I can, and shopping at Whole Foods makes it easy to go organic. I know that veggies are a good choice-- and I honestly love vegetables. I get cranky when I don't get my fair share of vegetables in a day so when I am being good and not living off of macaroni and cheese or the pasta I always keep in my cabinet, I eat a lot of the green stuff.

This week I ate entirely vegetarian, except for one day when I had chicken noodle soup at work, but I didn't make that. And I didn't eat a single fake meat product. I am not against fake meat-- I love a good veggie burger. I just think that if you are trying to be vegetarian, you can do so without a constant barrage of tofudogs, sliced deli-style tofurky, and all of the smart brand stuff ('bbq chicken style veggie protein' and 'veggie protein chili') although I have to say, most of that Smart stuff is good.

This was also the week of peppers. I bought 5 peppers-- a couple red, a yellow, and an orange. I'm not sure why, it's not like there was a sale or anything. But I do like peppers and I was planning on making a Thai style curry and I need at least a couple of colors of pepper for that dish. Then I figured I'd buy a few extras and use them in other dishes throughout the week. One of the red peppers was an honest mistake and I was too embarrassed to return it. But, one of my rules of shopping is trying to get one ingredient to work in a few meals. That way if one recipe only calls for say, half a pepper, then the next recipe you make will hopefully call for the other half. Waste not, want not.

Right when I got home from the store, I started off with the peppers. I sliced all of them up and put the ones I wasn't going to use in a tupperwear container. It actually wasn't tupperware, it was a grocery store container that at one point held salad green or something of that nature. Since they were already sliced up-- the peppers were conveniant as a snack or to throw into a dish or salad. I ate them with hummus while watching TV; I sauteed them with onions and enoyed them in a warm salad on top of a Spanish-style omelette; I diced up a few of them onto a Southwest Flatbread pizza. It was a good week.

The point of this little story is-- there is a point, it turns out, I wasn't sure at first-- although it can be tricky shopping for one and buying the right amount of each thing, with even the slightest amount of prep you can get 5 peppers eaten in 5 days. I know for a fact I wouldn't have eaten those peppers if I hadn't sliced them all up the day I made my curry. Getting them prepped in advance made it that much easier to use them throughout the week even if I was in a rush or feeling lazy. Doing that was also great to incorporate veggies into a snack. I almost always have hummus on hand, and if I have vegetables chopped up and ready to go, I will sit there and snack on them. If the vegetables need to be chopped when I am ready to eat- I will just grab crackers instead.

So don't be afraid of buying a lot of one thing. With a little creativity/ prep or whatnot, hopefully you will get them eaten before they go bad. Unless it is bananas. I have three bananas that went bad in my kitchen right now. Well, they might be banana bread acceptable, but they aren't peel and snackable anymore. Which is a shame. But such is life.

1 comment:

  1. Jenn, you can freeze old bananas right in their skins (seriously, just toss them in the freezer) and then use them later in baked goods or smoothies. Give them a couple of hours to thaw out and you can ooze them out of their skins when you need them.

    Do you eat tofu as tofu?? I really like it, not when it's pretending to be something else, but just for being tofu.

    ReplyDelete