Happy Easter: A Lent Recap

Today marks the end of Lent, which is the most important part of Easter for me. Although I'm not religious, I chose to observe Lent this year by giving up meat.

I made the decision somewhat on a whim, but also under the impression that I didn't eat much meat anyways, so it wouldn't be much trouble. Boy, was I wrong!

The hardest part about giving up meat was finding food to eat. Our dining halls are very veg friendly and almost always have a main entree for vegetarians or vegans beyond just the salad bar. Unfortunately, if you don't like that one option, you're out of luck! What I didn't realize before was that those were the days I would end up eating meat. Since I could no longer eat meat when I didn't like the veg entree, I had to get creative.

Fortunately, I quickly learned some good alternatives that kept me going. One of my favorites was a cheese panini. The grilled cheeses here are usually white bread with American cheese, drenched in oil and grilled. Instead, I order a cheddar cheese sandwich on whole grain bread and put it in the panini machine. That plus a salad is perfect for lunch.

I also found my dessert consumption increased significantly. That may have been partly due to an increase in calorie consumption now that we're in season, but I also think it was often the easiest thing to eat. As a result, though, I have often craved savory foods instead of sweet foods over the past few weeks.

Of course, I wasn't perfect. There were one or two nights where I just didn't have the energy to find something without meat. I also didn't go vegetarian, so I could still eat things like marshmallows, or just pick the meat out of a dish that was otherwise made with chicken or beef stock, for example.

To celebrate Easter and the end of Lent, D and I made pork chops for dinner tonight. Even though he didn't give up meat, he's been eating less. Both of us found our 4oz portions of pork to be overwhelmingly large. I also didn't find it particularly satisfying. Sure, it was moist and flavorful, but it wasn't special or that delicious. I would rather have had twice as much roasted broccoli.

Going forward, I expect that I will only eat meat when it is inconvenient to do otherwise. Although I'm sure many vegetarians probably scoff at this lack of commitment, for me it is about cost, convenience and taste, rather than morality or environmental impact. I also hope to find a way to decrease the amount of sweets I eat, too.

I'm sure this will change as Dan and I begin to cook for ourselves this summer and next year. Fortunately, Dan is super patient and understanding, and willing to experiment with not eating meat while I try to figure out what works for me. I'm sure his needs and wants will influence me, but he's been very open to change so far.

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45-Minute Dinner: Roasted Veggies with Pork Loin and Rice Pilaf
serves 2

I messed up.

So you remember how I gave up meat for lent? Well, I've been doing pretty well, sticking to my on-Sundays-only policy.

Except this week I got to the dining hall after a long, hard practice. I'd already noshed on carrots and hummus in my room (because I didn't think I could make it the 30 yards to the dining hall without nourishment), but I was still starving.

All they had was eggplant and zucchini. Ok, it was ALL they had, but the options were:
salad with a weird raspberry dressing
pasta with really terrible marinara sauce
eggplant+tomato towers (I really don't like eggplant at all)
zucchini (I HATE zucchini)
zucchini (yes, that's right, they had two zucchini dishes)
chicken
beef stir fry
rice

I just didn't have the energy to be creative, so I decided to grab some rice and pick the veggies out of the beef stir fry. The veggies looked delightfully oily, crisp, fresh, nutritious and delicious. The beef just looked oily.

But then I just didn't have the energy to pick around the minuscule pieces of beef.. so I decided I'd just pick around them at the table.

But then I started picking them out and realized just how monstrous a task that was.. so I decided to just eat them. They weren't very good, or very satisfying.. I just didn't have the energy to avoid them.

The whole thing was fairly representative of my experience so far. I haven't missed meat much at all, but eating has become just enough more difficult that it can be frustrating. It's especially difficult in a dining hall, where not eating meat eliminates a large number of options. It's trying to have to pass up delicious vegetables because they've been mixed with meat, or to not eat a salad because they've added bacon or chicken.

Do you have any dietary restrictions? How do you deal with them when others are cooking for you?
Let me know by leavin a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 


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M+D's Favorite Pasta Sauce

A while back my dad sent me his amazing meat sauce recipe... but I lost it. I asked him for it again, but I don't think he ever remembered to resend it (probably for fear that I would lose it again and it would fall into undeserving hands).

Found this frying pan in the kitchen. It was perfect for tossing.

Instead, D and I searched the archives of Tastespotting for a recipe and found this one. Of course, we didn't actually follow the recipe (for a lot of reasons) but it ended up being delicious.

Over the past year, it's transformed a couple of times and improved a lot. It takes a decent amount of time to get everything in the pot, but most of it is inactive time. It's a great project if you're working on something else in the kitchen--writing blog posts, watching a movie or even making/decorating cookies.

The instructions are long, but they're very step by step. (You don't even have to read all the way through them before starting--they walk you through when to chop and when to add.)

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M+D's Meat Sauce
makes enough for 3lbs of pasta

Equipment:
Cutting board
Chef's knife
Wooden spatula
Medium frying pan
Large pot (plus one for cooking pasta)
Grater (for nutmeg)
Butter knife (or you can use the chef's knife)
Sink
Two burners

Worth every minute. Yum!

Ingredients:
2T olive oil
3T butter, divided
0.5 large onion
2 large carrots or 2 handfuls of baby carrots
2-3 stalks of celery (you want about the same amount as the carrot)
4 cloves garlic
1.5lbs ground beef (as fatty or unfatty as you desire)
1c milk

1 can sweet corn kernels

1 can (15oz.) beef broth (or you can use half broth and half wine--we weren't 21 when we first started making this recipe)
1 32oz. can and 1 15oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (if you have tomato haters, use crushed or diced, or crush them with your hands)
5-10 brown mushrooms (optional, although D's pretty upset that they ever became an option..)
1t red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
1-2t Italian seasoning, basil or thyme (whatever you have)
0.5 nutmeg
salt, pepper