Lately I've found myself eating a lot less meat. This is for a couple of reasons: making sure to eat everything I get in my CSA, saving money, and lastly, wanting to start really "eating what I preach." After reading a bunch of really great books on the subject of the food industry I can say that it's pretty grim. I recently went to go see
Food, Inc. - great movie, I highly recommend it - and while I knew about much of what the film discusses, it does a good job presenting how government agencies, food corporations, and American farmers interact and what it means for us as consumers. I won't go preaching about it all but it's definitely worth checking out.
As a result of my deciding to eat less large-industry farmed meat, my meals have taken on a vegetarian turn:
This was my green dinner -- Zucchini pasta with fresh greens. Again, super simple and only takes maybe ten minutes to prepare. All it requires is:
- grating zucchini with a mandoline so you get strips of zucchini
- heating up sliced garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil
- adding zucchini to olive oil/garlic and cook for ~5 minutes
- grating some fresh parmesan on top
- enjoy!
Another super easy dinner is what I call my dinner bowls. All you do is cook a few ingredients, together or separately, and then combine in a bowl. One of my old favorites is a brown rice, sliced zucchini, and italian sausage bowl. This week I made a potato, corn, and zucchini bowl.
For the potatoes:
- potatoes
- onions
- olive oil (I used ~1-2 T, original calls for a lot more)
- s&p
Dice the potatoes into large bite-sized chunks, cover with cold water, bring to a boil and cook until just fork tender (about 5 minutes depending on chunk size). Drain and cool slightly. Heat up oil in a pan and add the potatoes. Don't move them and cook for about 5 minutes. The amount of oil in the pan will impact the "crustiness" of your potatoes. Flip the potatoes, add onions and salt & pepper, cook another few minutes. Set aside.
For the zucchini & corn:
- zucchini slices
- corn (fresh off the cob is ideal)
- garlic
- olive oil
Slice the garlic and add with the olive oil to the same skillet as used for the potatoes, heat up slightly. Add the zucchini, sautee for a couple of minutes, add the corn, sautee about a minute more. Take off the heat, combine with the potatoes, and enjoy!
