Something not to do whilst in your first trimester

Being dairy-free, you come to a point of dabbling in being vegan.  I've always said that I dearly love bacon far too much to ever become any sort of vegetarian (mmm bacon), and I'm totally with Anthony Bourdain in the notion that many a beautiful vegetable has died a horrible death in the hands of a vegetarian with poor cooking skills.

That being said, my parents went vegan a few months ago and it's got me to thinking.  I can never not eat meat; not only will I never 100% give up bacon, my husband is an inveterate meat eater (don't tell him that I cook less meat for him than he thinks).  But the truth is is that I feel better eating vegan meals.  So for 2 meals a day, I'm totally happy living like that.  I might have the occasional egg, but really I could live like this. 

So in my THINKING, I did a dumb thing by going to the library and checking out Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. 

Now, it's not a bad book.  There's some good information in there and some compelling arguments for going vegan.  It's not hugely judgmental or accusatory like a lot of vegan material can be.  It gives you some good facts and lets you decide.  This I like.  Now, the recipes aren't terribly inspiring to me, but most "healthy" cookbooks shouldn't be your resource for learning good cooking technique. 

So why was it dumb for me to pick up this cookbook?  Because, being in my first trimester, very very little food tastes, smells, or sounds good to me.  But, like with my son, the very mention of a vegetable makes me more nauseous than I can handle.  So reading a book about eating more vegetables and whole grains is not really what I need.  I'm taking steps to eating somewhere beyond survival mode at the encouragement of my midwife, but really, throw a piece of broccoli my way, and I'll promptly throw it back.

Spinach Puttanesca

No picture today.  We ate this way too fast.  Usually once a week, the motivation to cook is really low on my end for one reason or another.  This leaves me in a bit of a pickle.  I like eating tasty food, and that finding tasty take-out that's dairy free is pretty limited and unimaginative and expensive.  Days like this, I'm grateful for things like pasta.  Even when I'm feeling mentally my worst I can pop together something delicious and satisfying and more or less healthy too.  Such was the case last night. 

This puttanesca is pretty standard, minus the fish sauce.  I don't always have anchovies on hand, but I always have fish sauce which is made from an anchovy relative, so I figured it was a good sub.  The spinach and sausage I added because I had the spinach and sausage sounded good.  And it's taking me longer to write this out than to make it.  :)

Spinach Puttanesca--feeds 2 (plus noodles to entertain an 8 month old)

3 T olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a microplane
1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 bunch of spinach, washed, and tough stems removed
1 can stewed or whole tomatoes whizzed in a food processor until good and chopped
1 T capers
10 kalamata olives
1 generous T fish sauce
6 oz. linguine
2 links of turkey Italian sausage

Bring 6 qts water to a boil.  Add a good handful of salt to the water as it comes to a boil.  Pop in the pasta and the sausage and stir occasionally for the 6 or so minutes it will take to cook the pasta.  While the pasta and the sausage are cooking, heat a 4 qt pot over medium heat.  Add the oil when it's good and hot, then the garlic and peppers.  Cook for about a minute, until you smell the garlic.  Add the spinach and cook until it's wilted, which should take about another minute or maybe two.  Add everything else and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer while the pasta and sausage are finishing.  Drain the pasta and add to the sauce.  While the pasta is absorbing the sauce, cut the sausages on the bias.  Divide between bowls and put the sausage on top.

I'm a convert

I've been slow to embrace the idea of beans and rice.  This is a puzzle to me because I love beans, and rice, while not being my favorite grain isn't too shabby in my book either.  I really have no idea whatsoever why I've never bothered to try this but a couple of times.  But this recipe intrigued me.  It's in Gourmet's new [and swan song of a] cookbook as well as April 2007's issue.  The idea is black beans spiked with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and sherry (I used apple cider vinegar because I lacked sherry), long grain rice, and roasted cubes of sweet potatoes, all topped with toasted pumpkin seeds.

It all sounds like a lot of preparations, but I made the whole smattering in under 30 minutes, what with my use of canned beans (I know how easy it is to cook beans, but canned is just how I live...my one true convenience item).  I'm totally amazed by how such unlikely ingredients like balsamic vinegar and soy sauce would transform black beans into a totally delicious concoction.  The roasted sweet potatoes are a treat; my son loved downed 3 huge cubes (a triumph for a baby who's not super excited about solids yet), and the pumpkin seeds add a nice bit of texture to round everything out.  Maybe I'll eat beans and rice more often. :)