I have nothing against vegetarianism except that I believe it’s mildly contagious. If someone in your house has declared that from now on they would eat only vegetarian food, my post today might help a little, or it might not. Bear with me – there’s a beaut recipe further down, but only one, as I’m sure you can find a heap on the googler, and they come from various cuisines.
I think every parent today will at some time be faced with an offspring’s declaration of intent to go vegetarian. Years ago, when the microwave was still new and our kids were still living at home, each of them declared they were going vegetarian, though not in the same month or even the same year. I don’t really remember who declared vegetarianism first, but my response was along the lines of “Well that’s OK, but I’ll be continuing to cook the way I always have. You’re welcome to prepare alternative meals if you wish, though, and here’s a vegetarian cookbook to help you. Let me know if you need any ingredients we don’t have.” Well of course, that required advance thinking and allowance for prep time from each new veg.wannabe; and so in each case, the veg. phase lasted a month or so, 6 weeks max. I don’t know where that cookbook is today, and its possibly in storage – but I’ll bet a lot of money there’s barely a food stain anywhere in it.
Back then my view was that I did not see why I needed to change my whole way of doing things just to cater for someone’s whim, which I felt sure wouldn’t last. Did I fail my children by refusing to adopt a different style of cooking just because someone declared they wanted to adopt a vegetarian way of life? Possibly – but no child has perfect parents, so no guilt there. Medical orders would have been quite different – the whole household would have gone vegetarian under my direction if necessary, naturally, as it would today if needs be. But that was then.
My daughter Anna had a different approach when her turn came around. She’s a single mum and has been working and studying for some years, and some digestive unease her son Gavin was experiencing prompted him to ditch the meat. Feeling better as a result, he’s stayed with it, and has been vegetarian for some time, (nothing with a face … ) He’s just emerged from his teen years with reasonable independence in the kitchen: basic survival, level 1. He’s working, often long hours; is lean and athletic with a very physically active social life that includes a lot of rock climbing, snow boarding and hiking, depending on the season. He buys what food he wants, including lots and lots of vegetables, and there are always on hand a few things he can just heat up and eat alone in a hurry or whatever. I haven’t actually seen him ‘cook’ much, and if Anna’s at home he depends on her to cook, otherwise see the above.
They live in Northern Colorado close to the foot of the Rockies – where chili+beans in every form are popular. Skiers and snow boarders find such food rapidly restores energy for the next session on the slopes or hiking trails, and I’m sure there are those who eat such meals for breakfast, too. Note the final ingredient – diced or ground meat to be cooked separately and added in later. A benefit is that browning the diced meat makes it more flavoursome, and this makes it easy to accommodate the vegetarians among us by adding the meat later to your own serve.
On a snowy March night during our recent visit we were served this hearty bean chili, yummy, more-ish, quick and easy to prepare.
- Note that actual quantities are not given in this recipe – it’s flexible. Start out with roughly equal quantities of everything except perhaps the garlic (!) and adjust according to your taste. It’s a recipe I doubt you could get ‘wrong’ if you use the photo for reference 😉
- Chopped onions – saute in a little oil with …
- A lot, a huge amount, of garlic. Then add the rest:
- Green chilis.
- Chicken stock.
- Hot sauce – live dangerously with a good splosh, or add gradually, and carefully, to taste.
- Cream
- Add cans of white, great northern, pinto black or any other kind of beans (preferably several kinds)
- Butter+flour or cornstarch with a bit of stock (or the juice from the can the beans were in) to thicken the sauce.
- Very tasty grated cheese should be sprinkled on top after serving.
- Brown some diced or minced chicken or beef in a little oil in a pan – and add a spoonful or two to the carnivores’ serves.
There are sound health grounds for eating less red meat and more chicken and bony fish, and our regular meatless meals include an omelette served with a veggie salsa over it; curried eggs and salad; cauliflower cheese; cheese pudding; a hearty pumpkin+gruyere cheese soup with fresh bread; and veggie stir fries. In a nearby restaurant we sometimes visit, a favourite meal is their eggplant parmigiana. The owner chef is Italian, so it’s divine. There’s plenty of good meatless food around if someone decides to go vegetarian or you simply want to get out of the meat+3 veg rut.
Bon Appetite!