Happy 2012! Year of the Veg

Happy New Year, lovely readers!  I’ve spent the past few weeks off the grid, trying to restore health, balance, and mental energy by just not plugging in.  I actually read an entire book. Impressive stuff, I know.

I can’t say that I succeeded in all areas–it was the holiday season, after all–but I am feeling a little more quiet, a little more at peace in my body and my head. And that’s a good thing.

In my past life, I may have been a turtle or a tortoise, because when things get batshit crazy, I pull myself into my little shell and just hang out in there for a while.  I used to beat myself up about this tendency. It’s a cowardly way to cope, is it not?  But as I get older, I’m a little more accepting.  Some people are tigers, and some people are turtles.  Undeniably, I’m the latter.

I have really missed you all, though, and I’m glad to be back in this space and I look forward to inching my way back into the loop, reptilian-style.

A few updates from the last few weeks:

~Miss M. has made a full recovery from her tonsil trauma. I’m busily trying to purge our freezer; it’s Popsicle Mountain in there. She tired quickly of them and nobody wants to eat popsicles in the winter, especially with 8 inches of snow in the back yard.  Does anyone in Miami need some popsicles?

~Miss D. is restless and ready to return to school. She’s bored, even with shiny new things to play with.  She’s so bored that she’s taken to bizarre forms of entertainment, such as trying to eat her morning cereal with a fork. That little experiment didn’t go so well.

~Mama was back to chemo treatments the day after Christmas. Geez, talk about a buzzkill. But she’s anxious to get through, so she climbed back in the saddle with grace.  She’s got a lot to teach me about weathering through, that one.

~I’m trying desperately to get inspired about cooking again.  We’ve been far to reliant on Honeybaked ham sandwiches and leftover mashed potatoes.  Not that I’ll ever tire of a pile of mashed potatoes, but it’s time to shake things up a bit in the kitchen. Maybe lighten it up just a bit, eat things a tad lower on the food chain after the Month of Meat.

This is not a Resolution. I want to make this clear. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I am weak in constitution. Why set myself up for failure?

Okay, I just re-read that sentence and it’s official. Past life? Totally a turtle.

Anyways, I don’t do the resolution thing, but I would like to get inspired to eat more veggies in the winter. Summertime is never a problem–I scarf down tons of veg in the sunny months. Winter is problematic. When it’s snowy and cold, the only way I want a vegetable is if it’s smothered in cream and cheese, sitting next to a large hunk of filet mignon.

So while the Chinese declare 2012 the Year of the Dragon, I declare this the Year of the Veg.

So…I am going to try to go meatless once a week.

Did you notice how low I just set that bar?

Eating meatless once a week should so not be a problem–not for me, not for anyone–and yet, that’s all I’ll commit to.  In fact, I’m so uncommitted that I’ll consider a meatless weekly lunch as a victory.

Turtle, dudes.

The good news is, the Cookbook Addict got some new tomes for Christmas. I can’t help it, readers. I’m afflicted.

The super-good news? One of those tomes is Jacques Pepin’s Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food.

Jacques Pepin, aside from being an amazing chef, is a hard-core lover of the veg.  If I took a bite out of Pepin’s left leg, I’m pretty sure it would crunch and taste like celery.

And although Pepin is French, and classically trained as a French chef, he’s been in the food business so long that he’s branched out from the traditional, cream-sauce/gratineed preparations.

Not that there aren’t gratins or recipes with cream in the cookbook–there are–but there are also plenty of lighter, ass-friendlier offerings.

But you know what? I’m going to try some of those gratins, too.  They sound too delicious to bypass. I just will eat them as my main dish, not sitting next to a bloody slab of cow.  Adding a little cream or cheese to something as virtuous as a vegetable is really not a cardinal sin, in my book. At least once in a while.

This past week, I’ve been working my way through Essential Pepin, Post-It bookmarks in hand, and I’ve got to say, I’m kind of excited to get in the kitchen again.

I haven’t been excited to get in the kitchen for three months. This renewed motivation is big deal in the Land of Kitch.  I’m excited to be excited.

My first offering to you is a simple salad of carrot and sunflower seeds, which probably sounds weird and repellent to you but it didn’t to me.  I love sunflower seeds. And raw carrots.*

I was intrigued by the recipe because–well, it was kind of weird. But it also got my attention because I thought this salad would be texturally interesting.  Sweet shards of carrot, rich walnut oil, little meaty pops of sunflower seed? Call me curious.

Pepin suggests this salad as a side or a first course; however, he also mentions that it makes a delicious filling for a sandwich.  It was this last suggestion that made my mouth water, so I tried it that way.

It was delicious.  I ate my sandwich and immediately called Mama, the giver of the cookbook.

“I just ate the weirdest sandwich for lunch but it was so delicious! It’s the simplest thing, really, but when you put it together, it works. You really have to try it.”

“I’m glad you like the cookbook. I’ll try it as soon as I don’t feel like rat shit.”

Mama, bless her.  I love a good cuss.

I encourage you to try this. I must confess, I ate the leftovers as a salad, topped with some crumbled French feta, with a bit of fresh parsley stirred in, and loved it even more.

The next time I make this, I think I’ll grate my own carrot on a box grater instead of using the pre-shredded carrot from the grocery store. I think the more delicate the texture of the carrot, the better.

Happy New Year, everyone.  I’m happy to stuff my foot up the hind end of 2011.

And hey, look at me!

Meatless Lunch #1? Done and done.

Carrot and Sunflower Seed Salad

serves 6

from Essential Pepin

6 medium carrots (about 12 ounces), peeled and shredded

1/2 cup sunflower seeds ( the shelled kind, yo)

2 teaspoons crushed, chopped garlic

1/2 cup chopped mild onion, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla (or shallot)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

5 tablespoons peanut, walnut, hazelnut or almond oil

red lettuce leaves (I used spinach)

Combine all ingredients except lettuce in a bowl. Mix well. Serve on lettuce leaves or as a sandwich filling.

*I said raw carrots were delicious, okay? Cooked carrots are loathsome nuggets of vileness.

Tagged as: 2012, I am a turtle, resolutions suck, weird veggie dishes