The Suburban Herbivore

Goat Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper, and Artichoke Heart Pizza

I was out of commission for three days (sick), so I’m not including a list of what we ate to finish off the month. But it was primarily leftovers and “convenience” foods like Boca burgers and veggie dogs. I did do some cooking this weekend since we were snowed in. Last night I made a delicious goat cheese, roasted red pepper, and artichoke heart pizza using this crust recipe.

As January comes to a close, I’m reflecting on how and in what form to take what I learned into the next month. What did I learn? Let’s see…

• I seem to cook in fairly large quantities. Or maybe it’s just that right now, there are only two of us eating my cooking. Either way, I should be stashing leftovers in the freezer more quickly, rather than eating them day after day.
• As a vegetarian, much of what I tend to buy at the store is fresh produce, dairy, and eggs – all things that were not off-limits for this month. I don’t actually feel as though I made much of a dent in what I have in the pantry. Most of my meals ended up using one or two things from there, and fresh ingredients for the rest.
• I did save money on groceries, but not as much as I hoped. I should probably have set an amount to spend each week, rather than going wild with cheese. Not that I went wilder than usual with cheese. (Just a note that I didn’t buy the goat cheese this month – I already had it from December. So there.)
• Having some kind of parameter, such as not buying any canned goods, turned out to be just the thing I needed to reinvigorate my cooking. I brought back several meals I hadn’t made in years, tried out new ones (seven!), and even made a huge batch of pancakes, which are normally full of fail for me. I busted out my bread machine, and used it several times as well – something else I’d never done before.

Based on all this, what I’m planning to do for February is to identify ingredients that I have in the pantry that I will use up (or at least use some of) by the end of the month. This will be a slightly different challenge, as I will be free to buy whatever I need. It’s more of a creative challenge than a frugal one. I’ll try to come up with a clever name for this, but I’m not promising anything…

The scene: Sunday morning, around 8am. It was your morning to get up with your son, so you’ve been awake since about 6. He is, however, taking his customary early morning nap. Your spouse is asleep, too.

There is exactly one hour during the entire week that you have completely to yourself, and this is it. So you’re using it to plan out the meals for the coming week. (You do that, right?)

As you poke around in the refrigerator to see what produce needs to be used up, you notice several poblano chiles. Hmm, you say, I wonder why I bought those? Suddenly, you recall a delicious chili verde that you used to make a few years ago. Oh yes, you say, that’s what I should do. Now which cookbook was that in, again?

Some of my cookbooks.

You pull down the 5 or 6 old stand-bys and look at the indices. No luck. Well, you muse, I’m pretty sure it was called chili verde. You take down a few more, and don’t find it in those, either. Cookbooks are starting to pile up on the counter and floor. You suppose you could look online, but you really just want to make that particular recipe, and the chances of finding it, or even recognizing it out of context if you do find it online are slim.

Then you hear stirring from the next room: the boy is awake. The hour is up, the kitchen is a mess, and you are left wondering if you’d ever even made chili verde before.

Has this, or something like it, happened to you? Check out the wonderful website called Eat Your Books. This site indexes the recipes in cookbooks, lets you add the cookbooks that you have to your virtual shelf, and then allows you to search the recipes. Fantastic! Now, the site doesn’t store the actual recipes, but you don’t need it to – you already have the books.

I signed up for a trial membership in about 30 seconds, and within about 30 minutes, I’d added 67 books to my shelf. I can now search through nearly 11,000 recipes by name or ingredient, and mark that mysterious chili verde recipe as a favorite so that I don’t ever lose it again. There is also a social networking component to Eat Your Books, so you can have friends, see your friends’ bookshelves and recipes, add reviews, leave comments, etc.

Now, the site is in beta, and the indexing of books is still ramping up. So while I may have 67 books on my shelf, only 26 of them are indexed. Which means that I can’t search the recipes in the remaining books. Yet. You can request that a particular book be indexed, and the more people who request it, the higher priority it gets. Some of the books I own didn’t show up in the search results at all, presumably because they are out of print. Honestly, many of the cookbooks I have were either bought ages ago when I first became a vegetarian, or as bargain/remaindered books, so I’m actually pretty pleased that so many of mine were already indexed.

Does this seem too good to be true? Well… it’s not free. After a 30-day trial, you can buy a year-long membership for $25 or a lifetime membership for $50. That felt like a lot to me, but then my husband, Jason (of Icebox Pickles fame), asked me if I had $50 worth of cookbooks that I never used and never looked through. To that, the answer is, sadly, yes. The site is also ad-free and says it will stay that way. I can well imagine how much work it must take to index even one book, so it seems reasonable to me to charge a fee.

I’m giving serious thought to becoming a lifetime member, and in the meantime, I plan to fully explore the site. As should you. Go take a look at Eat Your Books. And if you sign up and would like to be my friend, my username is trikegirl.

A very busy week at work, a trip to the mechanic, and a sick family made for a little more restaurant food than usual. But all that we bought from the grocery store this week was some milk, lettuce, and cilantro. I did not do the thing I mentioned last week where I was going to take specific things out of the pantry and use them. However, I’m thinking about continuing this challenge in some form next month – more on that next week!

Tues Jan 19
cereal
both had lunch out
leftover Spinach Tofu Curry (Jason), Ryn went out

Wed Jan 20
cereal
leftover enchiladas (Jason), leftover Spinach Tofu Curry (Ryn)
Potato Quesadillas

Thurs Jan 21
yogurt
can of soup (Jason), leftover enchiladas (Ryn)
leftover lasagna + salad + homemade bread

Fri Jan 22
peanut butter sandwich (Ryn), Pumpkin Pancakes (from freezer) (Jason)
both had lunch out
leftover Spinach Tofu Curry (Ryn), leftover Classic Macaroni & Cheese (Jason)

Sat Jan 23
scrambled egg & potato wraps
Chinese takeout

Sun Jan 24
Pumpkin Pancakes (from freezer)
peanut butter & jelly sandwich, and apple
potstickers (from freezer) and leftover Chinese takeout

Mon Jan 25
macaroni & cheese (Kraft – not homemade), Boca burger
Ginger Tofu Salad

I had several days of not really feeling like cooking, but I got over it by getting inspired. I tried out three new recipes and brought back one that I haven’t made in a few years. The refrigerator is bursting with leftovers, and there is still plenty in the pantry and freezer. While I have started to run out of some things that I typically keep on hand (tomato sauce, croutons), at this point, I  don’t think I’m going to have any problems making it to the end of the month.

I think what I may do for this week is pull a few things out of the pantry that have been hanging around for a long time (can of fava beans, I’m looking at you), and see what I can come up with. I’ll report on that after the week is up.

If you’re looking for a different sort of lasagna recipe, I highly recommend the one listed below. I made this a few times before misplacing the recipe, and then promptly forgot about it. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I was able to retrieve it. Turns out that rosemary was one of the things I ran out of, so I used about half rosemary and half dried thyme. Not surprisingly, it was still delicious!

Wed, Jan 13
cereal
leftover chili from freezer (Jason), leftover Don’s Pantry Curry (Ryn)
tamales (Trader Joe’s – frozen)

Thurs, Jan 14
yogurt
leftover Lentil Soup (Ryn), leftover Black Beans + Saffron Rice (Jason)
Spinach and Tofu Curry (new)

Fri, Jan 15
cereal + banana
leftover Spinach and Tofu Curry (Ryn),  Jason went out
Boca burger + salad

Sat Jan 16
scrambled eggs + toast
cheese quesadillas with sour cream and salsa
Classic Macaroni & Cheese (one-pot method) (new) + steamed broccoli & cauliflower

Sun Jan 17
Pumpkin Pancakes (new)
leftover Classic Macaroni & Cheese+ steamed broccoli & cauliflower
Roasted Butternut Squash & Rosemary Lasagna + homemade garlic bread

Mon Jan 18
Pumpkin Pancakes
Boca burgers
Chipotle Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

I’ve been really pleased with how the month/year has been going. I’ve been revisiting some recipes I haven’t made in years, and have felt a little more creative and interested in cooking than I have in a while.

We’ve made two trips to the grocery store to pick up some produce and dairy. Interestingly, though, I don’t really seem to be spending much less than I do on a normal trip.

Here’s my list of what we’ve eaten so far. (I’ll be returning to this post to link up some recipes as I post them, so check back!)

Fri, Jan 1
Baked Garlic Cheese Grits (for potluck brunch)
leftover Chickpea Pot Pie

Sat, Jan 2
hardboiled eggs, leftover baked grits – fried in slabs
homemade pizza w/artichoke hearts & roasted red peppers

Sun, Jan 3
hardboiled eggs, leftover baked grits
peanut butter sandwich (Ryn), lunch meat sandwich (Jason)
Thai Tofu and Squash Curry + rice

Mon, Jan 4
cereal
leftover Thai Tofu and Squash Curry + rice
Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese Quesadillas + Ro-Tel rice (i.e. steamed rice mixed with a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes)

Tues, Jan 5
oatmeal
leftover Chipotle Black Bean Soup + bread (Ryn); Jason went out
hummus, avocado, and cheese sandwich (Ryn);  leftover Chilaquiles (Jason)

Wed, Jan 6
oatmeal
leftover Black Beans + Saffron Rice (Ryn); leftover pizza (Jason)
Don’s Pantry Curry + rice

Thurs, Jan 7
banana + oatmeal
leftover Pantry Curry + rice (Ryn); Jason went out
tamales (from Trader Joe’s)

Fri, Jan 8
oatmeal
leftover Pantry Curry + rice (Jason); Ryn went out
Italian Lentil Soup + bread

Sat, Jan 9
cereal
lunch at Elmo’s Diner (gift certificate)
Thai Spiced Tofu and Green Beans

Sun, Jan 10
scrambled eggs, “bacon”, toast
leftover lentil soup + bread
Penne in Tomato-Vodka Sauce

Mon, Jan 11
cereal + banana
leftover Penne
leftover Black Beans + Saffron Rice

Tues, Jan 12
oatmeal
both of us went out for lunch
leftover goat cheese & roasted corn quesadilla; Jason went out

Two of my New Year’s resolutions are to cook more often and to post more often on this blog, which already dovetail pretty nicely. Something that I hope is going to help with both is the Eat From the Pantry Challenge. I’ve been reading Money Saving Mom for a while and have gotten a lot of good tips on using coupons, as well as inspiration for trying to keep a well-stocked pantry and freezer. So I’m going to give this a try.

My goals for this challenge are as follows:

1. To only buy produce and eggs/dairy for the month of January – everything else that Jason and I eat at home will come from the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. Or the 25-pound bag of rice I have in the liquor cabinet.
2. To try out at least five new recipes – and post about them!
3. To spend significantly less this month on groceries than we usually do.

So far we are three days into January (Happy New Year!) and there have been no emergency trips to the store for diced tomatoes…

Durham and Carrboro are neck and neck in the Farmers Market contest sponsored by LocalHarvest and Care2. The contest goes until September 17, so you’ve got a while to cast your vote. The winner gets $5,000, and there are prizes for the rest of the top five vote-getters as well. I’ve been keeping an eye on this contest since it opened, and Durham has been #1 off and on the entire time, but always in the top five. Check it out, and please consider voting for your favorite farmers market.

It’s been years since I’ve been to Margaret’s Cantina in Chapel Hill. And I don’t know why. They have multiple options for vegetarians, including – my favorite – the tempeh burrito. It tasted exactly like I remembered – absolutely delicious. They also have a new (at least, new to me) item on their menu: Vegetarian Posole. I would have totally gotten this if my mouth hadn’t already been set on the burrito.

Now, on to the more interesting part.

About halfway through the meal, I suddenly noticed what was hanging on the wall right next to me – a large photo entitled Sharkslayer. It was a black and white photo of someone on the beach holding three dead little sharks. (Dogfish, I think.) Those of you who know me know of my deep and abiding fear of sharks, but I honestly don’t wish them dead. I’m afraid of sharks, but I don’t hate them. And of course, I find photos of dead animals to be in extremely poor taste.

After about ten minutes of alternately shielding my eyes from inadvertently catching the eye of the dead little shark and outright staring at the photo, I finally asked the server if she could possibly take it down. “Oh, is he looking at you?” she asked. I pathetically nodded, and she reached over and removed the photo. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and went on with my meal. But I think the image of the dead sharks will stay with me for a while.

While the Durham Bulls performed excellently yesterday, I was very disappointed to find that Flying Burrito is now absent from the DBAP. Flying Burrito offered fat-free burritos, which was basically their Flying Mayan (black beans and sweet potato) and I believe they had the Flying Vegetarian burrito as well.

They’ve been replaced by Tortilla Junction, which does have pinto bean and cheese burritos. I did not confirm if these were vegetarian or not, because I just can’t eat pinto beans. Very bad things happen if I do. I did confirm, however, that they don’t offer anything with black beans.

So, off I went to find something else for lunch. I ended up with a $4 veggie hot dog on a whole wheat bun. I am still pleased that veggie fare is available at the stadium, but the loss of Flying Burrito nearly moved me to tears.

We went to the farmer’s market in Durham late in the morning intending to buy strawberries (if any were left) and flowers. Fortunately, there were plenty of strawberries. I wasn’t sure what kind of flowers I wanted to get, but fixated on some purple ones. Since it was near closing, the farmer gave me two bunches for the price of one!