Vegetarian Frugal Housewife

“Please understand the reason why Chinese vegetables taste so good. It is simple. The Chinese do not cook them, they just threaten them!”
~Jeff Smith, Chef

This post is for my cousin, who is not vegetarian, but is feeling the need to get more veggies and home-cooking into her diet while having absolutely no idea how to approach a spice rack or a Whole Foods store.

We all need to get more fresh foods into our diets, and vegetarians are no exception. Many new vegetarians especially, fall into the trap of eating just as many processed foods after going veggie as they did before hand.

Simple, changeable and quick: stir-fry is the best way to begin introducing new, fresh veggies into your diet without having to get too far out of your cooking comfort zone.

Though you can put any vegetable, any “meat,” any spices and any sauces that you want into a stir-fry (hence their versatility,) I am currently loving Asian sauces and a little marinated tofu. (Shrimp would be my suggestion for my non-veggie cousin…much healthier than beef strips.) Some supermarkets even sell packages of “stir-fry vegetables” in their produce section which usually include bell peppers, mini corn, carrot strips, bean sprouts and pea pods.

There are tons of store-bought stir-fry sauces to choose from out there. Of course, you could also make your own sauces.

Some sauce options include: ketchup-vinegar-honey, orange juice-mint paste-olive oil, peanut sauce-soy sauce, terriyaki sauce-rice syrup-water, white wine-tomato paste-honey etc, etc… The list could go one forever. If you like it, try it. I hear that blueberry jam with white wine and vinegar makes a nice sweet-n-sour stir fry sauce, I’ve gotta try that someday.

As for what to pair your stir-fry with, it is best paired with a starch of some kind. Jasmine and Basmati rices are my favorites, but noodles are a good bet too, and rather more exotic looking on the plate. Try sweet potato noodles, buckwheat noodles and any other kind of Soba or rice noodle, most of which can be found in the International Foods section at a large grocery store.

To add a bit of fun to a stir-fry you can try learning to use chopsticks. Serge is a big believer in them, but I was a not-so-willing convert at first. They are not THAT difficult to master and once you do, they provide the benefit of helping you to eat just that little bit slower. This is great for both your digestive system and the width of your waistline. Plus you just look cooler when you go out for Thai or Chinese food! ;)

I like a jam-packed stir-fry, using all of the ingredients listed below. But if you like it less busy, simply by selecting four or five veggies and one or two extras from the following ingredients, you can get a taste of what our typical dinner-time stir-fry is currently looking like:

Simple, Healthy Stir-Fry

Veggies:

half a red bell pepper
1/3 of a medium zucchini, cubed
1 large red onion, cut in rounds
5-6 medium mushrooms (any variety) - sliced
half a large carrot, sliced in thin strips
handful of chopped cauliflower
handful of chopped broccoli
freshly peeled whole peas or whole peapods

Extras:

tofu (firm, marinated, cubed)
chives or green onions
ginger root, sliced tiny
garlic clove, sliced tiny
almond slivers
pineapple chunks
salt & pepper

Sauce:

soy sauce
sweet chili sauce
olive oil

Preparing the Tofu:

1. Take the brick of tofu, cut it in half (if you use more than half it will be too much) and then cut it in strips about 1/4 - 1/2 wide. Proceed by cutting these strips into smaller chunks or cubes.

2. With a little olive oil, fry these cubes in a skillet on medium heat until they get just a little bit brown on the edges. This helps to keep them firm when adding them to the stir fry later.

3. Place the cubes in a dish or bowl, cover with the sauce mixture, in this case sweet chili sauce and soy sauce (see below,) and marinate for 1-2 hours or longer if desired.

Making the Stir-fry

1. Begin cooking your starch in a pot. For non-vegetarian readers, also begin by frying any meat that you are adding to the stir-fry.

2. Once there is only five or ten minutes left until your chosen starch (rice, couscous, noodles etc.) is finished cooking, you can begin by heating olive oil in a pan. I use a lot, maybe 5 tbspn.

3. Add the hardest, or densest veggies first…ie. the zucchini and the carrot strips. These will take the longest to cook. Do NOT cook them until softened, as stir-fry is meant to result in medium-cooked veggies, not well-done.

4. Once the first veggies start to soften, or change color, it is okay to add the rest of the veggies, extras, spices and herbs, if any. Hold off on adding the sauce and tofu until later.

5. Stir-fry on medium-high heat until you feel that the veggies have reached a level of cooked that you desire.

6. Add the sauce mixture and stir. Also add the tofu and continue frying on low heat for an additional 2-3 minutes until tofu is warm.

7. Serve the stir-fry with your starch and a nice wine. Bon Appetit!

~

Though stir-fry is essentially easy, getting veggies the right consistency, in other words NOT over-cooking them can, take a while to master.

Real Asian stir-fry is cooked at very high temperatures, generally in a wok, which allows them to achieve a “flash fry” of the veggies.

You can get the same effect at home in a regular skillet, but it will take a few tries to master the timing and temperature.

Your stir-fry will still be just as tasty even if the level of cooking is a bit off. Enjoy yourself and experiment!

One of my last bastions of “instant” food was rice and couscous. I couldn’t imagine myself EVER being able to make one that tasted as good as the Near East brand does.

Serge thought this was silly, as couscous is meant to be dead simple. But I was holding onto my 1980’s instant food upbringing as the last straw of my (SAD) Standard American Diet.

Having been living in the UK now for over four months, I have finally relinquished the nostalgic hold that the SAD had on my tummy and gone forward to create my own version of my favorite flavour (Wild Mushroom and Herb) of Near East Couscous.

I am absolutely astonished at how close it tastes to the one that I used to buy. And once you figure out, by weight, how much cheaper it is. Well, let’s just say that I am embarrassed at how long it took me to try making this myself. ;)

Nevertheless, we now love it so much that we’ve eaten it three times in the last week and a half.

We’ve been doing a bunch of field and trail walking and, using an old sunflower margarine container, this stuff is très portable!

Enjoy it on your own open-air picnic today!

Curried Mushroom Couscous

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of couscous
1 1/2 cup water
2 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 small green bell pepper, diced tiny
4 large mushroom, chopped very small
1 scallion (or green onion) cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp curry powder

1. Bring water to a boil.

2. On a separate burner heat olive oil in a frying pan.

3. Fry plain couscous for 2-3 minutes until all couscous is covered in oil. *This step is important and is the secret to getting your couscous to turn out like the “instant” kind.

4. Add couscous and all other ingredients to the boiling water.

5. Stir well and cook on low temperature for 3-5 minutes or until all water is absorbed.

6. Serve with salad, sandwiches or tacos.

“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.”
~Wayne Dyer

Well, amidst a firestorm over the last post that I made, I will endeavor to return to the intended value of this blog and present you with yet another yummy vegetarian recipe.

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”
~George Orwell

This one is good for the time of year that we are in right now (flaky, weird springtime) because it is equally tasty whether served cooked and piping hot or uncooked and freshly cooled.

Serving this chilled on a veranda conjures up for me visions of sweet-tongued Southern ladies in wide 19th-century hoop-skirts surrounded by lace fans and tea tables. I don’t know why, but there you have it. Nothing is more emotional for people than food. :)

This is essentially a funny little green soup, SO some diners might need convincing to try the first bite. But once they do, no further convincing will be needed. ;)

Anyways, Avocado Soup

Ingredients:
4-6 large avocados
1 clove garlic, sliced fine
2 medium green (or red) tomatoes, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled and diced
1 tbsp cooking sherry
2 cups rice or soy milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp of curry powder
pinch of chili powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp chives
sea salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of white pepper

Optional:

1 small green bell pepper, diced
2 tbs of coconut milk or 1 tsp coconut oil
pinch of dried mint

1. Cut and scoop the insides from the avocados, slice them into pieces if possible.

2. Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil and set them aside.

3. Dice all veggie ingredients and set them aside.

4. Heat the water and soy milk to near boiling. (Or keep them cool, in a large mixing bowl.)

5. Place the avocado pieces into the liquid and stir vigorously until they break apart some.

6. Add all of the remaining ingredients and spices to the soup.

7. Using a blender or electric mixer, puree the soup as best you can.

8. Let cook or chill for about 20-30 minutes.

9. Serve with a nice selection of breads and crackers. :)

Check it out: avocados are cool. And they think that you’re cool. They like being on your table, and in your body, no matter what the neighbors think about you. Avocados are love.

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
~Albert Einstein



1. Dairy, though tasty, makes me instantaneously sleepy and usually results in 10-24 hours of extreme stuffiness and excess mucous. Yuck!

2. Fish is a good substitute for beef/chicken/pork cravings but if it’s fried fish then the trade off in fat and bad breath is not worth it.

3. Prepared meat substitutes are very helpful in the beginning for creating “transition” recipes, but as you become more confident in your vegetarianism, they begin to feel very heavy. I use them only occasionally now.

4. Organic veggies do not last as long as those waxy store-bought ones. They are best used quickly and that’s okay, since they taste best when very fresh anyway. :)

5. Organic veggies need dirt washed off them, supermarket veggies need CHEMICALS washed off them. ;)

6. Veggies = energy. Meat = lethargy.

7. No one likes a preacher. Keep your ethical reasons to your own creature. :P

8. Cookbooks are 50% useless, Experimenting is 100% helpful.

9. Dogs and Cats like meat. End of story.

10. Chopsticks are the best tool for mindful eating. And they aren’t THAT hard to use.

11. Not every country has embraced vegetarianism and veggie friendly products to the same degree. The USA has great meat substitutes, the UK has better veggie burgers and France, well…they’re French.

12. Being vegetarian is not difficult at all. And since I am the Queen of Picky Eaters, that IS saying something.

13. Eating with a veggie friend is nice and makes you feel like less of an outcast. It’s the conversation that counts though, so just be laid back, no matter what kind of eater you’re sharing your meal with, and you’ll enjoy yourself. :)

Many people, when they first go vegetarian, tend to rely too heavily on salads. Over time, as they experiment more with vegetarian cooking and ethnic foods, they branch out. Once they’ve branched out, some are by then so loathing of salad that they never return it to their diet.

Others still, like some that I’ve met in online forums, say that salad is unhealthy, specifically because of the oils that we tend to slather it in.

Actually a salad, with or without oils and vinegars, is a great way to get some essential nutrients into your diet.

I have been a vegetarian for several months now and love the fact that my daily salad is an excellent delivery system for natural liquids that have been proven to be highly beneficial to the vegetarian diet.

Every day I choose one item from each of the follow three lists and make a dressing out of it in the blender or just mixed in a bowl….

Oils
Olive
Hemp seed
Flax seed (my fave)
Walnut
Peanut
Sesame
Basil/Olive

Other Liquids
Balsamic vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar (the healthiest one)
Apple Juice
Orange Juice
Pineapple Juice
Tomato Juice

Solids
Peanuts
Raisins
Blueberries
Strawberries
Jalepeno Peppers
Sesame Seeds
Sun-dried Tomatoes
Hemp Hearts

Have fun with your dressings. You can make your own at home by mixing any healthy/yummy garden herbs with fruits and nuts and storing them for 30 days in vinegar, then mix with oil over greens and voila! home-made salad dressing.

My favorite is mint and strawberries kept in white wine vinegar for 30 days, strained and mixed with olive oil, to make an absolutely delicious dressing!!!

Don’t worry about oils, if they are not the trans-fat, saturated fat variety, you will have a hard time eating too much of them.

Oils are healthy fats in general, as long as they are natural oils.

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