It's Salsa Time!

I love Mexican food. I love nachos, tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos, chimichangas, empanadas and tamales. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. But you can't have good Mexican food without salsa.

I've talked before about how I grew up eating out of tins, jars and cardboard boxes (think Kraft mac n' cheese) so its no surprise that my salsa too came from one of these containers. I would make burritos using a tin of refried beans, season my beef from a small packet and use my jar of salsa to top it off. 

It wasn't until I was visiting my bf Jess in Washington DC that I ever saw anyone make salsa- I was I was 27! Jess used her food processor and quickly tossed a few ingredients in and suddenly there was a green salsa that was incredibly spicy but otherwise amazing and it only took minutes to make. My mind was blown! 

Now salsa is a staple in our house. We use it in veggie burgers (see my next post), as a side with steak (when I ate meat) and of course with Mexican food. The great thing about my recipe, which I developed over years of trial and error, is that if you add avocados, then presto, you have guacamole! 

So here is my simple salsa recipe.

Veggie Chilli

Its been ages since I've posted on you blog. I'm sorry blog. I do love you and think of you often but sometimes I'm just neglectful. If you were my child- which you kind of are- I'd be in the dock for abuse! I know I should be better, and I mean to be. To show you I am dedicated I have a shiny new post for you. See I'm better already.

I'm a vegetarian, well technically a pescetarian but I think that is a stupid thing to be so I refuse to call myself that. I eat a mostly vegetarian diet with fish or seafood as a supplement on occasion- usually when the only veggie option is risotto. It shows a distinct lack of creativity when nice restaurants opt for risotto. And often there is some sort of brie and cranberry concoction that is great- once.

I haven't missed meat at all. My husband and I mostly follow a Mediterranean diet incorporating whole grains, oil, nuts and a ton of fresh fruit and veg. I have cut out all refined sugar, white enriched flour and heavily processed chemical laden food- pretty much the stuff I was raised on and therefore inevitably crave.

Billy has, over the months, become a vegetarian as well, which stemmed mostly out of his decreased meat intake at home. We've come up with new recipes and we avoid old ones that would involve a meat substitute. I am not a fan of adding something that is suppose to remind you of meat into recipes. Adding Quorn mince into lasagne wasn't going to be an option. Instead we double up on veg and beans. Lots of beans. Which is really good for us but does have some unfortunate side affects.

Tonight I made my chilli for the first time since we stopped eating. I love chilli and Billy loves my chilli, which had a lot of mince involved. I decided to add red and orange peppers, cannelloni beans (I couln't find black beans in the shop) and some red lentils to add the chunky bits. I was going to add some chia seeds to thicken it a little but it didn't need it in the end.

This was really just an experiment but I think it was just as yummy as the original. I don't ever expect a recipe to taste exactly the same but as long as it still tastes good. My next attempt to adapt on old favourite recipe will be with Chicken Katsu Curry. I'm going to use pumpkin instead! It should be interesting :)

Meatless Month

I cannot detach myself from things that I see. This is why I made for a terrible Forensic Photographer. This is also why I haven’t eaten pork since August when I photographed a story on a pig farm. So when I photographed a dairy farm on Friday, my future with beef was becoming tenuous. I tried not to stare into the big brown eyes of the calf that I know in 18 months will be on somebody’s plate.

I made sure to order a steak on Saturday when Billy and I went out for a nice meal on his company’s dime (a reward for being employee of the month) and it was as perfect a steak as I’ve ever had. It was char grilled, not too pink and very tender. Okay I thought to myself, if I can eat this steak than all is well on the meat front. Billy won’t be upset with me for further restricting our diet.

So you can understand my surprise when he suggested post steak that we try and cut meat out for a month. Really!?! Yes! I love the taste of meat but I hate the constant repressing of thoughts while eating it. So we watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg program and bought the book of the same name. We are not after recipes that just substitute meat for tofu or quorn. We want meals that are so good you don’t miss meat.

I am actually really excited about this. I like food adventures that make us come out of our comfort zone. We love talking about what we eat, breaking it down to figure out the ingredients and spices.

Yesterday was Day One. Unfortunately I picked the first recipe, a balsamic leek and goats cheese tart in filo pastry. Sounds good, but I didn’t realize I needed small tart pans, which I don’t have, and was forced to make two large tarts. Blah was the outcome. Maybe if I had done it to the recipe it would have been better but alas I don’t know if I’ll bother again.

All the recipes in the veg book excite us and to further our meatless cause we ordered our first Veg Box. We have been wanting to join a scheme since our Edinburgh days but couldn’t due to where we lived. We wanted one super close to keep our food miles down but the closest one is in the next county over. We should hopefully get our first box on Wednesday and we have big plans to use everything in the box no matter what.

I think I could easily cut meat out all together but only in the UK. When I go home my favorite restaurant is a redneck bbq joint with loose meat bbq sandwiches. I actually moan when I eat it because it is well amazing. I actually had them cater my wedding and it was a huge hit (except to my lovely friend Arielle- a from birth vegetarian).

So wish us luck!!