Brussels sprouts, quinoa, and why I'll never go vegan

*Then again, I used to say I’d never be a veggie/pescatarian and here we are.

Yes, here we are.

Best Food

Do you love trying new foods?  I absolutely do.  Maybe it’s just that kids are notoriously picky eaters, but something changes in or after college when we decide that while we might not LOVE everything (like escargot – EW!), maybe we’d at least try it.  For me, this year this means that I’ve found a few new favorites that were never previously included in my diet.

My favorite new foods in 2009 are Brussels sprouts, quinoa, and cheese plates (having always loved cheese, just not realizing how much!).  More on those in a moment, but first a little about how my eating habits have changed this year.

The Pescatarian Experiment

In January, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was weight loss (bonus points for originality!). I signed up with SparkPeople.com (which is great and I’d recommend it to anyone looking to pay attention to what they’re actually eating).  I tracked what I ate, cut out the stuff I didn’t need, made it a point to eat smaller, healthier meals more often, and I saw results.  I lost a little weight.  I felt awesome.  It was fun.

And then there was February.  In February, I kind of took inventory of some bad habits of mine (read: couldn’t save money; made some less-than-brilliant dating decisions), and I came to realize that I lacked a little self-discipline.  So what did I do?  Well, even though I’m about as Catholic as birth control (read: I’m not at all Catholic, but I love them just the same), I decided that participating in Lent would be a good idea to practice self-discipline.  So, this non-Catholic, bacon-loving, Jucy Lucy touring carnivore vowed No Meat ‘Til Easter (in my head that’s to the tune of “No Sleep ’til Brooklyn” and I like that.

I digress.

The short story (ha!) is that for Lent this past year, I gave up all meat with the exception of seafood (read: pescatarian).  I decided that since I wasn’t a “real” vegetarian and hadn’t done any proper research on How to Be a Healthy Vegetarian and Still Get Things Like Iron and Protein, I should allow for some animal in my diet, played nice with fishes and shrimps, and upped my legume and leafy greens intake.

I went back to pork and chicken for awhile, but since Labor Day, I’ve been back on the solely pescatarian diet.  And I LOVE it.

Brussels sprouts

That brings us to the sprouts.

I started checking out new veggies because while I’ve always loved corn, zucchini, and eat fried okra like popcorn, I decided I needed some variety.  I honestly don’t remember the first time I tried Brussels sprouts, but I do know that when I first cooked them I was scared about how giant they were (although such cute little baby cabbages!), so I chopped them up pretty small, sauteed them in butter, garlic, white wine, various spices and seasonings depending on what was in the cupboard, and topped it with shredded parmesan cheese.  AND I FELL IN LOVE.  And that’s basically how I still do it.  I think the secret is in the surface area that gets covered when you at least quarter the little suckers.  Brussels sprouts don’t have a lot of flavor in and of themselves, so when there’s more surface to cover, all the little butters and garlics can get in all the little layers and THAT makes for a great veggie side dish.

“Keen-wah”

Kate has been telling me FOREVER to get on the quinoa train, and I FINALLY tried it just yesterday.  I picked up a box from Trader Joe’s, followed the 1:2 ratio directions on the box, and was pleasantly surprised when in just fifteen minutes, it had cooked exactly the way it was supposed to (I think it did.  I guess I wouldn’t know the difference).  It was kind of like little rices or big cous-couses.  Tossing about half of what cooked together with some random mixed vegetables that were reheated from the night before and included [fresh, baby] spinach, cherry tomatoes, Brussels sprouts (!!!), and spaghetti squash.  I topped it with Parmesan cheese and paired it with lightly battered and baked eggplant cutlets (I LOVE EGGPLANT), and that was my lunch.

The cool thing about quinoa is how versatile it can be!  Perhaps I’ll cook it in veggie broth next time and see how that works.  Then maybe go a little Greek and throw in some kalamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes.  Who knows?!  Maybe I’ll get a little crazy and Tex-Mex it up with some roasted corn and green chiles?  Idon’tknow! The possibilities are endless!

Say cheese!

This last bit doesn’t require much explanation as it is no secret how much I’ve fallen in love with the cheese plate this year.  Thank you, Nicole, for REQUIRING that we try it while at Enoteca San Marco in Las Vegas this past summer.  (NOTE: We WILL be returning here this time, there WILL be more wine, and WE ARE getting more cheese plates.)

In fact, I was treated to a wonderful dinner in Boulder last week at the most adorable French restaurant with the suavest Greek waiter in all of Greek waiters working in French restaurants in Colorado, and for a meal?  We split a bottle of wine and ate this cheese plate.  And I don’t know about you, but this is a perfectly adequate dinner for me.

This post is part of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, the brainchild of yogini geek Gwen Bell. My participation is somewhat sporadic, but I love food and wouldn’t miss this chance!

Tagged as: #best09, Boulder, Brussels sprouts, Food, Las Vegas, pescatarian, quinoa