Veggi-mites

Disclaimer: This story and the recipes have nothing to do with the Australian toast spread. But I would like to say that that stuff is awesome!

I was a vegetarian for about three years in my late teens. Well oval-lactive whatever-tarian. I still ate milk products and fish sometimes. I had a few reasons. Heath was one. There were a few studies my mom had read that implicated that eliminating meats, especially red meats, would prevent the development of kidney stones and inflammatory disorders. My mom has a hereditary kidney disorder and my dad and my sister and I have an arthritis called ankylosing spodalitis. I had not shown symptoms yet or been diagnosed so I thought this was a good preventative measure.

My sister and our two best friends had also become vegetarians. Many teenage girls in the late 1990s were making the switch. Vegan didn’t become big until the early 2000s.

Amber my sister was the first of our little clan to make the switch. She also hung in the longest as vegetarian for almost five years. When our mom was pregnant with her she couldn’t stand the smell or taste of meat, raw, cooked or cooking. She made herself eat some fish but pretty much lived of meat alternatives. When Amber was little she wasn’t the biggest meat fan either. Mom always had to make sure she had yogart, which she sometimes made from scratch, beans, cheese and other proteins to balance Ambers diet.

When she made the decision to go full out vegetarian Amber’s diet was not the best at first. My parents found and created new recipes with beans and other non-meat proteins but she often preferred ramen noodles and dill-pickle chips, which she can still scarf back without much consequence.

Our dad created an amazing mixed bean stew that is still one of my favorites today. Actually, that bean stew was what made me finally decide that I could do the vegetarian thing. My sister had inspired our family to try new meatless foods that tasted amazing and I decided to take the plunge.

At first the vegetarian thing was fun and I stuck to the limitations of my diet well. I put mushrooms in the place of chicken and the introduction of Yves Veggie Cuisine to the Peace River IGA made the transition even easier. I could make tacos with mock-beef that were just as awesome as real beef tacos. I often wonder what my family and I would have come up with for recipes then if we had access to all the great ingredients we have now.

It was moving from Peace River to Edmonton that broke me, specifically the Arby’s in the Kingsway mall. I would go for a poke around to my favorite stores and the food court would be calling me the entire time. Sometimes, not every time at first, I would go get a roast beef sandwich off the value menu. It wasn’t long before I was making excuses to the mall and upgrading to regular roast beef sandwiches.

I would find a table in the darkest most secluded corner of the food court and savor every last nibble of juicy delicious roast beef. The sesame or onion bun was nice too but I could have done without it.

It went on like this for almost a year. Sneaky rendezvous with Arbys roast beef and eventually the odd mama burger at A & W. I would go home afterwards and cook up a veggie friendly meal to conceal my deceit.

I didn’t come to terms with my problem until the spring of 2002. I had a friend who was on a secret mission to break me, I’m sure. Every time he invited me to do something it involved steaks on the barbeque or ribs stewing in a pot.

I struggled for the first few weeks then began just having a bite of his steak here and there. It wasn’t long after that that I had to admit to myself that I was not a vegetarian. Not anymore… That first steak, the first one that was just for me, cooked medium rare and right off the barbeque was amazing. Each bite tasted like freedom melting into juicy pools in my mouth and warming my tummy.

That summer my sister Amber fell victim to my moms famous barbeque ribs on a houseboat trip. It was over. The vegetarians in our family were no more. Our two best friends had succumb to their own meaty encounters as well.

Many great things came out of our veggies though. The greatest of which are the recipes. The Chickpea Salad is an old favorite and the Quinoa is new from about two years ago. I think if we had had quinoa when we were veggi-mites we may have survived a wee bit longer, but just a wee bit.




White Balsamic Chickpea Salad

In a large bowl mix

1 can of chickpeas drained (540ml/19oz)
½ cup diced red onion
½-1 full red, yellow or orange sweet pepper diced
a handful of chopped cilantro
2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Try: Adding diced cucumber, shredded carrot, other beans fresh and canned
If you don’t like cilantro use parsley or basil
Adding 1/4cup Feta or baby mozzarella
Adding 1/4cup fresh chives chopped about ½ cm

Dressing:

Mix separately (or not if you’re lazy like me)

Juice from half a lemon (2-4) tbls
1 tbls white balsamic vinegar (the Italian market is the best place to pick this up)
3-4 tbls olive oil

Try: Adding Feta or baby mozzarella
Adding shaved almonds or bits of your favorite nuts
Adding raisins or diced apricots




Cucumber Quinoa Salad


This is a great summer salad and also great for lunches as it keeps well. I like to make extra quinoa when I use if for a side dish then make salad with the extra the next day.


Toss together the following ingredients in a large bowl:

¾ - 1 cup of quinoa rinsed then cooked. (Cook Quinoa just like rice, 1part grain 2 parts water. Bring to a boil then turn to simmer until it has little bubble holes in it then set aside for 5-10minutes.) Stir it up with a fork and set aside to cool.

1 mini cucumber diced (or about 5inches of a long English)
1/3 cup diced red onion
4-6 large leaves of fresh basil

Dressing:

2-3 tbs lemon juice (juice from half a lemon)
2tbs honey
1tbs balsamic vinagar

Mix together then slowly stir into the salad. Serve chilled or room temperature.