Spring clean your diet: The Blissful Chef eCookbook has arrived!
February 22nd, 2010
Love Your Heart Beet Soup: One of 19 amazingly delicious and easy-to-prepare vegan recipes from The Blissful Chef: Cooking With the Seasons - Spring Edition eCookbook
Maybe it was last night’s dinner of chili (OK, plus two chocolate chunk cookies for dessert), or maybe it was the first hint of spring in the air that surfaced this past weekend in Southern California (yes, we have a winter here, too), but I woke up this morning feeling like it might be time for a good spring cleaning. For my body, I mean.
And of course, I’m always looking for new and inspiring ways to incorporate more meatless eating into my diet. Today is Meatless Monday, and I must admit, I’m a bit sick of stick-to-your ribs vegetarian stews and cheesy casseroles — it’s time to lighten things up a bit.
Thankfully, one of the most inspiring meatless eaters I know — Christy Morgan, Los Angeles–based vegan macrobiotic chef to the eco-conscious stars and author of The Blissful Chef blog — has just come out with her first eCookbook, The Blissful Chef: Cooking With the Seasons – Spring Edition.
For those who are new to vegetarian eating, macrobiotic can sound a bit intimidating, but it’s really about creating balance in your body by embracing foods that are in balance with the seasons. So in spring, you eat foods that encourage that fresh, “spring cleaning” spirit — leafy greens like lettuce and kale, and refreshing fruits like grapefruit and and granny smith apple. Sounds a lot like being a locavore, right?
There’s a bit more too it, of course, which Morgan explains in the eCookbook; but the truth is that you don’t need to know any of it to make her healthy and simple-to-prepare recipes. I follow neither a vegan nor macrobiotic diet (not yet, anyway), but all 19 recipes in the book sound amazingly delicious and satisfying: Love Your Heart Beet Soup packs an extra protein punch with the addition of red lentils; Soba Noodles With Basil Pecan Pesto uses white miso for that extra umami oomph; and Apple Pie With Flaky Homemade Crust will indulge my sweet tooth without the addition of refined sugars.
The Blissful Chef: Cooking With the Seasons – Spring Edition is available at a special pre-order discount of $5.99 until the end of today; after that, the price is $7.99 (still a bargain for a season’s worth of recipes — click here to order). I’ll also be giving away one free eCookbook to the commenter of the day. Just tell me your top reason for eating less meat in 2010.
OK, I have to stop writing now — time to run out to the farmers market so I can snap up some fresh veggies and start cooking!
–Jennifer Grayson
Do this now: Live in Los Angeles? Learn the basics of eating and cooking a plant-based diet at one of Morgan’s upcoming vegetarian cooking classes.
More Meatless Monday posts:
Feel like a kid again! Fun Meatless Monday meals
Meatless Monday: Eat less meat throughout the week
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February 22nd, 2010 at 10:29 am
Top reason for eating less meat in 2010…um, bad for you, bad for the Earth, bad for the animal? I’ve been a vegetarian for a few years now and keep finding more reasons to stay that way.
If you’re sick of western style veggie cuisine, Asian style is very different and often vegan to boot. Kevin and I often stir-fry flat rice noodles with tofu, shiitake mushrooms, baby corn, bok choy, or whatever other vegetables we have on hand. It’s easy to dress up with sesame oil, peanut sauce, and chili oil for a more Thai taste, or to stick with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. I turn the heat up to high at the end so the noodles go slightly golden and crispy. Yum! I think I just decided what I was making tonight.
Sometimes we also just stirfry lots of veggies and throw them over brown rice. I really like the way Asian food often lets the flavor of fresh vegetables shine — I’m not a big fan of tomato or other heavily flavored sauces.
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:38 am
My top reason is that I started working as well, an “environmental relations coordinator” and one of my jobs was to learn about environmental issues worldwide. I was not a super-carnivore, but before 2009, when I lived in South Korea I did eat a fair amount of meat (it’s quite a meaty nation). Anyway, learning more and more about factory farming, hormone treatments, the inhumanity of food production, the true price of cheap meat and other things, I decided to become a fairly strict lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Even though I absolutely love sushi, the true price and impact that we have on our environment through meat consumption was something that I could not in good conscience contribute to.
And as I enjoy finding new culinary delights to prepare, vegetarian cooking is like opening a whole new world of artistic curiosities and expressions!
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:52 am
Jennifer, thanks for the inspiration to break out my wok again! I forgot how much I love making stir-fry. And I’m addicted to chinese eggplant — that cooked up with a little bit of garlic and basil is just heaven as far as I’m concerned.
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:56 am
Michael, my reasons for reducing my meat consumption were very similar to yours — except my eye-opener was the Meatless Monday campaign. I do still eat small amounts of grass-fed, locally raised meat, since I believe that farm animals are essential to sustainable agriculture.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:30 am
I actually do think that grass-fed, locally produced meat is a viable option, and if I were to eat meat, it would be of that variety; unfortunately, it is a bit hard to find where I live, and I don’t have the time to seek out grocers with organic meat products. I also think that the Meatless Mondays idea is fantastic! I try to foist it upon my friends every week…hopefully someday, they’ll bite (pun intended)!