Vegetarian

Our oldest daughter Elisabeth recently proclaimed that she had become a vegetarian. Her brother instantly responded with a classic 'law of the jungle' cry: "More meat for me!"

We have toyed with vegetarianism over the years. Real vegetarianism, mind you, not just the usual junkatarian who eschews flesh in favor of ice cream, cookies, and pasta. We've toyed with veggies in their raw, steamed, brazed, and juiced forms. But mostly we've excelled at backsliding. The chef at Adobe Systems' cafe used to taunt us with his carefully crafted meat dishes. Meat is easy to pass up if you're a veg-head, so he really had to work at it. But his persistence paid off upon occasion, and he was rewarded with the throwing in of the culinary towel: "Emil, you have awakened me from my vegetarian stupor!"

So now we're partial vegetarians.

We've even got the children buffaloed into believing that a dinner without meat on the table is normal. It's certainly good for the budget. It doesn't last long though. With the exception of our lone holdout, we cave after a few meals and take the .50 caliber down to the market to hunt down some ground beef and a dead chicken or two. We make steaming hot plates of fajitas and torment Elisabeth. She's showing signs of cracking.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Mediterranean pasta, roasted veggies, and mystery mush

Cook 8 oz of dried farfalle according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, combine zest and juice of 1 lemon and 2 tsps olive oil in a large bowl; whisk.  Add a can artichoke hearts, drained; 8 oz fresh part-skim mozzarella cheese, chopped; ½ cup cherry tomatoes , cut in half; and ¼ cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers; toss to combine. Place 1 cup frozen peas in a colander; drain pasta over peas. Add pasta and peas to artichoke mixture; toss. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired; serve.

Roasted vegetables

Set oven to 375 degrees. Take one small eggplant, remove skin and chop up in small cubes; cut 1 large onion in half and then cut into slices; seed and quarter 1 large green pepper; slice thin 2 carrots; peel at least 6 garlic gloves; take 1-2 small zuccinis, cut them in half and slice them up like the onion. Spread all these vegetables onto a large nonstick baking sheet. Drizzle at least 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil on top and make sure to mix the oil all over the vegetables so they don’t stick to the baking sheet while cooking. Sprinkle the vegetables with some salt, pepper, and rosemary( no more than a couple of pinches of each). Roast for 20 minutes in the oven,  then turn them over and roast for another 10 to 20 minutes until tender.