Personal questions

People often ask me about being a vegetarian. Do I eat the other white meat (no)? Do I eat poultry (no)? Do I eat seafood (yes)? What about dairy (yes)? Do I ever cheat (yes – keep reading for yet another confession)?

But the one I always have a hard time answering is: Why?

Truth is, the answer is complicated. Years ago when I was studying to be a certified yoga instructor, my teacher encouraged us all to give up meat for a week. I did a lot of thinking that week, and at the end of it, I had a list of reasons why I didn't plan to add most meat back into my diet:

1) I didn't miss it. In fact, for the most part, I realized I ate red meat, pork, lamb or chicken because it was offered, not because I wanted it. And if I didn't enjoy it, it was basically just calories I could do without.
2) On the other hand, I loved seafood and dairy products and wasn't about to give those up. So I didn't.
3) Not eating meat is healthier – there are fewer calories and far less cholesterol in most vegetarian meals.
4) If I prepared and ate healthier meals for me, my husband and children would eat healthier meals.
5) Livestock farms pollute the environment more than fields of grain (especially if you buy organic whenever possible, and I do)
6) The area of land it takes to produce enough to feed one person beef for a year would feed 30 people if it was instead planted with soybeans.

I also decided that if I ever craved meat of any kind, I wasn't going to deny myself. In general I think that a diet that make any food completely off limits forever is a recipe for failure. So that brings up more questions: Do I ever crave meat? (yes). And when I do, what am I willing to bend the rules and eat on very rare occasions (maybe a few times a year)? An expensive cut of beef tenderlion? Roast turkey? Grilled lamb? Nope. My tastes fall much lower on the meat food chain: Sausage. Of any kind. From liverwurst to sweet Italian links, hot dogs to breakfast patties and anything in between.

But generally I stick to vegetables and grains. And I love soy beans!

Soybean succotach
2 cups fresh or frozen soybeans
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Small red pepper, diced
2 stems rosemary
Blanch soybeans and corn independently until tender-crisp. Drain. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and saute pepper and rosemary until pepper is soft. Add soybeans and corn and toss to warm. Remove rosemary stems before serving.

Roasted Edamame
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. dry basil, onion salt, cumin
1/8 tsp. paprika and black pepper
10 oz. package frozen edamame, thawed
Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix together everything but edamame. Add edamame and toss to coat the beans.
Arrange in a single layer on a baking pan and roast until beginning to brown, about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring once during cooking. Serve hot as side dish or cold as a snack.
Note: This recipe is really more of a blueprint than a rule. Vary the spices and herbs. Or cut them out entirely.