A Slightly Vegetarian Life

Life has been known to throw a curve ball or two, some rougher than the others. My most recent curve ball came when my mother, who began to do research on where the food we eat comes from, made a change in lifestyle when she decided to become a vegetarian. One might think this is not a big deal, but we are a family in the center of Texas, also known as cattle country. We love our meat, especially our BBQ. No one was ready to give up the carnivorous lifestyle but to accommodate my mother, it became time to be more of an omnivore style family. 

Now, I happen to love vegetables, so the situation is not all that bad for me. The down-fall of her new lifestyle is the fact that half of my family is of the male gender and are VERY picky eaters. My father and brother are stereotypical meat and potato kind of guys. They don't quite like things that are green, unless it's a jalapeño or a bell pepper. If they are eating vegetables, the dish has to be loaded with flavor. Luckily, my generation has the luxury of google and I never really have a hard time finding a good recipe online. Yet, I am one of those teenagers who has a soft spot for old school things. I love my Beastie Boys and Jimi Hendrix CDs that live in my car. There is no way I can forget to mention my Doors vinyl collection that resides next to the record player in my room. Classic comforts like these are why it began to make sense to me to switch my recipe searching from the internet and over to the pages of a cookbook. Granted, I did find my new cookbook online and had it delivered to my house but whatever, that's not the point being made here.

When the cookbook finally arrived, I spent some time with it in my backyard. My afternoon consisted of reading it while bathing in the warmth of the sun. The name of the cookbook you ask? Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi. 

The book features tasty and solely vegetable recipes that work as both side and main dishes. A lot of the recipes are herbaceous and bright, something I really enjoy in my food. The herb-y recipes excite me seeing as my herb garden will be expanding this year, but that is another blog post. Plus, lots of recipes consist of yummy goat cheese, who doesn't love that? The best part is even though it is a cookbook, Ottolenghi actually made it a pretty great read. I have not made anything from it yet, but I cannot wait to dive into the recipes. The recipes are simple, the flavors make sense, and the cookbook itself is quite beautiful. 

I'll keep everyone updated on my progress as I go through the book , but for now I recommend you buy a copy for yourself. Here is to hoping the omnivore life works out for my family.

Enjoy.

-Madison