The menu merry~go~round

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat? ~Author Unknown

I do not like to cook & I do not enjoy having to think about food though I am not adverse to eating a good meal if I have had nothing to do with its actual preparation. That being the case it is taking Ditz & I some time to make a complete change from carnivorous habits to vegetarian ones.



Part of the problem is that Dearest is strictly a *meat & 3 veg* man. He is perfectly happy to get a good plain meal, minus all spices & condiments, on his plate 7 nights a week. Boring is the name of the game.



Liddy & Theo are actually quite adventurous but strictly carnivorous so whatever I cook has to be an acceptable side dish to the meat lovers so it has taken a while to get even 3 or 4 main dishes happening that everyone actually likes.

So far we have: quiche ~ though I often add shredded ham to this to appease the meat lovers. Theo doesn't think much of this. Shredded ham is not meat in his opinion; Ditz begs to differ but not enough to pull it all out & set it aside. Quiche however is something we actually all like. Fried Rice. I put so much veggie in ours as well as egg it makes a very hearty & substantial meal for Ditz & I & this is the one meal Dearest will eat without meat, especially if I sneak shredded ham in. [Like I said, going strictly vegetarian is proving a little difficult but we are persevering.] Nut Patties. This one I particularly love, being a huge nut lover! It has 5 varieties of nuts; I just use whatever is in the cupboard but it is time~consuming to prepare & I am reluctant to make it unless I know I have oodles of time. Dearest also loves these so I don't get leftovers! I have a mixed vegetable stir~fry swimming in ginger & coconut milk which is very yummy, very rich & nowhere near as healthy as it should be. No~one else is real keen on it. Spring rolls are a goer but again require more time than I often have. All us girls love a sweet omelet with fruit but again this requires lots & lots of time & time is a commodity often in short supply.



Then there are the not quite successes. Egg & potato dum was one of these. Everyone quite liked the potato & curry. No~one liked the fried eggs. I may try this again minus the eggs but without them it is nowhere near filling enough as a main meal & not really worth the preparation effort to make the curry. We have tried the nut meats & meat supplements on the market but they're pretty disgusting. Ditz quite likes the bacon alternatives & will fry them up with baked beans & toast. I don't really like beans so I opt for a poached egg on toast. Don't even mention tofu to Ditz!



I have been perusing cookery books ~ an unheard of pastime for me ~ but for every book I am lucky to get even one recipe we can use & that is plain disheartening. Food is difficult enough for me without it looking & tasting disgusting. No~one wants a plate of things that look like long brown worms, or baby spew or something the cat couldn't quite digest. I am going to experiment with vegetable crepes I think, especially coming into summer when we can do lots & lots of salads but with all the vegetarians around these days you'd think someone would have come up with plenty of healthy & edible alternatives! No, it's not going to be me. I have other fish to fry...no, not literally; I don't eat seafood, not ever. YUK! *sigh* Now who's idea was this again, Ditz?