This meatless Lent has been a bit trying. It is so easy to achieve rich, filling meals that you can sink a fork and your bite into when you are working with meat. I meat MEAT! Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Pork! Like a big rack of mouth-watering, hand messy-ing, stick to your ribs ribs! I have been eating only fish and any other animal that resides in the water, minus amphibians, they taste too much like chicken, he he. Not that there isn’t any hearty fish to eat; salmon, tuna and swordfish come to mind as thick, succulent steak-like fish. But there’s just no water dwelling beast that chews and delights like a hunk o’ cow or pig. I haven’t tried whale, but I hear it’s deeeeeeeliiiiciiiiooouuussssss. ( that’s whale for tasty) Although, I don’t know if I could get over the moral and environmental hurdles to chow down Shamu or Willy. (PETA, please reach me at foodvigilante@gmail.com)
Gosh, this is making me hungry. To make matters worse, this past weekend I volunteered at my church’s Burger Bash fundraiser. This event runs monthly from spring through fall and sells over 3,000 burgers at each event! That’s no misprint, 3,000+! The amazing smell is overwhelming as six grills cook 70 burgers at a time with IC’s closely guarded onion recipe. The temptation was so strong I chose to leave after I helped get the event set up. I ran home like a crazed addict in fear of a meat relapse!
I ran to my kitchen praying for some meatless meal to appear before me, no such luck. This is where most of America goes wrong. My time was short, isn’t everyone’s, and I could have buckled to some easily microwaved crap or snacked on some chips or ran to the drive through. Luckily I have broken that trend in my life long ago and you can do it too! The following meal was prepared in less than 15 minutes and devoured in even less time. Admittedly, at a first glance, I thought that maybe I was cooking more than I had time for, but in the end I realized, like I usually do, that all-in-all I did the right thing for my mouth, body, mind and spirit. Here’s the skinny of it…
Onions are a good start to almost any dish. Price, taste, nutrition; it has all those and adds great body to a meal! I started them with a little olive oil and then drizzled a bit of honey and a splash or two of balsamic vinegar to caramelize them. Don’t be frightened of the word ‘caramelized’, it’s tossed around a lot on food shows and by chefs all the time. It’s just using some kind of sugar to brown something and add a little flavor. In this case, I used honey as my sugar. Next up, Salmon Burgers…
Yes, from a box! I couldn’t believe it either. Guess where I got ‘em at? You bet, ALDI! (Love that place!!) Ingredients? Wild caught salmon, spices, that’s it! I am as surprised about this find as you are, trust me. The portion is smaller than the box displays, so I have two at a time. There’s four in a box for $3.99. I tossed them in the skillet with the onions and added some broccoli…
Lastly I peeled a sliced a cucumber and spread it on my plate with just some salt and pepper for a quick cuke salad. I sure can’t wait until the garden yields some fresh cucumbers!! On to the plate…
Now, this is a lunch! Seriously all prepared just under 20 minutes. You would spend the same amount of time heading to the drive through and filling your belly with fake, plastic McCrap and not have had even a fraction of the quality this meal delivers. You can do this, I assure you. If you don’t think you can, email me, I’ll stop by some day and teach you!
Hurry up and eat well,
FV
After you read this you will have a bit more knowledge of what to put in your mouth, but also some fire power the next time we get into an argument. I will say something argumentative and stinging and you can say, “oh, yeah!? Well, YOU, FV, shopped at WalMart!!!!” Ugh, it’s going to come back to haunt me, I know it, but please, just keep this bit of info in your back pocket and don’t pull it out unless absolutely necessary. In the mean time, consider this tidbit of advice and use it. Thanks!
Eat This NY
The Duchess of Amboy