Chicken For Dinner Again??!!!

So, most of you know our family crossed over to the green side back in October in an effort to live our lives healthier.  This concept of eliminating meat products from our diet came from bad genes, bad eating habits, and a great deal of research!  The movie http://www.forksoverknives.com/   really sealed the deal for us.  It helped us realize that we can become vegetarians!

We jumped in the deep end with both feet and low and behold we treaded water the first couple of weeks.  Keeping a journal of medical data as well as the recipes and ingredients we used.  After one month the results were significant.  Medically wow!  Weight loss 20 lbs, cholesterol drop of more than 30 points, blood pressure lower; what more could a person ask for in such a life changing event!

I also learned that food boredom happens no matter what you eat....  All those nights we would stand in the kitchen and say chicken again.....  Well the same thing happens when you eat vegetables!  We found ourselves saying eggplant again?!!!!  Unfortunately this happened at the most inconvenient time of the year; during the holidays of course!  This made it so easy to give up on what was obviously good for us.  I didn’t fight the urge to eat something different; after all meat hadn’t killed me yet.  I now found us caught in a bear trap with no way out.  Where’s the beef?!!

Here I am 5 months later, having gained back my weight and then some, scared to go to the doctor, and really feeling like crap.  I woke up Sunday with an overload of information and an intervention from God that I never expected.  I knew that come Monday I would be a Vege Girl again!  So here we go, a new version of an old journey.  Can I do it?  Absolutely!  I prepared myself with a bigger variety and larger pool of resources for vegetarian recipes.  One of my newest finds is Veganomican by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. 

I am adding day one here with family comments! Get ready for your pallet to explode with this crazy dish with pineapple!  Besides it being good for you there is only one pan to clean!  The boys and I loved it!  After the first bite of pineapple shocks you take a deep breath and savor all the other flavors that envelope the deep sweetness.  The Head Chef just couldn’t handle the sweet, but I wish he would have given it a chance.

Keep in mind I did not use Mirin (plus I have no idea what this is!) that was not available or the lime wedges, otherwise I followed this recipe exactly as listed.

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry

 (Veganomicon)

 Ingredients:

 Quinoa:

 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained

1 cup pineapple juice

 1 cup cold water

 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Stir-fry:

 4 ounces cashews, raw and unsalted

 3 tablespoons peanut oil

 2 scallions, sliced thinly

 1 hot red chile, sliced into very thin rounds

 1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced

 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

 1 cup frozen green peas

 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced in thin shreds

 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

 10 ounces fresh pineapple, cut into bite sized chunks

 3 tablespoons soy sauce

 3 tablespoons vegetable stock

 1 tablespoon mirin

 Lime wedges for garnish