OM NOM NOM NOM
Okay, so, one of the things going vegetarian did for me was to force me to start learning how to cook more competently. No more heating up a can of vegetable beef stew when I got hungry. And there just are no vegetarian substitutes for some foods -- chicken noodle soup, for example. Sure, there are recipes out there, and probably some of them taste good, but they mostly look like a lot of work and probably wouldn't taste like the real thing. And if I'm sick, like I was last week, what I want is to open a fucking can, not mess around in the kitchen while I can hardly stand up. So, even though I was raised by a very health-conscious mom (when I think home cooking, I think lentil soup) there are some ways in which my diet necessarily looks a bit different from what it was like when I was a kid. Mostly that's fine. I don't want to eat exactly how I did when I was nine, because I'm not interested in eating meat anymore. I don't like the smell or the taste or the look or the way my body feels afterward.
But sometimes I get a serious craving for something I used to eat, often something I know wasn't even that good to start with. Mostly this happens when I'm feeling extremely lazy or don't have much time. The "open a can of something" mood. And there's only so much pita bread and hummus I can do. Unfortunately, I haven't found a lot of tasty vegetarian food to fill that gap. So when I find something which fills in those little holes going veg left and lets me eat like I did when I was too young to use a stove . . . I'm pretty damn happy.
Today, I figured out that you can make a reasonable equivalent to chicken salad sandwiches using chickpeas. You see, those little tins of chicken were never the key to that sandwich's deliciousness. The chicken was bland. It was really about all the other stuff you threw in there. So, mashed up chickpeas, despite not seeming too exciting on their own, are pretty damn delicious when mixed with some mayo, celery, dill, onion, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Throw it on some toasted bread with lettuce and tomato, and you have a delicious trip back to childhood. Yum. Maybe next time I'll see what some grapes or pineapple or other random stuff my dad used to throw into chicken salad do to it.
Yeah, I know, I just devoted an entire post to a sandwich. But it was delicious. And I think I need to go make myself another one. (Don't worry. If the veganized Hamburger Helper recipe I found turns out to be this awesome, I will refrain from telling all of LJ about it.)
But sometimes I get a serious craving for something I used to eat, often something I know wasn't even that good to start with. Mostly this happens when I'm feeling extremely lazy or don't have much time. The "open a can of something" mood. And there's only so much pita bread and hummus I can do. Unfortunately, I haven't found a lot of tasty vegetarian food to fill that gap. So when I find something which fills in those little holes going veg left and lets me eat like I did when I was too young to use a stove . . . I'm pretty damn happy.
Today, I figured out that you can make a reasonable equivalent to chicken salad sandwiches using chickpeas. You see, those little tins of chicken were never the key to that sandwich's deliciousness. The chicken was bland. It was really about all the other stuff you threw in there. So, mashed up chickpeas, despite not seeming too exciting on their own, are pretty damn delicious when mixed with some mayo, celery, dill, onion, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Throw it on some toasted bread with lettuce and tomato, and you have a delicious trip back to childhood. Yum. Maybe next time I'll see what some grapes or pineapple or other random stuff my dad used to throw into chicken salad do to it.
Yeah, I know, I just devoted an entire post to a sandwich. But it was delicious. And I think I need to go make myself another one. (Don't worry. If the veganized Hamburger Helper recipe I found turns out to be this awesome, I will refrain from telling all of LJ about it.)