Meatless dans Chez Moi

Meatless and completely vegetarian folks...no kidding. I had no intention of joining those freaks who live in Vegan Ville...(Mind you...they're all for the most part freaky-just shop at one of those health/organic stores). It's purely coincidental that my culinary escapades this time round turned out to exclude any form of animal.(is butter included?)

Nevetheless, these were tasty...The first picture right below features Quinoa-To those with the lack of food knowledge-it is not really a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant that's distantly related to spinach. Quinoa has excellent reserves of protein, and unlike other grains, is not missing the amino aicd lysine, so the protein is more complete (a trait it shares with other "non-true" grains such as buckwheat and amaranth). Hey that said...I'll eat anything that's nutritious and healthful, and of course cooked to taste good. I cooked mine Pilaff style with sund dried tomatoes and an assortment of mushrooms. The texture of Quinoa is somewhat 'seedy' or 'grainy', but the way I cooked it made for great eating. And by the way the stuff fills you up real quick....Burp

Read more about Quinoa here: http://www.wholehealthmd.com

I also ventured into the Mediterranean...The picture below is Falafel, normally made from chickpeas or garbanzo beans-rolled up into bite sized balls and served either with a tahini(sesame based) sauce or in this case I made a cucumber and yoghurt dip. Delicious! In countries around the Mediterranean, Street vendors usually tuck falafel into pita bread with chopped lettuce and tomato and plenty of tahini sauce. Pretty hearty stuff.

Final Word: I still love MEAT.