Recipe #4-Pasta with Beets and Ricotta & Avocado, Beet, and Orange Salad

Sorry I have been MIA the past couple of days despite us completing TWO recipes at once. I was busy formulating a letter to send to the makers of the pan that Ms. Boyardee hated last recipe, demanding they go out of business. At her request of course.

Beets, Beets, and more Beets. I've already shared with my readers my new fondness for these maroon delights and the subsequent stool surprises that await each ingestion-er. As I write this, Ms. Boyardee is peeling more beets and reported we were "beet obsessed". Something Dr. Dre and I have in common I suppose. Anyways, Ms. Boyardee found these two recipes and I was immediately hooked because of my favourite main ingredient.

Pasta with Beets and Ricotta- The picture makes this recipe look a lot harder than it is. The most time consuming part would be roasting the beets and Ms. Boyardee already had that done by the time I got home from work. So I threw on some Frank Sinatra, poured some wine and got started cooking. By got started I mean, asked Ms. Boyardee what the hell she wants me to do. Sous chef I think is the proper term for Ms. Boyardee's  lackey. Good looking lackey, that sounds better. Ms. Boyardee got her food processor out, and made the beets into a pulp mixture and added oil, salt, pepper, sun-dried tomato and cayenne pepper flakes. My incredibly tough job was to toast some walnuts, and by god they were pretty toasted when she called for them to be thrown into the processor. We then just make a basic pasta and stir it around into the mixture and the pasta takes the colour of the beet mixture. We added a scoop of ricotta on top and some red pepper flakes for purposes of the picture, which is EXACTLY like the photo in the book. No, it's better than the photo in the book. Martha Stewart should be knocking on our door shortly with photography offers I'm assuming.

The recipe was really delicious, and in my very humble opinion, the toasted walnuts added that little extra something that was needed. If Ms. Boyardee and I had one criticism it would have been to use goat cheese instead of ricotta, then again we have been known for our biases towards the goat.

Rating:

Ms. B: 5/10
J:5/10

Avocado, Beet, and Orange Salad- I'm a huge sandwich guy, and one of the things that I miss is making sandwiches. The process is just as rewarding as the first bite. I no longer use meat now though so avocado has taken on that role and I can put a whole avocado on one sandwich. I'm kind of a big fan. So a salad with beets AND avocado, easy sale. Lackey's job was to toast homemade croutons and toast sunflower seeds (I see a pattern emerging). Both were a success so I may have to ask for a raise. She pays me in beer.  We added the beets, avocado, orange, spinach, croutons, more beets, sunflowers seeds and did I mention the beets and a homemade dressing. Ms. Boyardee went a little (a lot) overboard with the picture and tried to get the plate perfect, down to the beet juice and sunflower seeds as you can see below.

Rating:

Ms. B: 4/10
J: 5.5/10

Recipe #3- Potato and Leek Galette with Watercress

And we're back! I haven't had a post in a week or two, and came back only to find 371 views! I think Ms. Boyardee must just sit at work and hit refresh to make me feel good, either way it's working. Now onto the recipe.

I didn't know what a Galette was but looking at the instructions 'galette' seems to be a high class name for some delicious hash browns.  We were at the Boyardee mansion and wanted something to pair with some corn and salad and figured this would be nice, easy and completely stress free. Oh if this were only true.

Ms. Boyardee is a GREAT cook, and I mean great, but in those instances where something goes wrong, or is just a tinsy bit off, she gets a little ( and by little I mean gigantically) upset. Some examples include the homicidal spree I had to stop in Europe when the pancakes they served didn't come with maple syrup, or when we made "lava" cakes that had no "lava" in them and I had dialed 9-1 into my phone and had my finger poised over the 1 button for some time. Needless to say this does not happen often but when it does, I try and make light of it, or I overwhelm her with chocolate products until she is happy again.

This recipe started out great, Ms. Boyardee had skinned the potatoes and cut the leeks and it was my important job to grate the potatoes. I did an absolutely grate job ( Ha) grating the potatoes and only managed to get a couple skin cells in the mix. We then added the spices and flour with the potato and leeks and mixed them all around.

Then it was cooking time, with Ms. Boyardee at the helm with two huge skillets on the oven. I started forming little balls of the mixture and gave them to Ms. Boyardee to put on the pans. The directions state to "cook until golden on bottom, about 6 minutes". This is when things go a little south. Some of the galettes were cooking faster than others, some were crispy and all were not even close to as round as the picture ( I blame it on my ball making skills). At one point Ms. Boyardee blamed one of the skillets for the uneven cooking and demanded it be thrown out ( I just put it to the side) We then took the best looking galette out and had to substitute some mixed greens for the watercress. I knew something was amiss when Ms. Boyardee told me to make the galette for our picture as she knew my artistic skills max out at stick figures (as you can see from the photo below).

It was missing a little something, some sort of sauce, so Ms. Boyardee told me to "work my magic" on a sauce. Clue number two that she hated this recipe because my "magic" is muggle-ish compared to the Harry Potter that is Ms. Boyardee. I whipped up some greek yogurt, chives, and lots of lemon and figured I now have upgraded to home-magic kit abilities as it was not half bad.

When we all sat down for dinner, Ms.Boyardee was a tad standoffish and I asked her if anything was wrong and she replied "no", if it was only that simple. About 5-10 minutes later I questioned her on acting weird and she stated that she hated this recipe, and that it looked like crap, and tasted like crap and she was upset with it ( in slightly harsher words). Meanwhile, Everyone at the table loved them and devoured them all without any complaints. Sometimes Ms. Boyardee is too hard on herself and her cooking skills. If those were her screw-ups, I'll be alright with being a guinea pig on future recipes.

Rating:

Ms. B: 0/10 " F*ck this F*cking Recipe!" We originally went through all the recipes and she rated them all SUPER low. We then went back through them all and made them all higher, however when we got to this one she said, " No that's still accurate".

J: 6/10 Apparently I'm compensating for her low score

Recipe #2- Roasted Beet-Garlic Soup & Sweet Potatoes with Coconut, Pomegranate and Lime

So we decided to do two recipes at once, and kill two birds with one stone. For the purpose of this blog and Ms. Boyardee's views on animal rights, those two birds are grain fed and free range, but both are still killed with one delicious stone. The recipes we chose ended up not really meshing together, but individually they were pretty good.

Roasted Beet-Garlic Soup- Before Ms. Boyardee opened my eyes and mouth to different tastes, I could say I lived a  food sheltered life. I often said I didn't like things even if I hadn't tried them (I still do this with seafood but am too stubborn to change). Beets was one of the things I just assumed I would hate. I think this underlying dislike for beets came from watching CSI when in one episode Grisham's suspect was eating kidneys which he mistook for beets. Then Ms. Boyardee made me a beet goat cheese (which is good on anything by the way) salad and I was hooked.

One thing that Ms. Boyardee didn't inform me of after introducing me to beets was that they stain everything…and I mean EVERYTHING. Hands, shirts, and…for lack of a better word…bowel movements (not sure if I have PG rated readers….or any readers for that matter). The day after I ate my first beet meal, I thought I ruptured something in my lower intestine. Somehow painlessly, I thought my duodenum had dislodged and I had passed it and I was now "bleeding" from areas you don't want to bleed from. Thankfully, it was just beet juice, learning experience for us all.

Wow, I wrote way too much without even talking about the soup. It was unreal, it had the consistency of apple sauce,   and Ms. Boyardee put in triple the garlic. ( I think she's secretly afraid of vampires after too much twilight movies). It was missing a little something though and Ms. Boyardee added a little goat cheese…perfection. The photo below, I think is evidence that we're ( Maybe just Ms. Boyardee) getting too carried away with the perfection of the photos, I think Loblaws may hire her as a food photographer at this pace. All in all the soup was hard to... beet ( yeah I went there).

Rating:

Ms. B: 3.9/5 " Extra 0.4 just for the beets"

J: 3.5

Sweet Potatoes with Coconut, Pomegranate and Lime- This to me sounded like a very awkward mix of ingredients and I was intrigued to see how it would taste. The sweet potatoes were cooked and prepped by Ms. Boyardee on my arrival. All we had to do was toast the coconut and get all the pomegranate seeds out. In my opinion, Pomegranates are a all work, little reward kind of food. You spend 15 minutes getting the little buds out and then you devour them in 30 seconds. In this instance, Ms. Boyardee had already done the dirty work so I just reaped the rewards. The coconut flakes had to be lightly toasted. Ms. Boyardee put them in the oven and then we proceeded to do a little dance in the living room to some background Frank Sinatra ( a key ingredient to cooking). The coconuts were then burnt, and we had to start over and almost burnt the second batch as "Fly me to the moon" came on and   almost stole us away again.

Then it was picture time. The picture is a little ridiculous and half the ingredients are scattered everywhere not even on the potatoes. I thought Ms. Boyardee was having a stroke, and missing her target, but no, she was being artistic ( how stupid of me). The potatoes surprisingly kind of worked. The cilantro gave a unique taste, the pomegranate the sweetness with the potato and the coconut added texture and toastiness (that's now a word). You had to make sure not to put too much cilantro or it could over power the dish but I think overall it was a success. We're really settling into this whole transforMEATion food blog now and am up to 160 views! I swear only about 153 of those are mine and Ms. Boyardee, the fan base is growing.

Rating:

Ms. B: 3/10

J:3/10

Recipe #1- Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Ok so recipe number one….burgers. It seemed like a good choice because A. The picture on the back of the book looked delish, and B.  Burgers seemed to me to be a smooth transition from meat to veggie. Obvious choice right?

The ever famous Ms. Boyardee prepared the burgers while I was at work so they were all prepped and ready to go upon my return. One thing missing, a BBQ. I had previously lent our BBQ to some friends to be used for an event they were having and had to get it back, in the rain, in rush hour, and still find time to assist with the cooking. I say assist but by that I really mean watch and have a beer.  We were having all of the Boyardees over for dinner that night so time was of the essence to retrieve the BBQ. I would also have to give it a sterile cleaning to get the scent of meat  and sausages off the burners.  Upon returning the BBQ with a friend, he himself took some quinoa burgers home to give them a shot…I think we're becoming an influence.

Ms. Boyardee decided it was best to cook them in a pan as they might not hold together on the grill, chef knows best. The patty consisted of quinoa, mushroom, zucchini, onions, egg, paramasen (gotta have the cheese) and bread crumbs and it was cooked until crispy brown. The toppings? A delicious creamy yogurt garlic sauce with capers. This sauce was unbelievable, I'm thinking of making it one of my primary food groups. If it was lathered on my shoe I'd probably have a go at eating it. The other toppings included sunflower sprouts, cucumbers, and Ms. Boyardee added green onions because she's Ms. Boyardee and knows whatsup.

The patty itself was delicious tasting but needed a little more texture so it paired well with the crunch of the cucumbers. I think toasting the bun next attempt would also add a little texture. Either way it was unreal and I engulfed mine like a death row last meal. Ms. Boyardee's whole family, including her carnivorous father and brother, really enjoyed the meal. This TransforMEATion thing might just catch on.  Anyways one recipe done, over 199 to go. I'm not really sure how many recipes there are as the book just says "over 200" but lets just ballpark it.

Ms. Boyardee has started taking pictures of all the recipes as we go EXACTLY as they are seen in the book. So far she hit this one right on the button. I'm looking forward to next recipe!

Rating:

Ms. B: 8.5/10

J:6/10

This is the first entry of our blog TransforMEATion  and I think it's best if we start off with who we are and why we're doing this.  Me, I am a born Canadian carnivore who until only recently never really took notice into what I was eating and what affect it could have on my health. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. As a kid this served me well however as I've gotten older, a lays bag of chips and a litre of cola for dinner doesn't please me as it used to. I've always loved meat, and I never really thought too much about the whole process of processed foods ( word jokes are fun). I also used to pride myself on being able to eat like crap and stay thin. For example I once ate 18 BigMacs in 30 days, so unhealthy but soooooo delicious. As I've gotten older I took an interest in food and pretty much watched the Food Channel religiously throughout university, mostly because it would take my mind off of the barrage of bologna I consumed on a weekly basis due to my lack of funds. I then found the love of my life, who shares an equal interest in food and together we have created many masterpieces, and some failures. This, is our next adventure.

One problem...I am not much of a cook. I once asked my university roommate how to cook canned soup despite available instructions on the can.  Although I've come a long way, I won't be making soufflés any time soon. My girlfriend is pretty much the best chef/person I know. Anyone who can have me contemplating vegetarianism must be a good cook, and be good looking, of which she is both. She's like a bodacious Boyardee.  She's really the person who "showed me the light" as she puts it, and by light I think she means low fat, but I'm not sure. She has shown me the positive benefits that great healthy food can have and now I'm willing to give this thing a shot.

Now by thing, I mean this blog, capturing my transition for meat lover (ugh I just thought of the pizza's I'll miss) to veggie connoisseur. You might be wondering, why on earth is he doing this, and why on earth am I reading about why he's doing this, regardless, the cause of this endeavour is my secret admiration for chick-flicks. One night, my girlfriend and I watched Julie & Julia on Netflix (We then proceeded to watch every Die Hard movie, just to balance out my masculinity). I loved the aspect of food and blogging about it and my girlfriend has always said I have a talent for writing useless slightly comical stuff, and here we are.

My girlfriend is a vegetarian, and her and I have just moved in together. I have recently consumed more vegetarian food then I thought I could. She doesn't care that I eat meat but I kind of felt like I had to hide it at first. Shotgunning a BigMac on my lunch hour, or maybe hiding Beef Jerky around the house like a meat-aholic.  These things never actually occurred but they did cross my mind. I then saw a couple of documentaries of food on Netflix (amongst frequent viewing of Braveheart, Shawshank, and other manly films) and it really turned by onto the whole vegetarian possibility.

We purchased the all vegetarian recipe book Meatless,  and inside the book, there is a dedication that reads " To everyone who realizes that a balanced diet relying more heavily on vegetable than on animal can result in a longer and healthier life." This is really what makes me see myself getting off the band-meat-wagon. Also, the book is written by the kitchen's of Martha Stewart, and she's been in jail, so if anyone can get me off the meat, I'll trust her or she'll meat-shank me.

The idea being that 2-3 times per week, my talented girlfriend will cook us up some veggie recipes and then, not only will I blog about the recipe itself, which will for sure keep you on the edge of your seat (sarcasm is hard to put into word format). But i'll also keep everyone informed about how this meat lover (ugh again with the pizza thoughts) is transitioning in all other contexts that might apply. Begin TransforMEATion.