New Year New Meatless Attitude

A new year - and a new decade  - means different and healthier recipe options. This is definitely the year to go meatless and dairyless  to help yourself and the planet. If you're hesitant, think twice. There are some really good meatless recipes  - seriously - that'll help you transition.

Melissa Clark gave a slew of them in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Her drive to help the planet actually started back in the Spring when fellow colleague Julia Moskin teamed up with Brad Plumer from The New York Times Climate desk to report on how our current food system is contributing to climate change. The results were crystal clear and deeply disturbing to her. Meat and dairy production contribute to a staggering 14.5 percent of the world's greenhouse emissions. It's  as much as all the cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined!!! Ms. Clark has tried to lessen her carbon footprint by shopping at farmer's markets and choosing ethically raised meats. She stays away from most processed foods. Yet this isn't enough.She gives us several good suggestions. One is eat more beans.There is enough varieties out there to have an interesting and varied diet. Also eat more grains, including pasta. Go the vegan route and add more tofu to your recipes. Eat more seeds and grains too.Another must? Go to plant based "meats". These are not only good for you but delicious. Also appreciate when you do cook meat. Add some turkey sausage to spinach salad, Ms. Clark suggests, or have a good concentrated bone broth. Salami and prosciutto can add a salty unami flavor to braised veggies.

What of the veggie dishes themselves? Ms. Clark gives us a mushroom bourguignon, made with two pounds of mixed mushrooms . You can use  cremini, portobello, white button, shiitake and /or oyster types mixed with leeks and onions. Like it's beefy cousin, there is red wine and tomato paste along with thyme. Soy or tamari sauce is added for more flavor. You can serve this over polenta but also pasta or mashed potatoes for a hearty , wintry dish. Another tasty one is a riff on Indian butter chicken - Indian butter chickpeas.It's a spicy , buttery blend of the classic dish, rich with cinnamon, cumin, paprika and garam masala. If you're craving just the tiniest bit of meat then try the maple roasted tofu with butternut squash and bacon.It's a sweet, salty, spicy  sheet pan dinner that a delicious blend of texture and flavors.  There's also black bean tacos with avocado and onions,a sure way to convert those meat lovers to vegan dishes. A healthy and tasty dinner, even perfect for one is the quinoa bowl with crispy Brussels sprouts, eggplant and tahini, The veggies are roasted and added to the grains. A really fun dish is the meatless meatballs made with Beyond Meat and all the traditional meatball ingredients like, garlic, chopped parsley and breadcrumbs. Forget the pasta, Serve these with sauce on hero loaves for a tasty sandwich or with a slice of crusty and oiled Italian bread.

Make this year you save the planet. Decrease your meat and cheese intake. Try these vegan and vegetarian recipes and enjoy. You'll wonder why you ate beef and cheese in the first place.

The Weeknight Cooking Issue

It is hard to come up with a decent meal five days a week. Add to that a busy work schedule, plus after school activities and overtime. There's also the dilemma of making every night exciting , filled with the prospect of a fresh, tasty meal. Not to worry. The New York Times comes to the rescue.

Their Weeknight Cooking issue today has a slew of ideas and recipe to get any home chef, whether novice or old pro through the week. As Sam Sifton puts it, anyone and everyone can have a tasty meal without resorting to take out. It can just be as simple as making rice in a multicooker,  flavoring it with butter and soy and serving it with a fried egg under a sprinkle of ginger. Voila, a whole meal with protein. Everyone contributes, from Julia Moskin to newcomer Tejal Rao.One appliance home chefs must have is a multicooker. This is a godsend because it can do so much. It's different than a slow cooker because it has so much more. I'ts also an electric pressure cooker, a rice steamer and a rice cooker. Some of the better brands, according to Melissa Clark, author of the weekly column, A Good Appetite, recommends Instant Pot, but there is also Breville and Fagor. She had originally bought hers for the sake of research for a article but became so attached to it, wrote an entire cookbook, "Dinner In An Instant" (Clarkson Potter Publishing). What is great about the Instant Pot is that it can cook food in minutes instead of hours.Ribs only take twenty minutes to cook as do beets and potatoes. Lentils and split peas also cook up in no time too in the electric cooker.

Her recipe is a tasty one. She gives us pressure cooker tamarind baby back ribs, made exotic and different by the addition of tamarind paste or concentrate.Fresh orange juice and garlic cut the sweetness. The ribs are then broiled at the end to give them a charred, crunchy crust while the Instant Pot give them that chewy , moist interior. Chicken thighs can also be cooked this way, maybe with tomato sauce, coconut sauce and garam masala for an exotic spin. Tejal Rao contributes with the recipes from famed British cookbook author, Meera Sodha. She has a vegetarian touch of weeknight cooking. There is her red lentil dal with coconut and lime kale.It is fiery and spicy  along with being completely meatless. This is typical of where she is from in Goa where Gujarati cooking reigns.
Healthy Goa cooking traces its' history  back to the Third Century BC when the Emporer Ashoka banned the slaughter of animals. For a side or even a main dish there is also her roasted broccoli with almonds. It's coated with a mix of cream cheese and Greek yogurt spiced  with black pepper, cardamom and nutmeg. It's baked on a baking sheet for ten minutes. Dave Tanis contributes the classic sausage and peppers, zested up with onions and red wine vinegar. He suggests serving it with a sunnyside egg but I'd rather turn it into a filling sandwich , thanks to ciambatta or Italian bread slices.

Weeknight cooking needn't be as stressful as week day living, It can be tasty and filling , done in only twenty minutes..It's easy and fun - just like weekend cooking.