4 More Weeks

It's that time again...Lent. Only four more weeks to go until we can eat meat again! I made it a little easier on myself this year allowing fish in the diet. It's too hard when I travel to only look for shrimp and scallops. Especially since I don't like shrimp. So we've gone back to a few staples of our meat-free diet and have even tried some new recipes! We made fish tacos at home the other night - they were delicious! We almost felt like we were back in Hawaii! I made a homemade coleslaw from scratch that came out wicked good - I was very proud of myself. It was my first time using fresh cabbage ever!

I did cheat once so far (ok, maybe twice) but did the sign of the cross beforehand and asked God to forgive me. At the New York Restaurant show a couple weeks ago, one of my distributors (the former competition of mine) had a large booth and they were featuring an amazing Spanish ham. I only knew how amazing it was because everyone I spoke to was talking about it. It goes for $150 per pound. Yes, per pound. And they just happened to be slicing it up as I walked by, so I just had to sample it. God forgave me, it melted in my mouth, and I was a happy girl!

The other time I cheated, the Hubs did too...so technically we cancel each other out. But I'm also down one since he ordered a sandwich the other day that he "didn't know" had bacon in it. Really? I was like, not only did you cheat, but you cheated with BACON??? My Favorite!?!?! Not fair in my book, but I let it go. :-)

We usually feel really good when we do this vegetarian thing, but sometimes the only thing I can find on the menu that I really like and want is nachos. So....then the rest goes down the drain. But all in all, our favorites are still fasolada (Larry makes these the best!), butternut squash risotto, spinach and mushroom lasagna roll-ups, and now - fish tacos! It's a good thing I've become friends with the fish monger at Hannaford. Friday mornings, he's putting out what's freshly delivered and I usually chat with him a bit. I almost showed him the picture of the fish I caught in Maui, but thought that might be going too far. Although, I've showed every man I work with in the meat business. For the record, I am now "cool."

Today, it's back to the fruit smoothie and getting ready for some of our favorite meals with our new favorite superfoods! I think we're having spaghetti squash tonight...and I might make my avocado and spinach pesto to go with it. Yum! Might have to have some eggplant cutlets along side of it? Maybe I'll save the next blogpost about our superfoods we're into lately.

And since this blog is about tasting life, I'm thinking of starting to post some of my recipes here. I'll start with my fabulous cole slaw I put together on a whim. I obviously had to buy the cabbage, but everything else I already had on hand...

Karen's Wicked Awesome Cole Slaw:

1 whole savoy cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 red cabbage, sliced thin
4 carrots, grated
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 TBS kosher salt
black pepper (I think I did about 22 cranks on the pepper mill)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
2 TBS white wine vinegar
2 TBS spicy mustard (or brown or dijon mustard)
1 cup mayo (we have the light kind here)

Throw it all in a bowl and mix it up...it sat for about 4 hours before the first tasting. It's a hit and this makes a ton, but we'll use it the next couple days.

Ok, that's it for now. Hope everyone had a Happy St. Patty's Day and didn't drink too much green beer! I was a driver, so I didn't indulge much, but was happy at my Irish revelation that Margaritas are green and totally acceptable! I used to be Karen O'Kotopoulisihan, but I guess with the margarita and my new last name, I was more like Karen O'Koutsavlisquez??? Either way, it worked!

Chow,

KK :-)