October 1st is World Vegetarian Day (DiceFood.com)

September 29, 2008 | By glarr00 In Secret Recipes |

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day

I have always been an omnivore, happily eating all manner of meat, dairy, grain and veg. I’m one of those people who, if deprived of animal protein for several days, will start to get physically shaky and off balance until a small piece of turkey or a couple of meatballs have been consumed. However, I can and often do go a day or two without eating meat, mostly because there are so many other delicious foods in the world crying out to be eaten and I just can’t fit them all in single day.

This Wednesday, October 1st is World Vegetarian Day and on that day, I’ll intentionally be preparing a series of meatless meals for my little household, in order to participate in the effort. October is Vegetarian Awareness Month, during which folks around the country will be holding potlucks, parties, discussion groups and other activities to raise the profile of vegetarian meals.

For those of you who can’t imagine giving up meat, remember that as food costs rise, reducing the number of your meals that are meat-dependent can be one way of keeping your budget in check. Check out the World Vegetarian Day website for tips and information about how you can get involved.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Recipes, Newspapers, Middle East, Meat

New York Times story on how to make manti the easy way. Instead of hand-rolling and filling pasta dough, a delicate and time-consuming process, the author tosses sauteed lamb with pre-made bowtie pasta, yogurt, roasted eggplant, red-pepper-infused browned butter, garlic and mint. Yum.

You can deconstruct all kinds of complicated pasta dishes. I like taking the flavors from my favorite butternut squash ravioli and letting it all hang out, tossing together sauteed squash cubes, orcchiette, sage, brown butter and Parmesan. Oprah’s got a similar recipe.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dessert, Vegetables, Recipes, Thanksgiving, Fall, Foodie Flicks

As we head into October, the color palette on grocery store shelves is changing. The foodie world is getting increasingly orange and fragrant as pumpkin season hits and the myriad of insanely good pumpkin-themed foods hit center stage. But instead of carving or pie, have you ever tried a pumpkin cheesecake?

Above, Judy Parks runs through the ins and outs of a good pumpkin cheesecake and shows you how to whip it up. It’s not only a great run-down of the recipe, but also a great general how-to. She offers tips on mixing, baking, and serving to get the perfect cheesecake.

Note: This recipe calls for canned pumpkin. If you’d prefer to use fresh, go here to see how to prepare your fresh pumpkin for the substitution.

Permalink | Email this | Comments