Soup--The Ultimate Fast Food

For a long time I thought of soup as something that took hours to cook. Not so--soup is one of the easiest, quickest meals to throw together--a true fast food! And you really can improvise easily, substituting ingredients. Tonight when I got home about 6:00, Greenling.com had not delivered my tub o' produce so I was stuck with just whatever I had on hand--which turned out to be two cans of cannellini beans and some swiss chard that had been in the fridge a week but still looked pretty good. I checked a couple of cookbooks and web sites for recipes and of course didn't have everything for any recipe so I fused a couple of the recipes to make....

Swiss Chard and Bean Soup
2 T. olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 good sized bunch swiss chard, rough chopped
2 cans cannellini beans
1/3 c. arborio rice
Healthy sprinkle of Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 tsp salt)
1 qt. container of Imagine "No Chicken" Broth

Cook chard until just tender in 1-2 c. water; drain, reserving liquid. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in a good sized pot.  Add beans (drain first), rice, liquid from chard, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper and the broth. Cook about 15-20 minutes until rice is tender; add chard and cook a minute more. To serve, drizzle with balsamic vinegar or sprinkle with parmesan if you want dairy.

Note: Instead of Italian seasoning you could use oregano and rosemary--whatever you have on hand. I love the little boxes of frozen herbs that you can use as you need. I think they are better than dried without the waste that sometimes happens with fresh herbs if you don't use them right away.

First Few Days

After finishing The Fire Engine 2 Diet on Sunday, I was ready to start the E2 plan immediately. One problem--hadn't been to grocery store and it is obvious that planning ahead is required for following a new eating plan. Second problem--I have issues. Issues with dairy for one. Love butter and cheese, both of course not vegan except for soy cheese which Esselstyn advises to use in moderation because of casein in it and the fat. And butter is the double bad--fat and dairy. As for milk, I have been a fan of soymilk for a couple of years so no problem switching strictly to soy option. Other issues: caffeine. E2 advice--lose the caffeine. Alcohol: ditto.

For this first week I had already previously scheduled several lunches and one drinks/dinner with friends. So I decided my first week would be easing into the E2 way of life (which Esselstyn offers as an option though his cuts out dairy and includes fish). So butter and all dairy out except for fresh mozarella (which I have a minor addiction to thanks to the salad at Wheatsville Co-op which has little chunks mixed in with the greens); alcohol either wine or vodka, limit to 2 servings per week, and caffeine--we will deal with that next week. I began to feel like Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones (1 vodka, v.g.)

But you know what by Day 3 I felt lighter. Day 4 I hopped on the scale and had lost two pounds. I haven't missed not having meat, cheese or butter. I did have mozarella on a squash/mozarella sandwich at Foodhead on Tuesday but the rest of the week I have been vegan baby.

This blog is a first for me. I've always thought blogs are a tiny bit self-centered and narcisstic but there are a number that I really enjoy reading (Yo's Kitchen Counter, Orangette, Zen Habits) that convinced me to try it myself.

I decided to start a blog to chronicle my effort to become vegan, based on Rip Esselstyn's book The Engine 2 Diet. Esselstyn is a firefighter, a triathlete, an FOL (friend of Lance) and most of all, a convincing motivator. He is also the son and grandson of doctors. He lays out the case for eating a plant-based diet in understandable terms. His book has an easy-going tone--it makes it sound like the simplest thing in the world. He has turned an entire Austin fire station vegan and run his own trial study of the diet.

In truth, I had begun moving toward being a vegetarian lately, just sort of naturally. As this humid, hot spring has progressed I've eaten less and less meat. It just seemed too heavy. Then my good friend Carolyn and I headed to Port Aransas to relax on the beach for a couple of days and she had a copy of The Engine 2 Diet. I picked it up and started reading it and didn't want to put it down. The day we got back from our trip, I ordered my own copy. After reading it all the way through, I was convinced it was right for me to follow Esselstyn's four-week plan. He has such an easy-going approach, it seems doable. And he gives meat eaters a couple of weeks to ease into it if they desire by first cutting out all fats and dairy but allowing some fish and chicken.

So armed with Esselstyn's advice, I'm on my way.