Cookbooks, love them

Well Christmas is almost upon us and I have been thinking about what I am going to do for Christmas dinner. I will have a turkey and all the trimmings for the family but for myself I haven't quite decided on that.

One thing to know about me is I LOVE COOKBOOKS! All kinds, I actually just yesterday took about 25 that I never used to Value Village and promptly went to Chapters to look for a few new vegetarian ones. I was in there for over an hour, just in the vegetarian section alone. There are so many to choose from, here are the ones that have been helpful to me so far. I do love my "1000 Vegetarian Recipes", I find the recipes easy to make, most have a good number of ingredients (not too many that it's overwhelming) and everything has turned out fantastic. My second favourite is Vegetarian Times "Vegetarian Beginner's Guide", it was very helpful in helping me stock my pantry, and good and quick recipe ideas.

I bought two new books and am super excited to try them out, the first one is "The Vegetarian Family Cookbook" by Nava Atlas. I love her cookbooks, I have taken a few out from the library and always find them easy to read, easy to make and delicious recipes. It has a great section on snacks, I think I mentioned how this family loves snacking, lunchbox ideas, easy breakfast ideas and great looking soups and entrees. I also liked the fact that she gave vegan options for the recipes.

The second one was "Refresh" by Ruth Tal, this cookbook is gorgeous, I am also a sucker for beautiful cookbooks, great pictures, the end product looks for yummy. I picked this cookbook as it has a section on rice bowls, noodle bowls and juicing. This is a vegan cookbook from a restaurant in Toronto called Fresh, from what I have read so far, she started out as a juice bar that had some food to three restaurants around Toronto. The first thing I am trying is the Buddha Rice Bowl, some of the ingredients are marinated tofu cubes, thai peanut sauce, cucumber, tomato and of course rice, yuuummmmmyyyyy.  This book also has a section on dressings, sauces and marinades, I am hoping to make big batches of sauces and marinades and freeze them for later use.

Here is what is on the menu for this week:

• Buddha Rice Bowl
• Seitan and broccoli stirfry
• Pizza night (I always throw one in each week for those lazy days you don't feel like cooking and we all have them) 
• Spicy tofu in coconut cream

Here are the links to the websites for the cookbooks I have mentioned above:

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/product/11  (Vegetarian Times "Vegetarian Beginner's Guide)

http://vegbookshop.com/  ("The Vegetarian Family Cookbook)

http://www.freshrestaurants.ca/  ("Refresh")

I found this great looking rice bowl, fits in your hand and dishwasher and microwave safe.  http://flavourdesign.com/product.php?ProdNo=202

A little history of the why

Well today I am going to start with a little history of why I decided to become a vegetarian. I was always raise a meat and potatoes girl, my family had to have meat, potatoes and some sort of boiled to bits vegetable for dinner. For about the last two years the thought of cooking meat has made me sick, I remember opening a package of ground beef and being grossed out by the blood that was at the bottom of the tray. Then I started getting mental images of the cow it came from and that was that for beef, but I still ate chicken. Then one day I was making some sort of dish with chicken thighs and when I bit into it I hit a small piece of bone, gross, again. So that was it for chicken. Now all I had left was seafood, then I got a bad bit of shrimp and there goes the seafood. I still eat some dairy, real cream for my coffee, the odd bit of cheese, mostly Goat Cheese and some Brie. I don't eat eggs as well and that stems from cracking open an egg to find blood and other bits inside and I thought I was going to throw up right there and then. That is when I decided on being a veggie, I read alot of books as I knew this was going to be a major change to my life and families as well. We have a very picky 6 year old and if he doesn't eat meat he would get no protein, so for now I am keeping him a meat eater. My husband, doesn't like alot of meat, but occasionally likes his double cheese burgers or meatloaf, I actually make a pretty good meatloaf (which I will now have to show him how to make).
My favourite book is "Becoming Vegetarian by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis", the bible for me. I wanted to make sure I was going to get all my correct nutrients, protein, calcium, etc. and this book had it all. Then I started, I went to the grocery store, stocked up on what I thought I would eat and away I went. It has been a bit difficult in the sense that the rest of the family still eats meat, so I try to make dishes that I can substitute tofu for the meat or I'm cooking two separate meals. Not always fun. Also I am a mother of a 6 year old and a 18 month old, so I need fast and easy recipes, nothing fancy here. I have a few good cook books, but rely on the Internet for alot of recipes as well. But I am finding it difficult to find fast, easy and inexpensive recipes. So, here starts my journey of blogging what I eat, hopefully I can help others out there that need some meal plans.

Here is what I have going to have for dinner for the next couple of days, I thought I would start with dinners mostly, as breakfasts for me are pretty simple, I need to get a 6 year old off to school. I eat mostly cereal, oatmeal, waffles, fruit that sort of thing, so nothing special in the vegetarian world there.

Nov. 17, I am going to have the Spicy Tofu Bento Bowl that is in this month's Vegetarian Times, it looks super yummy and if my version looks half as good as the picture, it's going to be great.

Nov. 18 I have planned a Polenta and mushroom lasagna, another Vegetarian Times recipes.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10175?section this is the recipe for the Spicy Tofu Bento Bowl, tell me that doesn't look yummy.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9770?section= here is the polenta lasagna, yum.