That recipe looks outstanding. I love goat cheese. I’m going to buy the ingredients today. About the presentation, are the ingredients served separately on the bed of lettuce, or somehow mixed all together?

I don’t often see rocket greens at the store. I wonder about a little watercress. It’s fairly bitter and I’m always looking for ways to include it into my diet.

I agree that traveling and eating the way you like is impossible. I’ve even gotten so that I dislike going out to eat altogether. The only exceptions are Thai or natural-food restaurants.

I also eat some meat because I seem to feel a little stronger when I do, but no question vegetables/grains/fruits are the way to feel clean and light.

Thanks for commenting!

I have copied a UK ready meal that I love very much, where the texture of quinoa is the interesting part – roast some butternut squash and beetroot until cooked (1hr or so), serve the sliced beetroot and sccoped squash with boiled quinoa, a sharp cheese (goats’ is best) and a bitter salad such as rocket – full of superfoods, but if you cook your butternut with butter and pepper, very flavourfull and doesn’t taste too healthy!

I was a ‘teenage vegetarian’ who converted when I first went to University. I kept it up for more than 10 years, but gradually started adding fish to my diet when I started travelling for work (do you know how difficult it can be to get a vegetarian dish in a French restaurant?), so it may not just be a fad, but a lifelong commitment!

Another Paula Begoun referral here. I just fixed my first Quinoa last night, and was amazed at the possibilites it presents for my diet. Planning my diet is complicated by blood sugar issues, and it’s important that I control and keep my carb and protein consumption balanced. I’m not prepared to become a vegetarian, which would make planning my diet more complicated than it already is, but I have been trying to introduce more vegetable proteins, and reduce the amount of red meat I eat. Soy is a big part of my diet, and gets a little boring at times, so it’s going to be nice to be able to mix it up a bit with Quinoa.

I seasoned yesterday’s Quinoa with miso, rice vinegar, green onion, and shitake mushrooms. It was quite savory, and very satisfying. Because of it’s nondescript flavor, I’ve already got plans for everything from Asian and Mediterranean flavors to Southwestern. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe resources, as it’s going to help cut down the amount of time I would have spent searching for information.

Thanks for your very thoughtful comment. I knew that livestock rearing contributed to greenhouse gases but I was a little shocked to read the actual numbers from the link you provided.
Even if meat consumption were reduced, the impact would be significant. There are so many reasons, even on a personal level. I must admit that my sharp decline in eating meat came from an anti-cancer perspective.
Your comment illustrates so well that lifestyle changes can be made in families. It does take time and there will be resistance at first. Meat is just what we’re used to building a meal around. As long as you keep at it gradually, pretty soon the whole family is making very different choices without really noticing the loss of the sugar rockets and hamburgers.
Thanks so much for writing in and providing us with the article link above.

Converting to vegetarism isn’t just a teenager thing. Since September 2006 my family and I switched to a vegan diet. Never in a million years did I ever think we, upper middle class white- collar workers would ever go down this road but our decision was an environmental one. Our family has always put the environment first, and the stage global warming is at now has put our kids and us on high alert. We were already making the organic choice for groceries, and trying to buy local but when I kept coming across research about the phenomenal impact the meat and diary industry had on the environment, I felt I couldn’t continue being part of it. (see link http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20772&Cr=global&Cr1=environment )

It hasn’t been the easiest ”instant” lifestyle switch (my husband plays contact hockey three times a week and boy, do the guys love to razz him) but it sure is easier than suddenly telling the kids we’re selling the two cars and opting out of extracurricular carpooling for bus passes.
No one in the family was upset with the decision. We believe that people can’t just say they’re concerned about the planet, they have to do something, REALLY do something, and do it fast. Going vegan has given us a feeling of empowerment that even your everyday average suburban family can make a difference.

@Gina : that is the funniest thing that you have this powder I’d never heard of in your cupboard; with your description of vinegary powder, well… we can just leave it in your cupboard.

@Holly : it is good, and easy stuff to work with; I did do the Vegetable Curry and it was great. My son tasted it and thought it was tasteless, which is amazing because there are so many flavors in there, as Gina says. I didn’t find it tasteless at all.