It helps that I am in league with the butcher from the local market. For Thanksgiving, it was roast turkey on the Weber. The day before Christmas Eve, my husband came home with a Honeybaked Ham - courtesy of the company he works for. Christmas Eve, I couldn't resist preparing a 3-rib prime rib roast for us and a couple of friends. My contribution to Christmas Day dinner at my cousin's was a 7-rib ribeye roast cooked perfectly rare for 25 people. We gave our kitchen a break for New Year's eve and dined at a local italian restaurant on the water and indulged in a five course dinner that included rack of lamb for him and mahi-mahi for me. Three hours later, over creme brulee and port, we watched fireworks from our table.
The meat is long gone - the ham bone went into a split pea soup and the Christmas Eve ribs went to our dogs. It is time to find my way back to tofu, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, and delve into the world of vegetarianism. The transition will not be too hard - I was once a vegetarian. I also have an incentive. My stepdaughter came to live with us a little over a week ago. She is a vegetarian. She wasn't always, it happened when she came back from a meditation retreat almost two and a half years ago. Now and again, she misses some of the foods she used to eat. A couple of favorites were pork chops grilled with rosemary branches smoking over mesquite coals, served with the the most wonderful roasted white corn salsa. And breaded pork chops that Dad cooked to perfection.
The other night it was a layered vegetable casserole - eggplant, red bell peppers, zucchini, onion, garlic, tofu, mushrooms, swiss chard - topped with a marinara sauce spiked with sundried tomatoes. The night before that it was stuffed shells filled with a mixture of ricotta, spinach, onions, garlic and egg. Another night it was a Thai green vegetable curry served with basmati rice.
At least my family knows our meals will not be boring.
