Food Rescue

Being a mommy Ashtangi poses many challenges. When it comes to food, it’s been tricky to impose a strictly vegetarian diet on myself since I have two young children whom I believe still need both animal and plant protein at their age. So it’s a hassle and costly to prepare our meals separately. My refrigerator is well-stocked with meat (lean), chicken, fish, fruits and veggies which are used to feed them balanced meals every time. And while I try to cultivate in them a taste for a variety of dishes their dominant Ilocano food gene established in them a liking for vegetables sautéd in chicken, meat and good God, slabs of pork fat. I’ve tried using mushroom for a change but the taste may still be too strong or strange for their young palates. With kids, it’s important to introduce new things gradually. For example, they enjoy eating organic red rice which has become acceptable for them because it’s cooked with white rice. Going completely vegetarian will come slowly for me, at least for now.

So being a mommy Ashtangi, I’ve learned to be creative and circumvent meat. At my teacher’s recommendation, I just separate meat from veggies in a dish. I also keep a container of home-made pasta sauces such as puttanesca and pesto, courtesy of my mother-in-law, which my kids love to eat together with breaded chicken, fish fillets or tonkatsu. I skip the meat and spread the pasta sauces on a small, whole wheat pizza crust from my favorite bread maker Village Gourmet, toast it with mozzarella in the oven and serve with tossed greens. The puttanesca is aleady a meal in itself, it’s loaded with anchovies, tomatoes, olives, capers and pepper. As for the pesto sauce, I love it with mozzarella and sprinkled with shrimps, scallops and feta cheese. Ahh, the transition to being a vegetarian may take some time but at least it tastes good.