All restaurants should offer a few vegetarian selections. It's a smart business decision. First, not all omnivores want to eat meat at every single meal, nor do they need to. Second, most omni customers have at least one potential dining partner who is a vegetarian. When eating out together, they are most likely going to mutually agree on a place that meets both their needs.
A lot of restaurants fail to understand and accommodate this. The explanation I get is, "Well we just don't have a demand for those foods." Sounds a lot more like a failure to do market research than anything else. The customers who don't come through the door aren't demanding vegetarian foods, therefore you shouldn't offer them? Illogical.
We also know another thing about human nature--sometimes we just want to have choices, even if we don't use them. We want the Baskin Robbins 31 flavors but we usually get vanilla. Offering a few choices will play to what I call "vegetarians in the contemplation stage". Those are folks who are thinking about becoming vegetarian, or call themselves one but sometimes eat meat. (And YES, FISH IS MEAT.)
Anyway, it's not as if offering a few meat-free options is going to hurt anything. Keep a few cans of beans on hand and let guests choose between chicken or beans on a main dish salad. In the event you get an order, rinse the beans, add some fresh herbs. They could look really pretty and taste awesome.
Or how about a kick ass baked onion soup made with vegetable broth? Or a creamy mushroom noodle casserole?
If the goal is to bring more customers through the door, restauranteurs should make the vegetarian dishes delicious, not just tolerable. No one wants to pay $20 for some iceberg lettuce and canned beans. Be creative; make it delicious and different.
A lot of these dishes would be popular among all guests, not just vegetarians and people observing Lent. :)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Product Review: Perry's "Piece of Cake" Ice Cream
I am not a cake lover at all. Most of the time I feel cakes are not even good enough to waste the calories on. Yet about once a year in the winter, I feel like having a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Even while I'm eating it, I'm thinking, "This isn't good." And yet I am craving it.
I do love ice cream though. Normally I am orthodox about my ice cream shopping. I don't stray from the few brands that don't use artificial ingredients. And yet last night I found this prize:
All in one package, I've got my unorthodox ice cream brand and the flavor of yellow cake with chocolate icing. Not only that, but the icing tastes exactly like the one from the can (which I never eat, even when I'm having the annual weird craving).
And yet it's strangely satisfying. It has a few tiny cubes of yellow cake. The ice cream flavor itself is the perfect interpretation of yellow cake made from a box mix, and like I said, the frosting is the frozen version of canned frosting.
What do I have to say for myself? I'm embarrassed...and not.
mmmm.... yummy mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and dextrose....
I do love ice cream though. Normally I am orthodox about my ice cream shopping. I don't stray from the few brands that don't use artificial ingredients. And yet last night I found this prize:
All in one package, I've got my unorthodox ice cream brand and the flavor of yellow cake with chocolate icing. Not only that, but the icing tastes exactly like the one from the can (which I never eat, even when I'm having the annual weird craving).
And yet it's strangely satisfying. It has a few tiny cubes of yellow cake. The ice cream flavor itself is the perfect interpretation of yellow cake made from a box mix, and like I said, the frosting is the frozen version of canned frosting.
What do I have to say for myself? I'm embarrassed...and not.
mmmm.... yummy mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and dextrose....
Sunday, February 13, 2011
What's on your Valentine's Day menu?
At this time of year I get to the point when eating out becomes a bore. It's not the restaurants; it's the process of going out. It's freaking freezing out there, and the mud-salt-sand-slush combo is annoying. Then you wait in line to be seated while newcomers provide you with a never-ending blast of frigid air when they open the door. A good part of the enjoyment is gone when just getting there makes you uncomfortable!
So staying in it is. I'm really looking forward to it though. I bought a fondue maker and I'm ready to go. I've been planning my menu for weeks. Here it is:
Field greens with heart-shaped herbed crouton and blood orange dressing
Cannelini garlic dip
Mushroom ravioli with marinara sauce
Eggplant braciole with pear tomato sauce (my own invention)
Chocolate-coffee liquor fondue with fruit
Am I a good wife or what? ;) (I guess we'll have to see on that one. Hopefully my husband won't miss the meat!)
So staying in it is. I'm really looking forward to it though. I bought a fondue maker and I'm ready to go. I've been planning my menu for weeks. Here it is:
Field greens with heart-shaped herbed crouton and blood orange dressing
Cannelini garlic dip
Mushroom ravioli with marinara sauce
Eggplant braciole with pear tomato sauce (my own invention)
Chocolate-coffee liquor fondue with fruit
Am I a good wife or what? ;) (I guess we'll have to see on that one. Hopefully my husband won't miss the meat!)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Soup's on!
The microwave and fridge at work haven't been available for a while, so I have been getting by on whatever I can--usually hummus and crackers. The winter has been so cold--below zero a few times last month--and I've been craving soup.
Finally Sunday I had an afternoon at home to make some good, old fashioned soup. I winged it. I cooked some dried cannelini beans in water with spices and random pieces of vegetables I'd saved for the occasion--celery leaves, beet stalks, mushroom stems, etc.--anything to give it flavor. When almost done, I drained the water, added spinach, and pureed it. Then and added some mushroom broth, half a lemon, more basil, spinach, and uncooked spelt. I cooked it until the spelt was done and sprinkled a generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan on it.
Oh.my.g.o.o.d.n.e.s.s.! It's a brown, thick, hot mess but man is it awesome!! Definitely a keeper. I'm going to have to restrain myself from eating several more bowls today.
I feel warmer already.
Finally Sunday I had an afternoon at home to make some good, old fashioned soup. I winged it. I cooked some dried cannelini beans in water with spices and random pieces of vegetables I'd saved for the occasion--celery leaves, beet stalks, mushroom stems, etc.--anything to give it flavor. When almost done, I drained the water, added spinach, and pureed it. Then and added some mushroom broth, half a lemon, more basil, spinach, and uncooked spelt. I cooked it until the spelt was done and sprinkled a generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan on it.
Oh.my.g.o.o.d.n.e.s.s.! It's a brown, thick, hot mess but man is it awesome!! Definitely a keeper. I'm going to have to restrain myself from eating several more bowls today.
I feel warmer already.
Monday, January 10, 2011
A cool salad for an even cooler day
No microwave is available to heat up my lunch these days, so I'm back to salads and dips.
This week, it's chilled (cooked) asparagus, hard boiled egg, and chic peas, dressed with fresh lemon vinagrette. I topped with shaved Parmesan, walnuts and sunflower seeds. With some crackers or bread, it's a square meal, and filling.
This week, it's chilled (cooked) asparagus, hard boiled egg, and chic peas, dressed with fresh lemon vinagrette. I topped with shaved Parmesan, walnuts and sunflower seeds. With some crackers or bread, it's a square meal, and filling.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Frittata
Happy new year!
This weekend I made a frittata for breakfast--a nice option for a holiday brunch. I used an 8" skillet, filled it with small diced vegetables, sauteed them, added 4 scrambled eggs, topped it with a little Parmesan, and finished it off under the broiler. I used green beans, asparagus, potatoes, onions, leeks, mushrooms, and red peppers.
This weekend I made a frittata for breakfast--a nice option for a holiday brunch. I used an 8" skillet, filled it with small diced vegetables, sauteed them, added 4 scrambled eggs, topped it with a little Parmesan, and finished it off under the broiler. I used green beans, asparagus, potatoes, onions, leeks, mushrooms, and red peppers.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Meatless Thanksgiving
What meatless dishes grace your Thanksgiving table?
A few months before Thanksgiving, I start paying attention to interesting recipes and make a list. That way, when Thanksgiving week comes, I won't draw a blank when deciding what to make.
This year I'm leaning towards roasted pumpkin seeds with paprika, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and quinoa with roasted corn and lentils I'll marinate ahead of time in seasonal spices and oil. For dessert there will be real whipped cream atop brown sugar pumpkin pie, baked pears with cardamom crumble topping, and my own recipe of butter Thanksgiving-themed cutout cookies with seasonal spices.
A few months before Thanksgiving, I start paying attention to interesting recipes and make a list. That way, when Thanksgiving week comes, I won't draw a blank when deciding what to make.
This year I'm leaning towards roasted pumpkin seeds with paprika, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and quinoa with roasted corn and lentils I'll marinate ahead of time in seasonal spices and oil. For dessert there will be real whipped cream atop brown sugar pumpkin pie, baked pears with cardamom crumble topping, and my own recipe of butter Thanksgiving-themed cutout cookies with seasonal spices.
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