We give turnips two thumbs down!

 Vegetarianism  has gotten a lot of media play recently and we are highly susceptible to the hype so we decided to have one meatless meal a week. Our first attempt was squash soup and it was really good. We also still haven’t eaten it all since the recipe required FOUR POUNDS of squash but I digress.  Our second attempt was a recipe we found on Fake Plastic Fish. Since she gave it good reviews we thought we should give it a shot. 

Here is the recipe from Beth:

Recipe 1: Red Lentil Loaf(based on the recipe posted here:http://www.recipezaar.com/192628)

• 1 cup dried red lentils (We had green ones from a soup experiment so we used those instead)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 whole egg 
• 1 cup cooked brown rice (Beth used quinoa and liked it we didn’t have either so we used white rice. Once we use what we have we are going to use brown rice in everything)
• 1 cup grated carrots 
• 1/2 an onion, diced 
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon dried sage 
• salt and pepper, to taste 

Cook lentils. (3 cups water to 1 cup dried red lentils. Stove top, 15 to 20 minutes.) Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a loaf pan and sprinkle sides and bottom with a tbsp of oats. Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Whisk egg and water until light and foamy. In a large bowl, combine the egg and lentils with the remaining ingredients. Press mixture into loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. We served it with organic marinara that we had left over from something. I would definitely recommend some sort of tomato based sauce as it really adds to the flavor.

Overall this loaf was really, really good and we would totally make it again. Our only complaint is that it doesn’t really stay in loaf form. Once we cut into it it spread all over the plate (it was a loaf on a mission to take over the plate I guess) 

Recipe 2: Turnip Mashed Potatoes 
Neither J. or I had ever had a turnip before but we love mashed potatoes and we are trying to add more vegetables into our diet so I thought we should try this too. We were even able to find local, organic turnips. 

• 1 large russet potato (We used what the grocery store calls a baking potato because they were the only ones sold individually and we did NOT need to purchase a couple pounds of potato.
• 3 medium turnips 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• Leftover wasabi (we didn’t have wasabi or horseradish so we added some milk and more butter, perhaps this would have made all the difference but we don’t think so)
• salt and pepper, to taste 
• 
  

Coat turnips with olive oil and bake in oven until tender. At the same time, boil the potato on the stove or in the microwave. When both are done, mash them together. Add butter, wasabi, salt and pepper. 

Apparently when you don’t bake them long enough they stay a bit crunchy, they also stay fibrous and have a stubborn streak of individuality that precluded us from fully integrating them with the potato. We suppose this is a good recipe but all we discovered is that we don’t like the taste or consistency of turnips so next time we plan on trying carrot mashed potatoes hopefully with better results.

Fear not though crappy turnips have not discouraged us from meatless meals we still plan on attempting one meal a week and since “one meal” usually lasts us a couple lunches and dinners we are being doubly or triply healthy. Go us

!If you have any recipes to recommend we are totally open to suggestions!

How much meat and dairy do you eat in a week? Have you cut down or eliminated your consumption of animal products because of the supposed toll on the environment?