“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke I have a confession to make: I love meat. Love it. I get why people are vegetarians and I admire their dedication to their choice. But if you told me I would have to go through the rest of my life without eating a London Broil or I could never chomp down on a plump hamburger, juice running down my face, well, I would be just as devastated as if I found out Cheyenne Jackson had decided to start dating chicks. Life simply could not go on.
Of course I’m having fun here, sort of. I honestly can’t imagine not eating meat, but who knows what life will hold? I can change my mind. I used to feel like vomiting if I ate mashed potatoes, now I can eat them and brag that I’ve mastered the one food on the planet I disliked. So maybe vegetarianism is in my future — you’ll be the first to know, if it should come to pass.
For the timing being, I’m participating in Meat Free Mondays. In June of last year, Paul McCartney and his daughters Mary and Stella launched this movement which asks you to help make a big impact on the planet by doing one small thing: don’t eat meat for one day each week. While there are benefits to not eating meat — helping to alleviate world hunger, your health, and not killing cute fuzzy or feathery things — the main focus here is to reduce your carbon footprint.
It is estimated that 18% of our greenhouse gases are caused by meat consumption. That’s a bigger impact than transportation! This percentage gets a healthy boost from the deforestation of the rain forest, which is being cut down so cows have more places to graze.
I’ll let you nose around SupportMFM.org on your own, so you can learn more and maybe you’ll decide to join me in this resolution. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about being part of the movement so far is having an excuse to explore more delicious — no sarcasm at all — vegetarian dishes. Linda McCartney and some of the United Kingdom’s top chefs provide veggie recipes on the site, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorites. Borrowed and slightly adapted, like any good recipe.
Eggplant Parmesan
What you’ll need:
1 large eggplant
1 small carton of mushrooms – sliced (I recommend buying them unsliced, they seem fresher to me.)
45 oz. jar of pasta sauce (If it has chunks of things in it, even better.)
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Italian breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil
3 or so eggs
How to do it:
Slice the eggplant about a ½ inch thick. Don’t eat the ends, throw them in your compost.
Beat the eggs and put them in a big mixing bowl. On a plate, put a layer of breadcrumbs.
Put a layer oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
Dip the eggplant slice in the eggs, let it drip off. Lay the slice in the breadcrumbs, then flip it over, and try to get some on the side of it too. Add breadcrumbs as necessary; you may even find you need to add more egg.
Put the covered slice of eggplant into the frying pan. You’ll want to brown both sides, but don’t cook it too long.
Then take the slices out and lay them on pages of an old magazine. I recommend the magazine because it’s absorbent, but the eggplant won’t stick to it which can happen with paper towels.
Repeat this process until all the eggplant is browned. (Yes, you can brown more than one piece at a time.)
In a 9×13 casserole dish, place a layer of eggplant. Cover this with pasta sauce. Cover that with slices of mushroom. Cover that with a couple of handfuls of cheese. Repeat this process. You’ll get two to two and half layers out of the eggplant. You might not use all the pasta sauce or cheese, use your discretion.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the over at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
Uncover the dish, throw on some more cheese, then bake for another 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Do you have non-meat dishes you’d like to share? Please leave them in the comment area below.
