no microwave for me

Well, at least at home. At work the microwave is unavoidable. I have not had a microwave in my house for years. When I met my husband, he had one, and when we moved in together the thing lasted about a month before it went to Goodwill. I can’t stand microwaved food, and I don’t think the microwave, or the food that comes out of it is particularly good for you. Like I said, I actually do use the one at work, but it’s hard not to. There’s not much else for me to do when I pack my lunch, and it needs to be heated. I suppose I could become a raw vegetarian, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon (not that I haven’t thought about it…and I did buy a book about it). When cooking dinners at home, I stick completely to the stove top and oven. I actually BAKE potatoes. Imagine!

I have been reading some things on the web here and there about what other vegetarians are eating for dinner, and we shocked to see that many of them are eating microwave frozen dinners! I can’t even bring myself to eat one of those things at work for lunch. I certainly couldn’t imagine eating one for dinner. Those frozen dinners are just not good for you. I know that the Amy’s stuff isn’t terrible, but mostly they have too many calories, too much fat and too much salt. I certainly can’t say that I don’t eat any processed foods, but I like to read ingredients and nutrition labels, and cook as whole and organic as I can. I have to know what I am eating.

Tonight I did get kind of obsessed with getting a pressure cooker though. I think that it’s an old-school way of cooking fast. It’s supposed to also infuse food with more flavor. I’m all about that. I’d love to make brown rice in less then 40 minutes. So, my research on the subject goes on. I found a vegetarian pressure cooker book that looks pretty interesting. I also started looking into the cookers. I am leaning towards the Presto 6-quart. I am not ready to invest the big bucks for the fancy kind at this point, and this one has over 200 good reviews.

Hmmm…what to do…what to do…

Tonight we had vegetarian chili that I made yesterday. I used no oil at all, and it is super healthy. Lots of veggies and beans, and some Quorn grounds. I made a double batch and froze half, so we can have it again later in the week. Yesterday for lunch I ate it traditionally, but tonight I had some over shredded cabbage, and ate it with corn tortillas heated in the panini press.