Who needs the beef??!!
Hi -- I'm Leslie. Leslie Ann, as David calls me. David told me I could write this section of the site. I get to bring you healthy -- and yummy -- alternatives to all that meat. Oh . . . uh . . . I mean, sides for all that meat.
Now you might wonder how a nice veggie girl from Chicago like me hooked up with a king of the barbeque from Arkansas. Well, it was like David said -- when I went to Arkansas in 1966. But the story isn't quite the way he tells it. Just be sure to get our first newsletter for the real scoop.
These days, David and I just have lots of fun cooking and eating together. We may have really different ideas about food -- but when it comes down to it, we both love food that is made with love and care, tastes great . . . and makes people happy.
And now for the why and how of veggies and main dish alternatives...
Why veggie?
First of all, if a vegetarian diet was good enough for the folks in the Garden of
Eden, it's good enough for me. Seems no one had a problem in those times with heart attacks and cancer and all the other diseases that plague us today. That's because they ate a good high fiber, anti-oxidant rich, zero trans-fat veggie diet. And even when they got thrown out of the Garden, folks still lived to an advanced age. Remember Methuselah? 'Course, David says they ate veggies and grains because they didn't have good smokers in those days . . .
I first got interested in healthful eating and living in 1972 when I was pregnant with my older son, Dan. My family laughed at me when I made him a whole wheat carrot cake for his first birthday, but now that's a top requested item when I cook for them.
Eating natural grains and fruits and vegetables just always seemed like the right way to eat. I discovered that without much effort, my weight stayed at what it was when I was 17, and I just felt good. Nowadays I prefer Middle Eastern and North African preparations. They're beautiful, well-seasoned and wonderfully healthy.
But back to health and maintaining a good weight naturally. . . In the three months after David arrived at my home for our historic reunion (see the newsletter, right?), he lost almost thirty pounds!!! And he wasn't hungry, not once. He even slipped in a few hamburgers and hotdogs when I wasn't looking. And home fries. And a double-scoop ice cream cone or two at the local ice cream parlor. Why last weekend, he was a judge at a local rib fest, and he downed 27 ribs in one sitting! He's learning, though, to cook my way -- and has even admitted to enjoying it! You should see him at work with my Vita-mix!
Don't get me wrong. David is still the barbeque king. It's just that he now enjoys his barbeque with a variety of tasty veggie dishes. And he has taken to sharing an occasional veggie burger on an organic whole grain bun with me, topped by barbequed peach slices (his creation, and wow! is it good!).
How to cook with veggies
There are three things to remember when you cook with veggies:
- Choose fresh!
- Choose fresh!
- Choose fresh!
There's nothing like veggies fresh out of your organic garden. That organic garden can be hard work - but it's good exercise to go with your healthy eating. I learned a lot when I was growing my own -- like how to keep racoons from eating the perfectly ripe corn. A farmer neighbor used to sit out all night with his shotgun. Yikes! I looked for alternatives. Tried the rattling pie-pan thing and the fence thing. Nothing worked. Every year, just as I thought the corn would be perfect the next day, the critters would steal in at night and clean the stalks. 
Grrrr.... until one year I read that you could plant cucumbers between the rows of corn -- and it worked! They didn't like that prickly stuff, and voila! I had corn. And it was the best, sweetest, most wonderful treat. Only topped by my own garden fresh organic tomatoes.
If you can't pick veggies from your own garden, though, try to find them at a local farmer's market - fresh, of course. Next best is at a store. Again, look for organic whenever possible, and stay with what's in season. It's more likely to be fresh.
As for "on the trail" -- well, there are wild foods everywhere if you know what to look for, and it can be a great family adventure to hunt for them. Of course you want to be certain of what you are eating and keep your family safe -- when in doubt, use a good reference book.
The question people always ask is, how do you get enough protein? Well, of course, you can just load a bunch of cheese and milk into your veggie dishes, and that will take care of it. But cheese and milk also have a high fat content, and some folks are lactose intolerant. There are lots of great books that will tell you how to mix certain vegetables, nuts and grains to get good quality protein.
Finally there's my most recent health interest: the effect of inflammation on our bodies and how reducing inflammation can keep us looking and feeling younger. How do we reduce inflammation? By eating my way -- natural foods, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, reducing sugar and following the glycemic index.
Anyway, enough with the science of it and on to the good of it! I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes right here. It takes some time, but we just get a gang of people working together on it in the kitchen, and it goes quickly and is fun. Everyone always loves it, and it can hold its own in the barbeque circuit. Your veggie friends won't feel left out when you invite them to a barbeque -- and you may have to slap away the hands of the meat lovers. Really. This recipe will also appear in our Recipe section along with lots of other good stuff:
Leslie's Middle Eastern Eggplant Parmesan
First prepare the eggplant. For one rectangular pan (preferably glass or pottery), at least 8.5" x 11", you'll need two eggplants. Slice the eggplant, 1/8" thick. Method #1: Salt and put in a colander to drain overnight. The next day, spread out between layers of paper towel to dry. Heat deep olive oil. Fry dried eggplant until browned on both sides. Remove from pan, spread on paper towel to drain. Fry remaining eggplant in batches until all is done. Method #2: Salt and put in a colander to drain for 20 minutes. Then spread out between layers of paper towel to dry. Spread light olive oil on a griddle. Toast/fry eggplant until browned on both sides. Remove from griddle, spread on paper towel to dry. Prepare remaining eggplant in batches until all is done.
OK, now here are the other ingredients you should prepare and set to the side with the drying eggplant:
A 8 oz. can of chickpeas (or 1/2 of the more usual 16 oz. cans)
Sliced Roma tomatoes -- about a dozen, 1/4" thick
Sliced white onions -- lots if you like onion, 1/8" thick
A jar of capers (opt.)
Sliced green olives (opt.)
A jar of marinara sauce -- 25.5 oz. or more, organic if possible
Fresh mozarella cheese - one brick, sliced 1/8-1/4" thick (opt.)
Oregano, fresh if possible
Hot paprika or crushed red pepper
Salt
Fresh, shredded parmesan cheese
Now comes the fun part. Set up your line of "helpers." Each person puts in a layer in the order listed above. Drained chickpeas go in first at the bottom. Then comes the eggplant, nicely lined up. Then the tomatoes, again, nicely lined up. Then the onions, part of the jar of capers, part of the jar of marinara sauce, part of the mozarella (if you're using cheese), crumble the oregano between your fingers as you spread it, sprinkle hot paprika all over (or crushed red pepper), and sprinkle salt all over. I've never measured the seasoning -- I just kind of do it to my taste as you should do for yours.
My sister, Debbie (home page, 4th from right), says she just tosses in the eggplant and tomatoes and thinks my lining it up is a little over the top. Actually, the combination of foods is so wonderful that it probably doesn't really matter.
Anyway, do as many repeats of the layering as you can -- usually at least two, sometimes as many as three or four. If you run out of something on a layer like the cheese -- not to worry! Spread the last layer of it a little thinner, and all will be well. I like to go light on the cheese, so I may have three layers of everything else and just one layer of cheese. Top off the whole thing with freshly grated parmesan cheese -- or, if you're not using cheese, anything else you can think of that would make a nice topping, including a layer of grilled onions. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. You will need to cover the top lightly when the cheese starts to brown.
Now here's the chef's secret: take your finished dish out of the oven and refrigerate overnight. Then reheat for at least an hour at 350 degrees (or for at least 2 hours at 250 degrees) before serving. And there you have it -- a dish I promise you will be a hit with the barbeque as well as the veggie crowd, and it's not only delicious but healthy.