Ma-Po Tofu with a twist and becoming a vegetarian

I am becoming a vegetarian. Ovo-lacto vegetarian because I'm still including eggs and dairy product in my diet. On the weekends when we go out to eat, I sometimes morphed into a pescetarian because I often order fish.

It all started about 2 years ago. After reading several articles by Michael Pollan on the NY Times's website (here and here). We really liked his philosophy "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

So we started adding more vegetables into our diet and it worked really well. Then we thought that maybe we should try to become vegetarian.

I lasted 2 days.

I was miserable. I didn't enjoy what I eat and I missed meat. But I think switching overnight was a big mistake. It was just too much. And especially since I didn't really know how and what to cook that doesn't include any form of meat.

FFWD: Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots

Would you believe me if I told you that I made both My Go-to Beef Daube and Leek & Potato Soup but forgot to take pictures of them?

In my defense, it was late and I got lazy, thinking that I would just take pictures of the leftover the next day, which of course never happened. Note to self, next time, just take a picture anyway, even if it's a crummy quality, because having some pictures is always better than no picture.

The beef daube was very good. It made me think of Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. The only difference that I noticed was the turnips and the lack of pearl onions. The leek potato soup was good as well. Nothing special, but hearty, and it's a good thing to come home to a bowl of warm soup after a long day.

Anyway... I digress. Let's move on to this dish, shall we?

There could not be an easier dish to make. Melt butter, sautee 1/2 an onion and garlic until they soften. Then add the cardamom pods and ginger, saute a bit more. Add the carrots, mixing it good so they are all coated with the butter and spices. Add some chicken stock, bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes or until they soft. In my case, by the 10 minute mark they are very tender and fragrant.

Tasting impressions:
Very good and tasty. And healthy to boot. I made this with 6 carrots because that's all I have but next time I'll make a bigger batch of it.

HCB: Classic Carrrot Cake

After being absent for a few weeks, I'm back to make Rose's rendition of Classic Carrot Cake.

This cake is very easy to make. The only part that seems "hard" is grating the carrot. Feeling lazy, I decided to chop the carrots into 1 inch pieces and process it in the food processor. I was glad that I did this, as this save a lot of time and stress (I have this fear of accidentally cutting my fingers with the grater).

I was a bit shocked with the amount of white chocolate that this recipe calls for. I considered reducing it - was afraid that it would make the overall taste too sweet, but decided to go ahead with it anyway.

Let me first say that I'm not a big fan of carrot cake, so I'm very curious to see how this will turn out. I love this cake! This is the best carrot cake that I've ever had. It is so tender and moist (this seems to be the trend with Rose's recipes, :)). The frosting nicely compliment the taste of the cake, it is not too sweet as I suspected it would be. I love that it uses raisins, it definitely adds to the flavor of the cake and makes the texture more fun.