Optimism for the future through plant-based eating.
Upon reflection of meal experiences and food choices and now looking forward, I claim this a fantastic time become start a plant-based eating lifestyle. Start by experiment and play with changing of a lifestyle, changing of diet, changing of food habits, meal prep, tastes and everything food and then really dive into plant-based eating.
The food selections nowadays are amazing. Or maybe it is just that my eyes are more open because I’m focused more on my plant-based food choices and my lifestyle and am always trying to look for resolutions to meet needs in peculiar ways.
For example, on a very recent outing with friends celebrating a birthday we stopped at the cutest little dive bar. It’s called the Rowley Inn and it is described as a neighborhood gastropub with a gracious and welcoming family friendly atmosphere and it sits across the street from the iconic Christmas Story house.
A quick bite out.
It is the beginning of January and the holidays had just past so you couldn’t get any more Christmas nostalgic sitting in an old house now made into a cute bar with the Christmas Story House sign flashing and the lights to the gift shop softly lighting the front window.
We pop in and pull up to the bar and this is where becoming plant-based starts to become challenging and also exciting. Trying to find food and menu items that fit with a lifestyle that’s pretty fine-tuned can be difficult. But that’s where I say today’s world is fantastic because the chefs out there are really trying. The creations on menus if you really take your time to look can be outstanding.
The first thing I notice on this menu is tons of meat choices – of course. But when you start to dig down through appetizers and even entrees, we find a fantastic choices like a shredded Brussels Sprouts with Goat Cheese and sauteed Shrimp appetizer. Now this looks promising! Balsamic vinegar roasted Brussels Sprouts is a must try and sounded delicious. That’s definitely on the list of choices.
Perusing the menu.
Now over to the salad category because obviously that’s a super simple place to start finding foods at a restaurant that are or can quickly be adopted to a plant-based clean diet plan. And sure enough there’s a beet salad. OK, I’ll bite – how good can a beat salad be? Can you say fantastic? I want to eat it every day best thing I’ve ever had beet salad! This beet salad had shredded carrots, arugula and the freshest beets I’ve ever had adorned with some sort of balsamic vinaigrette. It was crisp and light and flavorful and fantastic and my first Sunday prep experiment to recreate. I’ve died and gone to heaven with just the brussels sprouts and the salad.
We’re sitting in a little bar in the corner of Tremont Ohio with Christmas ornaments and decorations, the iconic leg lamp in the window, a few locals in the corner and a couple friendly faces behind the bar. I’m pretty sure living a plant-based lifestyle is not difficult and it’s not boring if you go into it with your eyes open.
There was quite a bit of conversation about how they got the Brussels sprouts to be tender yet crispy. Were they fried? Were they roasted? Or were they baked which we all agreed dries them out and these were not by any means dry. They had a fantastic chewy creamy taste with a little bit of a crunch.
We discussed if they were shredded and whether the size helped the flavor. The conversation then turned to how do you shred a Brussels sprout without shredding your knuckles. We then turned to the bartender to rely on his expertise on how to make this. To our surprise he proceeds to tell us that they were fried. Horror! I am eating fried food. Not really what I am looking for here. My mind immediately jumps to whether or not I can put shredded Brussels sprouts in the air fryer? That would be a first but a definite must try.
Beet Salad is a thing.
The second was dissecting this beet salad and sorting through the millions of recipes to find one that was close so I at least had a base to start with. Then the questions arise; how to prep them? how are they cut? what to mix them with? All this can play into helping the flavors meld into something more than just the individual vegetable. And that’s the real trick!
Combining different vegetables to get a whole new flavor. The crispness of the carrots in the softness of the beats along with the peppery taste of the arugula all brought this to fruition and made it taste absolutely amazing. Not much more than three ingredients and you get a fantastic salad that has beautiful bright reds, greens and oranges but also tastes as beautiful as it looks.
Always learning.
The point behind all this is that when you’re playing around with plant-based eating out, don’t hesitate to ask chefs and wait staff at restaurants to tweak the menu. They will be more than willing to help give you foods that fit your lifestyle and by all means, use it as a learning to pair combinations of vegetables and fruits to create fantastic tasting dishes at home. You don’t have to be a five-star chef to put beets, carrots and arugula together and come out with something fantastic. So, here’s to the Christmas house, the Rowley Inn, the leg lamp and good friends and to another opportunity to learn.
Try our version of the delicious Rowley Inn beet salad. I married it with Thai Peanut Tofu for a delicious meal.
It’s such a great time to be a plant-based foodie!