It’s summer! Time to eat your veggies! (or, food links for food lovers, July 2023)

It’s summer! And summer is the time you want to take all the great produce available from the markets and turn it into something. Let me help you with some great recipes.

Tians: One way to use fresh veg is to lean into tian recipes. For example this one, provencal vegetable tian (shown above), or this one, which I made recently, summer vegetable tian. A tian is not all that different than ratatouille, but as Martha show in this piece, what is a tian, you can make one out of so many different vegetables. Need still more tians? Food and Wine has you covered with this Root Vegetable Tian.

Fresh veg: I love corn and broccoli, so I like this recipe for sauteed broccoli and corn salad. Corn salads look as great as they taste. Got green beans? Make Alison Roman’s blanched green beans with scallion and soy. Got some fresh kale or chard? Then make her lemony white beans with anchovy and parmesan. Packs a punch.

Do you have a bunch of asparagus? Sure you can steam it. But you can also bake it. Or to get a bit fancier, you can make this creamy Asparagus & Leek Crespelle (i.e. Italian crepe) (See below)

(If you lack leeks, this can help: leek substitutes.)

Crepes sound good, but so do galettes. If you agree, try this: This Cheesy Tomato Galette Needs Only 3 Ingredients. Use up those fresh tomatoes! If you need to use up some zucchini, try making this:  Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries.

Root veg: while all this fresh vegetable on hand is irresistable, I would be remiss if I did not include some root veggie recipes, since I love a good carrot or potato dish.

These Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes are a perfect side dish, as are these Basic Roasted Carrots from Hugh Acheson, whose recipes I always recommend. Parsnips are another great root veg, and I support this: In Praise of Parsnips, the Humble Heroes of the Vegetable Drawer.

Speaking of great sides, here’s Nigella’s salt and vinegar potatoes that make me think of Britain. (Here’s another version from the New York Times: salt and vinegar roasted potatoes. Relatedly, salt and vinegar spanish tortilla recipe from Serious Eats.) For a Greek side, these greek lemon potatoes go great with anything but especially lamb and chicken or really anything Mediterranean. (Again, here’s the New York Times and their version of greek lemon potatoes).

I love a good potato gratin, which is why I am giving you four versions of that dish: here, here, here, and  here.

To close out this section, consider making potato and cheese tacos. Or any of these beet recipes or cabbage recipes.

Misc.: none of these fit into a category other than delicious veggie recipes. Here’s 1 from Saveur: Asian Greens with Garlic Sauce (Choy Sum) and here’s 40 Ways You’ll Love Using Bitter Greens, also from Saveur.

This sounds great:  Tabbouleh with Marinated Artichokes and Baby Spinach. Do you have lots of peppers? Make peperonata.

You want this: a good guide on how to roast any veg. Here’s a fine way to use up your herbs: green goddess dip.  This is a good weeknight meal: one pot veggie rice bowl. Finally these are good for anyone on a budget: the BBC’s budget vegetarian family meal plan for four.

How to go vegan gradually (or at least become a reducetarian)

The irony is not lost upon me that yesterday I was blogging about Thanksgiving and now I am blogging about this topic.** But hear me out! This is a good piece on transitioning to being a vegan. I know two things: it’s not easy for some people (like me) to become vegan, but becoming more so is a good thing in many ways. At the very least you become a reducetarian and that’s not bad.

For more on reducetarianism, see this piece.

Good eating and good health to you.

(** In my defense, there was a vegetarian menu in that piece, and there was a wealth of meat and dairy free recipes in there. :))

(Photo by Dose Juice on Unsplash )

Is it the beginning of the end of the beef industry?


It sounds hyperbolic, but this piece makes a very strong case for that fact that it is: This Is the Beginning of the End of the Beef Industry | Outside Online

For pro-beef fans, consider this (emphasis is mine)

Sure, steak is great, but ground beef makes up 60 percent of beef sales, and most of it is more Salisbury than salutary, a greasy vehicle for the yummy stuff: ketchup, mushrooms, pickles, bacon, sriracha mayo. I knew I wouldn’t object if my central puck came from a plant, as long as it chewed right and tasted right. I suspected others might feel the same.

Even if people don’t go entirely vegan or vegetarian, there is going to be a lot less beef sold in the future, in my opinion.

Read the article: it’s great.

Veganish: for bacon loving vegan wannabes, a possible option

You may want to become a vegetarian or vegan but you may also be reluctant to give up eating things like bacon or fish. If you are experiencing this dilemma, then this question might appeal to you:

“The most effective question we can ask is not how can we increase the amount of vegetarians and vegans,” he says, “but rather, how can we reduce the amount of meat consumed?”

If this appeals to you, then I recommend this article: Love Bacon AND Animals? ‘Reducetarianism’ May Be For You. Still interested? Then I also recommend this book by Mark Bittman: VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good.

If you think being vegan will limit you in your attemps to build muscle and compete in sports…

Then you need read this article. If that doesn’t convince you, then head on over to this site to see just how great you can get on a vegan diet.

If anything, being vegan may help you, depending on your current diet and other factors that may be limiting your ability to improve.

A fashionable option for men who don’t want to wear leather shoes (or Tom’s shoes)


If you are a man (or someone who like to wear shoes traditionally associated with men) who doesn’t want to wear shoes from leather, don’t want to wear Converse or Toms shoes but do want to wear dress shoes, you have what I think is  a good alternative: Delli Aldo shoes. I came across them via Cool Tools (a newsletter and a section of Kevin Kelly’s website) and I think they are great for a number of reasons:

  1. they are very stylish
  2. they come in a wide range of styles
  3. they are low cost
  4. they are vegan

Beware: they run large (e.g. if you wear 8, consider getting the size 7 or 6.5) and they stink the first few days you get them (then apparently they do not).

For more information, check out the link to Cool Tools or go right to Amazon and pick up a pair.