I chose to try to be a vegan during the week. The First day
was fine as I had an apple for breakfast, then for lunch decided to have
Eggplant Parmesan. I thought the cripness of the eggplant and creaminess of the
cheese would be good with some basic bucatini with pomodoro sauce. Then for
dinner I would change it up and have a vegetable stir fry with rice. That had
lasted a day. I could not finish the day without any meat. I like the textures
and flavours meat adds to a dish. Personally for me I know I wouldn't be able
to satisfy and completely comply with this diet as I wouldn’t be able to eat
something like a tofu burger or tofu hot dog; to me its imitating something
that it shouldn't be trying to imitate. The thing that made me want to finish
the day was knowing that I'd be able to have meat again soon.
If someone was to become a vegan for health reasons or to
lose weight that is completely understandable. It limits the amount of meat you
are able to intake however if I was in that situation I'd still need to eat
some sort of fish to satisfy the meat craving. If I was able to do the diet
over again I would go for the Mediterranean diet. It involves using a lot of
fresh fruits and vegetables and limits the amount of fish and poultry intake
which I would be fine with. Things such as nuts, seeds, fruits, and olive oil
added in a meal definitely fills you up a lot more than fillers such as rice
and bread. In life you should enjoy the good things in life however everything
in moderation is necessary in order to maintain a balanced lifestyle.
Part of the Mediterranean diet is balancing everything and
limiting just the protein intakes like red meats, poultry, and fish. If someone
asked me what diet I'd suggest I'd most likely recommend the Mediterranean as
it has many different options available and you are just eating in moderation. You
could poach, steam, grill, or even sear the fish in olive oil, serve it with a
quinoa salad or even a multigrain pasta salad with kalamata olives and feta
cheese. To finish off the meal you could have some fresh strawberries with
cherries, blueberries, and blackberries with a dollop of yogurt with fresh
gratedlemon zest, and a quick drizzle of honey on top. For a chef, the
Meditteranean diet would allow you to have a wider margin of being able to cook
different things using a variety of different methods. Contrarily if you were
to become vegan as a chef it would force you to be creativein a very confined
list of ingredients.
Seared Salmon with Quinoa Salad
1 loin of salmon
0.5 cup of fresh green peas
1 cup of quinoa
1 tablespoon of olive oil
0.5 cup of deseeded kalamata olives
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 green pepper diced
1/2 cup of feta cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Maldon Salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1. Get a nonstick frying pan hot. AS soon as it gets hot add your olive oil and wait for 5 seconds. After 5 seconds add your salmon to the pan skin side down first. Leave it to cook on the skin for about 8 minutes. The salmon will cook 90% on the skin then 10% on the flesh flipped over.
2. Get a pot of water and add your quinoa to it. The water should be 2 thumbs covering the quinoa. Leave it on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Check on the quinoa after 8 minutes and after the quinoa is finished cooking, fork it into a bowl and let it cool down in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Flip the salmon over and cook it until you poke it and has alittle bit of resistance. After it becomes pinnk take it out of the pan and let it sit for a bit, the heat inside the fish will continually warm it and probably cook it a bit more.
4. Take out the quinoa and add the rest of the ingredients, add the juice of 1 lemon and add some olive oil and toss it around. Serve on a plate with the seared salmon.
Done!
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