Basta!

I love to cook.  I warned you all that I did.  It’s my passion.  It consumes me.

About mid-way through Day 5 after returning from the store with a new batch of veggies, I overheard Mrs. BG suggest that she was going to cook dinner for her and my son.  What?!  Wait a minute, wait a minute, that’s my job.

I was already having trouble gagging down my juice drinks, so what followed seemed like the natural next step.  I was at the sink washing the vegetables…zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, celery, etc.,  when suddenly I had two visions of the future at the same time….kind of like a split screen, out-of-body experience.  On one side I saw myself jamming those precious pieces of God’s creation into the dreaded juicer….spilling their blood in one direction, and shooting their guts in the other.  The smell that occurs when this happens is indescribable, but violent death usually is.  On the other side, I saw my self gently caressing those beautiful gifts from the earth into perfect bite size pieces just waiting for me to perform my magic on them. I had just finished reading Planet Sarah’s Juice+Protein plan and saw that she had decided to start juicing AND eating so maybe I was influenced by that also.   So as I finished washing the rest of the haul, I slowly made my change.

Cooking comes naturally to me.  I can cook anywhere with anything.  For example, Mrs. BG and I used to be sailors and one weekend out on the boat while I was sleeping in the V-berth, she decided to surprise me and cook dinner on the cockpit grill.  It was dusk when I woke up and looked out at the cockpit and saw a silhouette of her sitting there with her head in her hands.  I got up and ask her “what’s the matter honey”?  She replied sheepishly,  “I dropped the grill overboard”  Really?  “Don’t worry” I said, “I’ll come up with something”.  Fortunately, the grate didn’t fall in the water, so I had a place to start.  So with an old pot, a colander, the grate from old grill, and my magic, within 30 minutes we were sitting down to scallops wrapped in bacon, with grilled chicken and corn.  I think I would do well on one of those cooking challenges where they give you a box of ingredients and tell you to have at it.  I’m sorry, I’m way off track here, aren’t I?

So I chopped an onion, garlic of course, zucchini, celery, carrots, and a little cabbage.  What to do, what to do?  I looked in the pantry and the freezer to see what else I could find that came from the earth and had never had a face on it.  Frozen corn, black beans, and canned tomatoes…that’s it, Chili!  I sautéed the veggies in a little olive oil, added a chopped jalapeno, some cumin, chile powder, some other spices, and some vegetable stock, and voila,  I did it.  The kitchen smelled like heaven.  The veggies that didn’t make the cut were giving me a standing ovation, and Mrs. BG easily relinquished the chef’s duties back to where they rightfully belonged.

Vegetarian Chili Big Guy Style

So have I totally copped out here?  Maybe.  Will I continue to juice?.  Absolutely.  Will I become a Vegan?  No.  Will I become a vegetarian?  I doubt it?  Will I go back to my old habits?  I really hope not and I hope all of you will help keep me some what on track.  It’s now after mid-night and it’s day 7.  Day 6 was very interesting also and I learned a lot of new tricks for cooking with vegetables, but I will share that another time.