Food Column: A Candy-vore Gone Mostly Herbivore

Welcome to my recovery. I used to be a junk food junkie, practically mainlining Tootsie Rolls and Pepsi during my college years. The occasional “healthy” meal meant eating a serving of pot roast, but not the veggies, or forgoing a cookie for a slice of buttered white bread. Until my mid-twenties, I subsisted primarily on high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and Red No. 3.

Today, in my mid-thirties, I subsist on a whole-food, omnivore’s diet, which means I eat my pot roast and my veggies now. And not just corn and mashed potatoes, the only two vegetables I ate prior to my rehabilitation. I now eat things like lettuce, peppers, leeks, and rainbow chard. These days, I belong to a CSA, I tend a plot at the Dunwoody Community Garden, and I’ve replaced a portion of my front lawn with edibles.

This journey towards healthy eating began many years ago with a single broccoli floret. I sat in a diner with my aunt in St. Paul, Minn., on lunch break from my summer job as a mail clerk in her office, when the vinaigrette-soaked broccoli in her salad started to look strangely appetizing.

“But I don’t like broccoli,” I said to her, perplexed by this sudden desire to eat it anyway (Vitamin deficiency, perhaps?).

“Here,” she said, and pushed the dish towards me. I took a bite and was shocked to discover that it did not taste like eating grass clippings after all. In fact, it tasted sort of good.

After that, I slowly started to experiment with things like broccoli-flavored Rice-a-Roni, pickles on my burgers, and lettuce on my Taco Bell tacos. It took a decade for me to finally reach the tipping point to a predominantly fast-food free, plant-based diet, but here I am, cooking up my garden harvests and (mostly) resisting Snickers and Pop Rocks.

Eat Your Veggies: Eat a Frittata

Frittatas are like flat omelets. Rather than folding the cooked egg around a filling, you just mix the ingredients together and cook it on the stovetop like a pancake. No precarious fold-over to master. 

Frittatas are also versatile. In the summer, I use sautéed tomatoes and peppers for fillings, and in the cooler months, I use things like kale and thyme. Anything on hand will work, including leftover meat and shredded cheese. If you want to get fancy, put your frittata under the broiler to brown the top.

Today, for brunch, I beat two eggs with a touch of milk. I sautéed a leek, a hot pepper, and two cherry tomatoes (from what might be my last pre-frost harvest). I then stirred that into the egg mixture along with chopped spinach, chives, and oregano and cooked it. Just before sliding the frittata onto my plate, I sprinkled some shredded cheddar on top.

This meal took about fifteen minutes to make, and all of the vegetables and herbs came from the garden, which means I not only ate my veggies, but felt quite accomplished doing so.