If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up for email updates. Thanks for visiting!

Welcome all veg-heads and meat-heads alike. Whatever you fancy, we’re delighted to be hosting this edition of the vegetarian carnival on behalf of Veggie Chic. Some of you might be surprised: “I thought SmarterFitter was a health and fitness blog, what’s all this vegetarian mumbo jumbo?” Well guess what, vegetables are a huge part of staying fit and living smart, but you already knew that. So enjoy the links and don’t forget to visit the Veggie Chic Carnival to submit an article for the next edition.

My favorite submissions

How to shop at a farmers’ market
by valereee at Cincinnati Locavore
“Every vegetarian needs a farmers’ market!” says valereee. I say every person who eats food needs a farmers’ market. Still, sometimes I find it hard to will myself to battle the crowds. As someone who finds the farmer’s market a challenge, I can definitely vouch for valereee’s suggestions: these are spot on. Especially the ones about going early, expecting to pay more than the supermarket, not expecting the most beautiful food on earth, and of course: bringing a friend. There is safety in numbers.

Baking an omelet in the solar oven
by Esther Garvi
This post has something for everyone: vegetarians, protein-hungry iron-pumpers, sun worshippers, and lovers of nifty inventions. Esther lives in Niger as an upaid volunteer for the Eden Foundation and helps the people of the “least developed area of the least developed country in the world achieve a sustainable life”. Here, she uses an ultra nifty solar oven to make a tasty omelet. It’s not a vegetarian recipe but it does includes a lot of vegetables and protein-hungry people will like it for its inclusion of tuna and lots of eggs. She serves it with solar-cooked millet bread. Reading this and through her other blog posts reminds me that even one of the poorest country in the world can also be the richest in certain respects.

Spinach Paratha
by Manjula Jain at Manjula’s Kitchen
“This is a great anytime meal. Spinach Parathas are whole-wheat Indian flatbread stuffed with a spicy spinach filling,” says Manjula. Parathas are gooood, and Manjula’s video shows you how to make them, kneeding the dough to preparing the filling to cooking them on the stove. Indian bread can be a challenge to make, but her video makes it look easy. It’s inspired me to try my hands at paratha and chapattis. I bet this would taste delicious with the channa masala posted below.

Curried Mushroom Couscous
by Vera Nadine at Vegetarian Frugal Housewife
One of the reasons I liked this post is because I could relate to Vera’s fondness for the type of couscous that comes in a box with a sachet of highly-processed flavor, what Vera calls “the last straw of my (SAD) Standard American Diet”. If you’re like most Americans who grew up on this kind of stuff, it’s hard to forget that these foods at one point tasted really damn good. In fact, some of them still do. But guess what, you can experience the salty goodness of processed foods with all-natural ingredients!! As Vera says, this is “a quick and very yummy homemade version of store-bought flavored couscous. A nice side dish or easy food for picnics and hiking.”

Homemade Tofu
by Jen Carlile at Modern Beet.
Should you ever want to make your own tofu, Jen shows you every step of this somewhat ambitious process. She makes a good case for the effort: “Making tofu from scratch is a fairly involved endeavor, but worth it if you have the urge to know where your food comes from and how it’s made.” Well said, Jen. I think it’s funny that she used a tin of Chicken Noodle Soup to press the curdled soy into firm tofu.

Roasted Parsnip Fries
by Chef Erik.
Erik says: “This has to be one of my favorite recipes. I came up with this recipe for health reasons. Roasting, as we all know, is so much healthier for us than frying.” I say forget the health benefits: parsnips are just damn good. And this recipe is EASY: only 5 ingredients, two of which are salt and peper.

These folks also like to eat their vegetables

As you can see, I had a hard time choosing favorites.

• Randy Powell presents Blue and Purple Food posted at Eating-Veggies.com.
• 
  Allen Holman presents Switching from Vegetarian to Vegan posted at Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes, saying, “Some tips about making the switch from vegetarian to vegan.”
• 
  Eccentric Vegan presents Vegan Bites: Responses To PETA Reward, Vat Meat, & The NY Times posted at Vegan Soapbox.

• Alison presents Quorn posted at Green Me.

• Vihar Sheth presents Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler posted at Vihar Sheth.

• J.F. presents Ever Consider Dr. McDougall’s Soups? posted at vegoftheweek.

• Lane Wright presents Chana Masala posted at Vegan Bits.

• Lisa presents Greek Scrambled Eggs with Tomato and Feta posted at Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen.

• Melanie Rimmer presents Bean Sprouts: Fried Halloumi with Redcurrant Chili Sauce posted at Bean Sprouts.

• VnV presents a luscious strawberry dessert posted at Veggie Monologues.

• kitchenetta presents Vegan Manhattan Clam Chowder posted at got no milk, saying, “One of my all-time favorite soups from one of my all-time favorite restaurants. Although I am not a vegetarian, I love vegetarian cooking, and enjoy it often.”

• Expat Chef presents Honey and Vinegar posted at The Expatriate’s Kitchen, saying, “A light, lemony salad with couscous and vegetables.”

• Jason Isbell presents On the spot dinner posted at Tired Garden, saying, “Create a recipe on the spot and have a good meal.”

• lalaine y. manalo presents Sauteed Bean Sprouts and Tofu posted at thecookmobile.com, saying, “fast, easy and delicious vegetarian tofu recipe.”

That concludes this edition. Got a veg-tastic link of your own to share? Submit your blog article to the next edition of the vegetarian carnival using ourcarnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Related posts:

1. Veggie Carnival
2. Veggie Blog Carnival coming up
3. Spinach Parathas by Manjula
4. SmarterFitter Favorites: Vegetarian Edition
5. 100 Most Protein Rich Vegetarian Foods

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.