In search of more meatless meals

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I made my weekly run to Costco in Hackensack today with the goal of  bolstering our meatless dinner choices, and came home with three different wild-caught fish and some wonderful-looking lobster ravioli.

I picked up a tray of fresh haddock fillets from Iceland at $7.49 a pound, frozen sockeye salmon fillets from Alaska ($25.89 for three pounds) and an item I hadn't seen before -- frozen Pacific flounder fillets ($8.69 for two pounds).

The lobster ravioli should provide two meals ($11.99). I looked at the ingredients, and Atlantic lobster is listed second, right after the flour to make the pasta.

At Balthazar Bakery later in the day, I bought a double baguette and hit the jackpot -- it was about 10 inches to 12 inches longer than usual, but the $4 price was the same. When I got it home, my wife, son and I stood around cutting off pieces and eating them with thin-sliced Swiss cheese.

For dinner tonight, I cooked the haddock in Mexican green salsa and opened a can of organic pinto beans from Whole Food Market, heating them in a small pot and adding non-salt seasoning and black pepper. We ate the fish, salsa and beans over steamed white rice with a salad.

Tomorow night, I plan to serve veggie patties with cheese, lettuce and tomato on onion-potato rolls from Balthazar. On Wednesday, we'll try the lobster ravioli in tomato sauce.


And it looks like our one meal out Saturday night will be at our favorite soft-tofu stew restaurant in Palisades Park. If we make it to Sunday, it will mark two weeks without meat (chicken, pork, beef or lamb).

Breakfasts have been easy. I've had eggs with Colombian corn cakes (arepas), hot oat meal with dried blueberries or a sandwich of wild smoked salmon with kimchi on the side. I've been trying to skip lunches, relying on black coffee or home-brewed espresso and crackers and cheese or fruit.