About

All About Vegetarian Texan

Just veggin’ in Texas

Vegetarian Texan arose from a journey to become vegetarian while growing up in a land of ranches and beef.  The challenges of explaining that beans containing bacon aren’t vegetarian is met with confused blank stares from friends and family. A vegetarian lifestyle is an attempt at a healthier and more planet friendly existence. My daughter, who declared her vegetarian position at the wise young age of 8 years, is the inspiration for this endeavor. What mom can argue with a child who declares that she doesn’t want to eat her animal friends?!

The common saying goes “everything is bigger in Texas”. That  includes the veggies. Texas is an ideal place to take advantage of the long vegetable growing season and bountiful farmers markets. The long growing season, as well as the deep blue winter skies, offers the opportunity to grow an abundance of different fruits and vegetables.  Tomatoes and watermelons are bountiful in the summer and kale and cabbage grow long into the fall and warm winters.

The Home of the Roadside Vegetable Stand

In addition to plentiful farmers markets, fruit and vegetable stands dot the roadside making for bountiful opportunities to pick up fresh produce throughout the state. Road trips become gathering missions for black eyed peas,  butter beans, watermelons and the juiciest vine ripe tomatoes. The sandy loam and burning sun impart a deep rich flavor to our fruits and vegetables. These are the foods of my ancestors who filled their plates with freshly picked peas and beans and vine ripe tomatoes with daily walks to the vegetable garden. Okra, squash, cucumbers and radishes are all fair game for pickling and canning to stock the shelves for winter.

Farmers plowed the earth by hand with a push plow, digging shallow trenches into the sandy red soil of East Texas. The red sandy loam,  perfect for growing watermelons and black eyed peas. My great grandparents and grandparents learned the ways of the land from their parents and family. Knowledge of crop rotation, passed down through the generations, allowing a garden section to lay fallow or rejuvenate with nitrogen rich crops also serving as valuable protein sources when meat was scarce.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I enjoy creating vegetarian recipes with a Texas influence. Ya’ll come back now!